Gigabyte U4 UD laptop review: Lightweight with a lot of potential that goes to waste at times

The Gigabyte U4 UD is housed in a modestly designed aluminum case that leaves a respectable and high-quality impression. The device offers sufficient resistance to torsion for it to be carried around even when being held only from a corner. It also complies with the MIL-STD 810G military standard, which means that the device is protected against vibrations, extreme temperatures, and humidity.

The hinges are so stiff that the opened display barely experiences any wobbling or swaying. However, the device can only be opened with one hand using a lot of skill, which is also due to the low weight.

At just under one kilogram, the Gigabyte U4 UD is the lightest laptop in this comparison field, just ahead of the LG Gram 14Z90P. This is quite remarkable, since there are also some 13.3-inch models. The 14-incher is the biggest device in terms of width by a few millimeters, but it can keep up very well with the other subnotebooks when it comes to depth and thickness in particular. Overall, it's a pretty compact and, above all, a particularly light travel companion.

Without a doubt, the Gigabyte U4 UD is above all a compact office and multimedia laptop that also looks good on the desk or sofa apart from when you're traveling. The port configuration, which is distributed across the left and right sides of the device, is in line with this as well.

External monitors can be connected using either the Thunderbolt 4 or HDMI 2.0 ports. There's a USB-A port on each side (one USB 3.2 Gen 1 port and one Gen 2 port), but unfortunately, there's only a USB-C port on the left. In addition, the ports are positioned relatively close to each other, so that a slightly thicker USB Type-A stick connected on the left side could very well block the Thunderbolt/USB-C port.

The card reader, which unfortunately only supports microSD and not SD cards, performs decently in our test of the Gigabyte U4 UD. When copying photos in JPG format with a 128 GB AV PRO microSD V60 test card, it shows the best performance. In the reading test with a 1 GB file, the card reader is still fast enough for second place, just behind the LG Gram, but also above the subnotebook average.

The device also performs similarly in our Wi-Fi test. It takes a clear lead when it comes to sending data. However, it only manages third place when receiving data, but the data rates are still above the average of the AX201 Wi-Fi module.

In contrast, the HD camera, which unfortunately can't be blocked with a mechanical shutter, only shows mediocre results. The average DeltaE of 20 is almost twice as high as in the HP Envy 13, meaning that the webcam isn't very accurate when it comes to capturing colors. The image is relatively dull overall, but it's sufficient for common tasks like video calls - just like the dual-array microphone.

Besides a Kensington lock port, the Gigabyte U4 UD features firmware-based TPM and supports the Intel Platform Trust Technology (Intel PTT). A fingerprint sensor is not available, unfortunately.

Gigabyte only includes a 65-watt power adapter weighing a good 200 grams with the laptop. No other special accessories for the U4 are included - and there aren't any optional ones, either.

Gigabyte itself offers a 12-month warranty on the battery. All other cases are covered by the retailer warranty, which is 24 months in Germany.

The 10.5 x 6.5 cm touchpad is centered below the keyboard. It has a comfortable, smooth feel, and the usual two click areas at the bottom border. These aren't separated in terms of haptics, nor are they particularly quiet when used. However, the mouse cursor can definitely be navigated across the screen smoothly and without issues.

As stated earlier, our review unit is equipped with the Intel Core i7-1195G7, its Intel Iris Xe Graphics G7 96EUs integrated GPU, and 16 GB of DDR4-3200 RAM in dual-channel mode. Gigabyte doesn't currently offer alternative versions of the U4 besides the UD configuration.

In contrast to some other measurements, we conducted the benchmarks using the Performance Mode found in the Control Center 3.0 software. If the Multimedia Mode is selected here, the device suffers significant speed losses in many performance tests.

The Core i7-1195G7 was only introduced in the middle of this year. Although it's still based on the now outdated Tiger Lake architecture, this is a refresh. Thanks to the 10nm+ manufacturing process, it's particularly frugal, but it still achieves up to 5 GHz for an individual core in Boost mode.

The maximum base clock speed is 3.9 GHz (28-watt TDP). Our long-term measurements revealed that Gigabyte supplies the CPU with about 13 watts (PL1) to 46 watts (PL2). This is considerably less compared to the 36 to 64 watts with which MSI supplies the Prestige 14 Evo.

This is also reflected in the performance rates in the different benchmarks. The U4 can't keep up with its competitor equipped with the same CPU by far. In some measurements, it doesn't even reach the values of the less powerful Intel Core i7-1165G7 found in the HP Envy 13. In most cases, though, it can at least hold its ground against the competitors with the slower processors. The performance in the Cinebench R15 Multi endurance test remains constant, albeit not very high. When the power adapter is not plugged in, the CPU's performance drops by about 15% to 20%.

Based on the CPU benchmarks, the device isn't able to fully utilize the processor's performance when it comes to system performance, either. However, since the CPU is inherently powerful compared to the subnotebook average and the comparison devices, it's still sufficient for a midfield ranking and a smooth system performance that is perfectly adequate for everyday use.

While the CPU remains below expectations at times, the built-in SSD with 512 GB of storage space performs well. Thanks to the fast PCIe 4.0 connection, it often ranks among the first three places in our comparison field.