New Ultranote iv 14" help

J

jaymulli95

New member
So im after a new laptop as my macbook pro is nearly 5 years old now.
I have a custom desktop for gaming and processor intensive tasks so i only need a laptop for web browsing, media consumption and word processing.

Ive had a look at the main brand laptops and nothing i really fancy but ive always liked the idea of a custom pc and was looking at the Ultranote iv 14" i can see its a new model in line with the kaby lake cpu's and was wondering if anybody on here has any experience with the new one for example build quality etc.

Ive specced it as follows:
Core i5 7200u
8gb Hyperx Impact
256gb Intel 600p NVMe

Ive noticed it now comes with a 44wh battery compared to the old 32wh so hopefully the battery should last about 7 hours

Edit: Noticed the 14" doesn't have a backlit keyboard so looking at the 15" now

What do you guys think?
 
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Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Consider the Cosmos VI if looking at the Ultranote IV 15.6" https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/notebooks/cosmosVI-15/

With the i3 7300HQ it's ~£30 more expensive, but that CPU is a true quad core. It apparently also has "Sound Blaster Cinema 3" audio which may or may not be an asset for enjoying media, and a couple of other bits and bobs like one more of its USB ports being USB 3, TPM, etc. Lacks the dvd drive of the Ultranote 15.6" but since the 14" one you were initially looking at doesn't have one either I assume that's no big deal. In terms of size and weight it looks pretty similar to the Ultranote 15.6", about 300 grams heavier apparently.
 
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rt1707

Active member
Looks like a good choice to me. But personally I wouldn't choose the i5 and save £35 by going for the i3. As well as being cheaper, the i3 has superior single core performance to the i5 - most/all of what you will be doing looks like it is single core based - and it is more energy efficient meaning your battery will last longer. I personally think it is a shame that PCS don't have a "LE" version like they have with the Ultranote III, where you can get the pentium quad core processors that are even more energy efficient and cheaper e.g. N4200.

Also, note that the 1080 resolution screen is not available with the 15" Ultranote IV. For me that is a bigger deal breaker than no backlit keyboard. Another idea is to wait a while as PCS has said it is bringing out the Lafite III within the next month. I bought a Lafite II for my GF recently and it is really great. If the next model improves the touchpad, which was quite weak on the Lafite II, then that would be the absolute best choice for a portable office/browsing machine.
 
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rt1707

Active member
Oussebon said:
The ULV i3 doesn't have superior single threaded performance in laptops and I'm not sure who told you that it did.

You can tell it doesn't because it doesn't have turbo boost to take it above its base frequency http://ark.intel.com/compare/95451,95443,95442
Click to expand...

Ah yes, you are indeed correct - thanks for correcting me. On the "U" versions of the i3 and i5 it is certainly is the case that the i5 has the better single and multi core performance. I was mistakenly basing my comment on my understanding of the desktop processors, and the battery life issue is also probably unclear. I think either way, for the OP's stated uses I would still opt for the cheapest chip, and would still have a big preference for the Pentium processors such as N4200, both for price and battery life. I doubt for web browsing/word processing/media consumption there would be any noticeable performance issue between the N4200/i3/i5.
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I wouldn't recommend the Pentiums if you have the budget for an i5. It's like the difference between using a mobile phone and a computer for office work.
http://tinyurl.com/h4ct9uz

If you had only one thing open at a time for very, very light prodging, maybe. But you might as well get a Chromebook for that.

Since the i5 is only £35 more, which is about 5% of the total build cost, they may as well get that. Since you're stuck with the CPU you get at the outset, it may as well be one that's a fair deal faster for proportionately little extra cash.
 
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R

rt1707

Active member
Oussebon said:
I wouldn't recommend the Pentiums if you have the budget for an i5. It's like the difference between using a mobile phone and a computer for office work.
http://tinyurl.com/h4ct9uz

If you had only one thing open at a time for very, very light prodging, maybe. But you might as well get a Chromebook for that.

Since the i5 is only £35 more, which is about 5% of the total build cost, they may as well get that. Since you're stuck with the CPU you get at the outset, it may as well be one that's a fair deal faster for proportionately little extra cash.
Click to expand...

I guess it comes down to personal preference. I can totally understand now why going for the i5 is better than the i3 if you don't care about the £30. But the pentiums will give significantly better battery life, which is something I value greatly in a laptop. I stand by my statement that the user won't be able to tell whether they are on an i5 or pentium for the type of tasks the OP suggested.

As for Chromebooks - some of the specifications are utterly crap, but they generally run like a dream. I borrowed an aging Acer C720 Chromebook recently (2Gb RAM, old budget mobile intel processor which I can't currently remember) to check it out as I was considering buying a Chromebook. It ran great! Multiple tabs open for web browsing, listening to music/videos, fast startup and so on. I was even using it to ssh into my linux desktop. Using it changed my opinion on the value of spending money on a high specced laptop just for day to day usage.

Based on the two threads we are contributing to, I think we just have a different outlook on the types of computers we like. I prefer the "make do" approach and minimal specifications and I suspect you prefer optimisation and eeking out performance :)
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
I like value for money, both upfront and over time. Which includes getting a decent level of performance so you don't find yourself wanting to replace stuff as soon.

It's why I recommend Intel i5s over an FX 8350, say, for a gaming PC, even if you're not going to see much difference in a lot of games today. :)
 
R

rt1707

Active member
Oussebon said:
I like value for money, both upfront and over time. Which includes getting a decent level of performance so you don't find yourself wanting to replace stuff as soon.

It's why I recommend Intel i5s over an FX 8350, say, for a gaming PC, even if you're not going to see much difference in a lot of games today. :)
Click to expand...

I agree that it basically comes down to what one values more. I like saving money and battery power. The life of a typical laptop with fairly decent usage is probably not much more than 4-5 years in my experience, and I am comfortable with the idea that any current pentium will be able to comfortably run any web browsing, media consumption or word processing task in that period. That is why I would not recommend spending more on something like an i5, unless one wants to play the games, do some computational work on the machine and the such. I have (and the OP) have desktop systems for that already, and one can easily ssh/remote desktop to that to do anything intensive, which is a superior and cheaper solution.

Also, coffee/theft/clumsiness are all much less threatening with a £350 system...
 
Oussebon

Oussebon

Multiverse Poster
Certainly. I too like saving money and helping others do the same - e.g. suggesting a PCS system based on the H110M-R instead of the Z270-P mobo when they just don't need the extra expansions slots etc.

But if I were considering buying a Pentium based laptop I'd probably just buy a Bluetooth keyboard for my phone and save another £335.

I guess it depends on the OP's taste for performance/price balance. :)
 
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