Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 All-Purpose Laptop
The Lenovo IdeaPad Y650 is a notebook looking for a niche. At first glance it has all the features of a fairly sexy desktop replacement: The 16-inch LCD screen, JBL speakers, and huge hard drive practically scream "media center notebook." On top of all that, the fairly powerful processor and fast DDR3 memory can deal with just about any video content while handling other tasks, without a hitch. However, considering its low native display resolution and the fact that it has no graphics muscle to speak of, not to mention its price tag of $1299 (on our test unit, as of 4/13/09), were left to wonder about what, exactly, Lenovo was thinking.
The Y650 has some reasonably powerful components: With a 2.4GHz P8600 Core 2 Duo, 3GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, the Y650, running the 32-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium, did really well in WorldBench 6. Notching a score of 98 in our tests, it ripped through tasks at a decent pace--well above the average, in fact. Unfortunately things fell apart in our graphics tests, as the integrated Intel X4500 graphics limped along in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament III (producing slide-show-worthy scores of 5 and 8 frames per second, respectively).
The Y650 continues Lenovos recent design direction, sporting a carbon-fiber body with a soft, rubberized shell on the lid. I really liked the soft surface and matte finish; its a distinctive look that also makes the scratches that are inevitable with glossy finishes a nonissue. The black outer shell of the notebook gives way to a glossy white finish surrounding the keyboard, plus a "copper" trim (which is also reflected in the function keys). Its a clean, distinctive, yet stylish look that makes the laptop stand out. If anything, the design suggests that Lenovo intends the Y650 to be a consumer-oriented laptop--which makes our review units lack of a good GPU an even more glaring omission.
The Y650 has some reasonably powerful components: With a 2.4GHz P8600 Core 2 Duo, 3GB of 1066MHz DDR3 RAM, and a 320GB hard drive, the Y650, running the 32-bit version of Windows Vista Home Premium, did really well in WorldBench 6. Notching a score of 98 in our tests, it ripped through tasks at a decent pace--well above the average, in fact. Unfortunately things fell apart in our graphics tests, as the integrated Intel X4500 graphics limped along in Enemy Territory: Quake Wars and Unreal Tournament III (producing slide-show-worthy scores of 5 and 8 frames per second, respectively).
The Y650 continues Lenovos recent design direction, sporting a carbon-fiber body with a soft, rubberized shell on the lid. I really liked the soft surface and matte finish; its a distinctive look that also makes the scratches that are inevitable with glossy finishes a nonissue. The black outer shell of the notebook gives way to a glossy white finish surrounding the keyboard, plus a "copper" trim (which is also reflected in the function keys). Its a clean, distinctive, yet stylish look that makes the laptop stand out. If anything, the design suggests that Lenovo intends the Y650 to be a consumer-oriented laptop--which makes our review units lack of a good GPU an even more glaring omission.
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