Lenovo Y-550 15.6-Inch Black Laptop – Up to 4.5 Hours of Battery Life

One Response to “Lenovo Y-550 15.6-Inch Black Laptop – Up to 4.5 Hours of Battery Life”

1. Jae H. Han says:

   April 16, 2010 at 10:43 am

   Before I launch into my bitter diatribe, I want to say that perhaps I am in error. Perhaps I did not take better care of my computer (although I doubt it, since my before laptop from Acer lasted me a excellent 4.5 years, all owing to my apprentice career, and had been subject to much more battering than this laptop), or that I should have been more sensitive to this computer’s needs, but at this point, I am very convinced that I will never buy a laptop from Lenovo again. This is my first review, possibly my only review ever, but my experience with Lenovo has been so terrible that I reckon you deserve a warning.

   Service Issues:
   
   1) Lenovo messed up my online order. I’m not even sure how this is possible. First, they said my CC did not get endorsed. I called my bank. They said they endorsed it. Lenovo denied it again. Lenovo told my bank to call them so they can work things out. Convoluted things happen. They do so, and I receive my laptop. Unfortunately, I’m exciting twice for the same laptop, and Lenovo sends me a two copies of the same laptop. I try sending the first one back, but they do not give me a warning when the person will come to pick it up. Because of the nature of my job, I cannot simply just wait around all day waiting for the mailman. I hold unto the laptop. (my mistake)

   2) I finally call Lenovo again to send in the extra laptop. They give me a code. I place it on the box, go to the UPS store and ship it in. A few weeks later, I get a notice adage that the shipment never arrived. I call, they look into it; apparently, they received a box lacking anything in it. At this point, exasperation ensues. How is that even possible? They file a missing box/shipment. The issue is, to my knowledge, still unresolved.

   Now, onto the laptop itself.

   1) Webcam breaks within 3 weeks. It picks up light, but monochromatically. Not worth using. (It was excellent when it worked though)

   2) Array breaks down within 5 months. Laptop recognizes that array is plugged in, but does not use it. I’ve been told that because the array isn’t part of the warranty, I have to pay for it myself. Fine. I’ll do it once I close my project and don’t need a laptop. (FYI, you need to send in this computer back to Lenovo so they can fix it. You will be laptopless for a while, not sure how long since I cannot send it in until after one of my projects is completed. But, still a major major inconvenience.)

   3) Sound quality is terrible. The laptop sound system crackles often, and although it is loud, the incessant sound fuzz is just enough to just have me plug in my iPod instead directly into the laptop itself. I am not an audiophile, so people with more refined acoustic systems might be really repulsed by the sound.

   3) As a minor pro, in contrast to the major cons, it IS a positively light laptop. But, there is a fantastic sense of fragility to this laptop, and does not feel at all sturdy. After my webcam and array breaking, I’m just worried that this machine is going to break down completely. I’ve stopped carrying it around as much, and have relegated it as a desktop-laptop, which of course, completely gets rid of the very thought of having a portable laptop in the first place.

   Conclusion:
   
   I wish my experience with Lenovo had been more clear, that they could get the order right in the first place, and that this laptop was not so fragile. Overall, there seems to be better options available, so I recommend you look elsewhere first. I wasn’t suckered into buying this laptop; I thought it would be genuinely excellent. I do like that they place in Windows 7, that the processor is quick, the RAM quick, the keyboard “clicky”. But, my personal experience with Lenovo has been so terrible that I just cannot in excellent conscience recommend this laptop.
   Rating: 1 / 5