spec check questions

L

l shneier

Member
hi i've been thinking of upgrading my laptop to an ultrabook for 6 months now the ultranote seems to be the best suited and below is the current spec i'm thinking of

Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 14" Glossy HD LED Backlit Widescreen (1366x768)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3632QM (2.20GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
Intel® HD Graphics 4000 Video Memory Technology up to 1.7GB
Memory - Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
Ultra Slim 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Bluetooth & Wireless
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N-2230 (300Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
UltraNote Series 6 Cell Lithium Ion Battery (62.16WH) (Up to 7 Hours)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 65W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 8 Professional 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence (£109)
Office Software
FREE 60 Day Trial of Microsoft® Office® 2010 Professional Edition
Anti-Virus
BULLGUARD INTERNET SECURITY - FREE 90 DAY TRIAL
Keyboard Language
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD
Notebook Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 2.0 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Intel Anti-Theft Technology
FREE 90 Day Intel Anti-Theft Trial - Prevent Data Access upon Theft
Insurance
1 Month Free Laptop Insurance inc. Accidental Damage & Theft
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £670.00 including VAT and delivery.

i already have at least one spare license of office 2010 at home so don't nee a better office package and i should be be getting a license of kerspeky 2013 around febuary so anti virus is also fine. my questions are what is the defence between the Kensington 8gb ram and the Samsung 8gb ram other than the Samsung costs £1 more?

do i need windows 8 pro versus windows 8 standard? my current laptop runs windows 7 home premium with service pack one and the OS suits all my needs fine. i do however have a couple of specialist disability software installed on my laptop at the moment so i'm going to email the providers and see whether they say their windows 8 compatible or not.

and what is the difference between the cache levels on the hard drives? is this like the new standard hybrid drives that have a small ssd unit that holds the os and then the rest is hdd to make boot up fast but then has a cheap and large storage space?

also which is a better processor out of the i7's available i think its the quad core as these days its more about multi level threading then clock speeds but am uncertain?

the i am likely to do some pc gaming on this laptop which is why i'm looking at a 8gb ram nut i do not need truly high end graphics as primary my xbox is main gaming machine

i also heard that they were releasing a 15.6" version of the ultranote soon with full hd screen ect should i wait until that's trellised or not as i currently use a 15" laptop abecaus eof my bad eyesight i can fit more on the screen zoomed in if its a larger screen(don't have to zoom as much)

i probable will drop the specs a bit because ei'm of a target price of around 649 but this is roughly the core of the build
 
I

ilike2burnthing

Gold Level Poster
Looks like a good build. Other than some gaming, what are you going to be using it for?

l shneier said:
my questions are what is the defence between the Kensington 8gb ram and the Samsung 8gb ram other than the Samsung costs £1 more?
Click to expand...
Kingston RAM has tighter timings (is therefore faster) than the Samsung. If you are going to go for the Samsungs, choose the 8GB (2x4GB) rather than the 8GB (1x8GB) as it will save you money and give you exactly the same performance.

do i need windows 8 pro versus windows 8 standard? my current laptop runs windows 7 home premium with service pack one and the OS suits all my needs fine. i do however have a couple of specialist disability software installed on my laptop at the moment so i'm going to email the providers and see whether they say their windows 8 compatible or not.
Click to expand...
No, for your usage Standard is fine. You'd only really need Pro if you had more than 16GB of RAM. Are you sure you want to use Windows 8 instead of 7? I found it awkward to use, but others love it. Look at some reviews and youtube demonstrations. Most software shouldn't have a problem running on 8 if it runs on 7, but yea, just make sure.

and what is the difference between the cache levels on the hard drives? is this like the new standard hybrid drives that have a small ssd unit that holds the os and then the rest is hdd to make boot up fast but then has a cheap and large storage space?
Click to expand...
No, the hybrid drive is the Seagate Momentus XT, which has 8GB of SSD to use as a cache, the caches on HDDs are obviously a fair bit smaller than that. Just depends how much money you want to spend.

also which is a better processor out of the i7's available i think its the quad core as these days its more about multi level threading then clock speeds but am uncertain?
Click to expand...
Yep, quad is better.

the i am likely to do some pc gaming on this laptop which is why i'm looking at a 8gb ram nut i do not need truly high end graphics as primary my xbox is main gaming machine
Click to expand...
Oh, if you're going to gaming with anything within the last 5 or so years you'll need to look at something other than an integrated graphics card.

i also heard that they were releasing a 15.6" version of the ultranote soon with full hd screen ect should i wait until that's trellised or not as i currently use a 15" laptop abecaus eof my bad eyesight i can fit more on the screen zoomed in if its a larger screen(don't have to zoom as much)
Click to expand...
I don't know if they're releasing a bigger version but if you have bad eyesight then I'd advise you to go for at least a 15.6" screen if not a 17.3".


I realise this is a little higher than you were looking but it would seem to suit you better.

Chassis & Display
Voyager: 17.3" Matte HD LED Widescreen (1600x900)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £696.00 including VAT and delivery.
Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/Voyager/m34UnS2s76/
 
L

l shneier

Member
ilike2burnthing said:
Looks like a good build. Other than some gaming, what are you going to be using it for?
Click to expand...

in terms of use many its for use whilst at uni which is why i'm looking at ultrabooks as they have good battery life(for their screen sizes) and are low weight which makes them easy to transport to and from uni when i'm at home studying i attach my laptop to a 21" vga monitor which is why this ultranote has so far been the best ultrabook i've found as it come with both vga and hdmi whereas most hdmi only which would need me to buy a whole new monitor.

ilike2burnthing said:
Kingston RAM has tighter timings (is therefore faster) than the Samsung. If you are going to go for the Samsungs, choose the 8GB (2x4GB) rather than the 8GB (1x8GB) as it will save you money and give you exactly the same performance.
Click to expand...

thanks was simply trying to work out difference


ilike2burnthing said:
No, for your usage Standard is fine. You'd only really need Pro if you had more than 16GB of RAM. Are you sure you want to use Windows 8 instead of 7? I found it awkward to use, but others love it. Look at some reviews and youtube demonstrations. Most software shouldn't have a problem running on 8 if it runs on 7, but yea, just make sure.
Click to expand...

i've used the windows 8 OS before its a bit tricky and defiantly designed around touch screens but is usable with persistence so i have no real preference over 8v7 but will be getting the 64bit version of either probably 7 but it wasn't that important to the demo build as they are same price


No, the hybrid drive is the Seagate Momentus XT, which has 8GB of SSD to use as a cache, the caches on HDDs are obviously a fair bit smaller than that. Just depends how much money you want to spend.


Yep, quad is better.


ilike2burnthing said:
Oh, if you're going to gaming with anything within the last 5 or so years you'll need to look at something other than an integrated graphics card.
Click to expand...

the only gaming i do on my laptop at the moment is some older games i think the most recent i have might be portal 2 its gaming is mainly done on the xbox but the pc is used more for some indie games or just old games which where pc exclusives like the like Rome total war but the intel hd 4000 is very capable i've seen it coupled with a middle 17 and 6gb ram run skyrim with little lag on medium settings so it will do the job fine the 8gb ram is also used to make sure the integrated graphics card doesn't take up to many resources from the laptop at the same time


I don't know if they're releasing a bigger version but if you have bad eyesight then I'd advise you to go for at least a 15.6" screen if not a 17.3".


ilike2burnthing said:
I realise this is a little higher than you were looking but it would seem to suit you better.

Chassis & Display
Voyager: 17.3" Matte HD LED Widescreen (1600x900)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-3630QM (2.40GHz) 6MB
Memory (RAM)
8GB SAMSUNG 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 MEMORY (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
NVIDIA® GeForce® GT 640M - 2GB DDR3 Video RAM - DirectX® 11
Memory - 1st Hard Disk
750GB WD SCORPIO BLACK WD7500BPKT, SATA 3 Gb/s, 16MB CACHE (7200 rpm)
1st DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Memory Card Reader
Internal 9 in 1 Card Reader (MMC/RSMMC/SD: Mini, XC & HC/MS: Pro & Duo)
Thermal Paste
ARCTIC MX-4 EXTREME THERMAL CONDUCTIVITY COMPOUND (£9)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Network Facilities
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® N135 802.11N (150Mbps) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
2 x USB 3.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Battery
Voyager Series 6 Cell Lithium-ION Battery (48.84WH)
Power Lead & Adaptor
1 x UK Power Lead & 90W AC Adaptor
Operating System
Genuine Windows 7 Home Premium 64 Bit w/SP1 - inc DVD & Licence (£79)
Office Software
NO OFFICE SOFTWARE
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED UK KEYBOARD WITH NUMBER PAD
Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1.3 MEGAPIXEL WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour) (£5)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Quantity
1

Price: £696.00 including VAT and delivery.
Unique URL to re-configure: http://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/quotes/Voyager/m34UnS2s76/
Click to expand...

that's an interesting build but i'd have few questions on it what's the weight like and what is the battery life expected to be the graphics card on it is nice enough that if i wanted to convert to more steam gaming (if the gen of consoles are sole drm locked and on internet only) i could with out much hastle and here is a link to the forum post mention the 15.6" ultranote https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?21394-The-14-quot-UltraNote
 
Last edited by a moderator:
L

l shneier

Member
thanks the amount of gaming i do a my current laptop at the moment is manly indie games and older titles with portal 2 being about the most recent on my laptop so integrated should be fine and how i've speced it out would allow the for a reasonable quality play of most games ia friend of my has skyrim running on i7350m with just the intel hd 4000 and 6gb of ram running fine on medium settings i'm not asking for alienware quality graphics as most of my gaming goes on my xbox its more preparing me to be able to switch to pc if the next gen consoles do go on a always on internet and extreme drm settings that are rumoured

in terms of your build it looks good i can probably find the cash for that if i think its suits my needs but i just have a couple questions as i will primarily be using it for uni which means taking it to and from and therefore 17" laptops are usually to heavy and have to low a battery life to be practical and a 2kg ultrabook is just much easier to take to and from uni. when i'm at home my latop get lugged into a 22" vga monitor so i am trying to find ultrabooks with vga ports and the ultranoote is the first one i found(all others are hdmi and that would involve buying a whole new monitor).

windows 7 is most likely what i'll choose if given the option as i prefer it to 8 but it was the same price as 8 on the form so it was easier to just leave it on 8 and alter the rest of the build.

they said they were going to release an ultranoote 15.6" in this foroum post https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/forums/showthread.php?21394-The-14-quot-UltraNote

my main issues are weight and and screen size whilst still being a machine that isn't using a pathetic processor like the i3 as long as it can handle about 4 hours straight and last decent of charge in sleep mode it should do its purpose. also do you no if that 17 had a docking port as although i don't have a dock it is a slightly better way for desk tidiness extra and docks are not yet common place for ultrabooks
 
I

ilike2burnthing

Gold Level Poster
The HD 4000 will give you these results (scroll down a bit) - http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html

In terms of weight, yes it will be heavier, I suppose you could always go down to a 15.6", but if you think your eyesight could manage a 14" screen then go for it. As for battery, it will be less, though there is an option to get a bigger battery for some of the bigger laptops including the one I listed.

Not sure what you mean by a laptop docking port.
 
L

l shneier

Member
ilike2burnthing said:
The HD 4000 will give you these results (scroll down a bit) - http://www.notebookcheck.net/Intel-HD-Graphics-4000.69168.0.html

In terms of weight, yes it will be heavier, I suppose you could always go down to a 15.6", but if you think your eyesight could manage a 14" screen then go for it. As for battery, it will be less, though there is an option to get a bigger battery for some of the bigger laptops including the one I listed.

Not sure what you mean by a laptop docking port.
Click to expand...

in terms of docking port in terms of of most hp Toshiba and of business aimed laptops (tend to be slightly smaller for portability) they will come with a specific port on them for connecting to a docking station which you then would plug the charger and any peripherals into the tock itself is plugged into the main typically the docking station will slide the laptop into and you'd have it off and shut with an external monitor and use that its a way for business to have more deskspace and allow everyone to have a personal computer on the business network without having to assigning anyone to specific desk and allow them to keep the office flexible encase they visting employees from other offices as they could just bring their laptop and plug in to a spare station. originally docking ports were for a specific dock from specific brand but now modern business laptops will have a generic port which has made cheaper to buy docks this currently is not the case with ultrabooks but i've seen a hp ultrabook but its a port specific to one dock making price and choice non-negotiable
 
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