As I mentioned a few days ago, my old laptop, the Toshiba, is dying. I ordered a new laptop from Lenovo, an IdeaPad Y510, and it arrived yesterday. After it arrived, I spent some time tweaking its setup. I downloaded and installed Itunes, OpenOffice, and Firefox – three free programs that, together, allow me to manage my music, organize my documents, and surf the web. So far, I’m really impressed with the new laptop, and I think I made a good choice when buying it.
It’s never easy for me to make a “major purchase”. I, quite frankly, don’t like to spend money. My wife says that I worry, a bit to much, about our future, and that I should spend more time enjoying the present. (I’ve been researching new laptops for more than a year, if that gives you a better understanding of how much I hate to spend money.) I’m sure that my wife is right (she pretty much always is!) – but I can’t help it. 
So…Inquiring Minds Want to Know. How did you arrive at your decision to purchase the Lenovo IdeaPad Y510? Did you buy any add-ons like an external mouse or docking station/port replicator to plug existing peripherals into? And how do you like Open Office? Were you able to purchase the laptop without anything but the operating system and which operating system (Vista or XP)?
I’m going through the same thing right now. I have an old desktop that’s dying and I’m wondering whether to get a new desktop or a laptop and plug my printer, etc. into it. I’ve been looking at Dell.
It seems that everyone sells laptops or desktops with tons of stuff already loaded on it. I like the idea of Open Office because it’s free.
All these questions……
I left a similar comment on your previous post but I’m also curious to hear what guided you to your decision. And bizarre as it may sound, I take a long time to make a big purchase also. I just keep doing research and research…most people just call me cheap and indecisive. Oh well
Here’s why I bought the Y510 -
The Dell website is a mess, and I didn’t want to wade through a hundred thousand different configurations… ditto w/ HP…
So, I read several reviews, and since I like to use my laptop to listen to audio, and the system has a very nice audio setup, I was intrigued…
After comparing its features (1.3 meg webcam built in, processor speed, BEAUTIFUL screen, great keyboard layout) with other sum $1000 notebooks, I decided to go w/ the Y510…
Frankly, each time I went to the Dell site, I had to wade through page after page to configure a laptop… and then, just when I was going to order one, I’d find a ‘better’ deal on the ‘business’ site… and then the process would start over… just too many choices, up sell, etc…
The Y510 comes in 6 basic configs, 3 w/ dedicated graphic and 3 w/ shared graphic… so, I bought the least expensive one w/ dedicated graphics… and, I’ll upgrade the RAM, when and if that’s necessary…
It has all of the stuff I wanted – built in card reader, dvd burner, hd audio, etc…
I’m more than happy to answer any questions, if you got ‘em!
SO TRUE that Dell’s website takes you to all those configuration pages… just to find out the next day (in my case) that they have their new Studio 15 that attracted & took me to those configuration pages again.
I’ve been reserving my personal interest in the Y510 the first time I saw it online, and read a lot of reviews & takes on various websites. I’ve actually seen it today at a store here in our country (Philippines) and I really liked it, overall.
What I really want to know is if the issue about the over-reflective screen (which was designed to protect it’s LCD film) does strain visually over longer hours of use… How long have you used your Y510? Any strain?
Your response would make my upcoming purchase worthy.
Thanks!
Personally, I don’t feel like the screen is ‘overly-reflective’… It’s a bit shiny, but, it’s also gorgeous…
As for eye strain, I haven’t experienced any…
But, I have been indoors when using the laptop, not sure how it would work outside…
Thanks for the response! Just the thing I was looking for….
I’m now browsing the Lenovo store and the Y510 configuration online. Is it true that the laptop only comes with Vista? I don’t have any glaring hatred for it but I hear that it’s better these days to opt for XP still. Also, I didn’t see a built-in card reader but I did see included Bluetooth which should come in very handy. The basic RAM is already 2GB but are you still looking to upgrade? By the way, how is the physical weight of the laptop and battery life for you as well as the noise and heat levels?
At the least expensive configuration with dedicated video, the $849 price tag (before shipping and taxes) seems great.
Sorry for the plethora of questions, I hope I didn’t turn your blog into an electronic one. Appreciate the help!
@EN… The laptop is pretty heavy… I wouldn’t think ‘desktop replacement heavy’, but it’s def not an ultra portable… but, I use it at home 95% of the time, so no big deal, for me…
strangely, the card reader isn’t mentioned on the site, but it has one… reads.. let’s see… mmc, ms, ms pro, sd, sd pro, and xd
so far 2 gb seems to be fine… and the battery life is nice.. plus, it has face recognition security…
you might search around on the net for a coupon for a discount on the system you are looking at… i found one for $100 off… but it looks like it might have expired on the 23rd…
the left palm rest? is that what it’s called? it gets hot.. not terrible, but you def feel it…
i didn’t see that xp was available… but, you might search other sites.. there are other models, w/ slightly slower processors, avail from places like tiger direct, etc…
Oh excuse one of my lines above. I did find the included 6-in-1 memory reader though it wasn’t listed up front in the configuration. Good stuff.
Also, if anyone else is considering picking one up, apparently buying it at retailers like Office Depot and so on can snag you a nice rebate. For example, Office Depot has a $125 mail-in rebate going on until tomorrow. Not sure if it’s the norm or the better way to go but something to keep in mind.