List Price: $1,199.00
Sale Price: $1,174.90
Today's Bonus: 2% Off
I got this ultrabook one month ago and I've had a pretty good experience with it so far.
For starters, it runs Windows 8 (basic, not Pro) which I've gotten used to fairly quick and is not the mess others say it is.
Combined with the SSD, the boot time is about 6-7 seconds.
The laptop itself was a bit pricey, I got it off Amazon through a friend who was visiting Stateside but they offer a 2 year
international warranty and they even have a service partner here, in Romania (who were quick to dismiss responsibility).
One thing to note it gets fairly hot (especially the base of the screen, where the vents blow hope it won't be a problem in the future)
and I recommend getting a cooling pad for it just to be on the safe side.
The fans tend to get a bit noisy even when they're not supposed to (when you're just browsing) but you can tinker with the cooling options.
Performance is top notch, it's of solid build, it's even got a backlit keyboard that you only find on high end laptops.
It's pretty amazing they were able to stuff so much powerful hardware in an ultrabook weighting just 1.6 kg.
Battery life's ok (3 hours of watching HD movies with the wifi on). It's a great combo of performance and portability.
Keyboard's great, trackpad as well. Doesn't have a numpad or a CD drive which I love.
I've had a tiny issue with it: I upgraded to Windows 8.1 Preview build which was highly unstable, but, in the process, it overwrote my Windows 8 product key.
I panicked for a bit as Windows Refresh was not working so I used Windows Reset and it never asked me for the product key (it's hardcoded in the BIOS).
Gigabyte's customer support were highly supportive during the whole process (especially their Facebook social media team), got nothing but nice words about them.
Do I recommend it hell yeah, the price is way cheaper than, say... a Alienware or a Macbook with the same configuration.
It's a great combo of performance and portability.
Click Here For Most Helpful Customer Reviews >>
It's a very good ultrabook, loads fast, it's light, runs smoothly, I played some games (ex.: Batman Arkham City) with no problems. But you have to know what you are buying. First, it has only 128GB of storage (SSD). That can be a problem. Also, be aware that it doesn't have CD/DVD/Blu-Ray or the like. And, at last, it's keyboard is not that good (this was the only "surprise" for me).After all, I'd recommend it. It's a solid performance for a lightweight...
Best Deals for Gigabyte Ultrabook U2442F-CF2 14-Inch Laptop
After a few weeks of research, I went ahead and purchased the U2442F over the much more expensive ASUS UX51VZ. After a few weeks of using the laptop, overall I was pleased with my purchase. It's thin and very light. I'm getting about a 4 hour battery life. It's plenty powerful for multimedia, photo and video editing, and even played Dragon Age and Company of Heroes. The laptop handled itself well with minimal slow down.I just have a few critiques. The keys feel mushy. They don't have a crisp feedback. I think it's due to the fact that it's so low profile, the actual key travel is not very long. Secondly the screen is a nice matte surface but the viewing angle is very small. Finally I wish it had more hard drive space. To compensate, I bought a 1 TB hard drive and plugged it into the USB 3.0 port. Seems to work well so far.
Honest reviews on Gigabyte Ultrabook U2442F-CF2 14-Inch Laptop
Sure it's not an excessive beaut when compared to maybe what you could buy in the same price range (e.g. air, zenbook), but in terms of features, you will not easily find another laptop that combines the impressive performance features and relatively lightness of this ultrabook (I can comfortably hold this laptop opened and powered on with one hand). I ended up deciding on this laptop because its processor, RAM, and get this: discrete graphics card were better than other laptops in the same tier.Also, because its 128gb SSD is incorporated into the motherboard, it has an ADDITIONAL hard drive expansion slot available (how often do you find that in a laptop?). I'm planning to add another SSD into it later this month.
I've been using it everyday for the past month, and so far, Windows 8 runs buttery fast with no hiccups. Boot-up time takes less than 10 seconds, and its discrete graphics card handles casual gaming (TF2, Battlefield 3) very smoothly. Battery life on 'balanced' (medium setting) currently gets me between 4-5 hours per charge.
Before I purchased this ultrabook, I had been a bit concerned about the keyboard and touchpad, as that had been the concerns of other would-be buyers. After using it, I can say:
the keyboard does not noticeably flex in the middle for me, and I type pretty firmly too.
I would say the touchpad is definitely better than what you would get on a budget laptop (~$600-$800 range). I know that Apple is supposed to have one of the best touchpads around, but I've not noticed any difficulties using this, and this is coming from a previous desktop user. The gestures that the touchpad software supports are also pretty convenient (you can turn them off if you want)
All in all, I am very happy with my purchase and do not regret sacrificing a bit of aesthetics for what IMHO is solidly superior performance :) This is a jewel at this price.
No comments:
Post a Comment