UltraNote III - looking to replace my Enigma III 540 (2011 vintage)

[Matelot]

Chassis & Display
UltraNote: 15.6" Matte Full HD IPS LED Backlit Widescreen (1920x1080)
Processor (CPU)
Intel® Core™ i7 Dual Core Processor i7-6500U (2.50GHz, 3.1GHz Turbo)
Memory (RAM)
8GB HyperX IMPACT 1600MHz SODIMM DDR3 (1 x 8GB)
Graphics Card
Integrated Intel® HD Graphics
1[SUP]st[/SUP] Hard Disk
240GB KINGSTON UV400 2.5" SSD, SATA 6 Gb (550MB/R, 490MB/W)
1[SUP]st[/SUP] DVD/BLU-RAY Drive
UltraNote Series: 8x SATA DVD±R/RW/Dual Layer (+ 24x CD-RW)
Sound Card
Intel 2 Channel High Definition Audio + MIC/Headphone Jack
Wireless/Wired Networking
GIGABIT LAN & WIRELESS INTEL® AC-8260 M.2 (867Mbps, 802.11AC) + BLUETOOTH
USB Options
3 x USB 2.0 PORTS + 1 x USB 3.0 PORT AS STANDARD
Operating System
Genuine Windows 10 Home 64 Bit - inc DVD & Licence

To be used for demanding mathematical analysis and general business applications, viewing an occasional DVD but no gaming. My aging Enigma has been a great workhorse and cost £870 five years ago, so this seems to be a real bargain at only £610. The real question is whether the other 15.6" models (Cosmos, Optimus, Voyager etc.) offer any material advantages that are worth me paying more for?

I should also be interested to have any real life experiences of battery life. The suggested 4.5 hours would be sufficient but my own experience has been that every manufacturer quotes optimistic figures and it would be good to know what I might reasonably expect. £35 isn't too much for a second battery if I need the extra juice.

As always, Forum comments and suggestions will be appreciated.

 

[Oussebon]

The Ultranote has a dual core ULV CPU, which is a fair bit weaker than one of the regular laptop CPUs (ones ending in -HQ such as you might find in a Cosmos), which are in turn possibly a bit less powerful than the -T CPUs you get in the Voyager.
If what you're doing is quite demanding on the CPU and makes use of multiple cores/threads, one of the laptops with a better CPU might be in order (benchmarks) http://tinyurl.com/jv9vo7z Even the i5 6300HQ will outperform the i7 6500U

 

[Matelot]

Oussebon

Thank you for that insight. My Enigma has an i7 Quad Core Mobile Processor i7-2670QM (2.20GHz) 6MB CPU and the applications I run do make full use of all the cores. I was rather hoping that five years on an i7 dual core would outperform a geriatric quad, but perhaps that is not the case.

 

[Oussebon]

Well the i7 6500U is a ULV (ultra low voltage) CPU which means it's designed to trade in performance for lower power consumption and to therefore go in ultrabooks. It has a TDP of 15W vs the older i7 2760QM which has a TDP of 45W.
http://ark.intel.com/compare/88200,88967,53474,88194 So while its performance is less impressive (it has only half the cores and threads after all), its performance per watt is much better. It's designed for a different purpose.
Another filter of the benches including your old CPU: http://tinyurl.com/hnex9ft

So if what you need is a straight up performance upgrade then one of the -HQ or -T CPUs would be the way to go. You can see that a modern i5 6300HQ (4 cores, 4 threads) will outperform the 2760QM (with its 4 cores and 8 threads) even in multithreaded tasks. This kind of advance is perhaps more in line with what you were expecting (modern i5 outperforming the older i7). Obviously it wouldn't be worth buying a whole new laptop just to get an i5 6300HQ with what you already have, but one of the modern i7s should give a decent boost. You can make your mind up as to whether that extra cost is worth it.

Also, Kaby Lake CPUs might start shipping soon, so if you're ok for now you might want to hold off a couple of months and see what's out there.