Lenovo Legion Y530 is the newest member of the legendary line of gaming laptops. Despite the fact that the company opened a new series not very long ago, laptops quickly gained popularity not only among amateurs but also among professional e-sportsmen. The manufacturer claims that the reason for the excitement around the “legions” is premium hardware, a compact body, and low weight. Let’s check if this is really so.
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Lenovo Legion Y530 Gaming Laptop Review: Design and layout
As we mentioned above, the Legion Y530 is thin, compact, and lightweight – unlike many competitors. The case is only 36 cm wide, 2.4 cm thick, and weighs 2.3 kg. Any gamer will appreciate the ability to take a gaming unit with you wherever you go and not bend your back. The design of the notebook is simple and modern. Not without a few interesting details. The lid with a grooved texture and a concentric pattern is slightly pushed forward. It houses the vertical Legion logo. In the center of the letter “O”, there is a symbol that is highlighted in white – the solution looks original and expensive.
The bezels around the screen can be safely called ultra-thin – only 7 mm! For a gaming laptop, this is quite a bit. The body is made of plastic – durable and thick. The assembly is solid: we did not find any backlashes or traces of glue – however, when dealing with a laptop of such a high-end class, it was not worth spending time checking these nuances. For most of the case, rough plastic is used, the hinges are glossy. The working panel around the keyboard and touchpad is Soft Touch, the material is pleasant to the touch and resistant to scratches.
We found the webcam at the bottom of the screen: it simply wouldn’t fit on the top narrow frame. The keyboard layout is not quite traditional: the PrintScreen button is at the bottom, NumLock is above the top arrow. The BackSpace key is slightly smaller than in the standard layout, and Enter is one-story. The buttons are in six rows. The arrows are full-sized – the manufacturer decided not to cut the most important buttons for the gamer in size. There was also a place for the digital block.
The keys are backlit with a two-stage brightness setting – 50% and 100%. It is convenient to play with it at night: it is not necessary to turn on the light. In good lighting conditions, the backlight can be turned off. The touchpad is slightly offset to the left.
A wide variety of connectors allows you to connect your laptop to any signal source. On the right side is a USB 3.0 Type-A port and an audio jack for headphone and microphone connections. On the left we found another USB 3.0. The rest of the ports – USB 3.0 Gen 1 Type-C, Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0 Type-A, full-size HDMI, RJ-45, a typical Lenovo charging port and a Kensington lock – are located on the rear panel. There is a reason for this: the cables go to one side and do not interfere with mouse control.
Lenovo Legion Y530 Gaming Laptop Review: Display Features
The display is built on a 15.6-inch IPS matrix with Full HD resolution. The matte finish is a big plus: it is comfortable to work with the laptop even in bright sunlight. The response time is slightly lower than that of the matrices of most gaming laptops, but IPS is a universal option: you can work with color and graphics, and edit photos professionally. Thanks to the wide viewing angles, the picture does not fade, even when far from direct viewing. Color accuracy is at its best: only three of 48 patterns went beyond three DeltaE units.
There were no questions about setting the gamma: on the graph, the curve converges with the reference curve. Brightness and contrast are literally at their best: we got 261 cd / m 2 and 910: 1, respectively. The backlight is even: the spread of values is 10% – an excellent indicator.
The laptop reproduces a rich, vivid image – the gamer feels completely immersed in the virtual world.
Lenovo Legion Y530 Gaming Laptop Review: Processor
In the top configuration, the Legion Y530 boasts a six-core Core i7-8750H processor of the Coffee Lake family, 16 GB RAM, an NVMe SSD, a GeForce GTX 1060 video card. A laptop with a quad-core Core i5-8300H (2.5 -4.2 GHz), 8 GB of RAM, a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti video card with 4 GB of its own memory. The configuration does not provide for an SSD – a 1TB hard drive is installed instead.
Despite the fact that we got one of the most basic models, the test result pleased us: the bright, saturated image created the effect of immersing in virtual battles. Thanks to smooth frame changes, dynamic scenes are as natural as possible.
Lenovo Legion Y530 Gaming Laptop Review: Speakers and autonomy
When working in office applications, the laptop does not make any noise at all: the maximum noise level is 33 dB. During the game, when both fans start to work, it rises to 52 dB, which is also quite a bit.
In sleep mode, the laptop heats up to a maximum of 38 degrees, and during intensive work – up to 53. The user does not feel the increased temperature, since the components that are exposed to heat are at the maximum distance from him.
We liked the speakers: the Legion Y530 has a Harman system. The sound is powerful, bright, and lively – for listening to background music, watching videos, and presentations, the speakers do not need to be connected.
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Without connecting to the network, you can work for four hours and play for one and a half. The battery capacity is 52.5 Wh.
Conclusion: Should you buy Lenovo Legion Y530 Gaming Laptop?
If we had rated the Lenovo Legion Y530 5 out of 5 in this review. First, we appreciated the compact design, lightweight and minimalistic design. Secondly, I was pleased with the hardware – even in the basic configuration, the laptop proved itself better than ever. Thirdly, it is equipped with decent speakers. Fourth, the IPS matrix makes it a versatile tool for work and play.
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