Lenovo Y410 T5550 Laptop,With a budget range from Php 40,000.00 (US$ 930.00) – Php 50, 0000.00 (US$ 1, 163.00), with exchange rate US$1 = Php 43.00, my hunt for an all purpose laptop was quite tough. I was looking for a laptop that can be used in almost all purposes – for photo and video editing, for gaming, for entertainment, for personal and business use, in other words, I was considering an all purpose laptop. If my budget was big enough, this could have been easily solved by purchasing superior laptops with high prices. But things were different; I had to find a laptop within the range of my budget. My hunt for a laptop started with price canvassing in local stores and in some online stores, keeping in mind my budget. Then, I had read several reviews of the laptops of the laptops that fit my budget range. After thorough readings in magazines and different review sites, finally, I had decided to choose Lenovo Y410 T5550. I purchased in a local store the Lenovo Y410 T5550 for Php 44, 450.00 (US$ 1, 034.00). I was lucky to have a discount since the original suggested retailed price and even the online price, is Php 49, 995.00 (US$1, 046.00). The complete specifications and features of Lenovo Y410 T5550, which I had purchased, are the following:

- Intel Centrino Core2 Duo T5550 1.83GHz Processor.

- Intel PRO / Wireless 3945ABG.

- Intel X3100 256MB Shared Display with Dual View & TV-Out.

- 14.1″ WideScreen WXGA with VibrantView.

- 2.0GB DDR2 Memory.

- 160GB SATA Hard Disk Drive.

- Slot-In RAMBO DVD±RW/DL/RAM Super Multi Drive.

- 100Mbps LAN, 56K Modem, Firewire, Bluetooth,

- Webcam 1.3 Megapixel, with VeriFace Technology

- PCMCIA & Card Reader.

- 2×1.5W Stereo Multimedia Speakers & 1×2W SubWoofer Speaker.

- Support Dolby® Home Theater™ Surround Sound.

- Shuttle Control & Shuttle Centre.

- Audio-DJ Control Panel.

- Weight: 2.3kg include 6-Cell Li-Ion Battery.

- It comes with a Lenovo Carrying Case and with One Year Warranty!

The Lenovo Y410 features one of the most innovative login methods. It makes good use of the built-in 1.3 megapixel Webcam combined with the VeriFace face recognition software. With these, your face is your password. The technology works fine, however, I have to honestly say that you need to login using your password at dark rooms or places since it cannot authenticate your face when there is no enough lights.

The Lenovo Y410 is packed with a Dolby Audio System. It has an outstanding surround sound with subwoofer for a better multimedia experience. I agree in some point, the quality of sound, indeed is excellent; however, the full volume isn’t really that loud. When you are watching a movie or listening to a song and when vehicles pass by especially if your home is situated near the roads, I guess you need supplementary speakers. I don’t have any problem with this; I have my Altec Lansing Speakers, which I bought 5 years ago, now I used them well. But, oops, it’s not really that low that you really can’t hear, in fact when having an online talk with my brother who is working abroad, I even don’t use any extra speaker and I can hear him clearly. Also, with regards to its built in microphone, it’s excellent since my voice is clearly heard by my brother. He was even surprised during one of our chatting sessions when he saw me at the web camera without using any headphones and a microphone, when in fact he is using one with his Acer laptop.

Although, this is my first laptop but this is not my first use of a laptop. Several laptops I had used before had uncomfortable and hard to press keyboards. However, with Lenovo Y410 T5550, I feel very comfortable with the ergonomic keyboard designed with outstanding feel and durability.

Lenovo is also featured with Shuttle Key. You can easily control your volume with equalizer presets for your favorite sound. I love this orange key which you can find at the upper right corner of the keyboard.

It is also ready with what they call Audio DJ where you can control and play CD’s without having to boot up the system. I find this feature fantastic.

Although, I have not experienced of a crashed system, but I don’t have to worry since Lenovo has a OneKey Recovery to recover the system at the touch of a button. But you must take in mind that in the event of failure, hitting the recovery button will reload the system to its factory default state. Since there might be tendency not to save all your personal data and files, following good backup practices is suggested and using the OneKey Recovery as a final option. You can use DVD for backing up files since Lenovo comes with a Slot-In RAMBO DVD±RW/DL/RAM Super Multi Drive.