Loko

I don't know if you have an SLI set-up but bear in mind that when the laptop is not running on AC power the UltraBay GPU turns off, so you're framerate will approximately half (depending on the game itself) even when in ''performance mode" under energy settings.

I recently received my Y500 and installed the fastest mSATA and SATA drives available. I reinstalled the OS from scratch and chose Windows 8 following my experience on my desktop with which I have tinkered with it since beta stages. Clearly the metro GUI makes sense for touch devices but not so for laptop/desktops, Microsoft themselves have recognised this and the start button is making a comeback in Windows 8.1 which will be available soon as a free service pack for current users. In the mean time, take the time to explore the new OS and install Pokki, to make your start button return. If you give it a chance you will find it is resource efficient, lightning fast starting and works well with newer technologies such as SSD's. Stick it out, there are quicker ways to get to Device Manager than the first time you try it for instance!

I bought my Y500 last week and received it Thursday night. Bought it online in the US and had it delivered to the UK, as Lenovo don't sell the dual set-up here! You have to buy the Ultrabay GPU at significant cost. All in I saved a packet. Anyway, I installed a 64Gb Adata 550/525 mb/s mSATA and a 240Gb Mushkin 560/520 mb/s unit. Reinstalled Windows 8 from scratch with no bloatware and it picked up the BIOS key no worries. The laptop is lightening fast, loads up in sub 10 secs from off, mighty impressive and importantly one doesn't have to worry about throwing laptop on to bed, etc. I recommend you employ ATTO disk benchmark, it's the only one that gives you the true sustained transfer rate.