Lenovo G580 Laptop Video Card Does Not Work

The beginning of 2012 was marked by the fact that Lenovo decided to completely update the model line of its laptops. She became the first company to decide to make such dramatic changes. But the words turned out to be a little unfounded, they didn’t do anything with the appearance of the laptops, the range was not really expanded, the developers and engineers of the company worked a bit on the hardware, updated the user interface and slightly corrected the flaws in the design of laptops.

Users were able to see the new lineup only in July. After Intel delivered hardware for the Chief River hardware platform. We will study the budget version of the laptop. Lenovo G580, which, in fact, is an analogue of the G570 model, which appeared on sale last year. The laptop is positioned as a universal tool for any task, it can be used at home, in the office or on travel, but developers still advise to limit themselves only to home use. Also, this model comes with the largest run in the range and hardware stuffing.

  • Specifications

Notebook Lenovo G580 can be called a classic representative of the economy class. It works on the Intel platform, there are models that use the entire line of processors from Celeron to Core i7, it mainly has an integrated or discrete graphics card from the younger GeForce series. Notebook configurations are striking in variety, but the entire assortment rests on various variations of the processor, RAM or hard drive. There is a 15.6-inch screen with standard resolution indicators on the computer. The screen is glossy. The standard details include USB ports and a laptop battery. The maximum of new products that can please a laptop user is Lenovo‘s proprietary keyboard.

Also, you should not expect any innovations from the design and placement of parts, everything goes according to a long-thought-out scheme. The developers of the company decided not to reinvent the wheel. The case of the device is not very durable, while it is massive and thick, so that the laptop is only at home on the table. Winchester is located in the center of the case, its shock absorber is made of polyurethane foam. The optical drive, as usual, is located on the right side panel. To get to the inside of the laptop, you need to unscrew only 2 screws, and here you have a completely open bottom. Difficulties can begin only if it is necessary to clean the cooler from dust, then you have to disassemble the floor of the case to get to it.

The system connectors did not change their location, Lenovo chose the optimal configuration for the placement of interfaces and decided not to change the current situation. On the left you can see the USB port, a headphone jack and a charger input. On the right are two USB ports, a power outlet and 2 outputs. There is also a Kensington laptop lock. The card reader is placed on the front end to the right, so you don’t have to break your nails, with a thickness of 35 mm, easy access is provided.

The battery consists of 6 cells, each with a capacity of 47.5 W / h. But you should not expect from a laptop that it can work for 6 hours without recharging. Lenovo just got used to equipping its devices with rather big batteries.

  • Appearance and design of the case

The design does not sparkle with novelty, there are minor corrections, but nothing critical. We see a thick laptop in front of us, with small smooth contours and the absence of sharp corners. The outside of the lid is made of laminated plastic that simulates brushed metal. The inside of the lid is gloss. Aluminum is used in the design of the device. this is a large polished plate, which is covered with varnish, around it the developers made a frame made of plastic. The touchpad is made in dark gray shades, there is a small edging. By and large, if you do not know that we have the Lenovo G580, the laptop can be mistaken for the G570 model. Between these two models there are two small differences in terms of design: the edging of the keyboard has become thinner and a shiny bar, on which there is a power button and a system restore key.

Glossy details present a particularly big problem, although matte elements are not far behind, their quality leaves much to be desired. The laptop gets dirty quickly, fingerprints can be seen anywhere, on the lid, on the bottom, etc. The glossy frame, or rather the wide gap next to it, which constantly accumulates a lot of dust and all kinds of rubbish, also causes frustration. It is still not clear why the company will not remove this inconvenience, equipping every laptop model with manic persistence.

Lenovo notebook case itself was a little pleased, in comparison with previous models, it seemed more durable. The bottom was slightly strengthened, the hinges of the lid gained volume, under the hands of the user is metal, not plastic. The screen deviation angle is 135 degrees, a further increase in the degree of inclination will occur at your own peril and risk.

On the Lenovo G580 model is an LCD matrix from LG. The parameters of brightness, contrast and color reproduction are average, nothing outstanding, a maximum of plus to the display can be considered a very good horizontal viewing angle. However, the average performance still gives an acceptable picture when compared with past laptop models. A very small vertical viewing angle, you can even say that it hardly fits into the average parameters, compared with similar models. It is not recommended to use a laptop in sunny weather on the street, the glossy surface gives too much glare, but because of the gloss, the contrast quality is slightly higher, when compared with models equipped with matte screens.

The G580 has a Dolby Advanced Audio panel, which is better to use at home rather than sitting in the office. The panel has three operating modes. for listening to music, for watching movies and game mode. You can manually set the equalizer settings. There are also two basic modes for equalizing the volume, in the first, the dynamic range is being adjusted, in the second, the effect of surround sound is created. There are medium-quality speakers, there is a small margin in volume, but it is difficult to achieve good sound. Even if you use Dolby mode, you feel a lack of low frequencies.

What Lenovo laptops can always boast of is their keyboards. A good and deep key travel, of the order of 2.2 mm, soft membranes under the keys, virtually silent keyboard operation and a slight concavity in the design of the keys are considered an advantage of the keyboard. You can also write island design in the pluses, the keys are located a short distance from each other, which reduces the chance of pressing the wrong key while typing text.

As for the color gamut of the markings, the basic designations are made in bright white, additional combinations are made in dull orange, which makes them not so noticeable and the user is not distracted by them during operation. A small minus can be considered the unusual Pause / Break spacing for two keys, you also need to get a little used to the narrow Enter and the right Shift. The numeric keypad is located very close to the main keyboard.

  • Buttons and indicators

Immediately recalls an additional button responsible for backing up data. But why is it needed? To enable Wi-Fi or disable the touchpad, you must use a combination with “Fn”. Surprising choice and location of indicators. The indicator of the Caps Lock key is placed on the front panel, it can not even be found right away. There is no indicator in the kit showing access to the hard drive.

The touchpad is practically no different from previous models, and one gets the feeling that it is done like a carbon copy for all Lenovo laptops. We are pleased with its size. 9950 mm and its location, it is slightly shifted to the left. Horizontal and vertical scrolling are turned on automatically, if you are not comfortable with this mode of operation, then you can always switch to the two-finger scroll.

For lovers of individual settings, the Elan panel offers a ton of additional features, for example, setting modes for 2- and 3-finger taps. If you use the touchpad without additional settings, the cursor flies around the screen. After setting your own combinations and modes, you can expect a slight delay when triggered. The keys under the touchpad quickly get dirty and have a fairly hard course.

  • Performance options

You should not expect a miracle from laptops equipped with a Celeron processor, but even this processor outperforms laptops based on AMD Brazos with its performance. To make the performance indicators clear, a comparison was made between the Lenovo G580, Samsung 300E5Z and ASUS U32U laptops. All models are in the same price category, and are similar in their technical characteristics.

The test was carried out using the PCMark 7 program. Lenovo and Samsung laptops made on the basis of Intel showed almost identical results, of course, there was some difference in the data, but it was so scanty that they did not pay attention to it. But the Asus model based on AMD, which was equipped with an even more powerful processor, lost to them with a difference of 25-45%. From this we can conclude that it is not worth taking the budget options for notebooks on the AMD platform now, the difference between price and performance is too incomparable.

The card did not wait for the test, because one can say that it is too weak, and playing on such a card is spoiling your nerves. Of course, this does not apply to games such as a scarf or sapper.

  • Lenovo G580 Battery

The battery life was tested using the MobileMark 2007 program. In the most economical mode, that is, you just sat and read a long contract from the supplier, without giving a load on the processor, the laptop could last about 5.5 hours. The laptop will last 5 hours if you actively use Internet surfing. Watching a or game mode reduces the laptop’s operating time by almost half. That is, the more you boot the computer, the faster the battery will need to be put on recharge.

  • Noise indicators and laptop heating

Our model was equipped with a weak Celeron processor and there was no discrete graphics card, that is, there were almost no noise sources, the laptop worked quietly, hardly warmed up, even during heavy processor load.

During a heavy load, the area near the touchpad warmed up to a temperature of 35 degrees, and the temperature on the left side of the keyboard also rose to 37 degrees. At the bottom of the laptop, the temperature was kept at about 37 degrees, this is due to the fact that there is an air gap between the processor and the bottom, which did not allow the bottom to heat up more. The processor worked at a temperature of 72 degrees, no matter how the load changed, the temperature remained unchanged, because the processor itself is rather weak. Such a weak heating of the case can also be attributed to the fact that the laptop does not have a discrete graphics card, then we would see completely different numbers. It is impossible to control the operation of the fan, the maximum that the Energy Management utility can do is to ensure that the cooling system is cleaned with a one-time supply of a strong stream of air, that is, by purging the system.

A simple and inexpensive version of the laptop, in which you should not pay attention to the design, but simply use it for its intended purpose. The G580 model is very easily soiled, there is no style and attractiveness. It seems that the model was designed counting more on the simplicity and strength of the structure than on something else. Yes, the laptop has an excellent keyboard, it practically does not make noise during operation, decent characteristics of the display and sound, but this is not enough to get real pleasure from working with it.

Pros:

  • Great display
  • Lenovo branded keyboard
  • Robust housing with metal inserts
  • No noise during operation, and almost no heat
  • Good speakers
  • Price

Minuses:

  • Lack of style in design
  • Very large thickness
  • Easily soiled
  • Weak battery