Lenovo IdeaPad Y730

Lenovo's IdeaPad Y730 is designed as a consumer friendly desktop replacement. Rather than a super high performance model, it is designed as a more well rounded general purpose design. This means that it comes with fairly average specifications. While it does lack a few of the newer interfaces, it won't impact many individuals. It still retains one of the best keyboards on the market though. At least it is fairly well priced compared to many of is competitors.

Pros

Well Priced

Excellent Keyboard

Cons

Lacks Gigabit Ethernet or eSATA

Fairly Low Resolution Display

Description

Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 Dual Core Processor

4GB PC3-8500 DDR3 Memory

320GB 5400rpm SATA Hard Drive

8x DVD+/-RW Dual Layer Burner

17" WXGA+ (1440x900) Wide LCD With 1.3 Megapixel Webcam

ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 Graphics With 512MB Memory

v.92 56Kbps Modem, 10/100 Ethernet, 802.11a/g/n Wireless and Bluetooth 2.1

Four USB 2.0, FireWire, HDMI, ExpressCard/54, 6-in-1 Card Reader

15.5" x 11.2" x 1.6" @ 7.9 lbs.

Vista Home Premium 64-bit, Power2Go, Norton Internet Security 2009

Review

Lenovo's IdeaPad Y730 is an update of their previous IdeaPad Y710 17-inch desktop replacement. It retains much of the same looks and features including two versions. The model reviewed is their more general purpose model with blue finish.

The big update of the IdeaPad Y730 is the introduction of the new Intel PM45 chipset and the ability to use DDR3 memory. This gives it a significant performance boost over the previous IdeaPad Y710 model and over other desktop replacements that still rely on DDR2. The processor used is an Intel Core 2 Duo P8400 dual core model that is a mid-ranged performance model. It certainly is powerful enough for most applications users will have.

Storage on the IdeaPad Y730 is what one would come to expect with a desktop replacement. It features a large 320GB hard drive that provides plenty of space for applications and data. The drive spins at a more typical 5400rpm rate compared to many systems now using the faster 7200rpm versions. This makes it a bit slower for data read/write times. A dual layer DVD burner handles optical storage.

The graphics for the IdeaPad Y730 buck the trend of NVIDIA graphics for the ATI Mobility Radeon HD 3650 instead. While not as fast for applications like high resolution 3D gaming, the ATI graphics are more than acceptable for casual PC gaming and high definition video decoding. The 17-inch panel on the other hand is a bit lower resolution than much of the 17-inch market with its 1440x900 resolution. It would be nice to see it come with at least a 1680x1050 display.

What the IdeaPad Y730 does have going for it is a very good price point that makes it an attractive choice for those looking for a more general purpose desktop replacement laptop.