Lenovo Yoga 510 (15″) (Flex 4) review – budget hybrid done right

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Last year’s Lenovo Yoga 500 was a big hit and gradually gained popularity throughout 2015 despite its obvious flaws. However, Lenovo has returned with even better solution, named it Yoga 510 and practically took care of all the things we didn’t like about the older model. It now has more polished, robust and quite exceptional build quality along with crisp IPS touchscreen with Full HD (1080p) resolution. Of course, the brains of the machine are the new 6th generation Skylake processors and fairly long battery runtimes, or at least according to the OEM. We will make sure to check that out in the review below.

Anyway, we can easily say that the Yoga 510 kind of falls into its own category because you won’t find a lot of users looking for a 15-inch convertible (also note that Lenovo will release a 14-inch variant as well). Yes, the 15.6-inch form factor is really sought-after but the same cannot be said when talking about 2-in-1 devices. The whole point of buying a convertible is to be able to use it in different modes and be a good replacement for a tablet without feeling the extra weight or size. Still, we are impressed by the overall features this device offers for just $599 as a starting price.

You can check when the notebook hits the market here under the name “Flex 4” for the US or here as “Yoga 510” for the rest of the world.

Contents


Retail package

The notebook used for the writing of this review is an early testing sample so we cannot be certain of what the final package will contain but we suspect it will not be very different from ours. There’s the AC charger, a bunch of manuals and the notebook itself.

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Design and construction

Probably the key selling point of the Yoga 510 is its sleek design and robust construction. We are quite delighted of what we see for just $599 – great choice of materials, excellent keyboard, and not so bad ergonomics.


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Unlike most notebooks in this price range, the Yoga 510 excels in sturdiness, despite the fact that most of the chassis is built from plastic mimicking anodized aluminum finish at some extent. The material doesn’t attract fingerprints that easily but dust appears to be quite visible. It’s clean and simplistic with only Yoga’s logo placed on the upper left corner. Opening the lid with one hand is nearly impossible and since the hinges are so tightly pulled, one would expect less wobbly screen when using the touch panel. Unfortunately, this is not the case and in fact, the screen sways slightly even when just typing or using the notebook on a not so stable surface. Still, this might be just a problem with the pre-production unit. Most importantly, though, the surface of the lid is rock solid and even high amount of pressure doesn’t cause the cover to sink. The same goes for the bottom plate, which accommodates one vent for extra airflow and two other grills on the sides for the loudspeakers.


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The sides appear to be relatively thin – around 21-23 mm so the notebook will probably easily fit in most bags without a hassle. The left side holds the DC charging port, which isn’t the old USB-like connector that we like and instead it’s now a cylindrical jack like the ones on Dell, ASUS, and Acer machines, one USB 2.0, 3.5 mm combo audio jack and an SD card reader. The right side accommodates the LAN port, HDMI, a pair of USB 3.0 ports and the power button, which should be easily reached when working in tablet mode. However, the design of the button somehow lacks ergonomics and it’s hard to “feel” the key when looking for it. Interestingly, the front side doesn’t feature a silicone strip for better stability in tent mode, for example, but instead it uses a sharp protruding edge with little curve connecting to the interior plate that practically does the same job.


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The flashy interior is probably the best part in our opinion. The budget Yoga 510 uses anodized aluminum around the keyboard with chamfered (look like diamond cut) edges giving it more distinct and premium look. Fingerprints stick easily but they are not as visible. The whole design of the interior feels and looks way better than any machine we’ve reviewed so far. We were easily fooled that we are working on a far more expensive laptop. The same goes for the keyboard, which has only one drawback – no backlight. While the $600 configuration may not be “held responsible” for not having an LED illumination, the more expensive variants should have this little feature and we hope they will sell with it. Anyway, the key travel is long with the usual AccuType design and the keys are well-spaced apart. The whole typing experience is just flawless and it didn’t take much time to fall in love with it. We also welcome the media player control keys that are placed just above the Numpad area – something we haven’t seen so often on Lenovo notebooks, unfortunately. The same flattering words, however, do not apply to the touchpad. It’s somehow inaccurate at times and doesn’t register left/right clicks so well, but no annoying wobbling occurred, which is a plus.


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At the end of the day, the Yoga 510 is a perfect successor to the Yoga 500 in terms of design and build quality but keeps us wanting more out of the 2-in-1 experience. It’s relatively thin, yes, but a bit too hefty (2.070 kg) making it too heavy for normal tablet usage for example. We suggest you better stick with the tent and the usual laptop mode. Nevertheless, it’s good to know that you can rotate the hinge to the full 360-degree in certain situations.


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Disassembly, maintenance, internals and upgrade options

Although there’s no service lid, the notebook offers fairly easy access to the internals with only the bottom plate being held by several screws. Be careful when prying up the bottom as the aluminum chassis can be easily bent. We suggest using a plastic tool or a credit card.


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Storage upgrade options – 2.5″ slot, M.2 slot

The notebook offers only one 2.5-inch slot, which is understandable given the price range of the product. There’s no additional M.2 SSD slot.

SlotUnitPrice
2.5-inch slotSeagate HDD – 500GB, 5400 rpmCheck price
M.2 slotNO

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RAM upgrade options – 1 slot, DDR3

There’s only one RAM slot and ships with either 4GB or an 8GB chip installed. However, you will find it a bit tricky to access the RAM slot. It’s hidden under a metal plate. Refer to our full disassembly guide for further information on how to remove it.

SlotUnitPrice
DDR3 RAM Slot 1Ramaxel 4GB DDR3Check price


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Other components

Near the upper-left of the motherboard, near the hinge, you will find the Wi-Fi module as well. It’s manufactured by Qualcomm with a model number QCNFA435.


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And here’s the battery rated at 35Wh.

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Cooling system

The notebook’s cooling system seems well adjusted to the class of the machine. It should provide long hours of work without any excessive heat and besides, the Core i5-6200U CPU isn’t quite capable of dispersing a lot of heat.

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Display and sound

The notebook offers a Full HD IPS panel with 1920 x 1080 pixels resolution packed in a 15.6-inch diagonal with a pixel density of 141 ppi and 0.18 x 0.18 pixel pitch. It’s manufactured by BOE with a model number NV156FHM-N42 and the display can be considered as “Retina” when viewed from a distance equal or greater than 61 cm.

Micr-Lenovo Yoga 510 (15-inch)

The display, of course, offers good viewing angles under 45-degree incline.

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The panel offers fairly low maximum brightness – 245 cd/m2, which is rather low if you are planning to use the notebook near a strong light source or outdoors. Also, the dE2000 at the lower left of the screen is 3.5 with a deviation of 15%, which is considered to be okay. Anything more than this is easy to spot with a naked eye. The maximum deviation of the white point is just 30K while the average is pretty close to the optimal 6500K.

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Color reproduction

To make sure we are on the same page, we would like to give you a little introduction of the sRGB color gamut and the Adobe RGB. Starting with the CIE 1976 Uniform Chromaticity Diagram that represents the visible specter of colors by the human eye giving you a better perception of the color gamut coverage and the color accuracy. Inside the black triangle, you will see the standard color gamut (sRGB) that has been used by millions of people in HDTV and the Web. As for the Adobe RGB, this is used by professional cameras, monitors and etc. used for printing. Basically, colors inside the black triangle are used by everyone and this is the essential part of the color quality and color accuracy.

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The display can reproduce just 58% of the sRGB colors.

Below you will see practically the same image before calibration. Color circles represent the reference colors and white circles being the result. You can see main and additional colors with 25%, 50%, 75% and 100% saturation inside the sRGB gamut. The profile has been set to 140 cd/m2 and optimal white point – D65 (6500K).


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BefColors-Lenovo Yoga 510 (15-inch)

The native contrast ratio is really high – 1330:1 and got lower after calibration – 1230:1. Colors appear to be fairly accurate out of the box but the image will slightly warmer and darker.

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Below you can see the results from the accuracy color checker with 24 commonly used colors like light and dark human skin, blue sky, green grass, orange etc. The results are before and after calibration.


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Pulse-width modulation (PWM, Screen flickering)

The panel uses PWM from 0 to 99% screen brightness but the frequency of the emitted light is pretty high (21 kHz) and thus reducing the negative impact on one’s eyesight.

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Conclusion

We are unsure how the configurations will go when the notebook hits the market. At MWC 2016, the notebook had a TN panel while the testing unit we reviewed had an IPS screen, which is a nice feature for a $600 laptop. However, if only more expensive configurations adopt the IPS panel, we are left with some mixed feeling about the image quality as the screen offers fairly low maximum brightness, low sRGB coverage and uses PWM for regulating screen brightness. So our opinion on the matter is that the screen is suitable for the lower-end class but won’t compete with other models in the same price range for the more expensive configurations.

Sound

The stereo loudspeakers provide good sound quality but some clarity is missing in the mid and low frequencies.

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Specs sheet

Some of the specs may differ depending on your region.


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Check price USA

Check price Europe

CPUIntel Core i5-6200U (2-core, 2.30 – 2.80 GHz, 3MB cache)
RAM4GB (1x 4096MB) – DDR3, 1600 MHz
GPUIntel HD Graphics 520
HDD/SSD1TB HDD (5400 rpm)
Display15.6-inch – 1920×1080 (Full HD) IPS, glossy
Optical drive
ConnectivityLAN 10/100/1000 Mbps, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Features
  • 2x USB 3.0
  • 2x USB 2.0
  • web cam
  • built-in microphone
  • built-in speakers
  • RJ-45
  • combo audio jack (microphone/headset)
  • HDMI
  • memory card reader (SD, MMC, SDXC)
Battery35Wh
Thickness21-23 mm (0.83-0.91″)
Weight2.070 kg (4.56 lbs)


Lenovo Yoga 510 configurations


Software

The notebook came with pre-installed Windows 10 (64-bit) and since the product is still up for a release, Lenovo hasn’t provided a full set of drivers for the machine yet, but you can find them here as soon as they appear.

Battery

We weren’t expecting much from the battery, but the small 35Wh unit is really insufficient for a normal usage even when the configuration features only the integrated Intel HD Graphics GPU. And the 15.6-inch IPS panel isn’t exactly the best at keeping the juice in the battery. The results are downright average but may struggle against some competing models in the upper-mid-range.

As usual, the battery tests were run with the same conditions – Wi-Fi turned on, power saver switched on and screen brightness set to 120 cd/m2.

Web browsing

In order to simulate real-life conditions, we used our own script for to automatically browse through over 70 websites.

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Pretty average result – 310 minutes (5 hours and 10 minutes).

Video playback

For every test like this, we use the same video in HD.

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Slightly lower result – 289 minutes (4 hours and 49 minutes).

Gaming

We recently started using F1 2015’s built-in benchmark on loop in order to simulate real-life gaming.

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The notebook isn’t intended for gaming, let alone away from the charger but we run this test for evaluation reasons 188 minutes (3 hours and 8 minutes) of play time.

CPU – Intel Core i5-6200U

Intel_Core_i5_logo-300x400Intel Core i5-6200U is a 6th generation dual-core CPU. It is manufactured using 14 nm FinFET process, meaning it’s part of the Ultra-Low Voltage lineup.The CPU is clocked at 2.3GHz, but thanks to the Turbo Boost technology it could automatically increase its clock speeds up to 2.8GHz for a single core and 2.7GHz when two cores are functioning. It is designed using Intel’s Skylake architecture allowing it to have similar performance to Intel Core i7-5500U, which is part of the Broadwell lineup. The CPU boasts four logical cores and 3MB level 3 cache. It consumes 15W of energy and can operate at a maximum temperature of 100 degrees Celsius.

The SoC also integrates Intel HD Graphics 520. Its performance is similar to that of NVIDIA’s GeForce GT 820 GPU. The GPU can be clocked at up to 1000MHz. The SoC supports the Dual-Channel DDR3L-1600/DDR4-2133 Memory Controller, HyperThreading, AVX, AVX2, Quick Sync, Virtualization and AES-NI technologies.

You can browse through our top CPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-cpu-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook we’ve tested with this processor: http://laptopmedia.com/processor/intel-core-i5-6200u/

SINCE WE TESTED AN EARLY ENGINEERING SAMPLE, THE YOGA 510 DIDN’T SHOW THE EXPECTED CPU AND GPU PERFORMANCE SO RESULTS AREN’T LISTED. YOU CAN STILL TAKE A LOOK AT THE CHARTS BECAUSE WE ALREADY TESTED OTHER NOTEBOOKS WITH THE INTEL CORE I5-6200U CPU AND YOU WILL FIND THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE NEGLIGIBLE.


GPU – Intel HD Graphics 520

intel_hd_graphicsIntel HD Graphics or also known as GT2 is an integrated graphics processor used in ULV (Ultra-low voltage) chips from intel that are part of the Skylake generation processors. The GT2 core boasts 24 Execution Units (EUs) that are clocked up to 1050 MHz, but the latter can be changed depending on the CPU that’s used in. The graphics processor supports up to DDR3L-1600 or DDR4-2133 RAM and uses two channels for reaching maximum bandwidth.

The revised GPU now supports H.265/HEVC hardware decoding but the most notable feature here is that the chip supports DisplayPort 1.2 while the HDMI support is limited to the older 1.4a. The GPU can support up to three displays simultaneously. The power consumption of the whole chip (along with the CPU and memory controller) is 15W.

You can browse through our top GPUs ranking: http://laptopmedia.com/top-laptop-graphics-ranking/

Here you will find other useful information and every notebook with this GPU that we’ve tested: http://laptopmedia.com/video-card/intel-hd-graphics-520/

SINCE WE TESTED AN EARLY ENGINEERING SAMPLE, THE YOGA 510 DIDN’T SHOW THE EXPECTED CPU AND GPU PERFORMANCE SO RESULTS AREN’T LISTED. YOU CAN STILL TAKE A LOOK AT THE CHARTS BECAUSE WE ALREADY TESTED OTHER NOTEBOOKS WITH THE INTEL CORE I5-6200U CPU AND YOU WILL FIND THE PERFORMANCE DIFFERENCE NEGLIGIBLE.


Temperatures

The two-staged test isn’t exactly the perfect method to reproduce a real-life usage, but it’s a good way to assess the overall stability of the system in the long run and also see how the cooling system handles heavy workload.

We kick off with 100% CPU stress test for about an hour and, of course, the results are more than good. The chip was able to maintain maximum operating frequency of 2.7 GHz (for two active cores) for some time but then dropped to 2.5 GHz, which is still in the Turbo Boost range. No thermal throttling occurred and the silicon ran at around 70 °C.

yoga 510 cpu

After we switched on the GPU stress test, the silicon’s temperatures remained roughly the same (70 °C) but the CPU started throttling in order to make some headroom for the iGPU. This is quite normal occurrence with these types of notebooks (without discrete GPU).

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Temperatures on the surface remained low as well even in extreme conditions.

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Verdict

We can’t be sure whether the Yoga 510 is a successor to the Yoga 500 but one thing is for sure, this version is worth the money even if it costs a few bucks more. The build quality is outstanding for a notebook at this price range while the touchpad and keyboard performance is great. It’s also pretty lightweight for a 15-incher and considerably thinner than most of its competitors. However, the size and weight don’t actually translate into comfortable usage in tablet mode which raises the question whether a 15-inch diagonal is actually worth making it into a 2-in-1 device in the first place. The form factor may also be the main reason the screen wobbles so much when using the touch panel. Anyway, if the notebook is priced right – considering the $600 starting price, we bet it would – it might be the logical choice between a standard 15-inch machine and the Yoga 510.

This leaves us with the battery and screen. They are both… okay. The screen appears to be sufficient for everyday tasks and some multimedia from time to time but we are unsure how the model will compete against other upper-mid-range laptops with better overall image quality. It’s clear that Lenovo has used a budget IPS panel but this might be a deal-breaker if you are opting for the more expensive configurations with Core i7-6500U CPU and discrete GPU. And finally the battery. It’s just as we expected – modest performance, which is often found in this segment of the market. It’s not that bad but it’s not convincing either considering the average battery runtimes.

You can check when the notebook hits the market here under the name “Flex 4” for the US or here as “Yoga 510” for the rest of the world.

Pros

  • Outstanding design and choice of materials
  • Relatively light and thin
  • Excellent touchpad and keyboard
  • Variety of ports in a budget convertible
  • Relatively low expected price for a convertible


Cons

  • Wobbly screen
  • PWM from 0 to 99% brightness
  • Underwhelming screen quality for the more expensive configurations

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7 years ago

i hear that there is a model of Flex 4 (aka. yoga 510) (14 inch) that has an Intel i7 6th gen, & AMD Radeon R7 M460 coming soon.
any way you can review that one?

Rossen Pandev
7 years ago
Reply to  this

Not for now, but I am pretty sure it\s going to be just like this one, but with different GPU, which hasn’t been released on the market yet.

Those
Those
7 years ago

Is the screen brightness much better then previously yoga 500?

Simeon Nikolov
Admin
7 years ago
Reply to  Those

Hello, Those!
We have tested the 14-inch HD version of Yoga 500 and it really has low brightness – just 185cd/m2 at 100%. Yoga 510’s 245 cd/m2 is far from being a record, but it’s enough for comfortable work in normal conditions (at the office / at home). It could be insufficient for working outdoors or in direct sunlight.

ARISTO
ARISTO
4 years ago

What about YOGA 510 model with AMD processor A6. This one is not mentioned.