Friday, August 15, 2008

Lenovo Y410




The Y series from Lenovo is touted as the home entertainment series—the good speakers and a few additional multimedia buttons are a step in the right direction; the plain décor isn’t! The Y410 is a good-looking notebook overall, though—the outer body panels have a quality finish, and this 14.1-inch unit feels sturdy.

The glossy, 1280 x 800 display is clear, crisp and vibrant, with good contrast ratio. The keypad offers good feedback, but it’s a little squishy. The shortcut keys are well-laid-out, and you’ll have no issues with using the nifty little add-on keys like the volume adjustment, mute, or even the “Novo” key, which switches between power modes to optimise battery or performance. There is a neat array of multimedia keys that allows you to listen to music without logging in to Windows (after inserting an audio CD).

The Y410 is available in configurations including a speedy Core 2 Duo T7100 (1.8 GHz) and an NVIDIA GeForce 8400M GS with 128 MB of video RAM.

The one we received had a Core 2 Duo T5450 and Intel’s GMA 950 graphics solution, which is good enough for most multimedia work, including HD movie playback; just don’t expect to game without a graphics card.

With an overall PC Mark 2005 score of 3251, a 3D Mark 2005 score of 673 and a SiSoft Sandra 2007 drive Index of 39 MBps, the Y410 doesn’t really excite as a “high-end” product—at Rs 38,500, it makes sense as an excellent value solution. It’s got loads of pre-installed software; we’d have liked to see Windows Vista Home Premium instead of Basic, though. Whether you’re looking at a multimedia notebook, or something to use in college or in office—the Y410 has both your needs and your wallet covered.

Specifications
Core 2 Duo T5250; 1 GB RAM; Graphics: Intel GMA 950; 1280 x 800; 14.1 inches; 160 GB HDD, 5400 rpm; Weight: 2.4 kg


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