Lenovo IdeaPad Y500 Laptop: i5 3230M 2.6GHz CPU, 6GB DDR3, 1TB HDD, Dual NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M SLI, 15.6" LCD (1920x1080), Backlit Keyboard, WiFi N, 6 Cell, Win 8 $900 + Free ship

Quote from letapyaj22 : I don't have weight scale so don't know how much it actually weights but it's definitely heavy to carry arround whole day. My laptop specification are: i7 3630QM cpu, 1tb hd, 32gb msata, gtx 660m, bluray and 1080p screen and don't know what else this laptop has. Touch-pad on this laptop is big and responsive.

The size and weight seem the same for Y580 and Y500 so if you hate the weight of yours the Y500 wont help at all. Does your Y580 have switchable graphics? I see if gets 5 hours battery vs Y500's 3 hour. If you can deal with the weight/size i'd keep the Y580. i7 with 1080p, blu ray and 660m for$ 650 is unheard of really. In fact, i'd probably take your machine over the one I ordered for $1024.99 on Amazon if I didnt have a proverbial boner for that sweet, sweet sli set up.

Quote from xninjagrrl : The size and weight seem the same for Y580 and Y500 so if you hate the weight of yours the Y500 wont help at all. Does your Y580 have switchable graphics? I see if gets 5 hours battery vs Y500's 3 hour. If you can deal with the weight/size i'd keep the Y580. i7 with 1080p, blu ray and 660m for$ 650 is unheard of really. In fact, i'd probably take your machine over the one I ordered for $1024.99 on Amazon if I didnt have a proverbial boner for that sweet, sweet sli set up.

Yes, this laptop does have switchable graphic card. It has intel hd-4000 and gtx-660m under device manager. What is this means? How can I switch it to one other?

I still have about 10 days left to return under lenovo return policy without any kind of the fees. I am also thinking about getting ultra book to replace this laptop but someone need to convince me to keep it over ultra book.

so does this come with the 16GB SSD? what is its purpose? to load windows faster?

Quote from letapyaj22 : Yes, this laptop does have switchable graphic card. It has intel hd-4000 and gtx-660m under device manager. What is this means? How can I switch it to one other? I still have about 10 days left to return under lenovo return policy without any kind of the fees. I am also thinking about getting ultra book to replace this laptop but someone need to convince me to keep it over ultra book.

I only had an Alienware with Optimus (graphics switching) for a few days but I think it does it on its own. My Hp laptop automatically switches to the integrated gpu when I unplug it from the wall. Or, I can choose which graphics option I want to use. You should be able to go into the nvidia control panel and pick which one you want to use. Switchable graphics is almost a must if you care about battery life. The Y500 has switchable graphics disabled due to the enabling of sli, even if you dont have the second 650M for the ultrabay, there is no way to change this. It's 3 hour battery life is probably not enough if you are on the go alot. If you dont care about games at all i'd get an ultrabook that weights a couple pounds and gets 8+ hour battery life. Ive been waiting for someone to slap a decent gpu in an ultrabook but nope. Also consider the cpu in ultrabooks may not be as powerful as your Y580 but I am not sure if this is true.

Quote from l0wki : so does this come with the 16GB SSD? what is its purpose? to load windows faster?

Some of these builds come with a 16gb msata ssd but it is only a cache that speeds up the crippling 5400 rpm 1 TB. You cannot see this 16gb and cannot use it for storage, you cannot move your OS onto it (from what I read, some people were able to mount and label their msata drives and store files on them but they used 256gb msata drives which have actual space for storage). I think it's kind of a gimmick personally since most people will eventually remove the 1 TB and replace with a SSD, once we figure out how to put Win 8 onto another drive. Even if you get a Y500 without the 16gb msata ssd, the spot is still there under the hood and you could always buy a 32gb one for about 35-45 bucks on ebay. I am just going to keep an eye out for a 256gb ssd to replace the 1 TB drive before it fails and I have no way of keeping my Win 8 OS. I have no faith in these 1 TBs unless I get one that isnt a samsung spinpoint.

My system just shipped... so as someone who hasn't bought a new PC since before SSD HD's... how large of a performance improvement would it be to swap in a SSD into this machine? is it worth spending the ~$100 for this (or whatever a decent one runs)? If so, what's a good recommended drive to swap in?

Quote from xninjagrrl : Some of these builds come with a 16gb msata ssd but it is only a cache that speeds up the crippling 5400 rpm 1 TB. You cannot see this 16gb and cannot use it for storage, you cannot move your OS onto it (from what I read, some people were able to mount and label their msata drives and store files on them but they used 256gb msata drives which have actual space for storage). I think it's kind of a gimmick personally since most people will eventually remove the 1 TB and replace with a SSD, once we figure out how to put Win 8 onto another drive. Even if you get a Y500 without the 16gb msata ssd, the spot is still there under the hood and you could always buy a 32gb one for about 35-45 bucks on ebay. I am just going to keep an eye out for a 256gb ssd to replace the 1 TB drive before it fails and I have no way of keeping my Win 8 OS. I have no faith in these 1 TBs unless I get one that isnt a samsung spinpoint.

Thanks for your helpful response. I have a 120GB SSD drive, are you saying that I can install this in the laptop, without removing the 1TB hard drive?

Quote from xninjagrrl : Some of these builds come with a 16gb msata ssd but it is only a cache that speeds up the crippling 5400 rpm 1 TB. You cannot see this 16gb and cannot use it for storage

That appears to be incorrect. The reports I've read is that you can indeed boot off the mSATA on the Y500. Some people have had issues doing so. In fact, some people have even had issues with getting the store bought mSATA disk even being seen by the Bios in any way at all.

If you look around you can find instructions on how to install Windows onto the mSATA drive. People have done it.

Quote from PepticBurrito : That appears to be incorrect. The reports I've read is that you can indeed boot off the mSATA on the Y500. Some people have had issues doing so. In fact, some people have even had issues with getting the store bought mSATA disk even being seen by the Bios in any way at all. If you look around you can find instructions on how to install Windows onto the mSATA drive. People have done it.

I briefly looked into it and it seemed hit or miss at best. People are still having problems getting Win 8 onto a regular, non msata ssd. Although one guy had success using a trial of Paragon software. I also read that OS on msata would not be as good as OS on a regular SSD, not as fast. Again, no clue I have never tried. The only professional review for the Y500 is the notebookcheck article and the guy states the msata is for cache only, but you are right there may be work arounds for the tech savvy.

Quote from l0wki : Thanks for your helpful response. I have a 120GB SSD drive, are you saying that I can install this in the laptop, without removing the 1TB hard drive?

nope. msata drives are tiny, like smaller than a business card. You would have to remove the 1 TB. I am not sure about the ultrabay and its ability to store a spare hard drive. I am not sure if you can use your own drive or have to buy a special drive from Lenovo. I dont think you could install your OS on the ultrabay drive though. This Y500 is confusing at best. I just hope I am able to get Win 8 onto a SSD before anything happens to the 1 TB.

Quote from xninjagrrl : nope. msata drives are tiny, like smaller than a business card. You would have to remove the 1 TB. I am not sure about the ultrabay and its ability to store a spare hard drive. I am not sure if you can use your own drive or have to buy a special drive from Lenovo. I dont think you could install your OS on the ultrabay drive though. This Y500 is confusing at best. I just hope I am able to get Win 8 onto a SSD before anything happens to the 1 TB.

Well, from what I understand the Windows License Key is stored in the Bios. Microsoft provides a Win 8 Disk Image for free if you want to create a boot DVD (will need a computer that can do so, which I have). The only thing you really have to worry about is the custom Lenovo drivers, more specifically the driver for the SLI 650m. They wrote that driver, not NVIDIA. If you make a USB boot disk from Win 8 and then copy the Lenovo driver folder to that boot disk, you should be fine in terms of getting that machine to boot up again.

Of course, with a cheap 5400 1TB drive, it's well advised to back up every file you care about on an external. In fact, you should do that anyways.

I got super nerdy investigating this thing before I ordered.

Edit: It is worth noting, don't update the Bios. You can lose your Win 8 License Key in the process. Lenovo doesn't support Bios updates (even though they provide them) and you'll have to get Microsoft to help you get your machine running again.

Looks like Rakuten.com (formerly Buy.com) has the i7 at 1024.99 as well in stock. Since Amazon is out of stock, this might be an option for people who don't have to pay taxes for Rakuten.com

http://www.rakuten.com/prod/lenov...50115.html

Which of these come with the msata? amazon? newegg? rakuten?

Quote from september86 : Which of these come with the msata? amazon? newegg? rakuten?

The stock Y500 has a mSATA slot on the bottom of the machine that's easily user serviceable. You will need to buy the screw to hold the drive down, but it costs like $0.06.

If you're asking which one SHIPS with an mSATA already in the computer, that depends on which version of the Y500 you are buying. It will say so in the description of the item.