Lenovo releases its Legion Y520-15IKBM-711 for less than 1000 euros , a new high-performance, 15-inch IPS Full HD 15-inch IPS full-screen notebook PC that runs on Windows 10. It ships a dedicated NVIDIA Pascal graphics card GTX high-end dedicated 6GB coupled with Optimus technology, a Kaby Lake Quad Core i5 processor, a good amount of RAM, a large capacity hard drive, a USB 3.1 Type-C connection or a backlit mechanical keyboard.

1. Lenovo Y520 M.2 Slot Ssd
2. Lenovo Y520 M.2 Slot 2280
3. Lenovo Y520 M.2 Slot 1tb
4. Lenovo Legion Y520 M.2 Slot

Laptops and netbooks:: legion series:: legion y520 15ikbncontentdetail - Lenovo Support US Lenovo Inc.

It is a gamer design that sports this notebook with its angular lines and its black / red color code. Its keyboard features a RGB backlight system and Anti-Ghosting technology that can press up to 100 keys simultaneously.

I want to buy a Lenovo Y520 notebook and everybody says I have to buy a PCIe M.2 SSD, but I want to buy a SATA-III M.2 SSD because it is cheaper, and I don't need the high speed that PCIe offers. My question: can the M.2 SATA-III SSD be connected to M.2 port if it has a PCIe interface? Warm Greetings & welcome to Lenovo Community, happy to have you here. As I understand that you have query regarding M.2 NVMe SSD compatibility with Lenovo Legion Y520. Yes, it should work as the system does support M.2 2280 PCIe-NVMe SSDs. But personally I prefer purchasing accessories from seller with good return policy. The Y520 has only one M.2 PCIe SSD slot inside of it and any M.2 NVMe SSD should be compatible with it. M.2 is a hardware standard for internally mounted expansion cards that simply means the SSD was designed to fit into a laptop rather than a desktop computer. Lenovo Legion Y520 Laptop overview and full product specs on CNET. Intel Dual Band Wireless-AC 3165 - M.2 Card.

The Lenovo Nerve Center feature is also there to customize the settings for the best gaming experience.

Specifications of Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBM- 711

The Lenovo Legion Y520-15IKBM-711 targets those who wish to acquire a versatile 15-inch high-performance laptop that is comfortable in games.

With its dedicated dedicated GeForce GTX 1060 6 GB dedicated card, it is able to run the user’s favorite games.

In practice, the GeForce GTX 1060 is solicited by embedded NVIDIA Optimus technology to perform graphic processing considered too heavy for the Intel HD 630 housed within the processor. The latter with modest performance is indeed maximized by Optimus because its reduced energy consumption promotes autonomy. In fact, as needed, Optimus switches automatically and in real time between the Intel HD 630 and GeForce GTX 1060, both of which allow you to watch photos and videos.

The 16: 9 aspect of the screen is well suited for this purpose, as is its Full HD definition, which is ideal for displaying High Definition content. IPS, the screen also reproduces colors more faithfully than the average while ensuring very comfortable viewing angles, both horizontally and vertically. Anti-reflective coating, the screen also offers better visibility in bright environment than a glossy slab.

Integrated connectivity is good, consisting of 1 USB 3.1 Type-C, Bluetooth 4.1 wireless modules and Wi-Fi ac to communicate and connect remotely, audio and Ethernet ports, HDMI video outputs and DisplayPort useful to easily connect this PC to a TV or monitor for example and 4 USB 3.0 compatible USB 2.0 ensuring transfers up to 10 times faster than USB 2.0 if USB 3.0 devices are connected to it.

Equipped with a key backlight system, the chiclet keyboard can be correctly distinguished in a dim light which is significant.

Storage side, there is embedded a hard drive with a large capacity of 1000 GB. As an M.2 slot is available, it is possible to accompany the hard disk of a SSD to gain capacity and responsiveness.

However, this computer is quite responsive to use even without SSD since it is based around a Quad Core i5-7300HQ Kaby Lake processor and 8 GB of RAM. The power supplied is thus able to satisfy a maximum of users who will thus benefit from a much faster operation than a Dual Core processor and 4 GB DDR3 / 4, the difference being particularly noticeable under the CPU intensive workloads. and RAM exploiting multicore architecture such as video editing, 3D rendering or photo editing.

I recently upgraded the RAM and SSD in my Lenovo Legion Y520 laptop and made a video detailing the process.

There are a few parts you will need to be able to complete this upgrade:

Lenovo Y520 M.2 Slot Ssd

• A set of precision screwdrivers for removing the screws from the back of the laptop
• The RAM you want to install
• The SSD you want to install
• An M.2-to-USB external adapter for the SSD

Once you have the required parts the process for upgrading the RAM and SSD in a Lenovo Legion Y520 Gaming Laptop can be logically divided into three main sections:

Lenovo Y520 M.2 Slot 2280

1. Get both SSDs connected to the computer at the same time so you can clone over your files
2. Use the Macrium Reflect 7 free software to actually clone your files to the new SSD
3. Physically install the RAM and SSD into the laptop

Lenovo Y520 M.2 Slot 1tb

So, the laptop came with a 256GB SSD already installed in it out-of-the-box and for a few months I was brushing up against the storage limit often enough that I considered upgrading the SSD a top priority for productivity’s sake. After much research on the current SSDs on the market I bit the bullet and purchased a Samsung Evo 970 PRO 1TB SSD, which seems to be widely considered the fastest M.2 NVME SSD currently on the market. And, I figured, since I was already going to be opening up the laptop to do the SSD upgrade, I’d also purchase some more RAM and upgrade from the factory-installed 16GB to 32GB, which would turn the computer into a certified work-horse of a machine.

The Y520 has two RAM slots inside of it so to upgrade the device you want to be looking for a set of two RAM chips. 32GB is the max amount of RAM supported by the computer, as long as you stay under that limit any DDR4 1.2v 260-pin SO-DIMM RAM chips should be compatible.

This is what a DDR4 260-pin SO-DIMM RAM chip looks like:

I purchased a set of A-Tech brand RAM chips like the ones above for my installation. Was upgrading to 32GB of RAM overkill? Yah, most likely. But I do appreciate never having to worry about available memory while having multiple Visual Studio instances open or some 200 odd chrome tabs as I plunge into trying to solve whatever esoteric issue I am currently combating.

The Y520 has only one M.2 PCIe SSD slot inside of it and any M.2 NVMe SSD should be compatible with it. M.2 is a hardware standard for internally mounted expansion cards that simply means the SSD was designed to fit into a laptop rather than a desktop computer. NVMe, or Non-Volatile Memory Express, is a standard for computer storage drives that connect to the CPU through a PCIe attachment that has to do with the type of transfer connection the drive uses. NVMe developed out of and superseded standard SATA drive connections. NVMe drives are roughly seven times faster than SATA drives.

This is what an M.2 NVMe SSD looks like:

The main difficulty of this upgrade was the fact that the laptop has only one M.2 PCIe SSD slot inside of it and I now had two SSDs that both needed to be attached to the computer simultaneously so that I could transfer the contents from one to the other. After some research I found an M.2 NVMe external USB adapter which would solve the issue for me: by attaching the new SSD to the laptop via USB connection, both SSDs would be recognized by the machine at the same time.

This is what the M.2-to-USB adapter I used looks like:

Once I ordered the adapter and had that issue figured out I used a free program called Macrium Reflect 7 to copy the files from the old SSD to the new one. This process is a little tricky as I explain in the video because you have to properly open up the partition on the new SSD with just a small amount of space left open and unused. You obviously want to maximize the usable amount of space on your new SSD, so finding that sweet spot where the space of the main C: partition is maximized while also allowing enough extra space for the other drives to be copied just takes a little trial-and-error to get right. Once you have properly copied over your files to the new SSD you have completed the most difficult part. All that’s left is just the physical installation.

To begin the installation you need to remove all of the screws from the back of the laptop and pry it open. Removing the screws will require a set of precision screwdrivers and to pry the back off you just need any sort of hard, plastic device like an old credit card or guitar pick. Prying the back off of it can be a little tricky to do and I kind’ve scraped up my hand when I did it so just go slow, use leverage from the plastic device, and don’t hurt yourself.

Here are the locations of the screws to remove:

Once you have the back off you will want to locate the SSD inside, unscrew the one mounting screw holding it in place, carefully wiggle the old SSD side-to-side to remove it, carefully wiggle the new SSD into place, and finally reinstall the screw to hold it in place.

Location of the screw holding the SSD in place:

Lenovo Legion Y520 M.2 Slot

Installing the RAM is a much easier process. You simply pull off the square-shaped silver shield to reveal the RAM slots and then carefully pry the arms holding the RAM in place outwards to release the chips. Carefully pull the old chips out and slide the new ones in.

Location of RAM and how to remove:

Then just put the silver protective plate back on by wedging it into place, re-attach the back of the laptop, reinstall all the screws, and you are done!

All in all I am incredibly happy with both upgrades. I am writing this blog post about a month and a half after the fact so I have had some time to use the new SSD and RAM and I have no complaints. The increased SSD capacity is incredibly useful for editing videos and having enough space for all the software development environments and runtimes is also very useful and a great quality of life upgrade. I highly recommend it to anyone considering this upgrade. Hope you found this guide helpful!

I also wrote a guide on iFixit that goes through the whole process a little bit more technically in-depth and I also uploaded a video of the whole physical installation for anyone interested in watching just that part of the process.