Gigabyte U4 UD Intel i7 14″ Laptop Review

There’s no shortage of cool notebooks on the market these days. However, if you want something small and powerful, you typically see the price climb pretty quickly. Coming in at around £700, the new Gigabyte U4 UD isn’t particularly cheap, but it’s certainly not one of the most expensive notebooks on the market. With a 14″ Full HD IPS display, the smaller panel likely keeps the price down a little. However, it also keeps the size and weight low, which allows this impressive notebook to weigh just 990 grams (2.18 lb). That’s right, it’s under 1KG! So, it must be a gutless piece of trash, right? Wrong! Despite only being 16.5mm at the thickest point, it’s packing an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor with Iris Xe graphics. That CPU can operate from 2.9 GHz up to a full 5GHz. However, there’s an i5 version available too, which will likely be a fair bit more affordable.

Gigabyte U4 UD

It’s certainly not lacking in other features either, and they haven’t “done an Apple” and stripped it bare of anything useful. It supports up to 2 x M.2 2280 SSDs (1x NVMe PCIe Gen3 & SATA/ 1x NVMe PCIe Gen4). There’s USB 3.2 Gen1 and Gen2. There’s a Thunderbolt 4 Type-C, which supports USB4, DP, and PD charging. You get HDMI 2.0, a MicroSD card reader, an HD camera, and the latest Intel AX201 AX WiFi. Overall then, this is a pretty well-equipped notebook, that should be great in the office or while you travel. I love that you can charge from the DC adaptor or from the Type-C too, as it certainly makes it a little more flexible. Plus, both HDMI and DisplayPort over Type-C means you could hook up two external displays easily enough. The only “limiting” factor is that it has a single DDR4 slot for expansion. However, there are 8GB of RAM soldered to the motherboard, so you could add a second in that empty slot, which uses 3200 MHz 8GB as standard, effectively that’ll give you 16GB.

Features

• Windows 11 Home
  Windows 11 Pro
• 11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7 / i5 Processor U-Series
• Intel Iris Xe Graphics
• Light: 990g, Thin: 16.5mm
• Support Thunderbolt™ 4 High-speed Transfer with PD Charging
• 14.0″ Thin Bezel FHD IPS-Level Anti-glare Display
• Military Standard (MIL-STD) 810G Tests Passed

For in-depth features and specifications, please visit the official product page here.

What Gigabyte Had to Say

“The brand-new thin and lightweight U4 laptop empowers the productivity at all levels of, enabling complex tasks to be completed with ease while on-the-go. The revolutionary 5.0 GHz 11th Gen Intel® Core™ U series processor and Intel® Iris® Xᵉ Graphics, increases the efficiency by 28%1 and maximizes battery life to handle your needs throughout the day. Its military-grade durability can keep you operational in any field of work, handing you the key to victory: Productivity In Motion.”