Ultranote 14" / i5 / 8gb DDR / 1TB SSD

[helly]

I am thinking of getting the ultranote 14"
I will not be using for gaming or high end graphics apps, just for stuff like email / browsing / spreadsheets...boring stuff!

key things I would like people who have experience to let me know:
- is it likely to overheat easily
- does it have a decent battery life

queries about my spec:
- I wondered if it would be worth upgrading from 8gb ram to 16gb
- i had something else but forgot - if anything else looks off please flag it for me

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PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK SPECIFICATION

The specification below has been formatted so you can easily copy and paste this to our forums when discussing your specification. Once you've copied the specification, please click here to continue.
Chassis & Display
UltraNote Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS 60 Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-10210U (1.6GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (2 x 4GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB ADATA SU800 M.2 2280 (560 MB/R, 520 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
UltraNote Series Integrated 36WH Lithium Ion Battery
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.1 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
ULTRANOTE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo NL41CU FHD (i5-10210U, FHD, 60Hz N4, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £695.00 including VAT and Delivery

 

[ubuysa]

- is it likely to overheat easily

I've no experience of the UltraNote but given your stated uses I think overheating is unlikely. Unless you have some maths intensive spreadsheets of course....

- does it have a decent battery life

That depends on what you mean by 'decent' and what sorts of task you give it whilst on battery. Again, heavy maths intensive spreadsheets will use more battery power than simply web browsing.

queries about my spec:
- I wondered if it would be worth upgrading from 8gb ram to 16gb

Given your stated uses probably not - but you'll want this laptop to last a few years no doubt so if you can afford 16GB it's probably a wise investment for the future.

- i had something else but forgot - if anything else looks off please flag it for me

Why Windows 10 Pro? Unless this is for use on a company domain network there is very little in Pro that makes it worth the extra cash.

 

[helly]

I've no experience of the UltraNote but given your stated uses I think overheating is unlikely. Unless you have some maths intensive spreadsheets of course....


That depends on what you mean by 'decent' and what sorts of task you give it whilst on battery. Again, heavy maths intensive spreadsheets will use more battery power than simply web browsing.

-> using bluetooth to e.g. connect to speakers will also drain power. I have no idea of the life of this battery if say bluetooth conncted continuously. Not that it ncessarily would be just to get an idea

Given your stated uses probably not - but you'll want this laptop to last a few years no doubt so if you can afford 16GB it's probably a wise investment for the future.

Why Windows 10 Pro? Unless this is for use on a company domain network there is very little in Pro that makes it worth the extra cash.

-> I chose Pro based on a previous experience of having home and being locked out of some admin elements. Was years ago, may not still be the case. Have checked Pro vs Home and on the surface there's nothing I want from Pro...will do a little more digging

 

[ubuysa]

-> I chose Pro based on a previous experience of having home and being locked out of some admin elements. Was years ago, may not still be the case. Have checked Pro vs Home and on the surface there's nothing I want from Pro...will do a little more digging

Apart from a raft of business features that you don't need, all you really get with Pro is BitLocker, HyperV, the Group Policy Editor, and the (limited) Sandbox.

Whilst a few of these are useful to a home user it's questionable whether these are worth the high price tag.

 

[helly]

I seem to remember needing the group policy management on another home windows system. I can't remember why though so maybe the current windows home should cover everything I need...

 

[helly]

you know what there are ways of adding the group policy editor into the home edition so I'm going to use that money for extra ram!

 

[helly]

updated spec then...I'm on the verge of splurging!

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

PCSPECIALIST.CO.UK SPECIFICATION

The specification below has been formatted so you can easily copy and paste this to our forums when discussing your specification. Once you've copied the specification, please click here to continue.
Chassis & Display
UltraNote Series: 14" Matte Full HD IPS 60 Hz 45% NTSC LED Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i5 Quad Core Processor i5-10210U (1.6GHz, 4.2GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
16GB Corsair 2133MHz SODIMM DDR4 (1 x 16GB)
Graphics Card
INTEL® HD GRAPHICS (CPU Dependant) - 1.7GB Max DDR4 Video RAM - DirectX® 12
1st M.2 SSD Drive
1TB ADATA SU800 M.2 2280 (560 MB/R, 520 MB/W)
Memory Card Reader
Integrated SD Memory Card Reader
AC Adaptor
1 x 40W AC Adaptor
Power Cable
1 x 1 Metre Cloverleaf UK Power Cable
Battery
UltraNote Series Integrated 36WH Lithium Ion Battery
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
WIRELESS INTEL® Wi-Fi 6 AX200 (2.4 Gbps) + BT 5.0
USB/Thunderbolt Options
1 x USB 3.1 PORT (Type C) + 1 x USB 3.1 PORT + 1 x USB 2.0 PORT
Keyboard Language
ULTRANOTE SERIES UK KEYBOARD
Operating System
Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc. Single Licence [KK3-00002]
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 365® (Operating System Required)
Anti-Virus
NO ANTI-VIRUS SOFTWARE
Browser
Firefox™
Keyboard & Mouse
INTEGRATED 2 BUTTON TOUCHPAD MOUSE
Webcam
INTEGRATED 1MP HD WEBCAM
Warranty
3 Year Silver Warranty (1 Year Collect & Return, 1 Year Parts, 3 Year Labour)
Chassis
Clevo NL41CU FHD (i5-10210U, FHD, 60Hz N4, Blank KB)
Delivery
STANDARD INSURED DELIVERY TO UK MAINLAND (MON-FRI)
Build Time
Standard Build - Approximately 7 to 9 working days
Price: £680.00 including VAT and Delivery
Unique URL to re-configure: https://www.pcspecialist.co.uk/saved-configurations/ultraNoteV-14/v2tDp3zrdt/

 

[helly]

Yes, you can add GPE to Home Edition as I added it to mine recently when having an issue with a game...couldn't work out how to implement anything though..but that's likely due to my lack of knowledge

do you mind if I ask what your issue was - might be a red flag for me?

 

[helly]

Hi all just noticed something odd the PCS 1TB SDD which is approx twice the speed of the one I'd chosen is slightly cheaper - anyone know why that would be? has anyone got the SSD and noticed issues? I have changed my spec to add it in:

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[helly]

Regarding the hard drive, the speed difference is because the ADATA drive is a SATA M2 drive whereas the PCS one is a PCI-E drive...PCI-E is a much better connection so can allow faster speeds. As to issues with the PCS ones, not that I am aware...don't recall any complaints about them

well that sounds like a no brainer then...cheaper and faster!

 

[helly]

It shouldn't be a red flag. Basically, there was a particular game I play (Forza Horizon 4) and I couldn't connect to anything online in the game for more than 2-3 minutes....the issue was related to the Toredo Tunnel/IPV6 that the game used (basically a microsoft thing that runs how users and servers connect). SOmeone had suggested adding GPE and doing something with it might work but I could never work out how to open GPE (not entirely sure what I did/didn't do as I really understood none of it)

ok TVM for answering would like to help you but I'm sure you've trawled the usual places already for help. only thing I might suggest is do you need IPV6? maybe turning it off and using only IPV4 would help. Of course it might be completely the opposite in which case ignore me!

 

[ubuysa]

No problem. As to turning off IPV6, yeah I had seen it as a possible suggestion on the 'net but wasn't sure about it or whether it would affect anything else. In the end the solution was simple: Buy an Xbox The connectiviy issues were related to PC versions of the game so the Xbox sorted it out....an expensive solution mind but it meant I could race with other people again (and luckily the game was an Xbox Anywhere game so could just install to Xbox without needing to buy it again)

'Turn off IPv6' has been an accepted mantra amongst sysdamins every since IPv6 was introduced in Vista way back in 2007 - that's THIRTEEN years ago!

IPv6 is very different from IPv4 and not just where addressing is concerned. For one thing IPv6 doesn't need NAT nor DHCP (though it can coexist with both). The IPv6 address space is large enough for every host to assign itself a globally unique IPv6 address. It's hard for many sysadmins who understand the intricate details of NAT and DHCP to let go and I guess that's partly why IPv6 is still treated as thought it were experimental. It's not.

IPv6 is a robust, secure and integral component of the Internet, what's more it's a robust, secure and integral part of Windows 10 too. It wouldn't be far wrong to say that networking in Windows 10 is built around IPv6 and that IPv4 support is an add-on. It's thus a bad idea to disable IPv6 entirely in Windows. TBH I'm surprised you still can and I do wonder how much longer that registry option will exist.

However, even though Windows 10 has a robust implementation of IPv6 and that IPv6 is the major backbone protocol of the global Internet, it's not always the case that all end user applications nor all end-user networking devices have full IPv6 support, even now. If you do encounter difficulties that can be conclusively laid at the door of IPv6 (because an application or device has not kept up with the last 13 years of development in Windows!) then instead of coding the registry to disable IPv6 instead code for Prefer IPv4 over IPv6.

This is actually Microsoft's recommendation, see https://support.microsoft.com/en-us...onfiguring-ipv6-in-windows-for-advanced-users.

 

[helly]

fair enough. I didn't say it was definitely the solution. Just remembered an issue with talking to a device on my LAN and having to use IPV4 instead of IPV6. Can't remember how long ago...probably 5 years or more so yeah maybe out of date suggestion.

 

[helly]

ok so have had my ultranote for a while. very happy so far with performance, battery life and the cooling. nice to have a laptop that's not burning me while sounding like a jet taking off at intervals!

I have also successfully added in the GPE and removed cortana and various WX bloatware

1 thing I'm wondering about if it's the latest WX update or the firmware/hardware. When the laptop goes to sleep and I try to restart, the usual things don't do it e.g. touchpad clicking / space bar : I only found out by trial and error I have to press the power button for 2 - 3 seconds and it wakes back up. If this is how it's meant to work that's not an issue TBH - just wondered about it