Coincidently, I found this Ideapad Y460 in a scrap pile a while ago, but I just got it out recently to see if it'd be worth fixing up. It's also an i3 but "only" a 330m (dual core with HT) - still decent IMHO. I guess "those people" have collectively decided now is the time to throw their i3s in the trash. I dunno.
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It's actually a really nice machine. It has switchable HD5650 graphics (by "switchable", I mean with an actual switch on the front! Never seen that before), JBL speakers, both VGA & HDMI outs, a working optical drive, a line-in jack, gigabit ethernet, SD reader, and even a cardbus slot.
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It came to me without RAM or a HDD, but I had 8GB DDR3 lying around, so I stuck that in & it fired right up off a live DVD. Unfortunately the screen is dead, but from what I can tell that's the only thing that doesn't work; everything seems to function fine on an external monitor. Even the battery still charges & works. Here it is running Unigine Valley like a champ on the discrete GPU:
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I left it like that for half an hour and it was rock solid. It did get a little hot, so I'll tear it down and blow out all the dust & replace all the thermal paste with some fresh Arctic Silver.
Fortunately the display panel is pretty easy to replace and new ones can be had off Ebay/AliX for under sixty bucks, shipped to me. There's even an upgraded 1600x900 panel that's a direct drop-in. Definitely glad I scooped it.
Carlos S. M. wrote:I heard some people mentioning that several modern thinkpad models are just glorified ideapads (Lenovo's consumer line which i heard is known to suck baddly) with the just the brand and seemed to be cheaply built comapred to older ones
I had another IdeaPad before this one; there's nothing really wrong with them. No, they're not "oldschool Thinkpad" build quality but they're on par with any contemporary Acer or HP or whatever. At least they don't typically have melting rubber coatings. 😜
To be honest, I think the Thinkpad Mystique is a little overblown; some models were fantastic, others weren't so good, just like any other laptop. I have a few of them and they're all pretty solid, but not out of the same league as their better contemporaries.
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