Usage Impressions and Last Thoughts

Gigabyte ships the U2442F configured with Windows vii or Windows eight, our test unit came loaded with Windows 8 forth with a few other applications such as PowerDVD, Microsoft Office and THX TruStudio Pro. Fortunately there was little to no bloatware preinstalled and so we hope this is how all U2442F ultrabooks ship to the public.

Picking upwardly and moving the U2442F around is made like shooting fish in a barrel by its lightweight and compact design. Connecting different peripherals was a breeze equally ports are easily accessed on either side of the laptop.

The charging port is on the correct hand side at the back which is a typical location for almost laptops. With a pair of USB ports on each side, and well spaced apart to boot, information technology is possible to simultaneously connect an arsenal of USB devices. The SD card reader is also a nice touch if you don't want to attach a bulky DSLR camera when on the become.

Opening the screen requires pushing no clips or buttons. The chapeau fights to remain shut until you pull it by about the 70mm mark and and then it opens without any objection. It's very easy to open and I institute that the screen never opened past error.

The merely matter to continue in mind hither is that the screen doesn't open flat like what we've seen from other ultrabooks, particularly Lenovo'southward. Instead it opens to virtually a 135 caste bending which is more typical.

One time open up the U2442F isn't the most slick looking ultrabook merely it is very functional. Whereas most friction match the color of the deck to the screen bezel to give that slick wait, Gigabyte hasn't. Instead the screen has been given a black border and we feel this is really more functional as information technology blends in and doesn't disharmonism with the screen.

The deck is well laid out and nosotros plant that the trackpad worked very well for both mouse movement and double clicking. There is plenty of room to remainder your palms so the U2442F is comfortable to use in tight spots, such as an aeroplane seat.

The chiclet keyboard is much like others that we have used with little of note or to mutter about. Gigabyte has done a peachy job of clearly labelling the secondary primal functions and the white backlight option is a much welcomed improver, corking for use in the dark.

The integrated 10 watt speakers are surprisingly powerful. With the volume command in VLC set to 200% the speakers were very loud and remarkably articulate for an ultrabook.

Storage wise even power users shouldn't have any bug with the U2442F. With Windows 8 installed and all of our testing programs there was still over 70GB of free space bachelor on the 128GB SSD, while the 750GB difficult drive was empty leaving 698GB of storage space. Equally we take come up to look the Crucial m4 SSD was fast and based on our experiences also very reliable.

Final Thoughts

Without question the Gigabyte U2442F is cutting edge stuff when it comes to ultrabook functioning. Armed with a 3rd-Gen Core i7 processor, plenty of memory, and a quality SSD, the U2442F is as capable as a loftier-end desktop.

Where the U2442F falters is in its GPU performance. Having come to look so much more from the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M, only to be permit downwardly by its apply of DDR3 memory, we were disappointed to say the least.

That said, the U2442F still looks adept in the graphics department when compared to other ultrabooks which typically rely solely on the integrated Hard disk 4000 graphics. A couple of fancy and well regarded ultrabooks such as the Acer Aspire S7 and Lenovo Yoga xiii, for example, both rely on the HD 4000 lone.

Therefore, if you do plan on having some fun, the U2442F is one of the improve ultrabooks out there, providing a ~l-100% performance heave over integrated graphics (that's bound to change with Iris presently plenty though).

If you lot are looking at an ultrabook purely for productivity and then the Gigabyte U2442F fits the bill, likewise, particularly if you demand something with a little oomph.

However one problem almost all of these Cadre i7 powered ultrabooks endure from is battery life. Although the current ultrabook spec asks for at least 5 hours, it all depends on what you are doing.

For calorie-free use it is likely possible to striking the 5 hours and xxx minutes that Gigabyte claim the U2442F can run between charges. Though, if you only intend on lite use for the U2442F and so this probably isn't the ultrabook for y'all, a Cadre i3 model would probable suffice.

Should you utilize most of the U2442F'due south power for extended periods of time you should look the battery to last but 3 hours as reported by the Futuremark PowerMark software. The PowerMark balanced exam actually tuckered the battery of the U2442F in just ii hours and 43 minutes. By comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 13 lasted iii hours and 21 minutes, though the model we tested used a slower Core i5 processor and didn't feature a detached GPU.

Bottom line, we are happy with the build quality, specifications and operation of the Gigabyte U2442F, just how about value? This Core i7-powered ultrabook appears to be competitively priced at $1250 because the quality 128GB SSD you go, plus 750GB HDD, 8GB of RAM, and (half optimized) GeForce GT 650M.

Looking at the competition the IdeaPad Yoga 13 costs $i,000 and includes a touchscreen only features a slower Core i5 CPU, half as much RAM, no hard drive and no detached GPU. Clearly, they are different systems depending on what you are trying to accomplish. For $1300 the Yoga 13 tin exist kitted out with a 256GB SSD, 8GB of DDR3 memory, but withal no hard drive.

Compared to other ultrabooks such as the Samsung Series 5, the Gigabyte U2442F still stacks up well offer more than features for the aforementioned price. Few ultrabooks that we know of offering discrete graphics solutions, with the best examples being the Asus Zenbook UX32VD (GeForce GT 620M) and Dell XPS 14 (Geforce GT 630M), both of which should provide similar GPU performance to that of the U2442F.

If you are looking for a powerful, high quality ultrabook capable of both work and play then the Gigabyte U2442F should fit the bill nicely.

Pros: Very well rounded specs. Crucial m4 SSD is a large win. Good build quality. Peachy connectivity options and accessibility.

Cons: GPU performance is a dissapointment due to the choice of GDDR memory. Battery life could be better.