UltraNote IV Review
After much inner debate I finally ordered the UltraNote laptop. I had initially intended on ordering a gaming laptop however after a few weeks concluded that what I really wanted was a laptop for the below uses.
Needs
Word processing
Spreadsheets
Older casual games (sub 2015)
Web browsing
IPlayer/YouTube type affairs
Reliability
Portability
Speed/Responsiveness
Reasonable battery life
I've had a lot of experience with cheaper laptops (sub £500). I've found poor displays, bouncy cheap keyboards and sluggish response times a real cause of frustration. I wanted to avoid these things with a new laptop. I did a lot of research online and considered other manufacturers as well as PC Specialist. In the end I decided to go with PC Specialist as I valued the excellent reputation the company has for customer service. I also had developed a Spec in my mind that I wanted and the UltraNote could be customised to me requirements.
Specs
UltraNote: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTM i5 Dual Core Processor i5-7200U (2.50GHz, 3.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR4 2133MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 620 - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive 256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor 1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options 1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language 14" ULTRANOTE III SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus BullGuardTM Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Promotional Item FREE Halo Wars 2 with select INTEL® CPUs!
Ordering
The ordering process with PC Specialist is really simple and it's very easy to customise the system you want. I knew every part that I was buying which really gave me confidence in making decisions. Once I had ordered I knew exactly what was happening with my order at all times. For anyone ordering in the future please don't worry if your order stays in pre-production for a week or so, this is normal. Once my order went into production it was on my doorstep very quickly indeed. You can monitor your order very easily on the PC Specialist website and you are kept updated at all times as to where your order is in the various stages.
Delivery
Once my order was dispatched it arrived on the next working day. I was contacted by the delivery company via email and text and was given a two hour time slot. I could then monitor the driver real time on a map to see where he was. I could even see how many deliveries were left before mine.
Packaging
The laptop arrived in a very sturdy box, on opening this box I found another very sturdy box with large firm bubble wrap like sleeves on each end. This provided an extremely effective dampener against knocks and the general risks associated with being transported from A to B. Inside the second box was the laptop secured in cardboard and what I believe was an antistatic bag. The screen had a protective film over it and was easily removed. The packaging was superb.
Chassis
The laptop itself feels solid and firm, some laptops I have owned have felt flimsy and almost bendy. Its not the case with the UltraNote, it feels like a quality build. The power button is located to the top right of the keyboard. I did wonder if the blue light would bug be, this has not been something I have noticed. I also wondered if the metal colour would be something that I didn't like as previously my laptops have been black. The truth is that I'm indifferent and can't say that I'm bothered either way. The ports are all present and appear pretty standard.
Touchpad
Quite simply the touchpad has been a delight! It's responsive and precise.
Keyboard
The keyboard feels firm to the touch and is easy to type on. Being a 14” it does not have a number pad, this is the smallest of inconveniences. The larger keys such as space, caps lock, backspace and enter create a rattle sound when pressed. I could easily use the laptop intensively without any concerns.
Screen
The screen is pretty sharp and the colours are nice, it has a great viewing angle and doesn't require you to be sat directly in front of it in order to view it well. Iplayer looks reasonably nice and it and there is nothing that stands out as particularly bad to me.
Usage
This is where this laptop really impresses me. It boots up in seconds and everything I ask of it is done in lightening time. The wireless speed is the fasted I've ever encountered. This system is super super quick. I've been playing some older steam games (2015 and before) and its been a flawless experience.
The battery is lasting me three to four hours with a mix of downloading steam games, word processing and web browsing. If I was to use the laptop for word processing alone I am confident that it would last for around five hours.
It's also worth noting that the laptop feels surprisingly light and weighs in on my scales at 1.8kg. This could be because I do not have a mechanical HD. I have only heard the fans when playing games, other than then the laptop has been silent and runs very cool.
Summary
When deciding where to buy my laptop from it wasn't just hardware I was looking for. I'm the type of person who needs to trust the retailer I'm buying from. At this point in time I cannot fault PC Specialist in any way. The ordering process is exceptional and you are kept fully informed at all times whilst waiting for your system to be built and shipped. The delivery could not have been better in any way and the packaging was exceptional. I chose a three year gold warranty along with one years pixel guarantee. I have every confidence that I will have a brilliant service from PC Specialist should I encounter any problems.
The laptop itself looks and feels like a solid build and comes with a great keyboard, touchpad and screen. It operates at lightening speeds and so far has been faultless. I've not encountered any of the problems I have with other laptops such as flimsiness, sluggishness, crashes, unresponsive touchpads, noise, heat issues and poor screens.
I can honestly say that I believe the UltraNote IV to be an exceptional laptop, backed up with PC Specialists service/warranty I'm a very happy customer!
After much inner debate I finally ordered the UltraNote laptop. I had initially intended on ordering a gaming laptop however after a few weeks concluded that what I really wanted was a laptop for the below uses.
Needs
Word processing
Spreadsheets
Older casual games (sub 2015)
Web browsing
IPlayer/YouTube type affairs
Reliability
Portability
Speed/Responsiveness
Reasonable battery life
I've had a lot of experience with cheaper laptops (sub £500). I've found poor displays, bouncy cheap keyboards and sluggish response times a real cause of frustration. I wanted to avoid these things with a new laptop. I did a lot of research online and considered other manufacturers as well as PC Specialist. In the end I decided to go with PC Specialist as I valued the excellent reputation the company has for customer service. I also had developed a Spec in my mind that I wanted and the UltraNote could be customised to me requirements.
Specs
UltraNote: 14" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU) Intel® CoreTM i5 Dual Core Processor i5-7200U (2.50GHz, 3.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM) 8GB Kingston SODIMM DDR4 2133MHz (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 620 - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk NOT REQUIRED
M.2 SSD Drive 256GB SAMSUNG PM961 M.2, PCIe NVMe (up to 2800MB/R, 1100MB/W)
Memory Card Reader Integrated 6 in 1 Card Reader (SD /Mini SD/ SDHC / SDXC / MMC / RSMMC)
AC Adaptor 1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable 1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Sound Card Realtek 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8265 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) +BT 4.0
USB Options 1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Battery UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
Keyboard Language 14" ULTRANOTE III SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence
Operating System Language United Kingdom - English Language
DVD Recovery Media Windows 10 (64-bit) Home DVD with paper sleeve
Office Software NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus BullGuardTM Internet Security - Free 90 Day License inc. Gamer Mode
Browser Microsoft® Edge (Windows 10 Only)
Notebook Mouse INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty 3 Year Gold Warranty (2 Year Collect & Return, 2 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Dead Pixel Guarantee 1 Year Dead Pixel Guarantee Inc. Labour & Carriage Costs
Delivery STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time Standard Build - Approximately 9 to 11 working days
Promotional Item FREE Halo Wars 2 with select INTEL® CPUs!
Ordering
The ordering process with PC Specialist is really simple and it's very easy to customise the system you want. I knew every part that I was buying which really gave me confidence in making decisions. Once I had ordered I knew exactly what was happening with my order at all times. For anyone ordering in the future please don't worry if your order stays in pre-production for a week or so, this is normal. Once my order went into production it was on my doorstep very quickly indeed. You can monitor your order very easily on the PC Specialist website and you are kept updated at all times as to where your order is in the various stages.
Delivery
Once my order was dispatched it arrived on the next working day. I was contacted by the delivery company via email and text and was given a two hour time slot. I could then monitor the driver real time on a map to see where he was. I could even see how many deliveries were left before mine.
Packaging
The laptop arrived in a very sturdy box, on opening this box I found another very sturdy box with large firm bubble wrap like sleeves on each end. This provided an extremely effective dampener against knocks and the general risks associated with being transported from A to B. Inside the second box was the laptop secured in cardboard and what I believe was an antistatic bag. The screen had a protective film over it and was easily removed. The packaging was superb.
Chassis
The laptop itself feels solid and firm, some laptops I have owned have felt flimsy and almost bendy. Its not the case with the UltraNote, it feels like a quality build. The power button is located to the top right of the keyboard. I did wonder if the blue light would bug be, this has not been something I have noticed. I also wondered if the metal colour would be something that I didn't like as previously my laptops have been black. The truth is that I'm indifferent and can't say that I'm bothered either way. The ports are all present and appear pretty standard.
Touchpad
Quite simply the touchpad has been a delight! It's responsive and precise.
Keyboard
The keyboard feels firm to the touch and is easy to type on. Being a 14” it does not have a number pad, this is the smallest of inconveniences. The larger keys such as space, caps lock, backspace and enter create a rattle sound when pressed. I could easily use the laptop intensively without any concerns.
Screen
The screen is pretty sharp and the colours are nice, it has a great viewing angle and doesn't require you to be sat directly in front of it in order to view it well. Iplayer looks reasonably nice and it and there is nothing that stands out as particularly bad to me.
Usage
This is where this laptop really impresses me. It boots up in seconds and everything I ask of it is done in lightening time. The wireless speed is the fasted I've ever encountered. This system is super super quick. I've been playing some older steam games (2015 and before) and its been a flawless experience.
The battery is lasting me three to four hours with a mix of downloading steam games, word processing and web browsing. If I was to use the laptop for word processing alone I am confident that it would last for around five hours.
It's also worth noting that the laptop feels surprisingly light and weighs in on my scales at 1.8kg. This could be because I do not have a mechanical HD. I have only heard the fans when playing games, other than then the laptop has been silent and runs very cool.
Summary
When deciding where to buy my laptop from it wasn't just hardware I was looking for. I'm the type of person who needs to trust the retailer I'm buying from. At this point in time I cannot fault PC Specialist in any way. The ordering process is exceptional and you are kept fully informed at all times whilst waiting for your system to be built and shipped. The delivery could not have been better in any way and the packaging was exceptional. I chose a three year gold warranty along with one years pixel guarantee. I have every confidence that I will have a brilliant service from PC Specialist should I encounter any problems.
The laptop itself looks and feels like a solid build and comes with a great keyboard, touchpad and screen. It operates at lightening speeds and so far has been faultless. I've not encountered any of the problems I have with other laptops such as flimsiness, sluggishness, crashes, unresponsive touchpads, noise, heat issues and poor screens.
I can honestly say that I believe the UltraNote IV to be an exceptional laptop, backed up with PC Specialists service/warranty I'm a very happy customer!
