Quick look at Lenovo Ideapad 510 – excellent budget all-rounder

Lenovo Ideapad 510 – an entry-level laptop with mid-range looks and upper-mid-range hardware. If you are looking for a decent multimedia daily driver and you are sick of the lackluster TN displays, the Ideapad 510 is not only the ideal choice but probably the only one as well. We are talking about a Core i5-6200U CPU, GeForce 940MX GPU and a Full HD IPS display for under $700.

Most of the available configurations can be found here: http://amzn.to/2diiWcM

Design

The chassis of the Ideapad 510 combines an already familiar look with some refreshed elements compared to the previous generation. But generally, the machine feels and looks the same, which isn’t a bad thing at all.

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The lid features a slightly matte texture with metallic black paint on top giving a distinct look and feel. It looks sturdy but ripples do come out on the LCD screen when pressed while the hinge appears to be a bit overly tightened because the lid can be opened using two hands.

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A surprisingly well-built interior gives a notion of a premium laptop with brushed aluminum cover. We all know how users get hyped over aluminum and it’s a good thing Lenovo was able to include it despite the low price. Unfortunately, though, not the whole surface is as smooth as it should be. There’s a small gap where the aluminum plate and the plastic sides connect so when you type and rest your arms, you can feel it on your wrists.

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While we are on the interior, we would like to compliment the comfortable keyboard and stable touchpad, which consists of two stiff mouse buttons and a relatively smooth trackpad area. Whereas the keyboard features short key travel but with excellent feedback that makes up for the good user experience. To add to the already good design, the Ideapad 510 surprises with relatively light and thin chassis measuring at 2.2 kg and 22.9 mm.

Hardware

The Ideapad 510 features the same hardware options as the Ideapad 500 but replaces the AMD discrete GPU with a more powerful GeForce 940MX with up to 4GB of DDR3 VRAM. There are models with the Intel HD Graphics 520 iGPU as well. Anyway, the CPU options are still the Core i5-6200U and Core i7-6500U paired with up to 8GB of DDR4-2133 RAM. Keep in mind that one of the 4GB RAM chips is soldered to the motherboard. Storage configurations include HDDs up to 1TB but you might find some models on the market with 2.5-inch SSD.

Keeping the lights on is the 39Wh battery, which is rated at up to 5 hours of video playback but we will make sure to check that out on the unit we have. Last, but not least, the display features a 15.6-inch Full HD IPS panel, which is usually inherent to a much pricier mid-range laptops. The best part is that the configuration without the iGPU costs around $520 but if you enjoy gaming every now and then, a reasonable $649 have to be paid, which is still nowhere near most models with IPS screens.

Specs sheet

Some of the specs may differ depending on your region.

CPUIntel Core i5-6200U (2-core, 2.30 – 2.80 GHz, 3MB cache) / Intel Core i7-6500U (2-core, 2.50 – 3.10 GHz, 4MB cache)
RAMup to 8GB (2x 4096MB (1x soldered chip + 1x DIMM)) – DDR4, 2133 MHz
GPUIntel HD Graphics 520 / NVIDIA GeForce 940MX (up to 4GB DDR3)
HDD/SSDup to 1TB of HDD (5400 rpm)
Display15.6-inch – 1920 x 1080 (FHD) IPS, matte
Optical drive
ConnectivityLAN, Wi-Fi 802.11ac, Bluetooth 4.0
Features
  • 2x USB 3.0
  • 1x USB 2.0
  • webcam
  • microphone
  • 3.5 mm audio jack
  • HDMI
  • VGA
  • 4-in-1 card reader (MMC, SD, SDHC, SDXC)
  • RJ-45
  • stereo loudspeakers with Dolby Audio
Battery39Wh
Thickness22.9 mm (0.90″)
Weight2.2 kg (4.8 lbs)

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veghzsofia
7 years ago

Great reviews and content! Can you please advise on best 13 inch laptops by battery life. I was going to buy a Lenovo 500s-13isk becuase of the great specs, but battery life is not really convincing compared to, say, MacBook Air. Could you pls. advise something in similar price range and specs, but wit longer battery? Acers (v3-372)? Thank you

Umit Erdem
7 years ago
Reply to  veghzsofia

Dude, if your budget available for macbook go for it, dont mess with Windows, there are pretty huge differences workmanship, build quality, LIFE SPAN…