Coming in at $1020, the Lenovo Y720 is one of the cheapest laptops you can get with a GTX 1060. The build quality is great; it’s got aluminum on the outside, and the keyboard deck is plastic but it’s very rigid. All the surfaces feel really strong for a PC of its price.
The hinge is packed tightly, and the port selection is better than what you would find on most gaming laptops in this price range. It comes with lots of USB ports, a couple of display outs, a Thunderbolt 3 port, and an Ethernet jack. It does lack an SD card slot although the Thunderbolt 3 port is full four-lane PCIe, not two lanes unlike in other laptops.
Internals
The internals are easy to access, with only a couple of screws leading into it. The RAM is replaceable, and there’s a 2.5 inch SATA and an M.2 SSD. The battery is L-shaped, 60-watt hour and would give about 4 hours with the 4K display on. There’s a sub-woofer on the device with speakers up top which produces really loud sounds which can get distorted when cranked up to like 60-70% volume.
Keyboard
The layout for the keyboard is great, well-spaced and solid feeling. The arrow keys are under the number pad which is roomy but may be weird for people who use a normal number pad. The keyboard feels a bit shallow though, and the RGB backlighting is lit by zones and not individual keys, and for this price, that’s a great touch. The trackpad is an Elan trackpad, and although the surface feels good, one might notice occasional skips. The design though great accumulates a fair amount of fingerprint smudge due mainly to the fact that it’s built from matte aluminum.
Screen
The screen is okay, comes with a 4K display which is great. The bezels at the top and bottom fee a little thick but for the price, it’s expected. The webcam is a 720p camera which is okay, nothing special.
Performance
Performance on this device is excellent and would accommodate 1080p gaming with ease and runs way above 60fps on about any modern AAA shooter game although some open world games might be a bit more demanding so you might have to lower image quality, so it runs fine. However, the laptop is excellent for gaming and is VR ready. Only really demanding games like PUBG will need lowered graphics settings. Thermal performance on the device is good, and the fans are pretty quiet, cooling the device adequately although on extreme cooling it can get really loud.
Conclusion
Overall, the Lenovo Y720 gives you good value for money, starting at just over $1000. The screen is probably its weakest point (both the 4K and 1080P panels) as it feels relatively dim. The battery, RAM, graphics, and storage are great for the price. Overall the device comes highly recommended. Need more performance? Lenovo sell laptops that will satisfy anyone, but they come at a higher price.
