The Lenovo ThinkPad E530 is another workhorse that starts at $500. Of course, for the mentioned money you will receive only a junior configuration with budget Intel Celeron B830 and integrated graphics. But there are also more expensive modifications that are equipped with more powerful processors and discrete video adapters.

We got one of the advanced configurations for testing: with Intel Core i3-3110M and NVIDIA GeForce GT630M. This should be enough not only to work with office documentation, but also to run many games - of course, not with the maximum quality settings, but not with the most minimal ones either.

⇡ Appearance and usability

The dominance of ultra-thin laptops, which, according to analysts, will dominate the market in a couple of years, has led to the fact that even a fairly thin laptop of a classic design seems excessively “chubby”. However, this is quite possible to forgive for an inexpensive laptop. Moreover, the thickness of the case does not exceed 31 millimeters, and the weight is only 2.45 kilograms - this is pretty good for a model with a display diagonal of 15.6 inches. In this form factor, there are also more compact solutions, such as Acer Aspire M3 or Sony VAIO S15, however, such models are still more expensive - at times, if we talk about Sony.

As with all models with this hinge design, the angle to which the lid leans back is limited to approximately 135 degrees.

There are no complaints about the build quality - although this is not a “real ThinkPad”, but an initially inexpensive ThinkPad Edge, it is noticeable that Lenovo is trying not to compromise the famous brand inherited from IBM. We were dealing with an introductory sample, but it was produced on the same line as commercial supply laptops.

The parts fit well, but it feels like the body lacks rigidity: even with a little effort, it flexes noticeably, crackling vigorously in the process. This inevitably follows from the desire to reduce the mass of the device while saving on materials. After all, the only option is to make plastic panels thinner.

The surfaces of the work area and the lid frame are nice-looking black rough plastic. The lid feels vaguely reminiscent of soft touch and collects fingerprints quite actively. However, the soiledness is not as high as that of the “leaders of the hit parade” - glossy plastic and smooth dark-colored aluminum.

The island-style keyboard is complemented by a block of numeric keys. The panel in which the keys are inscribed has a glossy surface, so it gets dirty easily, and wiping the cells between the buttons is not very convenient. The shape of the keys is traditional for the ThinkPad Edge line - in fact, this design migrated to the IdeaPad line a little earlier, and by now it has also occupied “real ThinkPads”.

The base of the keyboard is well fixed, but with strong pressure on one of the central keys, it flexes a little. The key travel - from a subjective point of view - is too soft, but the actuation moment is felt good, so it is not necessary to “nail in” the keys for greater confidence to the stop. One can not but rejoice at the fact that the buttons work very quietly.

Like other models in the ThinkPad series, Edge E530 is equipped with two manipulators - a TrackPoint strain gauge joystick with three dedicated buttons and a fairly spacious "buttonless" touch panel, the dimensions of the sensitive area of ​​which are 92x66 mm. The trackpoint keys traditionally have a rather impressive and very soft travel, but the travel of the lower corners of the panel is quite hard.

On the front side of the case is a pair of speakers, as well as a memory card reader.

Most of the surface of the back face is occupied by the battery. There is also an auxiliary "exhaust" of the cooling system. The hinged lid partially covers the slots, which somewhat reduces its usefulness.

The main outlet of the cooling system is on the left side. In addition to him, there are three USB port 3.0 and both video outputs - VGA and HDMI. Thus, most of the connectors to which the wires will be connected are on the left, and the connecting cables will not get in the way at hand. Unless, of course, you're left-handed.

Most of the right side of the case is occupied by an optical drive. There is also a wired network connector, an audio combo jack and a USB 2.0 port.

The bottom of the laptop is flat, and there are a lot of ventilation holes. The body rests on four rubber feet. The contact patch area is large enough, and most importantly, the legs tenaciously cling to any tabletop.

⇡ Specifications

Dell also offers an interesting alternative. In many ways, their G5 15 is similar in performance to the Legion Y530, but there is a significant difference - the price. Dell G5 15 is 19 thousand (!) Rubles cheaper. Yes, it's heavier, it doesn't have thin display bezels, it's not such a great keyboard. But the same processor, the same video card, the same random access memory at the start and the same set of drives: SSD 128 GB and HDD for 1 TB. If he visits us on the test, we will tell and compare these two models in more detail.

Finally

The main thing that makes the buyer fall in love with the Lenovo Legion Y530 is its unexpectedly cool and versatile design. The laptop is completely different from other Lenovo gaming laptops, or gaming laptops in general. It does not have thermonuclear lighting and design for the tastes of primary school students, while it looks boring and does not look cheap.

Of course, the buyer of the gamebook is not alive by design alone. The Legion Y530 is great with a comfortable keyboard and overall good for regular user display. And a very convenient location of ports! They, for the most part, are assembled on the back panel, so the wires will not stick out on the sides of the laptop. So neater and more convenient, although occasionally you have to stretch.

But the cooling system upsets. The Legion Y530 has a mighty set of 6-core processor and GTX 1050 Ti graphics card and, if the latter works without problems, then the processor clearly lacks more powerful cooling. Because of this, he does not work for all the money.

This is a disease of many laptops, especially now that Intel has released six-core processors. But this does not negate the fact that we all want to get what you pay for, and not just the numbers in the table. Finally, although, in general, the Legion Y530 is quite good, competitors have very tempting offers - some laptops are faster for the same money, others are cheaper in the same configuration.

Legion Y530 will definitely please those who play from time to time, often work on a gaming laptop, do not like the design of most gaming equipment and constantly move their gamebook from place to place. But still, Lenovo still needs to work on cooling and price.

Budget games with some restrictions.

Verdict A: Users of the Lenovo Legion Y530 will find the laptop gets the job done in gaming and general use, but that's about it. Read more in the Lenovo Legion Y530 review below.

pros:

• Accessible;
• Unique design;
• Valid time battery life;

Minuses:

• Mediocre speakers;
• Image flaws;

Lenovo Legion Y530 - slightly smaller and slightly less powerful gaming laptop compared to the rest of the Lenovo Legion line. The Y520 series is larger and offers lower pricing, while using the extra space for reliable components. The Y720 costs more but follows the Y520's approach by offering fast components in additional case sizes.

Not to mention, the new Y530 is different from any of the previous models. The laptop eschews the black and red chassis you'll find on the rest of the Legion series, relying instead on a black and white design. There's also a unique hinge that doesn't match the back of the Y530's case, allowing for an even slimmer design.

With configurations starting at $749 (R45,000), the Y530 is an affordable gaming laptop entry level, which rivals the likes of the Acer Nitro 5 and the Dell G3 15 - just a little more stylish.

| LenovoLEGIONY530: SPECIFICATIONS

Here is the Lenovo Legion Y530 configuration delivered to us for review:

• CPU: Intel Core i5-8300H 2.3GHz (4-core, 8MB cache, up to 4.0GHz);
• Graphic arts: Intel UHD Graphics 630 / Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti (4GB GDDR5);
• RAM: 8 GB DDR4 (2666 MHz);
• Screen: 15.6" FHD (1920 x 1080) IPS (Anti-Glare, 250 nits);
• Built-in memory: 128 GB SSD (PCIe) / 1 TB HDD (5400 rpm);
• Ports: x1 USB Type-C, x1 mini DisplayPort, x1 USB 3.0, x1 HDMI, x1 RJ-45, x2 USB 3.1, x1 3.5mm combo audio jack;
• Connection: Wi-Fi 802.11 ac (2×2 MIMO) + Bluetooth 4.1;
• Camera: Webcam 720p HD;
• The weight: 2.3 kg;
• The size: 365 x 260 x 24.2 mm (W x D x H);

| LenovoLEGIONY530: PRICES

Again, the base model Y530 starts at Rs. On the Lenovo review The Legion Y530 came in a slightly more expensive configuration, currently priced at $899 (R54,000).

The difference between the two configurations is limited to one drive (1TB HDD) and a standard GeForce GTX 1050 compared to the model we're testing with an additional SSD drive 128 GB and GTX 1050 Ti.

Lenovo also offers configurations that include an Intel Core i7-8750H, 16GB RAM, up to 2TB hard drive and 256 GB SSD, costing about $1,300 (78,000 rubles).

In general, the prices of the models are comparable to the Nitro 5, which hits the market for $749 (45,000 r) and the Dell G3 15 with the same starting price. The most noticeable difference between the base models of these laptops is the fact that the G3 15 comes with a 128GB SSD in addition to a 1TB hard drive, while the Nitro 5 and Legion Y530 are limited to a 1TB drive.

| LenovoLEGIONY530: DESIGN

The first thing you see upon unboxing the Legion is the not-so-normal hinge design. Instead of having a position exactly from back screen-lid, as most laptops do, there are 2 centimeters between the laptop hinge and the back cover of the laptop.

Open the Y530 lid and the laptop looks just like any other laptop. There's a full-sized keyboard with a number pad, which is becoming rare on 15-inch laptops - the trackpad and 15.6-inch display are made with very limited bezels.

The keyboard is backlit with a white backlight and is not configurable. The keys are soft and responsive to quick presses while typing or playing games. The trackpad is smooth and interacts without any stuttering, but we suggest picking up one to use it for everyday tasks, as well as intense gaming sessions.

In terms of portability, the Y530 laptop boasts a respectable 2.3kg, weighing in at 365 x 260 x 24.2mm. Despite weighing just over two kilograms, the Y530 is deceptively light and comfortable.

On either side of the laptop, you'll find a USB 3.1 port, with a 3.5mm jack on the left side. Where are the other ports? Here we come to the back of the laptop.

| LenovoLEGIONY530: INTRIGUING HINGE

The back of the Legion Y530 is home to two cooling system vents and plenty of ports. From left to right you will see USB-C port, Mini-DisplayPort, USB 3.0, HDMI, Ethernet and charging port.

With virtually all ports on the back of the case, you get a cleaner desktop look when multiple devices are connected to the Y530. Instead of cables sticking out on each side, everything is neatly organized behind the screen. Again, we can see that the concept of this device will be problematic for those who work on a small desk, where ports on the side would be more useful.

In addition, the hinge allows not only to open the Y530, but also to open it 180 degrees. Please note that the Y530 display is not touch screen, and this orientation will not rotate the screen on Windows 10. We can't think of any real reason to flip the device 180 degrees other than "because you can."

| LenovoLEGIONY530: DISPLAY

It's not often you see a laptop manufacturer reflect display brightness in nits among the specs. In the Legion series, however, Lenovo lists nits for every model we've reviewed.

The Y530 review has a 250 nit display, according to the specs. Eventually, Lenovo will release a panel with 144Hz at 300 nits, but based on this review, the model is not yet available.

Why is it important? Glad you asked. We found the Y530's display to be lacking in overall brightness and color quality. Even at maximum brightness, colors look too muted and leave us wanting more. You might want to stick with the 144Hz version.

With any entry-level gaming laptop, expectations should not be set too high due to modest performance. You won't be able to run Far Cry 5 with Ultra graphics settings and expect incredibly smooth performance at 120 frames per second (FPS). Instead, you'll most likely get 30 fps with "Ultra" settings.

| LenovoLEGIONY530: TESTS

Here's how the Lenovo Legion Y530 performed in our review tests:

• 3DMark: sky diver: 19885 | fire strike: 6863 | time spy: 2503;
• Cinebench CPU: 824 points | Graphics: 100 FPS;
• Geekbench: 4725 (single core) | 15202 (multi-core);
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 3390 points;
• PC Mark 8 (battery): 2 hours and 54 minutes;
• Battery life (video test): 3 hours and 38 minutes;
• Total War: Warhammer II (1080p, Ultra): 27 FPS; (1080p, Low): 62 FPS;
• ME: Shadow of War (1080p, Ultra): 26 FPS; (1080p, Low): 58 FPS;

In the case of Fortnite on the Y530, we left the game to choose the best performance settings for itself. This resulted in graphics being set to "Low" with a 60fps cap. With these settings game process was fairly even. If we played more on PC instead of Nintendo Switch, we have no doubt that we could win on the Y530.

After several titles capped at 60 clock speeds, we found a 120 fps cap to see how far the Y530 could go with low settings. During the following matches, we monitored the FPS counter and saw that the gameplay kept between 70 and 80 frames.

When the game's graphic settings were set to "High", the frame rate stayed between 28 and 30. It's not the best gaming experience, but it's playable.

The performance of the Y530 outside of games is impressive. Apps launch quickly and you can switch between normal tasks without any lag or stuttering. The Y530 offers more than enough performance for all tasks, including gaming. He's just more impressive when it comes to getting the job done.

The Y530's performance on all tests shows a gaming laptop that has the power for work and school, along with heavy video and photo editing, but it won't be able to fully match the requirements of AAA-class games at high graphics settings. The benchmark results for the Y530 are slightly below the Nitro 5 and G3 15, despite the fact that the Nitro 5 uses a standard GTX 1050 graphics card.

| LenovoLEGIONY530: SPEAKERS

The Y530 has two speakers, each facing down. The volume level is fine, the sound is slightly muffled due to their placement.

It's hard to discern the direction of shots or footsteps in Fortnight when you're playing on the laptop's speakers.

In other words, you'll need headphones for serious gaming on this machine.

| LenovoLEGIONY530: BACKUP TIME

Gaming laptops rarely set records when it comes to battery life, and the Y530 is no different. Our tests returned 2 hours and 54 minutes of battery life, while PCMark 8 (Battery) claims 3 hours and 38 minutes in our video testing.

No result, backed up by our own experience, has been so terrible. By comparison, the Nitro 5 scored 2:32 and 3:20 in the same tests. As for the Dell G3 15, it outperformed both laptops, offering 4:00 and 4:21 on the same tests.

| LenovoLEGIONY530: SOFTWARE

While reviewing the Legion Y530, we looked for the Nvidia GeForce Experience app to make sure the graphics drivers were up to date. Only we couldn't find it. Keeping the GTX 1050 Ti drivers up to date on a gaming laptop is something every gamer will want to do, the main tool we use to update said drivers was missing when the laptop first launched.

Instead, we had to deal with nasty reminders from McAfee, like subscriptions and virus scans. The only word that comes to mind is annoyance.

As for performance tuning or tweaking gaming performance settings, the only installed application remains Lenovo Vantage. Using the app, you can check your system resources, turn on cooling, and view device information. These are the most serious settings that we managed to find, in general - a disappointment.

| LENOVO LEGION Y530: SUMMING UPRESULTS

The Lenovo Legion Y530 is a laptop designed with gamers in mind, not hardcore gamers. Do you choose base model or configure the laptop your way, you're still limited to the GTX 1050 or 1050 Ti.

In 2017, Lenovo introduced its new Legion brand with the launch of the first Y520, Y720 and Y920 gaming laptops. Laptops under this brand liked people for reasonable price, good performance, interesting design, comfortable input devices. In the summer of 2018, released updated line, which included the Y530 model on the new Intel processor Core 8th generation. Today we take a closer look at this successor, which has a discreet monochrome design that emphasizes performance, ergonomics and functionality.

Specifications Lenovo Legion Y530

Design

The Lenovo Legion Y530 stands out from the crowd with RGB backlighting and redundant design elements. It has a minimalistic style and black color with cool white backlighting. The Spartan lid has the Legion logo imprinted on the left side, with a small illuminated Y-logo in the "O". The lid itself is now completely flat with no corners and is laced with a subtle spiral pattern. By the way, it opens up about 180 degrees. One of the Y530's best features is the narrow bezels (8mm) that you don't often see on budget gaming laptops. A webcam was placed on the bottom frame. The power button is placed on the keyboard in front of the sturdy Y530 hinge. The laptop weighs 2.3kg, slightly more than the competition, but its slim bezels and size make it a fairly compact device. There are a lot of various ports on the sides, we will consider them in more detail later. In general, the laptop looks strictly, in a businesslike way, it will look in the theme both at home and in the office.

Graphics and testing

Lenovo Legion Y530 endowed NVIDIA graphics card GeForce GTX 1050 or GeForce GTX 1050 Ti. These graphics cards successfully draw games recent years on high settings, and in particularly demanding games in FHD resolution, you will have to play on medium settings. But VR games are clearly not for him, the video card is simply weak for them. Testing games with a GTX 1050 Ti graphics card and an Intel Core i5-8300H processor gave the following results:

Scores of 6809 in 3DMark Fire Strike and 22978 in Cloud Gate are quite reasonable and suggest we have a laptop that can easily handle most games at medium (and some high) settings. It's worth noting that these scores are nearly identical to those of last year's Y520.

The Intel Core i5-8300H in our Y530 is a 45W quad-core processor. Performance is excellent, although clearly below six-core processors such as the Intel Core i7-8750H (available on some Y530 models) and the Core i9-8950HK. The processor frequency ranges from 2.3 GHz to 4 GHz (3.9 GHz with 4 active cores) and Hyper-Threading technology is supported. Our processor in the Y530 scores slightly above average for this CPU. 818 points in Cinebench R15 multi-process - very good result(against the average i5-8300H processor - 788 points), and a score of 171 in one CPU is exactly what we expect to see. Robust performance wasn't an issue in Cinebench's cycling tests either, with scores only dropping from 829 to 804 on the seventh run before returning to the 815-817 range, which is still above average for this processor.

Display

15.6" display Lenovo laptop Legion Y530 has a matte finish with FHD resolution. The screen does not shine with brightness, as in the previous model, there are problems with this. True, there are modifications of the model with increased brightness up to 300 cd /, where it is really better. The average measured brightness of the Y530's display reached 266 cd/m, just 20 cd/m brighter than last year's Y520 panel. Y530 screen covers 87% colors sRGB which is a good result.

Audio

The two Harman speakers located on the bottom of the Legion Y530 produce decent sound with average linearity, balanced highs and mids, but weak bass. Slight distortion may be noticeable at maximum sound volume. In general, the sound is good and will be sufficient for most purposes. Headphones can always help.

Noise

Lenovo Legion Y530 is silent in standby mode. Under load, the averages are also not high - 34.9 dB, which is 6.9 dB above the ambient level. At maximum load, a noise level of 49.6 dB was recorded, while both fans were running at maximum speed.

Ports

This laptop has a good supply of ports. There are none on the front panel, but there are 7 on the back: USB Type-C Gen 1, mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0, HDMI, Gigabit Ethernet, charging port, blocking port. On the right side is a USB 3.0 and an audio jack, and on the left is one USB 3.0. Card readers are completely absent.

Cooling and temperature

The larger fans on the Lenovo Legion Y530 provide more efficient cooling than the fans on the previous model. A large grill covering almost half of the bottom of the laptop, combined with spacious ventilation holes, installed in a corner, also ensures unobstructed airflow. Under load, the laptop stays cooler than most competitors. Under load recorded averages of 31.9°C/35.9°C top/bottom ( environment: 22°C) with 42.8°C / 52°C hotspots in the center of the underside of the laptop.

Battery life

The 52.5 Wh battery provides approximately 4 hours and 5 minutes of web surfing. This is a weak result compared to other similar laptops. Battery life has minimum value on a gaming laptop 4 hours should be enough to move around the house from room to room or get to the charger.

Software and Warranty

Lenovo Legion Y530 comes with or without operating system, or with Windows 10. Accordingly, the Windows version comes with pre-installed games. Lenovo installs its Vantage program, which allows you to get information on the video card, processor, RAM and storage. There is also the possibility manual control fans. The warranty for the laptop will be extended for 1 year.

Conclusion

Lenovo Legion Y530 - excellent the starting point for users looking for an entry-level gaming laptop with a wide range of features. The developers moved away from bright colorful accents towards more professionally strict black and white colors. Although the Y530 is equipped with an inexpensive GeForce graphics card GTX 1050 Ti and a simple quad-core processor, its performance is remarkably stable, and the temperature, along with the noise level, does not go beyond comfortable limits. In this way this model can easily handle most games at medium to high settings. The downside is the display - it offers no real advantage over the outgoing Y520, adding some brightness but reduced contrast with washed out colors.

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  • Intel Core i5-8300H 2300 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1050 4 GB
  • 8 GB DDR4
  • 1000 GB HDD
  • 15.6" 1920x1080
  • Windows 10
  67 990 ₽

  More

  from 6233 rub/month

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  • Intel Core i5-9300H 2400 MHz
  • 8 GB DDR4
  • 256GB SSD
  • 15.6" 1920x1080
  • Without operating system
  70 000 ₽

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  from 6417 rub/month

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  • Intel Core i5-9300H 2400 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1650 4 GB
  • 16GB DDR4
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  • 1000 GB HDD
  • 15.6" 1920x1080
  • Without operating system
  77 250 ₽

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  from 7082 rub/month

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  • Intel Core i5-9300H 2400 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1650 4 GB
  • 8 GB DDR4
  • 128GB SSD
  • 1000 GB HDD
  • 17.3" 1920x1080
  • Without operating system
  79 600 ₽

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  from 7297 rub/month

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  • Intel Core i5-9300H 2400 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1650 4 GB
  • 8 GB DDR4
  • 128GB SSD
  • 1000 GB HDD
  • 15.6" 1920x1080
  • Windows 10
  81 360 ₽

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  from 7459 rub/month

• 

  • Intel Core i5-9300H 2400 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1650 4 GB
  • 12 GB DDR4
  • 256GB SSD
  • 15.6" 1920x1080
  • Windows 10
  81 360 ₽

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• 

  • Intel Core i5-8300H 2300 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1050 Ti 4 GB
  • 8 GB DDR4
  • 256GB SSD
  • 17.3" 1920x1080
  • Without operating system
  85 900 ₽

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  from 7875 rub/month

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  • Intel Core i5-9300H 2400 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1650 4 GB
  • 16GB DDR4
  • 256GB SSD
  • 1000 GB HDD
  • 17.3" 1920x1080
  • Without operating system
  85 900 ₽

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  • Intel Core i7-9750H 2600 MHz
  • NVIDIA GeForce® GTX 1650 4 GB
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  • 15.6" 1920x1080
  • Without operating system
  86 500 ₽