Specifications, Configurations and Pricing

The system we have in the lab today features a dual-core Intel Core i7-3517U processor. The i7-3517U is one of Intel's low power processors specifically designed for Ultrabooks and other low-power applications. It features HyperThreading and TurboBoost and is based upon the Ivy Bridge microarchitecture.

The CPU is coupled with two sticks of 4GB DDR3 SO-DIMM RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GT 650M, which features 2GB of vRAM. Seeing a discrete video card included in an Ultrabook is somewhat rare, especially one with as much horsepower as the 650M.

The video card is pumping out pixels to the LCD screen that is running at a 1600x900 resolution. Storage is handled by a 128GB mSATA SSD, which aids in speedy booting and system operation.

The U2442F comes with everything else you would expect to see in an Ultrabook: 802.11b/g/n WiFi, Bluetooth 4.0, Windows 8, and a backlit keyboard. The system also features a two year global warranty.

Packaging

The packaging used to ship the notebook from Taiwan was a bit interesting. The system was wrapped in bubble wrap, though I don't expect consumer systems to arrive this way.

Inside the bubble wrap, the box below was inside of a paper sleeve detailing the system. Inside of the box, the system was covered in a traditional white bag to protect from scratches.

It seems as though the packaging was a bit weak, but I have a feeling retail systems will be shipped inside of another box to protect them. If this is the case, then the machine will survive. If GIGABYTE is shipping machines in just the sleeve, I'd be a bit concerned.