Work, Play, and Go with Gigabyte U2442

Written by Alex Neri

March 13, 2013

Quick Rundown:

IMG_0196.JPG (3)

Unit: 2442
Manufacturer: Gigabyte
Class: Ultrabook
Battery life: 4 hours (productivity), 1.5 hours (gaming)
CPU: Intel Core i5 (Sandybridge)
RAM: 8GB
HDD: 120GB SSD, 750GB HDD SATA 2
Video: nVidia Geforce 640m
Rating: 4/5
Pros: Good screen real estate, solid feel, SSD
Cons: No Optical Drive, plastic case makes it flimsy
Price: Php 70,000
Official Site
Purchasing Contact:

Jen1ne Distribution Inc
Phone Number : 239-2839 / 903-6185 loc 204
Production Manager : Ryan Trinidad

Is it Worth Buying?

Yes. That silver finish, thin profile, cool performance and awesome heat dissipation will knock your socks off. That hefty price tag would be a barrier for acquisition though, but totally justified with the benefits you’d be getting out of it.

I am a mobile worker. Ask anyone– and they can tell you how much I invested on buying an iPad, an iPhone and on a laptop just to keep my stuff with me wherever I go. Be it working on a new document, developing applications, creating and editing image elements, or slithering away hidden in an RPG, I like my unit to be both robust, lightweight and powerful. That is where ultrabooks come in. Wading in the pool of a dozen choices, it’s pretty hard to find the unit that would satisfy your needs (and wants!). This is where Gigabyte stepped in with a preview of their unit: The Ultrabook U2442. It has been a full month since I have received the Gigabyte U2242 Ultrabook– I’ve used it as my main workbook from office, to home, to play– even wrote a Google Chrome theme and created posts on it. Here is what I think of it.

Work

One of the most important aspects of following the “Bring Your Own Gadget” or BYOG work ethic is that the stuff you bring to the office is also the stuff that you enjoy working with, and that the stuff that you entirely depend on. The U2242 is a robust, dependable and lightweight unit that lets you bring an awesome work unit to the office. The Core i5 installed gives you breathing room to run a dozen of apps (or in my case, browser tabs!) alongside your productivity apps. And since most of my work stuff involves me grabbing screenshots, making tutorial videos and receiving calls from the softphone (our office uses the Avaya Softphone– which is a resource hog if you ask me) the Core i5 handles these concurrent tasks cleanly and flawlessly utilizing the 8GB RAM that is installed on the system. Applications run fast due to the 120GB SSD Drive where the OS sits on, so you’re guaranteed to work faster while you take on more tasks than usual.

Gigabyte U2442

Also, being a person whose focus or attention span is really small, I usually launch iTunes for playing music– and everyone knows how much of a resource hog iTunes is. I know, I know, I could’ve opted for a different player, but since I am a user of an iPhone, I was sticking to it. The i5, 8GB RAM and SSD allowed me to run this big music player while working. Worksheets, Documents and Presentations were ran using Microsoft Office 2013– to which I installed during my brief stay with the Ultrabook. Editing multiple documents was a breeze, opening up to 20 concurrent files at the same time before you’d notice a slowdown.

Play

Sporting an i5, 8GB RAM and 120GB SSD drive, the Gigabyte U2442 is a mid-level Ultrabook that can pull punches with most of the modern games. The game we tried playing was Dishonored and the hit MMO DragonSaga, and so far we had a satisfying experience with it. Animation was smooth, and most of the effects were played out. The only issue we had so far with regards to high-end gaming was that some of the Bloom effects weren’t rendered well. However the bloom effects were on, there were no stuttering experienced in the game– even if you move the game directory from the SSD to the spinning HDD itself.

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One thing that made this Ultrabook sell well for me is that despite having to crunch all those polygons out during gameplay, the unit didn’t generate too much heat. The pads where the wrists stay are cool enough for you to put on, and the metallic finish doesn’t conduct the heat in a way that will make you retract your fingers out of agony.

Create

The U2442 Ultrabook sports a 1600×1024 screen area, which is quite big for a notebook this size. It allows you to have more desktop real estate to multi task– which is also essential if you’re a web developer who’s looking into code on the left pane, and a preview on the right. This allows for you to be able to make changes while having a good look at both your code and the result. Another good thing to consider while using this unit is that since this is using an SSD, Adobe CS will launch really fast on the unit.

 

Yep, it launches in under 6 seconds. Not bad for an i5 ultrabook.

Go

One noteable thing for this notebook (heh… badum-tss!) is that the battery power is wonderful– at about 4 hours using high-end computing in manipulating Photoshop/Illustrator/Premiere Pro, and at about 1 hour and a half when in High-Definition gaming. One thing also for certain is that since the unit has two fans and two exhaust vents at the rear, the heat will dissipate and will not be trapped in– and that it will sit comfortably on your lap. Weight wouldn’t be an issue either, since it’s just 1.59kg heavy and only 18.5mm~21mm thick.

And oh, since we’re on the topic of portability here, it will be good to mention that it can shutdown and go to sleep at a moment’s notice.

In conclusion:

The Gigabyte U2442 Ultrabook is a smart combination for the techie, gamer and for the developer. You could use this as your normal day-to-day workhorse, pumping out your desired content while saving much on the battery and space. Portability isn’t a problem, since the system gives you a 4-hour life for normal usage, and an hour and a half for dedicated gaming. The one thing that would be a good addition though would be for us to be able to read optical media like a DVD or a BD, but given the portability restrictions I guess we could settle in for a USB drive. Anyway, if you want gaming, working and multimedia tasking on the go, and on a budget, this ultrabook is for you.

Rating: 4 out of 5

Facebook Comments

3 Comments

  1. isko

    Hello, I just want to ask if know where particular store I can buy this stuff?.. thanks for sharing love it!!!

    Reply
    • Alex

      Hi isko! Currently we don’t have a list for retail outlets for this Ultrabook– but we’ll be contacting Gigabyte for your enquiry and we’ll get back to you as soon as possible. 🙂

      -A

      Reply
    • Alex

      Hi isko,

      Just a quick update: I have received their contact information. I’ve updated the post as well as sent you an email with this information– looks like they don’t have a permanent storefront for this product yet XD

      Cheers

      A

      Reply

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