Usage Impressions and Final Thoughts

Gigabyte ships the U2442F configured with Windows 7 or Windows 8, our test unit of measurement came loaded with Windows 8 along with a few other applications such as PowerDVD, Microsoft Office and THX TruStudio Pro. Fortunately there was petty to no bloatware preinstalled and so we promise this is how all U2442F ultrabooks transport to the public.

Picking upward and moving the U2442F around is made easy by its lightweight and compact pattern. Connecting different peripherals was a breeze as 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 nigh laptops. With a pair of USB ports on each side, and well spaced apart to boot, information technology is possible to simultaneously connect an armory of USB devices. The SD card reader is also a overnice touch if you don't want to adhere a beefy DSLR camera when on the get.

Opening the screen requires pushing no clips or buttons. The lid fights to remain close until you pull it by about the 70mm mark then information technology opens without whatever objection. It'due south very piece of cake to open up and I found that the screen never opened past fault.

The simply matter to keep in mind hither is that the screen doesn't open flat like what we've seen from other ultrabooks, specially Lenovo's. Instead it opens to about a 135 degree angle which is more typical.

Once open the U2442F isn't the most slick looking ultrabook but it is very functional. Whereas about lucifer the color of the deck to the screen bezel to give that slick look, Gigabyte hasn't. Instead the screen has been given a black border and nosotros experience this is really more functional equally information technology blends in and doesn't clash with the screen.

The deck is well laid out and we institute that the trackpad worked very well for both mouse motion and double clicking. At that place is plenty of room to rest your palms and so the U2442F is comfortable to use in tight spots, such as an airplane seat.

The chiclet keyboard is much like others that we have used with fiddling of annotation or to complain well-nigh. Gigabyte has done a great job of clearly labelling the secondary key functions and the white backlight selection is a much welcomed addition, bang-up for use in the dark.

The integrated x watt speakers are surprisingly powerful. With the volume control in VLC ready to 200% the speakers were very loud and remarkably clear for an ultrabook.

Storage wise fifty-fifty ability users shouldn't have whatsoever problems with the U2442F. With Windows viii installed and all of our testing programs there was notwithstanding over 70GB of costless space bachelor on the 128GB SSD, while the 750GB hard drive was empty leaving 698GB of storage space. As we have come to expect the Crucial m4 SSD was fast and based on our experiences also very reliable.

Terminal Thoughts

Without question the Gigabyte U2442F is cut edge stuff when it comes to ultrabook performance. Armed with a third-Gen Cadre i7 processor, plenty of memory, and a quality SSD, the U2442F is equally capable as a high-end desktop.

Where the U2442F falters is in its GPU performance. Having come to wait and then much more from the Nvidia GeForce GT 650M, simply to be let downwardly by its apply of DDR3 memory, we were disappointed to say the to the lowest degree.

That said, the U2442F still looks proficient in the graphics department when compared to other ultrabooks which typically rely solely on the integrated HD 4000 graphics. A couple of fancy and well regarded ultrabooks such as the Acer Aspire S7 and Lenovo Yoga 13, for example, both rely on the Hard disk drive 4000 solitary.

Therefore, if you lot do plan on having some fun, the U2442F is one of the amend ultrabooks out in that location, providing a ~50-100% performance boost over integrated graphics (that's jump to change with Iris soon enough though).

If y'all are looking at an ultrabook purely for productivity so the Gigabyte U2442F fits the bill, too, particularly if you need something with a little oomph.

Nonetheless one problem nigh all of these Core i7 powered ultrabooks suffer from is bombardment life. Although the current ultrabook spec asks for at least 5 hours, information technology all depends on what you are doing.

For low-cal employ it is likely possible to hit the 5 hours and xxx minutes that Gigabyte claim the U2442F can run betwixt charges. Though, if yous only intend on lite use for the U2442F so this probably isn't the ultrabook for you lot, a Core i3 model would likely suffice.

Should you employ most of the U2442F's power for extended periods of time you should expect the bombardment to final just three hours every bit reported past the Futuremark PowerMark software. The PowerMark balanced exam actually drained the bombardment of the U2442F in simply 2 hours and 43 minutes. Past comparison, the Lenovo Yoga 13 lasted three hours and 21 minutes, though the model nosotros tested used a slower Core i5 processor and didn't feature a detached GPU.

Lesser line, we are happy with the build quality, specifications and performance of the Gigabyte U2442F, but how almost value? This Core i7-powered ultrabook appears to be competitively priced at $1250 considering the quality 128GB SSD you lot get, plus 750GB HDD, 8GB of RAM, and (half optimized) GeForce GT 650M.

Looking at the competition the IdeaPad Yoga 13 costs $one,000 and includes a touchscreen but features a slower Core i5 CPU, half equally much RAM, no hard drive and no detached GPU. Clearly, they are different systems depending on what you are trying to attain. For $1300 the Yoga 13 tin be kitted out with a 256GB SSD, 8GB of DDR3 retention, but even so no difficult drive.

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

Pros: Very well rounded specs. Crucial m4 SSD is a big win. Expert build quality. Great connectivity options and accessibility.

Cons: GPU functioning is a dissapointment due to the selection of GDDR retentiveness. Bombardment life could exist amend.