Lenovo, in revamping its gaming-laptop line for '18, scores with its fresh-looking Legion Y530. This machine punches above its weight, offering a sharp design in a compact, sturdy build that apes a pricier gaming laptop. And despite its budget-mindedness (models start at $749.99), it doesn't make any major design concessions. Its Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 graphics chip is no powerhouse, but the Y530 proves to be a competent HD gaming machine with no real flaws. Our $1,029-list test model, as we wrote this, was available for $849.99, a great deal. (Lenovo's web pricing is notoriously prone to fluctuation.) Versus similarly priced competition, it's simply a bit better than you'd expect in most areas, snagging our Editors' Choice for budget gaming laptops. Classiest in the Class Crafting a low-cost but appealing gaming laptop is a tricky needle to thread. Shoppers expect a certain level of performance alongside a nice build and a robust feature set, all while keeping the price low. Often, these laptops succumb to build-quality flaws that result from cutting costs: cheap plastic chassis, subpar keyboards. The Legion Y530, on the other hand, flaunts my favorite design from a Lenovo gaming laptop to date, and one of the spiffiest in the budget-gaming market. It's not flashy or gaudy, dropping the far-too-popular red accents for a clean black-and-white scheme, and it still brings some style with its thin body and appealing angles. Most of the ports and some internal thermal-oriented hardware are set in a sort of rear ledge that juts out behind the screen. This gives the laptop a distinct look of its own, while providing extra real estate for the cooling guts, contributing to both the aesthetics and functionality. The body is entirely plastic, but of a sturdy gauge that belies the laptop's price. The lid has a radial texture, as well as the Legion brand name emblazoned along one side. In the center of the "O" is a glowing-white "Y" logo, a holdover from Lenovo's former "Y-Series" nomenclature for its gaming-laptop line, which remains in the model name. View All 8 Photos in Gallery The Y530 measures 0.95 by 14.37 by 10.24 inches (HWD) and weighs 5.1 pounds, respectably compact for a gaming laptop. Only the most size-conscious (and generally far pricier) gaming machines are much slimmer and lighter; machines in this budget-power bunch tend to be this size or bigger. This model shaves about half a pound off the Legion Y520, its predecessor, whose build reflected its budget pricing to a much greater degree. In contrast, the similarly affordable Acer Nitro 5, for one, comes in at 1.05 by 15.35 by 10.47 inches and 5.95 pounds, bigger and almost a pound heavier despite both machines having a 15.6-inch display. Portability may not be your primary concern for a gaming laptop, but it's a nice-to-have, and the sharp design doesn't hurt, either. Between the size and style, the Legion Y530 stands above other inexpensive gaming laptops, looking like it belongs in a higher price tier. As for that display, the Legion Y530 boasts an IPS panel with a 1,920-by-1,080-pixel native resolution and an anti-glare coating. The latter does its job, cutting down on reflections, while the overall image quality is pretty good, if not a standout. As we saw with the TN-panel version of the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming, a good display on a budget machine is not always a given. Also worth complimenting are the panel's thin bezels, which go a long way toward making the system more compact. The border along the bottom is thick, but the top and side bezels are only a quarter of an inch thick. This allows the laptop to have a smaller footprint than many of the other gaming laptops we see with a 15.6-inch screen. Indeed, a 1080p full HD panel is the smartest pick for the components here. The GeForce GTX 1050 is already not going to push 60 frames per second (fps) on maximum settings in demanding games at 1,920 by 1,080; had Lenovo gone with a higher-resolution panel, the graphics card would really struggle to keep up. A panel upgrade would also add a good amount to the overall cost, so given the budget-friendly bent of this system, 1080p is more than serviceable. Now here's an improvement I can get around: the keyboard. Lenovo ditched the Legion Y520's red highlighting around the keys in favor of white on the Y530, and I think it's much classier for it. As with the exterior design, it looks like a much more adult laptop, something you could bring out in public or to a meeting if it's your general-use laptop without it screaming that it's a gaming machine. The keyboard is good for a budget system—it doesn't feel cheap (which definitely happens in this price tier), offers a satisfying bounce while typing, and is backlit. The touchpad, too, ups its game this time around. It drops the quirky geometric flourish from the Legion Y520 for a simple, clean look with dedicated left and right mouse buttons beneath. It's responsive and tracks well, again a solid effort for a budget laptop. The speakers are provided by Harman, and are mostly just average. They can get pretty loud for blasting some music or playing a video, but I noted some distortion at the highest volume level. Connections, Configurations As mentioned, most of the ports are located on the rear extension "ledge." There, you will find a USB Type-C port, a USB 3.1 port, a mini-DisplayPort connection, an HDMI output, an Ethernet jack, and the power connector. In addition, on both flanks of the laptop, you'll find an additional USB 3.1 port, while the left side also hosts the headset jack. The laptop also features a 720p webcam, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and Bluetooth 4.1. Lenovo offers multiple models of the Legion Y530, ranging from $749 to $1,099. Before I explain some of the other choices, for the sake of context, this tester unit I have in hand (again, $1,029 list, $849 direct at this moment) comes with an Intel Core i5-8300H processor, 8GB of memory, the Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 I mentioned, and a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD). The cheapest Y530 model comes with a 1TB hard drive instead of a smaller but speedier SSD, while the most expensive model pairs a 1TB hard drive with a 128GB SSD, the latter being the boot drive. Given that relatively tight spread in price between the top and bottom models, these aren't drastically different machines to choose among. Rather, Lenovo offers a few variants to suit your specific needs, but all fall within this budget tier—there's no high-power Legion Y530 option. You can bump up the graphics card to a GeForce GTX 1050 Ti for a bit more power, choose 16GB of memory, and upgrade to a more powerful Core i7-8750H CPU. Note that the keyboard on the least expensive option isn't backlit, and all units bear the same display. Admirably, the bottom-end model doesn't fall back on a TN screen in the same way as, say, the lowest-end model in the Asus TUF Gaming FX504G line does. Good-Enough Gaming Performance? The Core i5-8300H is a lower-power eighth-generation processor, but it's still a very capable fit for this type of system. The efficiency on the newest-gen CPUs from Intel is simply quite high, meaning that even the least powerful models in the series have a solid performance baseline. Its PCMark 8 score demonstrated this, as that score would have been on the higher end in the past, and is now coming from a budget system. Similarly, its multimedia test results point to a new bar for expectations. The Legion Y530, perhaps, shouldn't be your professional workstation, but those are, again, better results than we used to see from such systems. Even the Legion Y520, with a Core i7 CPU from the already-efficient Intel seventh generation, posted noticeably slower times and lower scores on this suite of tests. To the Legion's credit, the Acer Nitro 5 shares the same processor and amount of memory, but Lenovo's machine still outpaced it on average. One of the more limiting aspects of this system is, of course, the GeForce GTX 1050. You'll have to accept the reality that this is a budget-friendly system in terms of raw graphics performance, more than in any other aspect (which is also a compliment to the build quality), as the GTX 1050 simply has muscle-power limitations. As you can see on the Heaven and Valley gaming-simulation tests, playing in HD at Ultra quality settings pushes its limits for maintaining smooth gameplay. It averaged 30fps and 40fps on these tests, respectively, technically holding strong at or above the 30fps floor, but without much wiggle room. See How We Test Laptops A Little Real-World Gaming What we saw in the Heaven and Valley tests was reflected in real-world game testing, too. We ran some trials with the games Far Cry Primal and Rise of the Tomb Raider, using the in-game benchmark tools. On medium detail settings at 1080p, the Legion Y530 scored 50fps and 38fps, respectively. Then, with those tests boosted to the maximum quality preset in each case, the Legion Y530 averaged 32fps and 33fps. Medium settings are a respectable compromise between visuals and performance, so those numbers are decent considering the GTX 1050. (Given fluctuations in minimum and maximum frame rates, at those high settings, you'll often be under 30fps.) The reality is that you'll have to kick down a few visual settings in more-demanding games to maintain a smooth frame rate with this budget system, and 60fps on maximum (or even high) settings isn't happening on all but older, much less demanding games. The battery rundown, meanwhile, was solid on the Legion Y530, lasting for 7 hours and 59 minutes (7:59). While not matching the all-day longevity of some ultraportables, that's good for a gaming laptop, and decent for a laptop you may also use for general tasks off the charger. The Nitro 5 didn't hold out quite as long (6:22), while the Dell Inspiron 15 7000 Gaming lasted for an impressive 11:01. A New Benchmark for Budget Gamers The bottom line: For an inexpensive gaming laptop, the Legion Y530 gets you through the door for smooth HD gaming in some style. Though the GTX 1050 has its clear power limits, "good enough" is really the main objective for this type of inexpensive machine, and on that score, mission accomplished. On top of that, the build is higher quality and better looking than most of the competition. If you need a bit more power, going with a version of the Legion Y530 with a GTX 1050 Ti adds some juice, but this is, and will remain, an entry-level gaming laptop even if you go for Lenovo's top configuration. Simply put, though, if budget gaming is indeed what you are after: The Y530 is better all-around than you'd expect for this price, and it makes some of the competition look and feel cheap. Given the low price and above-grade design, it earns our Editors' Choice for budget gaming laptops. Lenovo Legion Y530 Bottom Line: Lenovo's Legion Y530 tops today's class of budget gaming laptops with a sleek, distinctive build, alongside solid performance and a full feature set.

weiterlesen: RSS Quelle öffnen