Gigabyte U2442 Line

Gigabyte is a well-known and respected company in the computer business. They're mostly known for their motherboards, but also produce a range of other devices, including laptops. As far as I'm aware, there's no reason to be hesitant towards this product based on QA concerns.

Really, if you're concerned about it then you just want to make sure the retailer you purchase it from has a good return policy. It'd be great if Newegg or Amazon carried it, but you'll probably have to wait longer for them to pick it up.

 

welcome to the forums

but yeah, id definitely trust gigabyte. ive heard of them, but it is true, i havn't seen a lot of laptops from them, or any other products. but i've seen their motherboards and ive had quite a few of them in my lifetime..

but yes, they offer an ultrabook that has EVERYTHING and for a great price. seriously amazing.

i hate seeing all these other laptops that have this thing.. but leave out something else.. and with an absurd price. its ridiculous!

i cannot wait for u2442, oajwf;oiwejf

 

hmm wait for the 650m or overclock the 640.. and get one now

any thoughts?

 

Are they available in Australia yet?

 

Gigabyte developed a decent reputation selling its own brand of high performance motherboard for gamers. They entered a market that was dominated by Asus and took significant amount of their market share in just a few years by producing a decent product and servicing it properly. While Asus was getting a reputation for not honoring their warranties, Gigabyte was building a business doing the opposite. For years now, it has been trying to follow Asus into the notebook market. But, its tablets and notebooks were always one-step behind the market. I think all of that has finally changed for Gigabyte. Now we get to see if they can deal with success and keep the units shipping. If their past performance is any indication of their current service, I would not worry about warranty issues. Gigabyte has been known for good service in the past.

 

I posted a review of the U2442N, check it out.

http://forum.notebookreview.com/other-manufacturers/681789-gigabyte-u2442n-review.html

 

This looks good, anyone in the UK got their hands on one yet (or have any idea when they'll be available here)?

I'd take a gigabyte over an asus any day due to their superior support service here.

 

It is now available to preorder through Amazon in the UK Amazon.co.uk: GIGABYTE U2442: Computers & Accessories

Have fun!

 

^AH YES!

Fantastic stuff, and released this month too! Perfect.


Edit: I wonder, the version without the 750GB hard drive is £100 cheaper - does this mean I could just fit any 2.5" hard drive (or ssd) in that version without voiding any warranty?
750GB is overkill for my needs, and I've already got a scorpio blue 500GB laying around. A £100 saving on the other hand is nice.

 

Wow, and after they fobbed me off twice regarding a UK release only a month ago

Oh well, very happy with my Sony now

 

Well there are no void stickers so you can always try. Yes it fits any standard 2.5mm hdd (9.5mm) So your scorpio blue will fit.

No, I didn't contact amazon about it, I contacted the GIGABYTE's sole UK supplier instead (think4mobile). I got a definite answer from them.
I might go back to Sony if they remove the standard 3G modem. But atm it is more likely that GIGABYTE's getting my money.

However the battery life of the Sony S13p will be better, however gigabyte beats it in, speed (SSD), GPU (no overclock) and screen.

Lenovo order is cancelled because I can't receive it, factory delay has meant that no one will be on the premises to collect the laptop.
however at least I'm not stuck with the crappy 620m any more.

 

It seems the gigabyte also works out cheaper than the vaio s13 with similar specs (once you configure it a bit).

Screens I can accept neither is going to be spectacular, and battery life is definitely in favour of the vaio, but I'd stick my neck out and say it loses in most other departments.

 

I don't really care about the 128GB SSD, I just need 13-14'' Laptop which has a decent GPU and has 500GB of storage space, 128GB will be fairly useless to me.
In my opinion:
Sony S13 wins in battery life, trackpad, thermals and possibly the use of nicer materials such as magnesium alloy, aluminium and carbon fibre also the hinge looks much stronger on the S13p.

gigabyte U2442n wins in, GPU, screen (by an edge maybe), keyboard (better feedback), weight and motherboard quality (had a few gigabyte motherboards)

I know gigabyte uses aluminium but is that just for the ''Hairline-Brushed Aluminum Champagne Gold Cover''? or is it the whole body? since in the review earlier the palm rest looks plastic and well plastic in general. Could someone elaborate on this?

Overall because Sony screwed me over last minute I guess it is more likely that gigabyte is going to get my money.

 

So is anyone going to bother with the version with the 750GB hard drive included? It works out cheaper (by about £25 shopping around) to buy an identical drive separately and fit it yourself, so I wonder why that version is even available, let alone at £100 more than the one without?

Edit: yes if gigabyte's service and quality with this is anything like their motherboards or other stuff, then it is definitely the way to go.

 

UK is getting it before USA? wow

 

I recommend that everyone gets the one without the HDD and just add what you need (e.g 320GB hdd or 500GB.etc) (not recommended for simpletons).
I like gigabytes motherboards, nice layouts, reliable .etc
But so far my concerns for the U2442N are, construction strength/quality especially around the hinge area.
Also is aluminium used extensively or is plastic used as the main material? (Excluding lid since that's aluminium). This is important since aluminium dent's too easily and is weak when thin, yet thin plastic is brittle. Ideally the main frame of this notebook should be made out of a Magnesium alloy like Lenovos.

I know right, it makes a nice change for once, the US and Japan are always getting stuff before UK/Europe does.
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Good Points:
1. Loving the raw power of this notebook
2. Although it's supposed to be an ultrabook it technically isn't
3. Thermal design is very good and well thought through.
4. I prefer physical buttons on any trackpad.
5. A 900p screen (at least it's not the sh***y 1366*768 resolution)
6. Build quality is genrally good.
7. Dual-Bios - very handy.
8. mSATA slot, 128 SSD
9. Still has VGA and Ethernet.
10. 2 Years standard warranty
11. Very aggressively priced for what it is.
12. Gives consumers the option to put own HDD/SDD in.
13. OMG gigabyte actually makes it easy to peal stickers off.
14. Keyboard is nicely backlit.
15. Everything is upgradeable

Bad Points
1. Hinges look flimsy and cheap
2. the screen bezel is made from thin plastic that let backlight through.
3. Wish it was 1080p
4. Battery Life isn't going to be great, Could have provided a bigger battery.
5. Battery life indicator looks like a cheap afterthought.
6. Max supported memory is 8GB atm, (should be at least 16GB)
7. Does not appear to give HDD caddy whn ordering the one w/o HDD.
8. Sneaky screws behind rubber covers
9. Thunderbolt/Mini display port is no longer included hence

10. The use of gddr3 rather than gddr5 for the GPU.
11. Green PCB yuck - only kidding although they made the effort of painting the heatsink black
12. Looks a little Apple-ly - the colour black would have solved this.
13. No black colour.
14. Small amount of flex in the keyboard area (vastly improved since the pre production model)
15. Typical notebook speakers.

Overall I'm gonna buy it worth it before it get's more expensive when gigabyte has established its base in the market.
Don't worry people it's just me nit picking.

I would love this laptop to be coloured black.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ok my Concerns have somewhat been alleviated, Gigabyte uses aluminium for the U2442 lid, Painted magnesium alloy for the main chassis of the product, plastic for the trackpad, screen bezel and keyboard.

So overall construction materials are good. Although Magnesium alloy does not dent easy and is strong it does however it is brittle

However I still have concerns about the hinges, they seem almost too small and not very durable, I would retract this comment if these were steel hinges like on the thinkpads, and not the normal nylon/playstic ones found in cheap HPs.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

OK I see this is going to be around $2000AU then when it FINALLY gets to Australia.

Hello anyone know when??

 

PChomeUS Online Shopping - GIGABYTE

3 more just went in stock, i just ordered one. two left! ahh im so happy now. i don't have till wait till mid september. i don't mind the keyboard either, i think it looks cool .

mine was 1313.22$ shipped, (tax included, california)

my order failed the first time because bank did their automatic fraud thing, worked the 2nd time after i answered the questions they had for me through the phone

i actually went to frys today to look at the sony vaio s13.. was very close to just getting that instead. haha

 

16GB RAM is supported by U2442N, someone tested with Transcend 8GB DDR3 1333 RAM x 2 and uploaded the screenshots to a Taiwanese forum: 第一次感動~U2442N(開箱) - GIGABYTE - Mobile01

 

Over my dead body on trackpad & thermals! Those two are perhaps the strongest points of u2442. I'd hesitate to give more than battery and build quality to the S13, if at that. (Magnesium/aluminum being components to u2442 as well.)

That being said, carbon fibre is very pretty as long as you can configure it with GPU for under $1100.

 

That's good to know, although gigabyte themselves state otherwise.

Contact any suppliers in Australia that is going to stock this notebook. Check gigabyte's website and click where to buy, then you get a list of shops.
To get a ballpark price, take the UK model, take away the 20% vat and then add on your 10% GST, that should give you a rough figure.

Well according to this user's review here, the gigabyte trackpad isn't as good as his alienware which in turn isn't as good as Sony's trackpad.
Sony has really done a cracking job there, it's very responsive and multitouch gestures work very well, I liked it, it was close to the mac trackpad, but being a synaptics trackpad it did have some niggles here and there.

Battery life is better on the Sony S13 due to the very slightly bigger battery and the use of the 640m LE (kepler) which uses less energy than the ordinary 640m.

Again Sony has done a good job with build quality for the S series, but So has gigabyte, I'd say they're about equal but factoring those small hinges in, I'm inclined towards Sony atm. The opposite will be true if GIGABYTE uses steel hinges like those found on a Thinkpad.

If you look above I have already commented on the materials of the U2442 again, look at post #266, I was complaining before I found out.

I'll give you the thermals one, I guess I was thinking about the Sony S13 compared to the Lenovo S430. However Sony has also done a great job with thermals, for such a slim body and only one heatsink and fan, it rarely goes above 90 degrees Celsius even when you're stressing the system with both prime 95 and furmark, temperatures are usually around mid 80's when pushing the system.
However both the S13 and U2442N vent out waste heat through the back which is very important, this keeps the waste heat away from the user and the palm rest will remain cool.

Well this ''ultrabook'' was actually more expensive than the Sony S13p, now Sony S13 also has 8GB ram and well the price comes to £50 cheaper, however Sony has recently added the 3G modem and made it standard, now it's more expensive than the gigabyte. So yes since it had some carbon fibre it would have been nice.

 

Where did you see that info, is this going to be a problem?

That's a shame, but I can live without it.

 

I guess I read that review with a different reference point -- I owned the larger Sony S15 for two weeks, and came away feeling it wasn't the right machine for me. Pluses were gameplay (surprisingly good for the 640m LE), cooling while gaming, and the screen (still the "orangegate" display but damn good at 1080p). But there were enough minor concerns -- in particular, much worse battery life than the Samsung NP700Z5C -- that I returned it.

Comparing TheLawIX's review to the S15 in my mind, the Gigabyte came out the clear winner (though the display could tilt the scales). And it's not clear if the outcome would change when comparing to the S13 -- but I'm on the S owner's thread, and it's anything but a lovefest over there right now (a lot of complaints about screen graininess). And personal tastes play a role too -- if his comments regarding performance, heat/noise, and battery life are spot on, those would make the Gigabyte a no-brainer for me.

-Matt

 

After reading through the review and feedback, the Gigabyte U2442N looks to be better than expected. Good job Gigabyte!

It took too long to appear, and no news on the availability in my country even till today. After sleepless night for couple of days going through reviews and forums, in the end I've decided to go with the Sony Vaio S13 and went to purchase it last month. Haven't regret since.

But still, I'm still very interested to know how well this Gigabyte U2442N can do.

Quite interested to know how well does it handle the temperature.
Here are the reviews I copied over from Notebookcheck for comparison :

Wondering whether the result above doesn't match the actual result from the owner of the U2442N in this forum.

The stress test on notebookcheck also mentioned that the GPU can reach 88c on stock GT640M. It can be good news and bad news. Good news is that it doesn't throttle even when it reaches 88c. Bad news is that, it can reach that temperature on stock clock GT640M even on dual fan laptop.

 

Would also like to add on the scores given by notebookcheck for both :

 

Thanks for the data -- yikes, those temps are worrisome. I guess the Gigabyte wasn't a preproduction model (grasping at straws)?

Those are from the German reviews, correct? -- I couldn't find them on the English site.

-Matt

 

Hard to compare the temps between the S13 and U2442 from these test as the ambient room temperatures are quite a bit different in the two tests. The only valid comparison would be under the same exact load with the same exact ambient room temps.

 

yeah true, but i would give it to the s13 though. it is a bit thicker and made out of a better material and its made by sony. but never the less, im sure the u2442 temps would be just fine.

its very hot during the summer, but ill do a video review and put up some gameplay vids and see how hot this thing gets in a real life situation. when i receive my u2442, which will probably be in 1-2 weeks

 

I'm curious how you read the PCHomeUS site? Surely not google.translate! I was hoping to find it in English -- besides knowing dimsum names and a few juicy insults in Cantonese, my Chinese reading ability is nil.

-Matt

 

[SUB][/SUB]

yeah google translate did the trick haha, it was quite easy. they took off the u2442 as of today.. no idea why =\

i got to order it yesterday though

 

Seriously! That's amazing, now I feel dumb for not trying it.

Oh well. You know you owe us a detailed review when it arrives!

-Matt

 

I only speculated since the user review on this forum shows that the HDD is taped down, now this may not be a problem since the HDD is packed tightly in with foam.

The pre production model had thunderbolt.

My reference point comes from the king of trackpads that spawed in the year 2008, the MacBook pro of course, now it's 2012 and PC manufactures still can't match it although some get close. Now this could be either due to bad drivers or bad hardware or the combination of the two.

Screen graniness is not unique to Sony, in fact Lenovo suffers from this problem too with their t420, t430, S430.
I think this is because the panels manufactures use aren't actually true matte panels, they're just cheap glossy panels with a coating on them. The coating seems to exasperate the graniness and pixel walk.

I don't think battery life is that much different from the two, Sony has a very slightly bigger battery.

The 640 le (kepler) is just an undercloked version of the normal 640m, so it's no suprise that the 640m LE is good.

Even thought this is a dual fan laptop, I suspect it's the long heat pipes gigabyte uses or the screen impact airflow over the vents. (Whist open)

I don't know what sony does, but it is effective. Maybe one high quality fan beats two not so good fans.

Not really notebook checks standard load is prime 95 which results in 100% CPU and furmark which results in 100% GPU utilisation.
Now GPUs may throttle down to prevent overheating and well that's up to the manufacture to program in.

So really just take the difference of the ambient temperature and then add/subtract the difference between the load temperatures.

They both use the same magnesium alloy material for casing.
The U2442 temps will be fine considering the GPU does not throttle,
maybe the screen limits the vents effectiveness by restricting airflow while open.

Not surprised really, it seems like the gigabyte screen isn't much good at reproducing colours, contrast and blacks.
At least the S13p covers most of the sRGB spectrum.

No Germany has actually had the U2442N for quite some time now, it's not a pre production model, Germany Had it approx 1-2 months before the UK received it.

The reviews on the English site are just translated version of the German version, so scores will be the same.

 

I can read a few languages besides English, but German (and Chinese!) is not on my list. I meant that without the English-translated page, I feel a bit starved for data. Unfortunately the translate.google version, while highly entertaining, was buggy at best. I'm happy to wait for the authorized translation!

BTW I was joking when I said "pre-production." My brain goes into "but-what-if" mode when I don't like someone else's observations/conclusions.

-Matt

 

awesome, my order from PC Home US just shipped. ill be getting it in 5 business days i guess . expect my own very first review with box opening video, gameplay videos, close up pictures. ill take some request of any games you'd like to see being played on this... if i have the game haha

some games i'll be doing will be.. guild wars 2 (pretty sure stress test will be again next week), skyrim, bf3 (maybe, i feel blah about installing it with origin and all), d3

but i am stoked. i really wanted a laptop in time for school which starts at the end of august. really didn't think id be getting one from overseas.. this is a first

 

^Nice, I look forward to your review.

 

A linear translation of the difference in ambient temperatures is not an accurate measurement, simply a rough estimate. Even so, this rough translation shows that the U2442 cooling is comparable or better than the S13.

 

If the U2442N keeps temps at similar levels as the S series, it is cooling much better considering the thinner body, etc. I understand that the GPU max out at 88C under high levels of stress. That is not terrible. The Acer 3820TG, which has the best cooling I've ever seen in an ultrathin can reach those levels. The good news is that neither the GPU nor CPU throttles at 88C.

 

Differences in temperature:

IDLE
Average (top) = 35.4 - 28.5 = 6.9c
Average (bottom) = 36.5 - 29.4 = 7.1c
Maximum (top) = 40.2 - 31.2 = 9c
Maximum (bottom) = 42.7 - 31.9 = 10.8c

Ambient = 28 - 24.5 = 3.5c

LOAD
Average (top) = 42.8 - 34.6 = 8.2c
Average (bottom) = 42.4 - 33.1 = 9.3c
Maximum (top) = 58.7 - 54.3 = 4.4c
Maximum (bottom) = 56 - 45.5 = 10.5c

Ambient = 28.5 - 23.1 = 5.4c

Whatever it is, both does well on the cooling.
I also agree that 88c is still considered ok, since we are looking at stress test, not real life gaming.
As long as the keyboard, touchpad, and the bottom casing doesn't feel too hot, I don't see it much of an issue.

It is better to have a hot(not too hot) non-throttle GPU with a warm temp on the chassis rather than a warm throttle GPU with a hot temp on the chassis.

 

I went to MicroCenter in Santa Clara this morning in hopes to find out if they'll be carrying the U2442 laptop, but i find out it has been closed down since July 23rd!! That's sad. I bought a lot of CPUs, motherboards, and computer cases from that store.

 

Aw man, Santa Clara -- that sucks. I just double-checked and it looks like OC is the last CA store. Hopefully they'll be back for the next economic bubble.

FWIW I'll be at the St. Louis store tomorrow. I'll see if they've heard of the Gigabyte yet. That would be very cool.

-Matt

 

PChome¥þ²yÁʪ«¡mGIGABYTE §Þ¹Å U2442N (i5-3210M, 750GB+128GB, GT640-2G, W7)¡n

I live in Belgium and this mucj cheaper than 1200€ on amazon.de.
Anyone knows when it'll be released/ready?

 

Much cheaper yes, but the negatives are that you will be missing out on consumer protection .etc that the EU offers, on top of that don't forget that there's always a chance of it being pulled by customs which will add around 21% BTW/TVA/MWSt (in your case), and plus buying it from PChome adds 5% tax from Taiwan, so if it does get pulled by customs that's like 26% tax plus you have to factor in international delivery charges.

The average VAT across EU member states is around 21%, the countries range from lows 15%, (Luxembourg) and the Highs 27% (Hungary).
So really it's not actually cheaper if you take away the VAT.

 

Anyone else get their hands on a u2442 yet? I'm dying for some more reviews, impressions and opinions.

I'm 99% sure I'm going to pick one of these up, although I'm a bit put off by the lack of a true quad core CPU. Since this thing isn't upgradeable (soldered chips, right?) i'd like to be able to future-proof it a little bit. Given how impressive their cooling is, the lack of a beefier chip seems odd. Heck, even the ancient IBM T60 I'm typing on now has a dual core...

 

I suppose gigabyte could use the i7-3612QM which is has a rated TDP of 35w which is the same TDP that the dual core i5-3210M has.
However the chips at full load hits 88 Degrees Celsius, so if you add say a 660m the heat will be pushed up higher and battery consumption would be higher too. Remember the U2442n does not have a large battery to begin with.

Gigabyte solders the chips to the motherboard to keep things as thin as possible, A socket will add a lot of thickness to the design, I'm sure your T60 is thick when compared to the U2442n.

 

I was really looking forward to this laptop, but I really would like to see more reviews, and also it felt like FOREVER for it to come out.

Just as a reference point, I wanted to let others know that I ended up getting the last gen sony SA Series 13 laptop for $700 (including a free xbox360) from the microsoft store.

As much as I love the U2442 laptop, I couldnt resist the SA at around $500 (subtracting the cost of the xbox). Even if i keep it only a year, this means I have more money to upgrade to a TOUCHSCREEN windows 8 laptop coming out in the near future. and who knows what other tech will come out!

good luck guys, I'll be lurking and checking out your likes/dislikes of the U2442!

 

Could a U2442 owner comment on the screen's graininess? Most VAIO S13 owners complain about this aspect of the S13's screen. Likely, the graininess is due to the S13's anti-glare coating. As the U2442 features a matte screen as well, the same may apply to the U2442's screen. In fact, according to Notebookcheck the U2442 features the same panel (LG LP140WD2-TLD2) as Lenovo's T430 (and probably the S430 as well); the T430 seems to suffer from graininess as well.

 

I had a chat with the Notebookcheck.com guy who reviewed both the S13 and U2442 (and T430). He said he didn't notice any graininess during both tests; he concludes that there may be some graininess, but only marginal. I've seen the S13's 900p screen myself and unfortunately I can't say it's marginal... He also answered to my question 'is the U2442's screen better than the S13's?':

 

Finally! The answer I've been waiting for! Thanks for getting the info about the display quality. I was close to get the S13P when it first came out, but when I saw it in person at the Sony store, the display turned me off. And now that I hear the U2442's display is even worse, I'm now leaning more towards the S15.

But I won't make my final decision just yet until more users in this forum get their hands on the U2442 and give me their opinion on the display vs. the S13P.

It's mid-August now, where are they at??

 

Oh dear well that doesn't sound too good for the screen.

 

i got my u2442 a few days back, from taiwan, and yes i noticed the screen graininess on the sony S13's in the store and that made me not want to buy it at all. so i was concerned with the U2442 having the same problem..

BUT NOPE! it has just a bit of graininess but not as much as the s13's. i can guarantee that

here are some pictures

Index of /ss