The Gigabyte U4 is a thin and light laptop that packs an Intel Core i7-1195G7 processor, a 14 inch full HD display, two M.2 2280 slots for storage, and support for up to 64GB of RAM into a compact body that measures just 0.68 inches thick and which has a starting weight of just 2.2 pounds.
Gigabyte hasn’t announced pricing or availability details yet, other than that the notebook will be affordable.” But if you’re wondering if something had to give in order to put that much horsepower into a notebook this small, you’re probably right: don’t expect stellar battery life from this notebook.
The Gigabyte U4 has a 36 Wh battery, which is one of the lowest capacity batteries I’ve seen in a 14 inch laptop in a while. While that’s probably still enough juice for 7-8 hours of video streaming, I’d expect much less run time if you’re doing anything more resource-intensive with the laptop.
Since the notebook has a Thunderbolt 4 port with support for USB Power Delivery though, you could always extend your run time with an external battery pack.
And it is nice to see a thin and light notebook that doesn’t skimp on expansion and connectivity options. Remove the bottom panel of the Gigabyte U4 and you’ll find a SODIMM slot for DDR4-3200 memory, and two M.2 slots – one with support for PCIe Gen 3 storage, and one with Gen4 support.
There’s also an Intel AX201 wireless card with support for WiFi 6 and Bluetooth 5.2, stereo 1.5 watt speakers, dual array microphones, an HD webcam, and a backlit keyboard.
Ports include USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, USB 3.2 Gen 2 Type-A, HDMI 2.0, headset, and a microSD card reader plus the aforementioned Thunderbolt 4 port. The laptop also has a DC input jack and comes with a 65 watt power supply.
The notebook has an aluminum-magnesium alloy chassis and a 14 inch, 1920 x 1080 pixel IPS LCD display with 100% sRGB color gamut, an 83% screen-to-body-ratio, and a 180 degree hinge that lets you fold the screen flat.
