Panasonic Let's Note Y7 Review

Here is my review on Let’s Note Y7 (CF-Y7BWHAJR).

The very first thing I noticed when I take out the laptop from the box is its lightness. Because I am so used to the ordinary 14 or 15 inch screen laptop, I was very surprise with its weight. I actually doubted if this thing really has a hard drive and DVD burner. Next thing that I was surprise is its build quality. Y7 is just solid. There are virtually no flex. It actually feels more solid than my old T60P. Its water-proof keyboard is also solid, and does not feel mushy at all. However, I would still vote for ThinkPad for the best keytboard.

One thing that I don’ t like the most with Y7 is the display. Let’s start with the positive things. The screen is bright and image quality is quite good. Text is crisp and clear. Mine has no dead or stuck pixel. Screen resolution is high enough for me to open a web browser and Word side by side. Response time seems to be fast enough. I did not noticed any ghosting while watching DVDs. Now, the negative things. First, the viewing angle is somewhat limited. I can clearly see the screen fades when I tilt the screen, and looking at the screen from any off-center angle. Second, the screen’s backlight is not even. The bottom area is noticeably brighter than the rest of area. It can be bothersome while watch movie with lots of dark scenes like Matrix and Underworld. But keep in mind that, Panasonic did not design Y7 for gaming and graphic. They designed it to be for lightweight all-in-one large screen business laptop. I guess somethings have to be sacrificed. (All Let's Note display have the same weaknesses)

Speaker is weak. It does not sound so good compare to the most other laptop. But it is not really a big issue. Nobody would buy Let’s Note or Toughbook series for gaming or entermaintment.

Y7’s greatest strength is the battery life. The spec says 8 hours. I confirmed that it lasts about 6 hours and 30 minues under normal useage. It has some interesting features to extend the battery life. One is it automatically turns off DVD drive after 3 minutes of idle. It powers up instantly when you open the tray. Another is ECO mode. ECO mode basically allows Y7 to charge the battery up to 80% to help the battery last longer.

The performance of Y7 is a little slow. Y7 comes with 1GB ram (shared with video) to run Vista Business, which is not enough. Adding 1GB to total of 2GB (maximum) will make a big difference. Installing 4GB SD card as ReadyBoost should also make some improvement. I didn’t bother try to run any game on Y7. Since it does not have a fancy Nvidia or ATI video chip, all newer games will run horribly. But once again, Y7 is not a gaming laptop. Y7 is a light-weight business laptop.

As you can see in the video below, Y7 can take 76cm drop and 100kg pressure. This allows me to handle my Y7 more rougher, rather than always handling a laptop as you would handle newly born baby. Overall, I am very happy with my Y7. Great keyboard. Long battery. Big screen. Built in DVD burner. Light Weight 3.3 pounds. I give Panasonic Let's Note Y7 9 out of 10.