Gigabyte U2442N Review

Some of the screw holes have small grey rubber stoppers covering the screws. You'll need to gently pop those out with a uber-tiny screwdriver and remove the remaining screws. After that, the bottom of the case pops off easily, with zero effort.

Interesting, I hadn't considered that. Do you know the versions of the BIOS mod on this thread are compatible with the latest BIOS posted on Gigabyte's website?

 

When will we know if the 650 has GDDR5?

 

I could be mistaken but I'm pretty sure that was already debunked. Will have GDDR3.

 

^No you're right.
A GDDR5 will 'probably' produce too much heat for an ultrabook too handle.

 

There is no new bios mod as of yet. There is no "compatible with latest bios" it will become the new bios when flashed.

 

It's not heat, it's power. GDDR5 will consume 10-15% more power than DDR3. GDDR5 actually seems to run cooler. See here: http://forum.notebookreview.com/sag...ger-np6110-owners-lounge-111.html#post8518519

 

Hrm. Ok, I'll restate: does applying the modded BIOS negate any of the enhancements of the latest Gigabyte BIOS? Or is the video piece separate enough that they coexist?

 

Yes it will, it won't be noticeable in W7, but I wouldn't use them in W8. We'll need someone to mod the latest one for W8.

 

Ah cool. I thought I read a part where Gigabyte stated the GDDR3 option was to avoid heat. But it might as well have been about preserving power. My mind is pretty sloppy as of lately.

 

Cool, I just applied the 1000Mhz mod and it seems to have applied just fine. GPU-Z reports 1000Mhz core and 900Mhz memory.

However, something interesting did happen - my screen brightness became *noticeably* less bright after the reboot, regardless of maxing out via the keyboard and SmartManager controls. It seems like the earlier poster who mentioned the new Gigabyte BIOS doing something to enhance display quality definitely had something to it.

Update: Ick, I think I'm going to flash back to stock. The overclock is cool and noticeable but the loss in brightness (and color quality) is severe.

 

Thank you! Finally got the case open.

I couldn't find any cables or things which were poking through the fans but I pressed down all the cables I could see through the fans with a screwdriver (didn't feel confident enough to take off the fans) and the sound seems to have stopped. Thank you!

 

Is this placebo or something? I noticed something different about the colours even after installing .net framework 4.5 before the BIOS flash! Now after the update, I noticed the brightness adjustment is soft and gradual instead of instantaneous, and around 70%+ brightness I think I detect an adjustment to the colour profiling. Cool beans.

Aside, did anyone else run into weird spastic shutting off for the first few times after the BIOS update? that literally scared the out of me.

 

No, there's definitely something funky going on. I've yet to flash back to stock I've found that I could keep increasing the brightness a few more levels (via keyboard Fn keys) beyond 100%, although the displayed number would never exceed 100. I've since rebooted and now when I adjust the brightness via the keyboard the brightness changes but the on-screen values never change from zero. Weird.

 

U2442N Review by Custom PC UK

 

Hi, may i know if anyone is having game crashes with the Nvidia 310.90 firmware?

 

I just got my U2442N and I would like to know if it is possible to use 3 displays (win7) in extended mode?
I connected two external monitors via the hdmi and vga port but only got two monitors to work. either both externals or one external and the laptop screen. I found some source that said that the Intel HD 4000 can handle up to 3 displays(and I assume the gt can do this as well), so maybe I just need to change certain preferences to get this working..

 

Hey guys,

Can everyone who has purchased a U series notebook confirm or deny that the LED back-light is bleeding through the LCD border. My review has pictures of the issue.

 

I have purchased my U2442N in January, UK spec - no backlight bleeding noticeable with normal screen brightness a rather dark, unlit room...
In the pitch black and completely covering the screen, I can make out some bleeding through the bottom right border, however practically nothing on the left.

Love it - best PC purchase I ever made!

 

Hey,

to answer your question: I could not find any back-light-bleeding at all.

While we are on it: Has anyone else noticed a rather slow resume from sleep in Windows 7? It takes like 4-5 seconds and my complaining is most likely somewhat "nitpicky", BUT even my netbook (hp pavilion dm1z) is way faster, since it takes <2 seconds to resume from sleep.

I do have installed the latest "Intel Rapid Start" drivers but it still takes the u2442n at least twice as long as the friggn netbook with it's (comparatively) ridiculous specs (AMD E-350, 4 gig ram...).

Do any of you have a similar experience?

 

4-5 seconds sounds about right to me (I don't think you're recovering from sleep). Intel Rapid Share will essentially turn your system off after making a copy of current activity. Upon resume it loads that copy. From sleep it will recover much quick, I suggest you adjust the Intel Rapid Start config to not go into deep sleep and simply remain in sleep when closed (will take more batter).

 

Hey all not to dig up a old thread or anything, just to say I purchased the Gigabyte u2442N UK model two weeks ago. I did see a lot about temperatures on here but would like to clarify.

When I jump into BF3 my GPU temps go up to 75C - 80C, However it also says that my CPU is also operating at this temperature. *Taken from MSI Afterburner & HWMonitor*

I know its going to get hot when gaming, I expected that, but will playing games regularly and pushing this laptop to that kind of temperature on a regular basis be bad on how long it will last for without something going wrong. Also would these temps effect the battery in any way or form?

Many thanks, and if you need any field tests done, hit me up!

Tom Chinery.

 

I'm working on getting a modded bios for ready for the latest bios release. With turbo boost disabled on the the you, temperatures should lower. I'll have to check CPU temps when I get it back from Gigabyte. (You could always re apply TIM and see if that helps temps)

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

Just thought I would share this:



I realize it's not the u2442n, but still! Made me all the more happy with my purchase!

 

It pretty much is the U2442N. The 640m-660 gtx are the exact same GPUs set to different clocks.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Grabbed myself a 'Used - Like New' U2442N (128GB SSD + 750GB HDD) from Amazon.co.uk Warehouse for £645 (incl delivery) in the past week.

The notebook looks great and runs great - and no evidence of it having been used before. The packaging was a little scuffed.

Very happy with it so far :thumbsup:

 

That's a good find sure! I played around 1100 with just the SSD and paid another 70 for a 1 TB HDD.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

Are you getting your laptop serviced by Gigabyte?

 

Yeah I just got it back and all is except for my track pad. Hopefully I won't have to RMA it again.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

How long did it take, shipping and all?

I have to RMA mine once i get back to the US due to what I believe is a faulty CPU fan (Buzzing and vibrations)

 

Two weeks, returned with touchpad problems and scratches. What are your CPU temperatures? Use core temp to read them.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

My CPU temps are normal. The fan keeps them at ~43-45 C which is what it has always been. Gaming temps around 80-85. It's just that the fan has begun to audibly buzz (loudly) and vibrate the chassis as the fan rpm increases. This began about 3 weeks ago, about a week after I started playing Need for speed Most wanted a lot. So I think something came loose inside the fan assembly when I started to make the fan work for extended periods. I've opened the case up to make sure there's nothing stuck in there, cleaned the little amount of dust there was and made sure it was securely mounted by the 3 screws. I asked gigabyte support about it but all they said was to fill out an RMA form and send it in.

I'm curious what kind of scratches they fixed for you? I have two major scratches by the touch pad clicker, although merely cosmetic, caused by my wrist watch.

 

You're misunderstanding. They scratched it and did something to the touchpad then sent it back. I'm working with them now to have it resolved. Not the best experience so far.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

Oh, that's a shame to hear. Hopefully I will have a better experience.

 

Yeah, wrist-watches are a freakin' No-Go on this laptop... I feel your pain!

 

@TheLaw9: As you generally seem to be the most proficient user in this forum/thread, I have a serious question for you: I mainly use the u2442n as a desktop-replacement and have recently hooked-up two 24" LCD-Monitors to it. The thing is, I desperately need 3 displays to work independently. Previously, I
resolved this particular issue by using a VGA-to-USB adapter but that was kinda sucky (USB 2.0).

So, there I was - happy as could be - thinking that VGA+HDMI would provide me with an easy solution for my predicament BUT oh no no no...apparently fu**** Intel HD 4000 has been trimmed down to urinate into people's faces (my face).

The question is: How would you go about a three-monitor-setup with the u2442n? I realize, there is an option for a VGA to USB (3.0) adapter, but that's like 80 bucks extra...

Btw: Windows 7 Ultimate (64-bit)...

Please help me!

 

Hey bro, I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I don't think you have any other options. The only way to split an output like HDMI would be through an HDMI splitter, but this would just output the same image to both external monitors. I'm sure you know that Windows+P pulls up multi-monitor support. All I can see working as-is, is the laptop display as primary and two external monitors set on each side by selecting the "extended" option. However, as the HD4000 only supports two monitors, this may not work.

Theoretically, You could use the HD4000 to output to 1 or 2 external displays and the 640M to output to 1 or 2 different external displays. While this would be easy to achieve on a desktop, I don't believe it would be possible in our case. However, it may be possible to do this with a USB to display adapter, forcing the 640m to output through the USB. Take that idea with a grain of salt though, I have no experience with USB outputs and don't know the limitations of the H77 in that regard.

On a side note, W8 is completely superior in regards to multi-monitor support vs W7. All the random ter and performance issues are gone in W8. Ideally, the U2442N (and 99%) of all other notebooks are not ideal candidates for multi-monitor (especially 3). I wouldn't plan on gaming on anything but the primary display/primary resolution (the size of the monitor doesn't matter; higher resolution is the stressor). You will be find for basic tasks/media though.

 

Are you having any driver issues ? I just wiped and loaded up my copy of Win 7 Ultimate 64, got everything running, and installed the latest HD 4000 drivers... those resulted in all sorts of crashing, like the WDM, mail, etc... Apparently the latest Nvidia drivers don't recognize my GT 730 either, so I'm running the older stuff off the Gigabyte download page.

Great notebook so far, I'm definitely laying down some vinyl on it to prevent scratches (and hide the gold lid).

 

No driver issues here. I have a 640m and I force it off for everything but games.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

I was able to update the Nvidia drivers up to 311.07 by using the Windows 8 version (instead of the 307.xx for Win7) on Gigabyte's U2442D download page, but I haven't found any way to get 314.22 or any other packages directly from Nvidia to install. I was hoping the actual Windows 7 bios might help, but no matter how many times I run the install file, by the time the notebook boots up again, it's on the Windows 8 bios again/still... I was kind of expecting better based on my experience with Gigabyte motherboards.

 

It's an intel mobo, not Gigabyte. What exactly is your issue? I'll try my best to help.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

Well, the notebook shipped with Windows 8, so it came with the Windows 8 bios/uefi loaded (F30AA), but Gigabyte support says I should be using the "Windows 7" bios (F00A). So I run their bios updater which shows a progress bar & says installing firmware. It completes and reboots the notebook. By the time the notebook comes back up and I go into the bios or Windows, it shows the bios version is F30AA, not F00A. I don't know if the board has dual bios (like many of the Gigabyte motherboards) and it's reverting to F30AA, or if the installer is failing and never actually flashing F00A.

I'd like to get the "correct" bios loaded so that I can then rule that out in troubleshooting the latest Intel HD4000 video driver (which crashes WDM and a host of other programs). Next up after that is figuring out if it's possible to trick the Nvidia installer into letting me load the 314.22 drivers (for the GT 730M) instead of remaining stuck on the older 311.07 drivers provided by Gigabyte. The funny thing is the Gigabyte supplied version of the control panel doesn't even have a "check for updates" option.

 

I'd take what Gigabyte support says with a grain of salt. I'm using the the latest W8 bios and it works just fine. I suggest you do the same. Instead of downloading drivers from Gigabytes site, download the latest HD4000 driver from Intel as well as the latest 7 series mobile driver from Nvidia. You should be all set at that point.

Use this guide to properly uninstall Nvidia drivers. http://www.overclock.net/t/1150443/how-to-remove-your-nvidia-gpu-drivers

You should also run ccleaner after every uninstall, then restart your system and finally install the new driver.

Sent from my Nexus 4

 

Ya, from all the research I've been doing. Nvidia just doesn't have any love for the GT 730M yet. I haven't found anyone able to install the drivers directly from Nvidia. In the inf file, there's only 1 supported 730M implementation.
With all the Nvidia stuff removed, the latest HD 4000 drivers don't seem to be causing any conflicts. Thanks for the help.

 

Hi all,

Nice too see an active community around this notebook

I need som help, i'm stuck in the BIOS boot loop.
I know the way of resolving it is to mes up with the "secure boot key" sitting.
But all i do is to change option, and reboot. Sometime it worked some time it don't.

Anyone got an actual step by step solution for setting the BIOS properly?

Thanks guys

Edit : Got the U2442N

 

You don't have to keep messing with that setting. Once it works don't touch it and you will boot fine.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

I dont mess with it without a reason.

I play a game call : Gotham city impostor, some time this game freez and i have to hard reset my computer.

Some time when i hard restart the computer get caught in the bios loop,

And i have to mess several time with the key boot secure sitting for starting on windows.

Also dude, where do you tune the graphic card for starting only in video games?
cant find that

Thanks

 

A hard boot reboot shouldn't effect the bios at all. You may have another issue. You tweak the GPU in the nvidia control panel (right click desktop and select it). Go to profiles and set the GPU on only for specific games.

Sent from my Nexus 4 using Tapatalk 2

 

@ TheLawIX : how the MOD is going dude?

My GPU clock is stuck to 759MHZ

 

Hello all!

I'm also EXTREMELY interested in this laptop and would highly appreciate your comments on a few things, given that I've also looked into other products, such as the Asus Zenbook line:

1. What's your take on the fact that the Zenbooks only go up to 8 GB RAM? This makes me really lean towards the Gigabyte, together with the HD+SSD configuration.
2. Can anyone compare the overall build quality and display specs between the 13" / 15" Asus vs. U2442?

Just for context, I mainly do development and number crunching stuff with MATLAB. A good display isn't mandatory, but definitely a nice thing when you're staring at lines and lines of code for hours at a time. I guess the thing I value most in a computer is a snappy UI experience, which I feel the U2442 would deliver better. Oh, one last thing: I do most of my work on OSx86, but that's a topic in itself ;-)

Many thanks and have a great day!

 

The build quality is OK, certainly not like a Macbook Pro or Dell XPS. It works fine for programming, handles Eclipse easily. Also, why do you need more than even 4gb of ram? You honestly don't unless you do intense video/photo editing or 3d graphic design. OSx86? Ewwwwwwwww