Lenovo Y50-70 Touch Slim Gaming Notebook Review

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The Y50-70 extends Lenovo’s touchscreen emphasis to the mobile gaming crowd. But a entertainment-oriented notebook still has to game. We run this one through its paces to determine if the compact form factor is still packed with ample performance.

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How We Tested Lenovo’s Y50-70 Touch Slim Gaming Notebook

Test Hardware and Software Configurations
Lenovo Y50-70 59420895
MSI GT60-2PC-424US

It’s unfortunate for Lenovo that the closest-matching notebook to take on our desktop-based tests has a higher-end CPU and GPU. The Y50-70 is cheaper though, even after Lenovo equipped it with a touchscreen, and the lower price could give it better overall value.

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Benchmark Settings
3D Games
Battlefield 4Version 1.0.0.1, DirectX 11, 100-sec. Fraps "Tashgar" Test Set 1: Medium Quality Preset, No AA, 4X AF, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality Preset,  4X MSAA, 16X AF, HBAO
Grid 2Version 1.0.85.8679, Direct X 11, Built-in Benchmark Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 8x MSAA
Arma 3Version 1.08.113494, 30-Sec. Fraps "Infantry Showcase" Test Set 1: Standard Preset, No AA, Standard AF Test Set 2: Ultra Preset, 8x FSAA, Ultra AF
Far Cry 3V. 1.04, DirectX 11, 50-sec. Fraps "Amanaki Outpost" Test Set 1: High Quality, No AA, Standard ATC, SSAO Test Set 2: Ultra Quality, 4x MSAA, Enhanced ATC, HDAO
Adobe Creative Suite
Adobe After Effects CCVersion 12.0.0.404: Create Video which includes 3 Streams, 210 Frames, Render Multiple Frames Simultaneously
Adobe Photoshop CCVersion 14.0 x64: Filter 15.7MB TIF Image: Radial Blur, Shape Blur, Median, Polar Coordinates
Adobe Premiere Pro CCVersion 7.0.0 (342), 6.61GB MXF Project to H.264 to H.264 Blu-ray, Output 1920x1080, Maximum Quality
Audio/Video Encoding
iTunesVersion 11.0.4.4 x64: Audio CD (Terminator II SE), 53 minutes, default AAC format
LAME MP3Version 3.98.3: Audio CD "Terminator II SE", 53 min, convert WAV to MP3 audio format, Command: -b 160 --nores (160Kb/s)
HandBrake CLIVersion: 0.99: Video from Canon EOS 7D (1920x1080, 25 FPS) 1 Minutes 22 Seconds Audio: PCM-S16, 48,000Hz, 2-Channel, to Video: AVC1 Audio: AAC (High Profile)
TotalCode Studio 2.5Version: 2.5.0.10677: MPEG-2 to H.264, MainConcept H.264/AVC Codec, 28 sec HDTV 1920x1080 (MPEG-2), Audio: MPEG-2 (44.1kHz, 2-Channel, 16-Bit, 224Kb/s), Codec: H.264 Pro, Mode: PAL 50i (25 FPS), Profile: H.264 BD HDMV
Productivity
ABBYY FineReaderVersion 10.0.102.95: Read PDF save to Doc, Source: Political Economy (J. Broadhurst 1842) 111 Pages
Adobe Acrobat 11Version 11.0.0.379: Print PDF from 115 Page PowerPoint, 128-bit RC4 Encryption
Autodesk 3ds Max 2013Version 15.0 x64: Space Flyby Mentalray, 248 Frames, 1440x1080
BlenderVersion: 2.68A, Cycles Engine, Syntax blender -b thg.blend -f 1, 1920x1080, 8x Anti-Aliasing, Render THG.blend frame 1
File Compression
WinZipVersion 18.0 Pro: THG-Workload (1.3GB) to ZIP, command line switches "-a -ez -p -r"
WinRARVersion 5.0: THG-Workload (1.3GB) to RAR, command line switches "winrar a -r -m3"
7-ZipVersion 9.30 alpha (64-bit): THG-Workload (1.3GB) to .7z, command line switches "a -t7z -r -m0=LZMA2 -mx=5"
Synthetic Benchmarks and Settings
3DMark 11Version: 1.0.5.0, Benchmark Only
3DMark ProfessionalVersion: 1.2.250.0 (64-bit), Fire Strike Benchmark
PCMark 8Version: 1.0.0 x64, Full Test
SiSoftware SandraVersion 2014.02.20.10, CPU Test = CPU Arithmetic / Multimedia / Cryptography, Memory Bandwidth Benchmarks
Battery Tests
Battery Eater ProVersion: 2.70, Reader Test, Plugin Test (for timer function)
PCMark 8Version: 1.0.0 x64, Work Test (Battery Mode), Recalculated to 5%
Windows Media Player"Big Buck Bunny" 720p video, looped
Metro Last LightSteam version, Built-In Benchmark, "Frontline" SceneLow Test: 720p, DX11, Low Quality, 4x AF, Low Blur, No SSAA/Tesselation/PhysXHigh Test: 1080p ,DX11, High Quality, 4x AF, Normal Blur/Tesselation, No SSAA/ PhysX
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom
Thomas Soderstrom is a Senior Staff Editor at Tom's Hardware US. He tests and reviews cases, cooling, memory and motherboards.
See more Gaming Laptops Reviews
19 Comments Comment from the forums
  • TallestJon96
    I fail to be impressed with gaming notebooks, a GTX 750 ti attached to a $500 OEM desktop with $200 for a monitor, speakers, nice, etc. will beat this for about $800-$900, with the ability to upgrade. I know some people need to be mobile, but these $1200 machines don't even have an SSD.
    Reply
  • varun706
    I would like to see how my Ideapad Z500 stacks up against Y50-70.
    Reply
  • shahrooz
    I have the none-touch version with 16GB RAM and SSHD. I'm very satisfied.
    Reply
  • greghome
    At the same price, could have gotten the UHD model with no touch
    Reply
  • Crashman
    15099874 said:
    At the same price, could have gotten the UHD model with no touch
    That's basically what the article recommends (if you like this one, find a different P/N with features you like even more, for less money)

    Reply
  • NC92
    I have a very similair laptop but without touch screen, bought half a year ago, and can say that I am very statisfied wiht the product. It plays the games that I want to play well, and is otherwise a very silent and nice everyday working laptop. I actually find that the battery lasted longer then i expected (in comparison to the old Dell laptop that i had, which barely managed 2.5 hours when it was new) Sitting in the living room, casually browsing and reading it can go for a whole evening, and that is basically all I need the battery for.

    Two comments about the things about it that I do not like:
    1. The SSHD. It is basically just a hdd but with a small ssd part added to it, but that part is way to small to have any significant performance difference. They would have been better off just installing a better quallity hdd, that would have been a much better investment (or an ssd for that matter, although that is quite more costly)
    2. The trackpad is completely smooth, I would have liked some physical indication when you move your finger to one of the button positions. a little annoyance, but something that could be easily changed i think.

    I would recommend this laptop to anyone wanting to buy a gaming-capable laptop for mid-range prices. I definitely found it to be a great bang-for-the-buck-machine when I bought it, and it probably still is.
    Reply
  • SuperVeloce
    I fail to be impressed with gaming notebooks, a GTX 750 ti attached to a $500 OEM desktop with $200 for a monitor, speakers, nice, etc. will beat this for about $800-$900, with the ability to upgrade. I know some people need to be mobile, but these $1200 machines don't even have an SSD.
    To even mention laptop and desktop in the same sentence is just wrong. WRONG I tell ya!
    Reply
  • tomfreak
    Lenovo Y series have serious problem = Cooling. The lack on cooling in this type of notebook post a serious problem after u use a while. After sometime the dust accumulated which is going to make the notebook cooling insufficient. Cutting the warranty down to 1yr only further shows that lenovo wasnt confident about the cooling reliability. Dont get me wrong Lenovo dont have reliability issues if taken with care, it is only the cooling, be prepared to do regular fan cleaning if u guys want these slim gaming notebook

    Seriously if u guys need to get a gaming notebook, get the real gaming notebook with proper cooling. Not these.
    Reply
  • SylentVyper
    My Sager NP8651 is under 1" and packs a GTX 970m (vastly more powerful than the 860m) and has dual fans cooling the GPU.... This isn't very thin, especially considering you can get the NP8651 for about the same price.

    To add to that, the 970m being far more powerful, I don't ever go above 70 degrees on anything. CPU only gets to about 80 under load as well.

    If you're in the market for a thin(ish) gaming notebook that performs identically to a 4690(non-k) + GTX 760 (desktop) that doesn't break the bank too bad, Sager is the way to go. I just cringe when I see the HP gaming laptop or the Acer Nitro going for over $1,500 with only an 860m. Yuck.
    Reply
  • TechyInAZ
    A bit pricy, but if thats with 4k then it makes since.

    I do not see why they need to add a 4k display, that gpu is not capable of 4k gaming.
    Reply