Lenovo IdeaPad Y560d 3D Laptop

Lenovo is launching their IdeaPad Y560d today, which will be the company's first 3D enabled laptop. The display in question is a 15.6" 16:9 panel with a rather low 1366x768 resolution. To provide the 3D experience, Lenovo provides their "TriDef" technology that consists of the display, the glasses, and the software. The latter is of particular interest as Lenovo says the "TriDef Media Player" and "TriDef Photo Transformer" software will be able to convert and display conventional 2D video or photos as full viewable 3D versions.

The IdeaPad Y560d is available with one of 13 Intel Arrandale processors from the lowly Core i3-330M up to the quad-core i7-840QM and just about everything between. Graphics consist of ATI's Radeon HD 5730, with switchable technology available with CPUs that include integrated Intel HD graphics, providing some extra battery life. The Y560d supports up to 8GB (2x4GB) DDR3 memory.

There are plenty of storage options available with 250GB, 320GB, 500GB, 640GB and 750GB drives spinning at 5400RPM, or 320GB and 500GB 7200RPM drives. You can also team the HDD with an optional 32GB or 64GB SSD, which enables Lenovo's "RapidDrive" technology. This is part of Lenovo's "Enhanced Experience for Windows 7", which should dramatically improve performance with up to 66% faster boot times, reductions in application launch times, and faster file copying. A good SSD can do that for any laptop, of course, but the ability to use two drives in the Y560d means you can still get mass storage while reaping the performance benefits from a smaller SSD.

A Blu-Ray drive is a welcome addition for multimedia enthusiasts and the laptops comes with the requisite HDMI port for showing 1080p content on an external display. The multimedia experience also includes JBL designed speakers with Dolby Home Theater surround sound. Lenovo's "OneKey Theater II" technology offers a one-touch optimization for clearer, brighter video and richer audio to make the most of the multimedia experience.

Other extras include an ambient light sensor that will dynamically adjust the brightness of the display based on ambient light to reduce eyestrain (we prefer to manually control display brightness, but at least it can be disabled) and Lenovo's Energy Management tools that are designed to protect the longevity of the battery by minimizing unnecessary charging/discharging.

External connectivity consists of three USB 2.0 ports, an eSATA combo port, 6-in-1 flash reader, ExpressCard/34 slot, headphones/mic ports, and VGA and HDMI output. Gigabit Ethernet and wireless 802.11b/g/n come standard with Bluetooth and WWAN optionally available. An integrated 1.3MP webcam is also included.

The chassis is a respectable 20mm thick and weighs in at 2.7kg with the standard 6-cell battery providing up to five hours on integrated graphics and up to four hours with the discrete card. The Lenovo IdeaPad Y560d will be available at the end of June starting at $1200. That may be too expensive for most, once you upgrade to a Core i5/i7 processor and cast aside the 3D glasses for your regular daily laptop activities.

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  • Hrel - Thursday, June 24, 2010 - link

    If someone could do a review on the laptop that I currently suspect is the best "bang for your buck" out there. It's made by compal, and available on Cyberpower.com who's machines you've reviewed before. If you'd like it configured like I did, which I think is the best bang for buck, do this: Go to the website. mouse over 15.6" Laptops and click on the $999 Xplorer X6-8500. It has a 1080p screen. (I'm not sure why the people who run this site do this, but even though the other configurations use the same chassis when personalized they come out to cost more than this one; annoying since it makes me configure all 3 or 4 machines built on the same base chassis to figure out which one is cheapest/best for me.) Then I configured it with the Core i7-620M CPU. (to get it over 1K so I can take advantage of the 5% off.) 4GB 0DDR3-1333, hopefully 7-7-7-21, probably not, but hopefully. ATI MR HD5650 1GB GDDR3 320GB 7200rpm HDD (I did this cause I'm gonna take that HDD out and use the Seagate Momentus XT 500GB, thanks for that review!!) Everything else on that page I left untouched. The only thing I did on page 2 was switch to Intel wifi with bluetooth; Though I'm curious if the MSI option is equal/better; 17 bucks isn't nothing. It has HDMI out and a fingerprint reader. This page says 3 USB ports, the specs sheet says 4USB ports; not sure which is true. (I do wish they were USB 3.0 ports, but I was hoping you guys would test some stuff and tell me if that even matters for use with an external hard drive, mechanical disk 7200rpm. Transferring large files like movies and games mostly.) On page 3 I select "none, format only" for the OS. And select "LCD perfect assurance" cause even 1 dead pixel is unacceptable to me. This brings the total to $1008.90 after 5% off, or $992.75 if you get the MSI network card. So yeah, I really hope you guys can get a hold of one of these for review; as a loner or given as a review unit or maybe someone will just buy one and review it cause it's really tempting me right now... like a lot! If you're review is good I'm gonna start saving up and hopefully be able to buy it around Christmas. Thanks guys! A loyal reader. - Brian

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