The history of the Lenovo brand, specifically as a computer manufacturer, begins in 2004, when the company, under the wing of IBM and on its conveyors, launched its first devices. According to the contract, Lenovo could use the name IBM only until the end of 2010. But the transition to its own production went to the benefit of the company only: the model range expanded significantly along with the sales segment, prices became more flexible, and innovative ideas gained respect and caused positive emotions among many users.
Consider one of the most noteworthy models of the IdeaPad series company, which practically combines both business class and portable multimedia. So, the hero of today's review is the Lenovo V570: disassembling and analyzing technical specifications, the pros and cons of a laptop, as well as the opinions of experts and reviews of the owners of the device.
Contents of delivery
The laptop comes in a pretty nice and brand-specific cardboard box, where everything is neatly laid out "on the shelves." In addition to the Lenovo V570 itself, you can see a six-cell battery at 48 Wh (4400 mAh) and a 90 W power supply with a network cable.
From the documentation you can find a fairly detailed manual in Russian, a safety book, along with general information and a memo on the initial setup of the device. In addition, the laptop is equipped with proprietary drivers for the Windows 7 and 8 operating systems for both bits (32/64 bits).
Design
Externally, the Lenovo V570 laptop looks interesting and attractive. The lid of the laptop along with the working area is made of polished aluminum, painted in a blue-gray color. Only a thin strip at the end of the lid is made of plastic and painted in the same tone. The only decoration that can be seen at the top of the Lenovo V570 is the brand’s logo, for the rest - rigor, conciseness and “masculinity”, that is, rounded corners or any color accents, so beloved by the female half, you will not see. Perhaps that is why in their reviews the girls constantly complain about the stinginess of colors, as well as the lack of small beautiful chips and other "nyashka".
In addition, aluminum panels not only give the laptop a finished look, coupled with aesthetics, but also add a few points to the strength of the structure. The work surface is absolutely not subject to any deflection or deformation, which can not be said about the cover of Lenovo V570: with a strong press, the upper part can be pushed down until it touches the matrix.
The display is attached to the main part of the laptop with two hinges. Due to the provided recess on the cover, the laptop can be opened 140 degrees, and the display is fixed almost tightly, which allows you to comfortably work with the device in any position.
Dimensions Lenovo IdeaPad V570 is quite typical for a 15.6-inch gadget: 38 x 25 x 3, with a weight of 2.4 kg (with a connected battery).
Display
The device is equipped with a 15.6-inch TN matrix from the Samsung 16L01 series. Although glossy, it has a pretty good contrast spread (170: 1) with a mediocre brightness for TN. You can work comfortably with Lenovo V570 only in the office, while on a sunny day on the street it is almost impossible to use a laptop.
The screen has a standard resolution for its size of 1366 by 768 pixels with a 16: 9 aspect ratio. For the simultaneous launch of several applications, the resolution is clearly not enough, and graphical indicators are not the main hobby of the Lenovo V570 screen. The characteristics of the viewing angles are more than traditional for such matrices: a horizontal change in the angles contributes to the appearance of reflection effects, and a vertical rotation resets all the colors to gray. But this is a disaster for all TN matrices, and this model was no exception, especially since numerous reviews from owners are full of complaints about the impossibility of normal watching movies or photos in the company with friends or even with one person.
Sound
The audio system operates on two 1.5-watt speakers, and the Cougar Point PCH system from Intel is responsible for the sound supply. Sound grilles are placed on the work surface above the keyboard, and what really pleased many users is the unusual and at the same time successful design of the speakers: asymmetric slots are conveniently located to the left and to the right of the perforated strip.
But the sound quality is not as good as the appearance of the speakers: high frequencies are too pronounced compared to low, and the maximum volume leaves much to be desired. You can watch a movie at home (quiet) more or less comfortably, but in crowded or noisy places you have to turn to high-quality headphones for help, otherwise you just won’t hear anything, even after carefully adjusting the equalizer.
Input Devices
The keyboard for the Lenovo V570 laptop is made in the usual AccuType island style. The buttons are square in shape with slightly rounded corners and a slightly concave surface - just for the fingertips.
While working with the keyboard, judging by the reviews of the owners, there is no discomfort: there are no erroneous clicks, a soft, silent and short stroke, and in addition, all the keys are in their usual places. Marking is done in white, and only the Fn function key combination is marked in orange. The keyboard layout has a standard form and is equipped with a separate digital unit as a nice addition.
At the top of the work surface, you can see the power button on / off with a white LED backlight and the very useful One Key Rescue button, which with one touch creates a backup copy of the operating system.
On the right side there are informative indicators with a similar white backlight: two diodes for indicating the operation of the hard drive and indicators Caps Lock and Num Lock.
Touchpad
The manipulator of the Synaptics series is located slightly to the left of the main working area and, in addition to the usual control, supports all popular multi-touch gestures. Many users in their reviews note as a significant plus the size of the touchpad - 10 x 5 cm with convenient marking for vertical scrolling.
The surface of the manipulator is slightly rough to the touch, but this does not interfere with sliding a finger along it. The thin frame, made in chrome style, not only visually, but also tactfully helps to navigate in the control zone, not allowing your fingers to pop out of the work surface.
Performance
The device does not have any operating system installed by default, only the DOS platform is installed. The drivers that come with the laptop solve compatibility problems, so there should be no issues during installation.
The device is equipped with a rather nimble second-generation Intel processor - Core i3-2330M with a frequency of 2.2 GHz with 3 MB of the third-level cache on board. The chip runs on 32 nm technology with a very low TDP (35 W), which allows it to be fully loaded without the load on the gadget's cooling system. RAM depends on the specific model and can vary from 4 to 8 GB.
The built-in HD Graphics 3000 series card is responsible for the video, and its performance can be compared with the external devices GeForce 310M and HD 5450 from Radeon. The base frequency of the card ranges from 650 MHz, and in turbo mode - up to 1100 MHz.
Variable models are equipped with discrete cards from the Nvidia GT 525M series with 1 GB DD3 memory and DirectX 11 support.
Ports and Communications
A set of ports is standard for this kind of device: a full set of video outputs, USB interfaces, an Internet connector, a microphone, headphones, an optical drive and WiFi. Lenovo V570 differs from other models by the presence of a graphics switch on the front end, which makes it easy to choose an integrated chip instead of a discrete one and vice versa.
Otherwise, everything is familiar and there are no critical comments: the ports are intelligently located, do not interfere with each other, and the abundance of USB outputs allows you to connect a variety of peripherals.
Offline work
Battery capacity (4400 mAh) in idle mode lasts about ten hours. If you set the power-saving mode (40% of the screen brightness and working Internet), then reading and web surfing will drain the battery in six hours. In standard mode, the laptop lasts for more than three hours, and with the WiFi turned on, the laptop turned off after an hour and a half.