This I7 has a passmark of 2829, the Intel Core I3-2310E another mobile processor released in Feb 2011 has a higher passmark of 2838. Today’s processor is very energy efficient, but don’t be fooled think this I7 is anything of a powerhouse- it’s decent performance- but not performance that people normally equate with an I7. In addition to this, and all the other stuff that was mentioned prior to my post, this laptop should have a touch display at this price point.
@Wholesaleforless, ouch on the poor sound. I would not be surprised if there is $50-100 of cost baked into this laptop simply for the licensing/trademark fee (above the hardware cost) to Bang & Olufsen. Have you seen the premium pricing of their home electronics and luxury car sound system options?
I was messing around with either this laptop (or a very similar one) in Office Depot that had the Bang & Olufsen speakers. I won’t go as far to say that they were awful, but I was expecting a lot better sound quality. It was basically the sound you would expect to come out of this form factor- tinny with no bass. You are absolutely right about them wasting money on the licensing fees when the end product is no better than any other generic small form factor speaker.
Ouch…4GB MAX?!?
I came to say that they cheaped out on the 4GB, but at least it’s a cheap and easy upgrade…but 4GB max is an absolute dealbreaker for this.
I just bought my used laptop for $120 a few months back, it came with 4GB…upgradeable to 8! And it’s a Core2Duo.
Fail.
Even though the chipset would support more RAM, the RAM is soldered to the MOBO.
The information below is from a slightly different model, but it’s still a UX31E, so I would assume the setup is similar with the mobo & memory.
Note that the modules are integrated directly onto the motherboard itself to reduce size and weight, so adding or removing memory is impossible for the user.
Can this be Hackintoshed?
Nice form factor, but seeing as how laptops with the 4th gen Intel Core CPU will start showing up in a month or two, it’s hard to recommend a 3rd gen let alone a 2nd gen version.
Gen2? Almost $900? Pass… You can buy the Gen 3 ones with otherwise the same specs for $600 on craigslist or ebay with warranties and everything…
Back the old times woot used to offer really slick deals.
What happened?
They don’t have the 256gb ss drive and right now the ones on Best buy with the 500gb 5400 rpm sata drive are 1256.00 yea 3rd generation not that much better at all when your looking at it pushing a 5400rpm sata drive instead of a 256ss
For an ultrabook, you really don’t need any more RAM. I have this laptop and if you clear off the crap ware it comes with, it is insanely fast. It wakes up from sleep in about a second, and boots faster than any other laptop I’ve ever had. Also, unlike any $120 laptop, it’s not made of cheap plastic, it is covered in very high quality materials, mostly aluminum with a stunning pattern on it. For what 98% of people use their computers for, this laptop will be very powerful, fast, and reliable. If you update the drivers for the mouse,it fixes any issues people had with it. Finally, this laptop is truly beautiful. I get compliments on it all the time and occasionally get lost staring at it thinking how much better it looks than the MacBook Air. The keyboard takes a little getting used to, but I’m very fast with it now, and the battery will last anywhere from 5 to 9 hours, maybe longer depending on what you’re doing with it.
I haven’t had the wifi issues you seem to be having. In fact, mine receives wifi better than most other laptops. Have you tried updating the firmware for the modem? They fixed a ton of issues this laptop had with firmware updates, and now it’s a fantastic ultrabook. Also, you will get used to the keyboard, but it takes a while. When I got it I missed a lot of keys but now I never do.