Getac S410 Gen 4 laptop review: Simple changes with huge upgrades

The Getac S410 Gen 4 is the 11th gen Intel Tiger Lake-U update to the existing Gen 3 and earlier models. It otherwise shares the same chassis design as its predecessors and so our existing comments on the original 2018 S410 model still apply here. Our specific review unit is a higher-end configuration with the Core i7-1185U CPU and 1000-nit 1080p IPS touchscreen. Lower-end SKUs are available as detailed by the official specifications sheet below. More information on the G410 series can be found on its product page here . More Getac reviews: WLAN has been upgraded from the Intel 8265 to the AX201 for Wi-Fi 6 compatibility. Real-world transfer rates are at least two times faster based on our tests. The 720p webcam remains unchanged. It would have been great to see an upgrade to 1080p for a crisper picture. The 1000-nit 1080p IPS panel is a significant upgrade over the 250-nit 768p TN panel on our original 2018 S410 Gen 1. Contrast has even doubled, but color space remains almost unchanged. Keep in mind that pulse-width modulation is present on all brightness levels even when at maximum. The constant screen flickering may be bothersome to a small subset of users with sensitive eyes. Color space is limited to just 57 percent of sRGB compared to over 90 percent of many consumer Ultrabooks. This system wasn’t designed for professional graphics editing, after all. Color temperature is overly cool which is common on panels with very narrow color ranges. Average DeltaE values do not improve significantly even after calibrating with our own X-Rite colorimeter. Outdoor visibility is good especially when under shade. Nonetheless, brighter displays do exist such as on the Dell Latitude 7330 Rugged Extreme and its 1400-nit panel. Our unit was set to the Extreme power plan via the G-Manager software prior to running any performance benchmarks below for the highest possible scores. We recommend users become familiar with this software as key features and updates are toggled here. Raw single-thread and multi-thread performance is about 30 percent and 50 percent faster, respectively, than the Core i7-8550U in the original S410. Opting for the lesser Core i5-1135G7 or Core i5-1145G7 is only expected to impact processor performance by about 10 to 15 percent. PCMark results are higher than what we observed on the S410 Gen 1 aside from the Productivity subtest likely due to the slower-than-expected SSD performance on our unit as shown in the next section below. The biggest gain can be seen in the Digital Content Creation subtest due to the performance benefits of Iris Xe over the much older UHD Graphics 620. LatencyMon reveals DPC issues when opening multiple browser tabs of our homepage. 4K video playback at 60 FPS is otherwise smooth and without any dropped frames. Our unit comes with a 256 GB SSSTC CA5 M.2 2280 PCIe3 x4 SSD with advertised sequential read and write rates of 3200 MB/s and 1600 MB/s, respectively. On our unit, however, we’re able to reach the maximum write rate without issues while sequential write rates would be unusually slow at around 580 MB/s despite multiple reruns. Graphics performance is excellent and where we expect it to be relative to other laptops with the same integrated Iris Xe 96 EUs GPU. Opting for the lesser Iris Xe 80 EUs configuration should only be about 10 percent slower based on our time with the Dell Latitude 7420 . In either case, graphics performance on the S410 Gen 4 can offer over 3x the performance of the older UHD Graphics 620 as found on the S410 Gen 1. Fan noise appears to be both louder and more likely to pulse than on the original S410 Gen 1 model. Additionally, the internal fan reaches its maximum RPM pretty quickly when running demanding loads meaning that pulsing is steep and very noticeable. We recommend running the system at lower power profiles to reduce the fan pulsing. Surface temperatures are warmest on the right half the chassis than on the left due to the positioning of the processor and cooling solution inside. Hot spots can reach 35 C and 46 C on the top and bottom sides, respectively, although they are toward the rear of the system where skin is unlikely to touch. When running Prime95, CPU clock rates would boost to 2.9 GHz for a very short period before quickly falling and stabilizing at 2.4 GHz. CPU package power would be as high as 41 W during the start of the test before stabilizing at 26 W. The high core temperature of 95 C suggests that the CPU is going as fast as it can within the limits of the chassis when subjected to demanding processing loads. In comparison, the CPUs in the S410 Gen 1 and Dell Latitude 7330 Rugged would stabilize at a lower 80 C and 62 C, respectively, when subjected to the same conditions. The system comes with a small (~12.8 x 5.2 x 3.0 cm) and relatively high capacity 90 W AC adapter compared to the 65 W AC adapter that shipped with the S410 Gen 1 and most other 14-inch Ultrabooks for that matter. The higher capacity essentially “unlocks” the CPU so it to run at potentially higher TDP targets and thus higher clock rates to outperform many other laptops with the same processor. The higher power output can also come in handy if attaching different Thunderbolt-compatible accessories and for maintaining a steady charge rate regardless of onscreen activity. Power consumption is high for a 14-inch form factor. Idling on desktop can range between 8 W to 15 W to be two times more demanding than expected due partly to the extra-bright display. Meanwhile, running higher loads like games would consume around 50 W compared to ~33 W on the older S410 Gen 1. The model can support multiple batteries at a time. Our particular unit integrates a 44 Wh internal battery plus two removable batteries of 75 Wh each for at total of 194 Wh. The removable batteries attach through the docking slots along the edges of the chassis. We’re able to record a real-world WLAN runtime of over 28 hours across all three batteries. The system cannot be recharged via USB-C. The differences between 10th gen Intel and 11th gen Intel are significant especially in terms of graphics performance. The new Iris Xe GPU is at least 2x to 3x faster than the previous generation UHD Graphics 620 without consuming all that much more power for remarkably higher performance-per-watt. If your workloads are heavy on the GPU, then even this simple processor update can offer noticeably smoother performance than previous generation S410 models. The chassis has remained largely unchanged for over 4 years meaning many of the same drawbacks that we mentioned in 2018 are still present on this 2022 version. We would love to see QoL improvements such as port covers that are easier to open, higher resolution webcam, or even USB-C Power Delivery which would have made the system more versatile should the proprietary AC adapter be unavailable. Pulse-width modulation is still present as well meaning users sensitive to onscreen flickering may want to avoid using the S410 for long periods. In contrast, the Dell Latitude 7330 Rugged exhibits no such flickering behavior while integrating both easier-to-open port covers and USB-C PD. Users can request a quote from the manufacturer here .