It's silly, but after swapping out my Dell Precision 5520 for my Lenovo Y700 for a few days (I've been stuck on projects in bad states that'd take too long to set back up on another box), I'm finding I really appreciate the speakers in this "gaming" laptop. I'd been using an external speaker with the Dell's dock, but it's not great, and I can't force myself to spend more on something I don't "need". The Lenovo comes through "for free".

You know, this Y series IdeaPad line is a great deal. You sacrifice some admittedly very important stuff...

  • Screen isn't great, or super bright
  • Battery life is craptastic (2-3 hours)
  • Trackpad isn't great (though it's improved on the Y520, apparently).

But look at what you get for $790 on the 520 (this was as cheap, iirc, as $700 on Black Friday)

  • 7th Generation Intelยฎ Coreโ„ข i7-7700HQ Processor (2.80GHz 6MB)
  • 15.6" FHD IPS AntiGlare (1920x1080) with integrated camera
  • 8.0GB DDR4 2400 MHz
  • 1TB 5400RPM + 128GB PCIe SSD
  • AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB

Find another package that has that processor and an SSD for under $800. It's tough.

It's not a great gaming rig -- though it's not bad for gaming -- and it's the perfect desktop replacement that's still portable, if you get my meaning. It's super fast, and if you've got it plugged in most of the time you use it, the battery doesn't matter. But you can still pack it into your 15" laptop bag without any issues.

And the speakers aren't bad either.

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