2.4GHz Intel Core i5-520M4GB RAM
500GB hard drive
DVD±RW
14 inches (1,366x768 native resolution)
Integrated Intel GMA HD graphics and ATI Radeon HD 5650 (1GB)
5.1 pounds
0.75x13.6x9.3 inches
Windows 7 Home Premium (64-bit)
Lenovo’s IdeaPad Y460 is all about entertainment on the go. This stylish thin-and-light notebook offers Core i5 processing power and lets you switch between a powerful dedicated graphics chip for gaming and other graphics-intensive tasks and an integrated graphics chipset to conserve battery life. Priced at $1,049 in the model we saw (Lenovo also offers a dialed-back version of the Y460 at $899), the IdeaPad Y460 is reasonably affordable given its powerful configuration, which propelled it to the top of its category in terms of performance. Our gripes with this model were comparatively minor: an overly reflective LCD screen, and merely mediocre battery life.
As with the IdeaPad U450p we tested not long before this model, the IdeaPad Y460 features a patterned black finish. Instead of a weave print, though, it is decorated with a series of intertwined hexagons and other geometric shapes. A sliver of glossy copper trim frames the lid, complementing the matte finish. The notebook weighs 4.6 pounds and measures three-quarters of an inch thick, so you’ll have no trouble hauling it around town.
Raising the lid exposes a roomy keyboard deck that's gunmetal gray on the lower half and piano black at the top. In the middle is a typical world-class Lenovo keyboard; the black keys are well-spaced and have just the right amount of give without feeling too mushy. The gesture-enabled touch pad (which lets you navigate the screen with multiple-finger motions, just like you would on an Apple iPhone) is also a pleasure to use and features a lightly textured finish that provides effortless cursor control. The dual mouse buttons are whisper-quiet and highly responsive.
At the top of the keyboard deck is a small pair of JBL speakers that are surprisingly loud and crisp for their size. Predictably, they lack bass (most laptop speakers do), but their audio output is nonetheless a cut above the norm. To the left of the backlit power switch is a hotkey that launches Lenovo's backup and restoration application, OneKey, and to the right of that are wireless-network- and drive-activity indicators.
in the center is Lenovo’s SlideNav bar, a touch-sensitive slider control that lets you launch items such as Calculator, Notepad, and Sound Recorder, as well as other items that you can add on your own. You can also change the wallpaper by sliding from right to left and “zip the screen” by sliding from left to right. (Zipping the screen disables the keyboard, mouse buttons, and touch pad.) You can unzip the screen by dragging your finger from right to left. This is a pretty cool feature and one we haven't seen before.
To the right of the SlideNav bar is a button that launches Lenovo’s Energy Management utility, which lets you change power schemes on the fly, and a Theater button that switches among three preset display modes (normal, movie, and intelligent). At the far right are volume-up, volume-down, and mute buttons. As with the power switch, all of these upper-deck buttons are illuminated with white backlighting. A backlit IdeaPad logo is on the lower right-hand portion of the keyboard deck.
The 14-inch display has a 1,366x768 resolution and uses a glossy coating to provide rich color reproduction and wide viewing angles. The screen is very reflective, however, and under bright lighting it exhibits mirror-like characteristics. That said, the movie Avatar on DVD looked wonderful on the LED-backlit screen, as did the action-packed game Far Cry 2, one of our favorite first-person shooters. Video and gaming action displayed smooth and artifact-free, and the small speakers did a fine job of filling the room without distorting.
Whether you’re focused on watching movies or sharing photos, you should be able to find the right port to supplement what you're doing. HDMI and VGA video connections (for outputting the display to an external monitor) are joined by two USB ports, an Ethernet jack, and headphone and microphone jacks on the left side of the chassis. On the right are an additional USB port, an eSATA/USB combo, an ExpressCard slot, and a DVD drive that reads and writes. On the front edge of the chassis are a multiformat flash-card reader, a Wi-Fi switch, and a switch that toggles between the discrete graphics chip and the integrated graphics. (A white LED lights up when the dedicated chip is selected.) This implementation isn’t as seamless as Nvidia’s Optimus technology, which switches automatically according to what you're doing with the laptop, but you don’t need to shut down when switching. So as long as you understand the appropriate time and place to switch, it’s pretty straightforward. A 1.3-megapixel Webcam and a dual microphone array are embedded in the display’s upper bezel.
