Gaming rigs tend to be extra pricey; they seldom are pocket-friendly. And if you happen to want a gaming rig just around the £700 mark then Lenovo Legion Y520 80WK00LGGE can be a great option. It’s a starter gaming cum productivity laptop that houses a relatively cheaper but moderately powerful GPU. Let’s check it out.
Check out the latest price for the Lenovo Legion Y520 80WK00LGGE
Specs:
- CPU – Intel Core i5 Quad-Core (7th Gen), 2.5 GHz
- GPU – 2 GB DDR5, NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050
- Memory – 8 GB DDR4, extendable upto 32 GB
- Screen – 15.6-inch Full HD IPS (1,920 x 1,080)
- Storage – 1 TB SATA HDD
- OS – Windows 10 Home edition
Benefits:
- Performance – Unlike some of the other gaming rigs this model’s equipped rather conservatively. Even then housing an Intel Core i5 processor, 8 GB RAM and 1 TB of HDD packs enough power to tackle your gaming needs comfortably. My only concern is the rather sluggish 5400 rpm hard disk which drags the system performance down.
- GPU – Alongside the meagre Intel HD Graphics 630 it houses an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1050 GPU. It can safely run your less demanding titles like Bioshock or Dirt even in the High or Ultra settings. But for the more demanding games, it hardly can keep up in even in the Medium preset. So the low preset in the 1080p resolution is the only choice.
- Cooling – The fans seem pretty efficient. Even on the max load, they weren’t overly noisy. But at the same time, the machine was sufficiently cool even after hardcore gaming. The top temperature was recorded near 40°C and the rear temperature near the vents was recorded at 45°C. Both seemed bearable.
- Price – The price tag is probably the most appealing factors for this laptop. Priced at £670 (€ 755), it’s pretty affordable even for those who are on a tight budget.
Downsides:
- Display – I know that it’s supposed to be a budget gaming laptop. But even then the display is just subpar. The brightness is simply terrible at 225 nits. That’s much lower than the bearable limit of 280 nits making it workable only in indoor conditions at the highest possible brightness. The colour coverage of the panel is even worse at a mere 60% (sRGB colour space). As a result, the colours do not seem realistic and feels dull.
- Battery – The 45 Wh battery pack could make it stay alive for merely 3 and a half hour while surfing the internet. Yeah, yeah, I know that gaming rigs shouldn’t be judged in terms of battery backup but that value was a result of some trivial task like web surfing and video streaming. So you can’t really stay much away from that charger.
Verdict:
It’s not the most powerful gaming rig built ever. Rather it’s a gaming laptop that barely passes the necessary gaming tests. If I had to choose one thing that is great about this laptop then it certainly would be that it’s relatively cheap. And as stated earlier, if your budget is extra tight then this one is worth checking out.