Medion Akoya S4215

This review is actually about the Medion Akoya S4214, but this is apart from the processor and chipset absolutely identical to the S4215, S4211 and S4216. This ultrabook is very difficult to recommend, as with many things Medion (and Aldi) is an absolute star in price / performance - you get great specification, excellent extensibility, modbaarheid and best battery life but on the other hand, a horrible screen, moderate in ultrabook terms construction and unusable touchpad buttons. Depending on what is important to you, this could be an interesting laptop are. Featureset Which Akoya S42xx you buy, you get a latest-generation dual-core, 4GB of memory, a 500GB or 1TB hard drive with a 32GB SSD that is used (Intel for caching Smart Response Technology), a 1366x768 TN display, a chiclet keyboard, large touchpad with gesture support and this entirely in an approximately 19-22mm thick body with an abundance of expansion ports, two batteries with a total capacity of 62Wh and total weight of 1.9kg. In my S4214 Core i5-3317U is (Ivy Bridge), 500GB HDD and 32GB Samsung PM830 SSD caching. Compared with most other ultrabooks, the feature set very good to none. There is no other ultrabook on the market with two expansion slots, instead of effectively two hard drives and an optical drive (one mSATA slot, 1 HDD caddy for up to 9mm high HDDs and a standard optical bay). You also get three USB ports including one USB 3.0 port, HDMI and VGA out, wired LAN, separate microphone and speaker connectors (compatible with optical S / PDIF) and an SD card reader. And the best part: there are two standard SO-DIMM slots support up to 32GB of RAM. This ultrabook is the superlative of future proof and expandable. Performance The performance is in default configuration fine in ultrabook terms. In my case there is a Core i5-3317U dual core processor with HD 4000 graphics in laptops that can play current games. Smoothly on low settings Benchmarks of this aspect of the laptop are really everywhere, so I will not go into here. Please note, as a production machine ultrabooks with their 17W processors unsuitable. To stay within the 17W can only either the CPU cores, GPU or the full run. If you have a lot of work at the same time gives them both go together in the way and fall performance against soon. For example, the GPU clocked more than 50%, with simultaneous CPU and GPU load. An important bottleneck for performance is the hard drive. It is equipped with a 32GB Samsung PM830 SSD caching for Intel Smart Response Technology are working to do, which is frequently used files or sectors on the hard drive to the SSD instead of HDD writes so that they are readily available. This works very well. Despite the extremely slow Seagate Momentus 5400.6 500GB drive in my copy of the laptop felt pretty rapidly in the short time I had it down. This solution , however, I was annoyed to death the sound and inconsistent speed of the hard drive because I for 2 years only with computers with SSD work, and I have two days after the HDD replaced by an SSD. To be precise, the Samsung SSD 840 120GB. Considering you are not going to use the entire Encyclopaedia Britannica save an ultrabook I would strongly recommend to do so if you are planning to buy it. Notebook this The sense of speed is' ok, this is quite reasonable "to" OMGWTFBBQ ". This laptop also includes Intel Rapid Start and other EFI optimizations, which is Windows with an SSD within 12 seconds from pressing the power button start. That's faster than all my other computers. An important note about this laptop is of course that he is just like any other Medion laptop is packed with trial versions of software and other crapware. Do not bother to remove it you will be working hours because of the slow and uninstall CyberLink Ashampoo software. It's a lot faster to reinstall after purchase. Directly Windows This could be from a USB stick and only takes a few minutes today. Picture quality horrible. This is one of the worst TN panels I've seen in ages. Almost no contrast, very limited maximum brightness and barely legible from the side or from above. The resolution of 1366x768 also leaves much to be desired, although I still think that the slightest problem. Of all the shortcomings of this machine, this is the one that will be able to swallow. Most difficult Plus: it is a matte screen, so you have little problems with reflections in bright environments. Build quality and robustness The whole laptop is made ​​of plastic and you notice the amount that the chassis gives, both the body and the lid. However, thinner metal laptops like the MacBook Air, Asus UX31 series, Samsung 9 series and have the Acer S3, probably simply because they are such thin structures are similar stiffness. All seams fit well with the various clips and screws for the bottom and batteries are firmly implemented and the whole feels like the best last through a couple of years. It certainly feels cheaper than a Zenbook or Macbook Air, but I do not expect that he will go faster. Piece The screen hinges feel exceptionally well -. Anything that the OEM of these machines (Compal) always does okay One drawback should I give to the fact that the buttons on the screen when you arrive laptop computer is closed. There is no mat included with the laptop to protect against damage this screen. A huge plus for this laptop - not least because I am an engineer who designs power - the 19V adapter from the laptop. This is a Delta copy, alongside the very best Seasonic power supplies OEM. The 65W power supply can deliver much more than the laptop ever pulls, and under load barely warm. 0.1W at no load power consumed so it is no problem to leave him. In the socket When the laptop is idle and approximately 4.5W pull out the power supply, the adapter consumes 5.9W from the outlet. This means that it is 76% effective even at these very low load. 10W load from the power supply is more than 85% efficient. From about 25W load goes PFC circuit on and the power factor of the power supply of 0.3 at minimum load up to 0.99 at 35W. The adapter has a standard 5.5mm barrel connector. Ergonomics The flexible plastic has the effect that the keyboard bounces more than you would like. Oddly enough, I find this not alter the type of comfort, the keyboard is very similar to the Asus Zenbook, I'd say almost identical. However, the touchpad is the opposite case: it is a very rigid part of the chassis, but despite that it works only a good portion touch the buttons virtually inoperable. There is no less than 3kg pressure force (!) In order to press the buttons. A typical mouse with less than 100 grams of force pressure for comparison. In practice, you will never use the buttons and everything with gestures, taps and context button do on the keyboard. Speaking: The keyboard is full and has a very goee layout. Even the windows and context menu buttons are present, as well as a full selection of media keys that no separate buggy software needed to operate. The USB ports are on the front side of the laptop, not the back. I find that a bit annoying because the power of a plugged-in mouse than in the way of your hand. The laptop is really designed for right-handers: HDMI, LAN and VGA output are all on the left, so these cables will definitely sit in the road and want to use a separate mouse left handed. And then we come to a large drawback of the laptop: the speakers. These are not to hear; bass is completely missing. However, sound from the analog ports is excellent so earphones or headphones are highly recommended. webcam is the one with a good wide-angle lens and the image quality is average. It claims to be 720p and although the picture quality is definitely better than my many VGA webcams is still nothing compared to my Logitech C920 HD Webcam for example. It is nice that there is an LED on when the webcam is active - a feature that is not in any laptop. Sound recorded via the built-in microphones is moderate but useful for Skype. Heat and noise This laptop is almost always completely silent. The fan only turn on when you turn intensive applications for more than 1-2 minutes, something that until now only 1 or 2 times to come. The fan is remarkably large and covers almost 1/6th of the surface of the laptop, but is therefore much quieter than the fans in other ultrabooks. Only during my Battery Eater test the laptop is annoying loud. In normal use - surfing the web, watching videos, email, and programming the laptop is inaudible. This is of course provided you unplug the HDD. The hard drive adds a continuous' whoosh' sound to the laptop which I do not think fine in quiet areas. For a laptop HDD is not exceptionally quiet copy, so negatives here if you're this plan is to leave. Even when the fan starts, the air is rather lukewarm than hot, the laptop and the air coming to the left side of the laptop out. This too is an ergonomic advantage for right-handers. Once the laptop has been a while heavy and he again idle , the fan will run slower in seconds, and after less than 15 seconds off completely. mobility and battery life here is to note the real power of these laptops, although the laptop to the heavy side for an ultrabook (1.9kg), here you get to 62Wh battery capacity divided between two batteries for back. A 4-cell battery is the back of the laptop, another 3-cell goes into your CD-ROM bay. The stated battery life is 7 hours, but in practice I go over it with ease. Medion Probably this is measured with all the bloatware on the laptop. To measure the battery life, I have done the following: Test 1: maximum battery life. 14:20 am Here I leave the laptop stand still on the Windows desktop with the screen, but at its lowest setting, wifi on and connected to my home network, and no further activity. If you plan to take a transatlantic flight this laptop offers excellent use it to read documents, it is then easily possible to get more than 10 hours of utilization of the battery. Test 2: minimal battery life. 3:30 pm . Here I used Battery Eater Classic me thet screen at max brightness and wifi on. Test 3: Using the internet / typing. about 9 hours . This 'test' was simply using the laptop. I used the laptop for about 3 hours. In that time I've been reading in the train and the Internet via a wireless hotspot that I made ​​with my phone at home, looked youtube videos on wireless internet, typed in Microsoft Word and the laptop also let stand still. Scattered a few minutes After 3 hours of use, there were exactly 66% battery left, so I expect the battery life under these conditions 9am. Caution: In the past, it has been found that the laptop may not be automatically switched to the secondary battery, and therefore during the running on battery could fail just like that. This has been corrected since November 2012. If you buy a second hand Medion Akoya S421x you get a free newer version of this battery that this defect has not been sent. Upon presentation of the warranty of Medion Newer laptops are already supplied with this battery . Opposite the battery life is a higher weight than other ultrabooks. If you no longer than 4 to 5 hours have to do with your laptop, you might want to ultrabooks of 1.5kg or less look. However, if you want to do more, so an adapter must carry, in other circumstances, this laptop is equally effective but much more practical to carry around. Price Here is the crux of the story. At some points, this is a great laptop, other (especially for people who appreciate a good display) bad, but you have all seen in the light of the price. This laptop is new 599 euro at Aldi or Mid Shop, almost 200 euros cheaper than the first ultrabook. Because I bought a display model there was another 100 Euros from, although there are again 95 euros was for the SSD. Altogether this is a great deal for what you get, but note that both the screen and the buttons the touchpad are deal breakers if you attaches great value. Photographs can be made ​​on request, I have now sadly no more time