Reviewer Rating: 
Students looking for a 14-inch laptop with plenty of performance for school work and games should seriously consider the Lenovo IdeaPad Y480.
Pros
- Good performance
- Appealing design
- Impressive audio from JBL speakers
Cons
- Weak keyboard surround
- Unimpressive display
- Average battery life
Lenovo IdeaPad Y480 Full Review: A Solid Mobile Entertainment PC
Lenovo's all new IdeaPad Y480 is a 14-inch multimedia notebook designed to give you a perfect balance between serious performance for work and multimedia power for play. Whether you're editing HD video for a school project or playing the latest video games, this laptop has you covered. Keep reading to find out if it's worth the price.Overview
Build & Design
One of the first things you'll notice about the design of the IdeaPad Y480 is its simple, almost "old fashioned" lines and durable brushed aluminum lid with gunmetal black finish. The display lid and palmrest area sports the same brushed metal construction and black (dark gray) finish but the lower half of the chassis is made of thick, matte black plastic. The Y480 isn't the thinnest or lightest kid on the block with a thickness of 1.3 inches and a weight of almost five pounds. Still, what this notebook lacks in slimness it more than makes up for in terms of overall performance, durable design, and upgradeability.
Build quality is good but not up to the standards of Lenovo's ThinkPad business notebooks. The metal lid will protect the screen from the average bump or drop but the metal isn't very thick and you can create distortions on the screen if you press on the lid while the laptop is turned on. The metal palmrest and plastic lower half of the notebook feels reasonably solid with no squeaks or creaks when you pinch the palmrest or try to twist the notebook in your hands.
Bottom line, this laptop should survive typical student usage as long as the student in question isn't too abusive to electronics.
Lenovo was kind enough to stick to the tried and true solution of including an access panel on the bottom of the notebook so you can easily swap out the hard drive, RAM, or wireless cards if needed. In this day and age when most consumer notebooks are racing to get thinner and lighter it would have been easy for Lenovo to make the Y480 a millimeter to two thinner by using a sealed chassis. By building the notebook this way you don't have to completely disassemble the laptop if something goes wrong.
