Thoughts on the Lenovo U530 Touch

[aum110]

Hey guys,

I am in the market for a new Ultrabook. I am between the Yoga 2 Pro and the U530 Touch, both from Lenovo. Anyone know about the U530 Touch? I can not find any external reviews, and it looks like it is only sold at Best buy, though it has pretty good specs.

My requirements for the Ultrabook/Laptop is to stream movies, stream music, surf the web and maybe some lightroom. I am looking for something with a good battery and display, will last me a long time, have a 4th generation i5 or i7 processor and an HDMI or micro HDMI output.

Any thoughts or inputs?

 

[roygamer22]

Well lenovo y500 or y510p are really high end lenovo laptops

 

[Lizzie2328]

I just got my Lenovo U530 and absolutely love it. The feel of an ultrabook keyboard was quite a transition from my HP monster so it took me a few embarrassing typos before I got the hang of things. Even though I have not had my computer for long I know it fits my student/on the go lifestyle incredibly well. It also caters to my studying (or ADD sidetracked version of studying) ventures toiHeartRadio, Netflix, YouTube, and so on.

My only caution flag- I have the IdeaPad U530 Touch 59401453 which I had to order from the Lenovo site. The U530s at Best Buy are the cheaper versions with less impressive graphics (even my computer illiterate, non gaming self noticed), and fewer options to modify things such as RAM. If Lenovo is the way you decide to go just make sure you compare whats on their site and whats at Best Buy.

I hope that helps... Good Luck!
Lizzie

 

[c0d3h4x0r]

I just bought the u530 touch for $900 at Best Buy, after agonizing between the Yoga 2 Pro and the u530. The one Best Buy is currently offering IS the maxed-out specs: 1TB hybrid HDD, 8GB RAM, Core i7, 1920x1080 FHD touchscreen, NVidia GT 730m GPU, fancy "clickpad" trackpad rather than trackpad wih separate buttons.

Here's my take on it so far:
- The hybrid SSD/HDD is crap. Having 1TB of storage is nice, but even after owing this thing 2 days I'm regretting not having a true SSD. I have true SSDs in every other PC I use, and this hybrid drive is noticeably slower. That said, the drive *is* replaceable so you could install a true SSD yourself... but that's more money.
- The 8GB of RAM is what I would call "barely sufficient" these days. I would never buy a Windows 8/8.1-based laptop that didn't have that as a bare minimum. So far I've been able to easily push past the 8GB into virtual memory during normal usage, which of course grinds everything to a crawl... but if you install a true SSD this performance bottleneck can be largely mitigated.
- It does have decent battery life under normal casual usage -- I got 5-6 hours out of it doing things like web browsing, email, facebooking, and installing all the apps I like. You definitely won't get 10 hours out of it under any normal usage patterns though.
- The keyboard takes some getting used to, but the touchpad much more so. I hate this modern trend toward giant-sized touchpads, because it means I'm always accidentally resting other fingers on the trackpad when using my index finger to mouse around, which causes it to stop moving the mouse cursor because it think I'm trying to do some kind of multi-touch thing. The edge-swipe feature of the touchpad is more of a nuisance than a help, as I find myself constantly accidentally swiping between Metro/desktop when trying to mouse to the right from near the left edge of the screen. If the touchpad driver would let you adjust the edge zone sizes, that would solve this, but I don't see any such adjustment.
- The NVidia GPU is sufficient for gaming at 1920x1080 on somewhat older games like Team Fortress 2, and does fine with lower details/resolutions on most newer games. While this isn't marketed as a gaming laptop, I think it's a good all-around laptop that's capable enough to meet most people's gaming needs.
- The u530 touch barely qualifies as an "ultrabook" in my opinion due to its size and weight, but that's still not a bad thing. I think of it as the slimmest, nicest, most solidly-built "full size laptop" I've ever used.

The main dealbreaker for me on the Yoga 2 Pro was the lack of GPU. The integrated Intel 4400 graphics aren't sufficient for gaming, and can't possibly be adequate for driving its super-high-resolution display. But if you really want something smaller, the Yoga 2 Pro is awfully nice.

 

[pastafarian]

Originally bought a Y400p, whch eventually failed to boot, was repaired poorly and came back with damage. Thisas replaced with a Y410p, first unit was DOA, second lasted a month, third lasted 3 months. Replaced by a U530, the first of which arrived DOA . It was great for 5 months till the hinge broke which also caused the screen to crack. Lenovo denied warranty so after all they put me through, I end up with a pile of junk with little value. If you own this machine? Treat the hinge like it is made of fine crystal. Limit it's use and if you do close the lid, make sure there isn't even a speck of dust on the platform. If you're considering this unit? DON'T! Avoid the Ideapad line like the plague. This was singularly the worst purchase I ever made. It's cheap poorly made junk. If you must buy Lenovo and I suggest you don't, then buy a Thinkpad!

 

[olly6001]

Originally bought a Y400p, whch eventually failed to boot, was repaired poorly and came back with damage. Thisas replaced with a Y410p, first unit was DOA, second lasted a month, third lasted 3 months. Replaced by a U530, the first of which arrived DOA . It was great for 5 months till the hinge broke which also caused the screen to crack. Lenovo denied warranty so after all they put me through, I end up with a pile of junk with little value. If you own this machine? Treat the hinge like it is made of fine crystal. Limit it's use and if you do close the lid, make sure there isn't even a speck of dust on the platform. If you're considering this unit? DON'T! Avoid the Ideapad line like the plague. This was singularly the worst purchase I ever made. It's cheap poorly made junk. If you must buy Lenovo and I suggest you don't, then buy a Thinkpad!

Don't know how you treat your laptops but I've had my lenovo U330 for nearly 3 years. I also have a HP monster which I've had for 4.5 years. Prior to that I had another lenovo which I had for 3 years until I left it on a high shelf and it got knocked on to a concrete floor so it smashed.

I have taken all my laptops out of the home, travelled with them on planes, trains and in my car. I have use my U330 6 days a week and close it every time I've finished using it which can be lots of times a day.

Point I'm making sometimes the issue isn't the product but the person using the product.......

 

[Kevin_19]

Originally bought a Y400p, whch eventually failed to boot, was repaired poorly and came back with damage. Thisas replaced with a Y410p, first unit was DOA, second lasted a month, third lasted 3 months. Replaced by a U530, the first of which arrived DOA . It was great for 5 months till the hinge broke which also caused the screen to crack. Lenovo denied warranty so after all they put me through, I end up with a pile of junk with little value. If you own this machine? Treat the hinge like it is made of fine crystal. Limit it's use and if you do close the lid, make sure there isn't even a speck of dust on the platform. If you're considering this unit? DON'T! Avoid the Ideapad line like the plague. This was singularly the worst purchase I ever made. It's cheap poorly made junk. If you must buy Lenovo and I suggest you don't, then buy a Thinkpad!

Don't know how you treat your laptops but I've had my lenovo U330 for nearly 3 years. I also have a HP monster which I've had for 4.5 years. Prior to that I had another lenovo which I had for 3 years until I left it on a high shelf and it got knocked on to a concrete floor so it smashed.

I have taken all my laptops out of the home, travelled with them on planes, trains and in my car. I have use my U330 6 days a week and close it every time I've finished using it which can be lots of times a day.

Point I'm making sometimes the issue isn't the product but the person using the product.......

I normally do not reply on threads like this, but need to make everyone aware the u530 has a manufacturer defect with the hinge. I am currently going through a warranty/replacement process with lenovo for the same hinge issue. I loved everything about the laptop, especially having an ultra portable laptop with 15.6 inch screen. Defective hardware is a deal breaker for me.

 

[Steve634]

Hey guys,

I am in the market for a new Ultrabook. I am between the Yoga 2 Pro and the U530 Touch, both from Lenovo. Anyone know about the U530 Touch? I can not find any external reviews, and it looks like it is only sold at Best buy, though it has pretty good specs.

My requirements for the Ultrabook/Laptop is to stream movies, stream music, surf the web and maybe some lightroom. I am looking for something with a good battery and display, will last me a long time, have a 4th generation i5 or i7 processor and an HDMI or micro HDMI output.

Any thoughts or inputs?

 

[Steve634]

I would not buy a Lenovo product; early in 2014 Lenovo was aware of hinge problem that is cracking the screen of the U530 and other products. If this issue does not show up during the warranty of 1 year they are not standing behind the in house defect. My laptop broke after 1.5 yrs of light use, after several phone calls to support the best they can do is send a technician to my home at the cost of 400. Solution is to buy another product, please review the blogs on line before your purchase.

 

[Steve634]

Originally bought a Y400p, whch eventually failed to boot, was repaired poorly and came back with damage. Thisas replaced with a Y410p, first unit was DOA, second lasted a month, third lasted 3 months. Replaced by a U530, the first of which arrived DOA . It was great for 5 months till the hinge broke which also caused the screen to crack. Lenovo denied warranty so after all they put me through, I end up with a pile of junk with little value. If you own this machine? Treat the hinge like it is made of fine crystal. Limit it's use and if you do close the lid, make sure there isn't even a speck of dust on the platform. If you're considering this unit? DON'T! Avoid the Ideapad line like the plague. This was singularly the worst purchase I ever made. It's cheap poorly made junk. If you must buy Lenovo and I suggest you don't, then buy a Thinkpad!

Don't know how you treat your laptops but I've had my lenovo U330 for nearly 3 years. I also have a HP monster which I've had for 4.5 years. Prior to that I had another lenovo which I had for 3 years until I left it on a high shelf and it got knocked on to a concrete floor so it smashed.

I have taken all my laptops out of the home, travelled with them on planes, trains and in my car. I have use my U330 6 days a week and close it every time I've finished using it which can be lots of times a day.

Point I'm making sometimes the issue isn't the product but the person using the product.......