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00:00Hey, how's it going? Dave 2D here, and this is the Lenovo Y720. So the review for this
00:09thing is long overdue. They actually showcased this laptop at CES of 2017, so that's like
00:148 months ago, and I finally was able to get my review unit in last week, and I've been
00:18playing with it for a while. This thing is one of the cheapest laptops that you can get
00:23with a GTX 1060. So this thing comes in at just over $1000, I think like $1020 if I'm
00:29not mistaken, and the build quality is really good. The paneling is strong all over, it's
00:34got aluminum on the outside, the keyboard deck is plastic, but it's very rigid. All
00:38the surfaces feel oddly strong for the price point. The hinge uses a design where they're
00:43closer together, and I normally don't like this, but they built it very well this year,
00:46it feels very durable. The port selection is better than most gaming laptops at this
00:50price point. Lots of USB ports, a couple of display outs, a Thunderbolt 3 port, and an
00:56Ethernet jack. The only thing that I would say it's missing is an SD card slot, and if
00:59you're curious, the Thunderbolt 3 port is actually full 4-lane PCIe, not 2 lanes like
01:04some other laptops, which is nice. The internals are accessed really easily, there's just some
01:08screws on the bottom. The RAM has a cover of some sort, but remove that, and you can
01:13replace the RAM, and you also have access to both drives as well. There's a 2.5 inch
01:16SATA, and an M.2 SSD. The battery down here has a bit of a weird shape, it's this giant
01:22It's a 60 watt hour battery, and I'm getting around 4 hours of battery life using the 4K
01:26screen. You'll also notice down here, a woofer dome. The speakers on this laptop are pretty
01:31good. There are a pair of speakers up top, to compliment that sub. These get really loud,
01:36like uncomfortably loud. They sound clean at regular volumes, and the bass is present,
01:40but the moment you crank it up to even like 60-70% volume, the distortion is pretty severe.
01:45The keyboard has a good layout, I actually like it a lot. The arrow keys are under the
01:49number pad, so it makes it very roomy, but it might be weird for people who frequently
01:52use a normal number pad. The keystrokes are a little shallow, and I feel like it could
01:57be a bit more responsive on the whole. It is a decent keyboard overall, and it has RGB
02:01backlighting. It's lit by zones, and not individual keys, but at this price point, you're normally
02:06stuck with red backlighting, so this is a nice touch. The trackpad is an Elan trackpad,
02:11and it's okay, it's not ideal. I know a lot of trackpads on gaming laptops never even
02:15get used, most people just plug up mice for playing and stuff, but I still think it could
02:19have been better. The surface is nice, and the button mechanism is good, but the tracking
02:23doesn't feel consistent to me. I'm getting occasional skips. Another thing that I don't
02:27love is the design. Now, I know I mentioned that the build quality is really good, and
02:31it is, but the design feels kind of out of place to me. It's got this crosshatch pattern
02:35on it, and it's cool that they went for something different than most other gaming laptops,
02:39but I don't know, I don't love it, and it's also prone to fingerprint sponges. Now, most
02:43of it comes from just the material, because it's a matte aluminum. It just shows smudges
02:47really readily, but yeah, if that's something that bothers you, be aware. The screen is
02:52okay. I'm using the newly released 4K panel here. I've also used the 1080p panel in the
02:56past. Both are IPS panels, but don't get very bright. Now, part of the reason why the screen
03:01is dimmer like this is because they put this matte coating on it. You can remove the coating.
03:05I've seen it done in the past. I've done it before on older Lenovo laptops. Basically,
03:09you take a hair dryer, heat it up, peel it off. I'm not going to do it on this, because
03:12it's a review unit, but in the past, when you do do it, it does get a little bit brighter,
03:17just because the material is gone. The bezels on the screen are a little thick on the top
03:21and bottom, but for the money, it's kind of expected, and the webcam looks okay. It's
03:25a 720p cam, nothing special. Performance on this laptop is solid. It's excellent for 1080p
03:31gaming. It'll handle lights and midway titles easily. You'll be way above 60 frames per
03:35second on just about any modern AAA shooter. Some open world games can get a bit more demanding,
03:40so you might have to lower image quality a little, but in general, this laptop is more
03:44than enough for 1080p gaming, and it's fully VR-ready. Only really demanding games or poorly
03:50optimized games, like PUBG, will need lowered graphics settings. When I played PUBG on this
03:54thing, I only felt comfortable with the frame rates when I put it to low graphics quality.
04:07Overall performance is good. I ran some stress tests, and the external temperatures stayed
04:11comfortable during those tests as well. Now, originally, this laptop had some thermal issues
04:15when it first launched. I know that some of the early reviews, like the very early units,
04:19had some issues with external temperatures, but I didn't notice any of that with this
04:23unit. For the stock fan settings, like the automatic fans, they're pretty quiet, and
04:27they cool adequately, but if you put on extreme cooling, it gets really loud. It does help
04:33a little bit. I mean, temperatures are a little bit lower. It's not really worth it to me,
04:37though. The extra noise is way too loud, but if you live somewhere warm, or you use
04:40your computer when you don't have access to air conditioning, that could be really useful.
04:44So, the Lenovo Y720. This thing gives you some pretty good value for the money. It's
04:48heavier than you'd expect, but it's a very well-built laptop, starting at just over $1,000.
04:53The screen is probably its weakest point. Both the 4K and the 1080p panels feel relatively
04:58dim. The keyboard has zoned RGB backlighting. Shallow stroke on the keys, but it's comfortable
05:03to type on. The trackpad uses Elan drivers, and there's some occasional tracking issues.
05:08Inside, the GTX 1060 and the Kaby Lake CPU options are awesome for 1080p gaming, and
05:14are well-cooled without the fan getting too loud. The RAM and both drives are easily upgraded
05:19if you want, and the battery comes in at 60 watt-hours with okay battery life. I'm getting
05:23around 4 hours with the 4K screen. So, a GTX 1060 laptop for around $1,000 is a pretty
05:29good value. There's two real competitors to this. First is like a broad competitor,
05:34which are the bare-bone systems like Clevo and Sager. But the other kind of brand-name
05:38competitor is the Acer Helios 300, which I've reviewed for in the past. They both have black
05:43and red gamer aesthetics. I wouldn't call either of them better-looking than the other.
05:47If you're trying to choose between the two, they're both good. The Y720 has better build
05:51quality, and I think on the whole, it's just a more complete laptop. It has RGB backlighting.
05:56It's got the Thermal 3 port. It has better thermal characteristics. I mean, it's just
06:00got more aggressive cooling. It's heavier. It's got a bigger battery. It's a more substantial
06:05laptop. The Acer Helios 300, it's a little bit cheaper, so you're going to get better
06:09bang for your buck in terms of just raw performance. But it is, I would consider it a quote-unquote
06:15cheaper-feeling laptop, just because it's got more plastic, and the whole device is
06:19just lighter weight and everything. But seriously, both of them are great. Can't go wrong with
06:23either of them. I would go for this one if you want build quality. I'd go with the Helios
06:26300 if you want just pure value. Okay, hope you guys enjoyed this video. Thumbs if you
06:30liked it, subs if you loved it. See you guys next time.