Software
Like Asus, Gigabyte makes solid hardware. Also like Asus, Gigabyte’s in-house software is a bit rough around the edges. Some of this roughness is caused by poor translations of software that was written first for a language other than English. Some issues are simply the result of poor user interface design. I ran into a rather quirky error message on the first boot of the Gigabyte U2442V. Though to be fair the message only popped up once.
A big thank-you to Gigabyte for not loading the system down with bloatware. Out of the box the U2442V had significantly fewer running processes than other Ultrabooks I’ve used. Aside from the aforementioned THX utility, there’s little in the way of bloatware except for a no-frills webcam capture program (which I prefer to similar but ‘feature’ laden utilities pre-installed on other systems) and a settings utility called SmartManager which puts a number of displaced settings all in one easy to access location.
Unfortunately SmartManager strikes one of my pet peeves wherein it fiddles confusingly with Windows’ own power management. The standard way to do it through Windows is to select your power plan then configure a ‘plugged in’ and ‘battery’ version of the plan and the rules are used accordingly. The power options in SmartManager still relies on Windows’ built-in power management but alters the behavior without telling you.
By default SmartManager automatically switches the power plan from ‘High Performance’ to ‘Battery Saver’ when you go from plugged-in to battery. So while you may have spent time configuring the ‘plugged-in’ and ‘battery’ behaviors for the High Performance plan, Gigabyte essentially ignores your rules and switches to an entirely different power plan. Yes, you can change this behavior back to the default system through SmartManager, but why the heck would they change it from what is standard in the first place?! It does nothing more than confuse the bulk of users who will wonder why the screen keeps shutting off after 5 minutes when they explicitly asked it not to do so (but unknowingly made that change in the wrong power plan!).
Everything else seems to work fairly well and it’s good to put all of these options in one place, though I disabled auto screen brightness because it seemed jumpy from time to time.
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The u2442n was on my list but I ended up getting a Vaio S13 Premium. Have you seen the Sony in person, and if so, how do you find they compare to each other?
don’t forget to mention that the i7 is low-voltage, which might save some battery life, but won’t give you any performance boost compared to the i5.
This is something i’ve been debating.. the value of the i7 version over the i5.
If I’m going to be using the 640m a good deal of time, is it even worth it to go for the low voltage i7 processor setup? I plan to purchase today, so I’d like to get a feel for which one would be better.
My gut tells me to go for the i5 and save the extra Franklin for buying a second ssd to throw in there.
trust your gut ;)
“HD4000 in the U2442V performed about 60% faster than HD4000 in the Lenovo U310 (16.31 FPS vs. 10.73 FPS). Differences in the processor (and probably amount of RAM) are definitely the cause.”
This is exclusively because the U310 has single channel memory setup and the Gigabyte doesn’t. CPU and RAM capacity doesn’t make that big of a difference. Probably 10% at best, even including different GPU clocks.
Still no ultrabook available with thunderbolt, decent screen and form factor smaller or equal 13″.
c’mon that isn’t too much asked is it?
Wow, super impressive PERF numbers and connectivity options. The battery and weight questions are quite important, though…
Adam
Battery tests please. I’ve been waiting for this piece of information ever since. It will be the deciding factor in my choice between a U2442V and an M5. Keep up the good work. I love you guys.
Hi,
I think this laptop supports >128 SSD but cannot find where to purchase such model (UK). US shops could also be an acceptable alternative. I reckon buying a 128SSD version and then adding an extra module would breach the warranty. In fact, how many years is the manufacturer’s warranty ?
Hey Niko,
I’m looking at getting this on amazon.co.uk … I posted a message on the gigabyte support site asking about warranty. A week later and no response…
Saz
***
So I’ve pulled the trigger and love this laptop! The screen brightness is incredible. I don’t think I’ve ever needed it over 50% and that’s overdoing it for me personally. There is a slight screendoor effect, if you’re looking for it.
My only question that I can’t seem to find the answer to, is once you disable the trackpad using smartmanager, is there a keyboard shortcut to turn it back on? I normally do this when I plug in a mouse, but seem to consistently forgot to turn it back on before closing the laptop and removing the wired mouse.
Any ideas? It’s an elan trackpad, and nothing in the Gigabyte support docs say anything useful.
Wht’s ur finally decision? i5 3210 or i7?
There’s a new ver. U2442F with 256 SSD & GT 650M
I went i5. The GT 640 is well enough to play the games I want and I no longer have any big internal drives on any home computers. I’ve gone with a USB 3.0 portable external drive for all static media so the 128GB drive works well enough.
Some people have noted that the fans on the i5 version run a bit too much for them. For me, it’s tolerable as casual computing and when I game, I can pop in headphones, just don’t set it directly on your lap when you do game as it generates some heat. So, if you are concerned about fan noise, i7 would probably be the better choice for you.
If you have any other questions, don’t hesitate to ask.
THX for Ryan’s experience.
I’m actually care the noise of fan, also the purpose of the lap is for engineering work, sometimes might be running the SC II, primary care about the speed, guess 128SSD is quite enough, no matter i5 or i7.
wht’s size of ur external HDD? 2.5″ 1T? how about the usb3.0 speed on writing? need lots of files transmit for daily work.
Although, by first mention, in my area TW only provide the 128SSD + 750HDD U2442V i7,
non SSD only ver. And you got the bundled Win 8? I really hate that…..
oh! finally~ Any “Break” key can use? can u set “raid” option in BIOS? can u turn the autosense back light?
THX for Ryan’s experience.
I’m actually care the noise of fan, also the purpose of the lap is for engineering work, sometimes might be running the SC II, primary care about the speed, guess 128SSD is quite enough, no matter i5 or i7.
wht’s size of ur external HDD? 2.5? 1T? how about the usb3.0 speed on writing? need lots of files transmit for daily work.
Although, by first mention, in my area TW only provide the 128SSD + 750HDD U2442V i7,
non SSD only ver. And you got the bundled Win 8? I really hate that…..
oh! finally~ Any “Break” key can use? can u set “raid” option in BIOS? can u turn the autosense back light?
Hi, thanks for sharing.