A development Ultranote IV

[hargread]

Hi,

so for some context I'm looking for a new laptop I can convince work to purchase for me, my 5 year+ old laptop is quickly running out of steam and needs replacing. If I was in a different position I would probably just look to spend a bit more myself to get something I was sure would do the job but I'm trying to keep the price down and don't want to end up going back work and saying this still doesn't quite do what I need. It will primarily be used for software development, multiple IDEs open (which tend to consume a fair amount of memory) plus the applications being developed but the RAM that I've included should see to that. The SSD will also hopefully rid me of a lot of the problems I believe I'm currently seeing with high HDD usage when the machine locks up, possibly also caused by not quite having enough RAM at the moment and things being cached to disk.

I am slightly concerned about the CPU, although I will being going from an i5-3230M so I believe, given benchmarks that I have looked at, the lower clock speeds should be compensated for by the extra cores and I'm not convinced the i7s always offer that much more for the additional cost.

One thing I would like some input on is, despite this laptop being listed as 'good for mobility' it won't often be going anywhere and really needs to be plugged in to two decent sized screens. I currently have 1 VGA and 1 HDMI with the existing laptop screen turned off. Firstly, will this drive two external screens via its VGA and HDMI ports and would it also drive its own screen at the same time. The third isn't completely necessary so long as the two external screens work but would be nice for email, IM etc.

Finally I did notice the Features section for the Ultranote IV lists two USB 3.0 slots whereas the Configurator lists a 3.0 and a 3.1 Type C, can I assume the configurator is correct? And if the above won't drive the two monitors would a USB C VGA adapter be possible alongside the HDMI port?

Thanks for any input.

Chassis & Display
UltraNote Series: 14" Matte Full HD 60 Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-8250U (1.60GHz, 3.4GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS 610/620/630 (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st Hard Disk
NOT REQUIRED
1st 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
Battery
UltraNote IV Series 44WH Lithium Ion Battery
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
Keyboard Language
14" ULTRANOTE III SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Professional 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence
Operating System Language
United Kingdom - English Language
Windows Recovery Media
Windows 10 Multi-Language Recovery Image - Unlimited Downloads from Online Account
Office Software
FREE 30 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 365
Anti-Virus
BullGuard™ 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

 

[Oussebon]

I currently have 1 VGA and 1 HDMI with the existing laptop screen turned off. Firstly, will this drive two external screens via its VGA and HDMI ports and would it also drive its own screen at the same time.

As far as I know, yes to both. The Intel 620 graphics support that.

Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)

Are you going for 1x16gb as you consider it highly likely you will need more RAM? If not, 2x8gb would be preferable for having the RAM as dual channel.

although I will being going from an i5-3230M so I believe, given benchmarks that I have looked at, the lower clock speeds should be compensated for by the extra cores

Yes, plus the i5 8250U has quite a high boost clock, though will not always sustain this for extended periods due to power throttling in some chassis. But even with that it should offer more performance than your much older i5, thanks to the extra cores/threads, IPC improvements over generations, etc.

and I'm not convinced the i7s always offer that much more for the additional cost.

It depends on the i7, since i7 and i5 mean very different things depending on what CPU family we're talking about. But in this case, the i7 8550U is only a faster 8250U, and isn't distinguished by additional cores or hyperthreading. So is probably not worth another £70-80 for a few more MHz.

However, the -U CPUs are ULV CPUs designed to live in smaller, thinner chassis in order to be portable.

Since you're not looking for max portability you may want to look at the Cosmos VII with it's 8th Gen mobile (-H series) CPUs.
It's currently out in 17.3" https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosVII-17/
If you need 15.6" then you may want to hold off the purchase if possible until PCS release that. An 8th Gen mobile i5 like the i5 8300H or an i7 like the 8750H would both be significantly faster than the 8250U, and power throttling may be less of an issue.

 

[hargread]

Thank you for your input.

The RAM was just that it seemed prudent to go for a single stick, I doubt I will need more than that at least within the lifetime of this laptop and didn't realise they might be a benefit to two 8Gb sticks so I will look at that.

The graphics, I did find some info on the intel site saying the CPU supported 3 monitors but I also found this thread where someone was having an issue with the same graphics chip due to a motherboard limitation (at least that's how I read it). But I don't know that PC specialist make that information available, though they still provide more info that most other suppliers.

I'll take a closer look at the Cosmos VII it does promise 4 displays and has the faster CPU but does so at a cost, but as I say I will have a look.