Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15″)

Date Published: 02 Feb 2018
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CPU: Intel Core i5-8250U
GPU: NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5)
Display: 15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS
Storage: 1000GB HDD
RAM: 8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz
Weight: 2.20 kg (4.9 lbs)

Pros

Decent build
Good input devices
IPS panel with high contrast
The screen doesn't use PWM for regulating screen brightness

Cons

The M.2 SSD slot is unusuable unless you remove the optical drive
The screen has limited sRGB coverage and relatively low maximum brightness
Poor battery life

Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15″) - Specs

CPU

Intel Core i5-8250U 83

CPU Performance #83

Average

Intel Core i7-8550U 3.8%
Intel Core i7-8650U 0.6%
Intel Core i5-8250U

GPU

NVIDIA GeForce MX150 (2GB GDDR5) 101

GPU Performance #101

Good

Display

15.6”, Full HD (1920 x 1080), IPS

panel 1

LG LP156WF6-SPK6 (Lenovo Ideapad 520)

Color accuracy 5.8 -> 3.5

more laptops with this display panel

HDD/SSD

1TB HDD, 5400 rpm

RAM

8GB DDR4, 2400 MHz

Linux

Body material

Plastic / Polycarbonate, Aluminum (Aluminum lid, plastic base)

Dimensions

378 x 260 x 22 mm (14.88" x 10.24" x 0.87")

Weight

2.20 kg (4.9 lbs)

Ports and connectivity

Features

Fingerprint reader
Web camera HD 720p (1.0MP), fixed focus
Backlit keyboard
Microphone Dual array microphone
Speakers 2x 2W
Optical drive
Security Lock slot

There are 5 laptops with the same specs, All brands (sorted by price)

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DISPLAY: 15.6-inch, 1920 x 1080, IPS

Name	LG LP156WF6-SPK6 (Lenovo Ideapad 520)
Diagonal	15.6"
Pixel density	141.21 ppi
Brightness	288 cd/m²
sRGB	53%
PWM frequency	No PWM (Flicker-Free)

Panel Type	IPS
Resolution	1920 x 1080
Becomes "Retina" from	24 inches (62 cm)
Contrast	1230:1
dE Color Checker	5.8 3.5
PWM Rating	10.0: (safe)

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Health-Guard

The first and most important profile (in our opinion) is the Health-Guard – when being used with our LM Profiles application, Health-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body.

Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate (they may seem strange at first but after a few minutes our brain will start recognizing them as accurate ones – that’s how Health-Guard differs from alternatives like f.lux).

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Health-Guard Profile

Office Work and Web Design

The second profile type is Office Work and Web Design. Business tasks are various, most often related to a set of office-targeted applications. Sometimes, working outside is necessary. In such cases color accuracy is paramount, but so is image clarity, brightness, contrast etc. A piece of text must be legible, graphics and histograms must be clear. All of this is precisely what this profile is for. If you’re doing office work, web design, or simply value color accuracy when browsing the Internet, this is the profile to use!

It’s important to note that not all displays are suited for Web design – our profiles can not compensate for insufficient sRGB coverage (most TN panels have this problem), so you you might want to check our detailed color tests in the respective product reviews we’ve done if you want to use the machine for professional work.

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

Gaming and Movie Nights

Gaming is among the main driving forces for the fast clip of hardware development. Gamers are well-aware of the fact that a poor image can ruin the entire experience.

The same goes for watching movies. Imagine sitting down for a nice movie after a long day, and barely making out what’s on the screen. The ‘Gaming and movie night’ profile can make a huge difference. We strongly recommend you use it, since it’s gamma curve is specifically tuned to reveal details in the dark sections of the image.

Here’s what this amounts to:

Left: No Profile | Drag the slider to see the difference | Right: Design & Gaming Profile

You’ll find more information about the profiles HERE.

Buy our profiles for LG LP156WF6-SPK6 (Lenovo Ideapad 520)

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Office Work

Office Work should be used mostly by users who spend most of the time looking at pieces of text, tables or just surfing. This profile aims to deliver better distinctness and clarity by keeping a flat gamma curve (2.20), native color temperature and perceptually accurate colors.

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Design and Gaming

This profile is aimed at designers who work with colors professionally, and for games and movies as well. Design and Gaming takes display panels to their limits, making them as accurate as possible in the sRGB IEC61966-2-1 standard for Web and HDTV, at white point D65.

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Health-Guard

THealth-Guard eliminates the harmful Pulse-Width Modulation (PWM) and reduces the negative Blue Light which affects our eyes and body. Since it’s custom tailored for every panel, it manages to keep the colors perceptually accurate. Health-Guard simulates paper so the pressure on the eyes is greatly reduced.

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Lenovo Ideapad 520 (15″) in-depth review

When Lenovo first launched the Ideapad 510, we were pretty impressed by the performance and features it has for the asking price. Luckily, the new Ideapad 520 hasn't steered away from this concept and in fact, we see a handful of improvements over the last generation without the price bump. The new generation offers better build quality, a good choice of materials making it feel more premium, updated hardware and keeps the IPS panel, which was one of the key selling points of its predecessor[...]

Read the full review