Lenovo Legion Y520(-15IKBN) 15.6″ Gaming Laptop

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The Lenovo Legion Y520(-15IKBN) is an entry-level 15.6-inch gaming laptop. It offers excellent, but not top-notch gaming performance. With prices starting at around $750, it is very affordable by gaming notebooks’ standards.

The plastic-clad Legion Y520(-15IKBN) boasts Full HD display resolution which is standard in the gaming category. The screen is IPS, which means wide viewing angles, and it has anti-glare coating. The display isn’t touchscreen enabled. For interaction with the system you can use the notebook’s full size keyboard with numeric pad and red backlight and (a bit strangely) trapezoid-shaped touchpad.

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The laptop uses mid range and upper mid range Nvidia video cards – either the GeForce GTX 1050 Ti or noticeably faster GTX 1060. These GPUs paired with the 7th Gen quad-core processors – the i5-7300HQ or i7-7700HQ ensure you’ll be able to play all the latest games. But in some of them, you’ll have to dial down graphics settings a bit for smooth gameplays. Especially, on the 1050 Ti. The basic 8GB system memory option is enough for majority of games and comfortable multitasking in daily scenarios. A 16GB RAM size option is provided for completely worry-free gaming and multi-tasking. Data storage options of the Lenovo Legion Y520(-15IKBN) are very flexible. You can select a capacious 1-Terabyte hard drive, faster but smaller 256GB solid state drive or the best of both worlds in terms of space and speed – 1TB or 2TB HDD combined with 128GB and 256GB SSDs, respectively. A DVD optical drive has been omitted.

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Furthermore, the Lenovo Y520(-15IKBN) is equipped with stereo speakers, a 720p web camera, 802.11AC Wi-Fi and Gigabit LAN network connections, Bluetooth, HDMI video out port, two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0 port, and a compact USB-C port, a headphones / mic audio connector, and a media card reader.

The 45 WHr battery capacity is medium. According to Lenovo, the battery can provide up to 4 hours or battery life. Of course, playing demanding game titles off the power grid will drain the battery much faster than 4 hours.

Weight of the laptop is 5.3 pounds. The profile is 1.1″ thick.

The machine ships with Windows 10 Home operating system.

As a side note, Lenovo offers the same laptop with the less popular AMD Radeon RX 560 4GB video card instead of Nvidia GeForce. It’s the Y520-15IKBA model. Roughly speaking, the RX 560 performs slightly slower than the Nvidia 1050 series, but it can be still considered as a mid-range laptop GPU.

Lenovo Legion Y520(-15IKBN) Gaming Laptop 3

Specifications of the Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBN

Here are the specs of the Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBN with descriptions of its features. For comparison against other laptops, you can use the "Compare Specs" button.

Brand Lenovo
Laptop Type Standard non-convertible laptop

This laptop features a clamshell-only design, without ability to convert itself into a tablet.

Gaming laptop

The gaming-class laptop features a fast processor and a powerful video card needed for playing hardware demanding games.
Screen Size 15.6-inch

This is by far the most popular laptop screen size. It provides a lot of screen real estate, while avoiding bulkiness of the 17.3" laptops.
Screen Resolution 1920x1080 pixels Full HD

Full HD is the most common laptop screen resolution today. It provides a good image sharpness and a decent amount of space on the display for the user interface and programs. However, it isn't as good as the top-tier 4K Ultra HD.
Touchscreen No

This laptop doesn't support touchscreen input.
Other Display Specs IPS type

Displays based on IPS technology provide much wider viewing angles than the budget-class TN screens.

Anti-glare coating

Anti-glare coating reduces ambient light reflections, as opposed to the glare-type displays with more vivid colors.
Processor (CPU) Intel Core i5-7300HQ 7th Gen (enables smooth everyday computing)

Intel Core i7-7700HQ 7th Gen (older but still powerful gaming and pro CPU)
Graphics (GPU) Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 Ti 4GB GDDR5 dedicated video card (able to run all games, but may not be smooth on high detail settings in heavy games)

Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 3GB dedicated video card (able to run all games, but may not be smooth on high detail settings in heavy games)
System Memory (RAM) Size 8GB RAM

The 8GB RAM size is the standard one in 2023. It provides comfortable multi-tasking for the most home and office users.

16GB RAM

16GB and greater RAM sizes are recommended for heavy multitasking, gaming, and specialized programs that require a lot of RAM.
Data Storage 256GB SSD

256GB is a decent capacity. If you tend to download and store a lot of large files like movies and install many programs, 512GB or more is a better choice.

512GB SSD

512GB storage capacity is recommended if you store a lot of large files and install many programs.

1000GB (1TB) HDD

1TB is an excellent storage capacity, but HDD is a slow type of storage.

1000GB (1TB) HDD + 128GB SSD

This is an excellent capacity, but the HDD portion is a slow type of storage.

2000GB (2TB) HDD + 256GB SSD

This is a huge capacity, but the HDD portion is a slow type of storage.
DVD Optical Drive None
Keyboard & Input Backlit keyboard with dedicated number pad

The keyboard has backlit keys and a separate numeric pad on the right side of the keyboard.

Touchpad with click buttons built into the surface

The left and right click buttons are built into the surface of the touchpad, as opposed to separate physical buttons.
Speakers & Audio Stereo speakers

As usual, the device features a pair of built-in stereo speakers.

Combo microphone and headphones audio jack

This laptop has the ordinary 3.5mm combo audio jack that supports both headphone output and microphone input simultaneously.
Camera Front-facing web camera

Laptops usually feature a frontal webcam located on the display bezel. This laptop is no exception.
Wi-Fi Wireless 802.11AC

The 802.11AC is the previous-generation wireless networking standard. It's also known as Wi-Fi 5. 802.11AC is succeeded by 802.11AX Wi-Fi 6 with data transfer speed and multi-device connectivity improvements.
Ethernet Network Port Yes

This laptop has an Ethernet LAN port for wired internet and networking connectivity.
Mobile broadband (4G LTE) No
Bluetooth Yes

This laptop has a built-in Bluetooth module. It enables you to connect the computer to Bluetooth mice and other Bluetooth peripherals, smartphones, and other Bluetooth-equipped devices.
USB Ports 1 x USB 2.0

A standard full-size USB port.

1 x USB-C

A compact type of USB port, commonly found in modern laptops and phones.

2 x USB 3.0

A pair of full-size USB ports.
Video Output Ports 1 x HDMI

HDMI is a widely used digital video output port. You can find HDMI-in ports on most computer monitors and TVs.
Media Card Reader SD card reader

The laptop has a slot for full-size SD memory cards, used in many digital cameras. You can also use microSD cards with a card adapter.
Battery "Up to 4 hours" of battery life

3-cell 45 WHr
Weight 5.3 pounds
Height 1.1"
Width 15"
Depth 10.4"
Windows Version Windows 10 Home

Windows 10 Home is aimed at the regular home and office computer users. Only select business users need the Professional edition. Windows 10 Home users are eligible for a free upgrade to the latest Windows 11 Home.
Warranty 1-year

A typical laptop warranty.

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User Reviews and Q&A on the Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBN

Below you can read and submit user reviews, questions, and answers about the laptop. Thank you for your contribution.

Current rating: 1 out of 5 stars
  1. Question

    Jim White

    How big of a M.2 Nvme ssd will the Y520 accept ?

  2. 1 out of 5

    Samuel Jara Rahon

    USB port failed before warranty expired. Then dedicated video card is no longer detected. Tried updating driver and then resetting to factory default still video card not detected.

    • Dan

      Have you checked BIOS settings to see whether the video card is disabled. If that option is available, I’m just guessing.

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