Here are my opinions, review, and experience on the Lenovo Ideapad 520 Laptop I got in 2017.
Lenovo Ideapad 520, I bought this Laptop from a local retailer at $725 (54K INR). It took a lot of time researching about the laptops in this price range and asking questions on Quora as well as contacting companies like HP, Dell, Asus, or Lenovo on Facebook. I got a positive reply from the companies and still, I continued my search for a laptop. People suggested laptops like HP, Lenovo, Asus, and Dell, so I got confused a lot. But I went to a local retailer and saw some big differences in the laptops in this price range.
My questions on Quora: Question1, Question2.
To which laptops I compared
Before starting the review, know that this was all done in mid-2017.
First of all, let me tell you that I compared this laptop to Lenovo Ideapad 510 (i5 model), Dell Vostro 3000, and many other Dell laptops, HP Pavilion 15 AU620TX/AU623TX, Asus R558UQ, and the list goes on. Actually, I saw many laptops in the market which were the competitors of this laptop, still, I got some good specs in this laptop which some laptops were missing.
For example, I wanted a minimum 7th generation i5 Processor in this price range, but some laptops had 6th generation or the 5th generation i5 processor. Well, all that depends on the choice and usage of the person. I needed a laptop for a completely different purpose. I needed a powerful laptop that can work like a PC (PCs are far better than Laptops with similar specifications) and should be cheaper than the ASUS ROG or Apple MacBook Pro laptops.
Honestly, I had a budget of 45k INR ($703) as I am just an engineering student and my mom said that she wouldn’t give me more money for just a laptop. I searched for a laptop in that range and found laptops with a 4th/5th/6th/7th generation i3 processor and integrated/dedicated graphics.
Inside my mind
I wanted a laptop with an i5 7th generation processor with a dedicated graphics card (minimum 2GB). I have worked with many computers and laptops since my childhood as my maternal uncle has a private computer training and repairing Institute and I love to surf the internet and look for the latest laptops and processors.
So I always wanted to buy a laptop with a minimum i5 processor and dedicated graphics card. Another thing is, I wanted a laptop with a Full HD Display (1920×1080) and not just an HD Display.
Full HD Display is far better than the HD display in terms of quality, smoothness, sharpness, and other such factors. But all these specifications were not available in the price range of 45K ($703) after a lot of research I found this result. I forgot to mention that I needed a laptop with WINDOWS and not DOS BASED or LINUX/UBUNTU Laptop.
So I asked my mom to increase the budget as Laptop is a device, which is not brought again & again (unless you are a millionaire of course). Thus the budget changed from 45K ($604) to 54K ($725).
Purpose to buy a Laptop
As I am an engineering student, I needed a laptop for mostly programming in C, C++, Java, PHP, etc. Other than this, I needed it for important PDFs, notes of chapters, and such study needs. Apart from studies, I needed a great laptop for Video Editing, Music Production (Mixing and Mastering), blogging, and sometimes gaming. Just saying, I do write on topics like Android on this blog.
As, for such work, a good laptop with good graphics and processor would be great and I found Lenovo Ideapad 520. This laptop is not even available on online shopping sites (except the Lenovo store) and in India, very few people knew about it. I searched for a laptop retailer in my city and went there. The retailer had laptops from different companies like HP, DELL, and ASUS.
So, I inquired about Lenovo Ideapad 510 other similar laptops like HP, DELL, etc. He had real laptops for showing so he brought them in front of me and compared all of them, there was no hint of Lenovo Ideapad 520. Suddenly, the senior salesman came and suggested buying Lenovo Ideapad 520. When I compared the specifications of this laptop to other laptops in a similar price range, I found many great specifications in this laptop apart from others.
What made me purchase this Laptop
I was searching for a laptop with the specs like:
- Processor – 7th generation Intel i5 processor (Clock speed up to 3.1 GHz)
- RAM – Minimum 4 GB
- Full HD screen with anti-glare IPS display
- Graphics – Minimum 2 GB nVidia 940MX graphics card
- Good body, color, and sound
- Most important – A LEGAL COPY OF WINDOWS 10 OS rather than a DOS-BASED system
Apart from Lenovo Ideapad 520, laptops like HP, Dell, or ASUS have similar specs perhaps there was something missing in each of those laptops. Even, the prices of the laptops are higher and still there something was missing in those laptops (according to me – varies with person’s thinking and knowledge).
For example, an HP laptop had similar specs and was costing almost 57.5k ($898). But there was a disadvantage of that laptop, it was DOS-BASED and didn’t have a Full HD Display. It just had an HD Display. As the Full HD Display panel is way better than the HD display, I ignored that laptop.
One thought was going in my mind, “HP is HP and Lenovo is Lenovo”. This made me totally confused, whether I should buy a Lenovo laptop or not.
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Then I went through Quora and other sites to read the user reviews on Lenovo laptops and found that no one complained about the Lenovo laptops after purchasing. This made me very clear.
What’s in this Lenovo Ideapad 520
The most important question is, what specifications this Lenovo Ideapad 520 laptop has. I am telling you what I got. For booking this laptop, I didn’t have much money so I asked him if I can book the laptop by giving Rs. 300 (approx. $5) and the shopkeeper agreed. The next day I purchased. The following list shows the specs of the Lenovo Ideapad 520 :
- 7th generation Intel i5 processor (Clock speed up to – 3.1 GHz).
- 8 GB DDR4 RAM (While purchasing it was 4GB but upgraded to 8GB as they mentioned in specs) 2133 MHz, (4GB+4GB).
- 2GB GDDR5 NVIDIA GeForce 940MX Graphics + Intel Integrated graphics.
- 15.6 inch FULL HD (1920 x 1080 Anti Glare IPS) Display, foldable to 180 degrees.
- 1 TB HDD. Can upgrade to SSD anytime.
- Legal Windows 10 Home 64-bit installed.
- Sound by Harman (Owner of JBL) with Dolby Audio.
- Lightweight – 2.2 kg.
- 2 x USB 3.0.
- 1 x USB-Type C.
- HDMI.
- Card reader (4 in 1).
- RJ-45 for Ethernet connection through LAN.
- Surprisingly it has Backlit Keyboard
- 2-Cell Li-Polymer Battery
- Metal Body with unique design and color. I took the Bronze color which looks great in different light conditions.
Accessories I got with Lenovo Ideapad 520 from the shop
After looking at these specs, I finally decided to purchase a Lenovo Ideapad 520 laptop. If I had bought this laptop from an online shopping site, I wouldn’t have to get the accessories and bag which I got with this laptop. Accessories I got for free :
- Lenovo Original Bag
- 2 x USB Mouse (Cheap Quality)
- Zebronics Headphones (Cheap)
- Local small headphones
- USB LED
- RJ-45 Cable
- Keyboard Guard
- 1 x Micro SD card reader (Which broke after using for the first time – very cheap quality)
Apart from all this, I got an assurance from the shop owner that if anything happens to this Laptop in the warranty period or 1 or 2 months prior to the warranty period, they will take the laptop for free repair.
Also, I asked the shopkeeper about differences in the after-sales service of both the companies (Lenovo and HP) and he said that there is no such difference in their services, But the people who purchase laptops online have problems if their laptop is from the seller away from their city.
My experience after using it for 3 days
After using Lenovo Ideapad 520 for three days, I got no issues with it. Perhaps, for people who need a laptop with a battery lasting up to 6-8 hours, this is not the right choice for them. The battery lasts 5 hours with normal usage and 3-4 hours with gaming or video/music editing. Well, that’s not a problem because all the laptops in this price range have similar battery life as the Lenovo Ideapad 520.
Ratings out of 5:
I’ve used FL Studio 12, Wondershare Filmora, Google Chrome, and MS-OFFICE on this laptop, and till now, everything works smoothly. There is nothing to worry about this laptop. So if you are planning to get this laptop, you can get it at a local store as well as at the Lenovo official store easily. Have a good day.
2021 Update, Problems, & Solutions
It’s the end of 2021 and I am still using this laptop. There’s no major problem yet. There’s only one thing I regret, “Hard Disk”. Yes, I should and must have chosen a Laptop with an SSD but again it was 2017 and the laptops with SSDs with similar specifications were a bit expensive.
I’d recommend anyone buying a laptop in 2021 to get a laptop with an SSD. Don’t make this mistake of buying a laptop with just an HDD.
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