A mini-review of the Motile 14 laptop

[Radium_Angel]

So for the first time in a long time, I've been in need of a laptop. I am a photographer and need to shoot tethered for an upcoming shoot (teaching new folk, and a large screen is a lot better to show off than the dSLR screen)

I looked around for something lightweight and affordable, starting in the used section of Craigslist. Around here, even beat up C2D systems go for 100$, and that just wasn't sane spending.

 

Some kind soul here at LTT suggested the Motile 14 Performance laptop and posted a link to....Walmart.

Walmart eh? This should prove...interesting.

 

Well indeed it does, they offered two options, the Ryzen 5 3500U with 8GB DDR4 ram, a 14" 1080p screen (matt, IPS as it turns out) and a 256GB M.2 SSD, backlit keyboard and 8 hour battery life for the low price of:

 

 

Under 300$

 

Thus intrigued, I went in search of reviews, thoroughly convinced this was a grade A pile of garbage.

Well, no. Reviews were universally positive.

So after looking at some alternatives (yeah, I hate HP and Lenovo, but I still looked at them as potential options) I came away pretty well certain nothing could be better at that price point, and perhaps slightly even higher.

So, back to Walmart to buy it....

 

 

...only to find they'd jacked up the price by 20$ (there is a cheaper version with a Ryzen 3 and 4GB of RAM, but I passed on that as being too underpowered for my needs)

Irritated at my delay and their shenanigans, I did some more reading to ensure it was worth that price (heck, it's got not 1 but 2! 2! upgradeable M.2 slots a standout in that pricepoint) I decided yes, yes it was worth the 20$ increase.

 

So, back to Walmart where the price now stood at nearly 400$

 

Damn, blast, bollocks and all that rot.

Now, granted the laptop had an MSRP of 700$ but that's besides the point, Walmart was playing mind games with me and I wasn't going to stand for it! So off to my backup option, HP....

 

lol Hell no, I mean eBay (sorry, I'm on painkillers right now, kidney stone attack, and the drugs are making me loopy. So loopy HP was starting to look good)

 

Where was I? Oh yes, eBay. Lots of Motil 14 laptops there...all at MSRP prices.

Except one seller who was selling refurbished ones (with a 100% as new you can't tell, money back guarantee) for 250$

 

 

 

I got the last one.

And true to their word, not a scratch. No specs, no dead pixels, not even fingerprints.

Fresh as can be.

 

 

Woo.

So, here is the review of said laptop:

 

And for those who want a TL;DR option (too late!)

A solid system, exceeding my expectations in all areas.

 

Right, on to the extended director's cut review:

 

The laptop is spec'd at 2.5 lbs, and I'm pretty sure that's dead on. Super lightweight, and the shell, both top and bottom, is Magnesium, which is a nice change of pace from the plastic du jour of the vast majority of low-end laptops.

 

The screen does have a subtle matt finish, which helps in numerous lighting conditions (not tested it outdoors as of yet) and comes, by default (probably the power setting controls this) at 50% brightness, which is a tad dim for my liking, but a slider to 100% solves this.

 

The touchpad is supposed to support gestures, but I never did get the hang of those, so I use it as a normal old fashioned trackpad, and the left and right clicks have a satisfying feel to them.

The backlit keyboard, is *very* nice, much better than the Apple-cloning chichlet-style that also seems to be in vogue these days. The keys have a very subtle concave build, allowing your fingers to find the right place naturally. This was my biggest worry, and a highly subjective one at that.

The battery is rated at 8 hours and on the default power plan, is accurate to that, and a recharge to full takes about 1 hour.

 

The bottom is held on by 6 screws and once removed (they are a little over tightened and of fairly weak, IMO, metal, so ensure the screw driver you use had a solid connection) gives you access to everything you need to upgrade:

 

The wifi module can be upgraded, though I see no point, the default one is fine

The memory module is not soldered in, but there is only 1 slot, a trade-off I suppose, for thinness. I understand the Ryzen CPUs are hampered by this for such activities as gaming, so, fair warning.

The M.2 drives are right there, and I had a spare 512GB module that was easily added.

There is a dead space where a traditional 2.5" laptop drive might seem to go, but no connections to make use of that, so consider it a secret spy compartment for your microfilm storage.

 

Ports seem sufficient, USB 2.0, 3.0, 3.1, audio jack (such courage!) power jack, HDMI and wired NIC jack.

 

System comes default with Win10 home.....and nothing else. No bloat, no trialware, none of that garbage. I don't know if it was the maker of the laptop, or the reseller, but all the default Win10 telemetry was turned off, and no live tiles present (like candy crush etc) just a nice basic start menu.

 

The hardware is all bog standard, meaning Linux will have no issues with this machine, which is a huge plus IMO.

The BIOS is very basic (think 1980s basic) with the choice between UEFI (no GUI) or legacy (still no GUI) with the default being UEFI, and the Win10 license stored somewhere in there.

 

The M.2 SSD (sata, I'm given to understand, as opposed to the nVME of the other slot) coupled with the 4c/8t CPU and 8GB of DDR4 ram, renders it plenty speedy and LightRoom CS6 loads up and is ready to go in very short order.

 

 

All in all, a heck of a steal for 250$, the system seems quite well built, and the ease of upgrade has it standing far and above many other systems costing twice as much.

A real winner and highly recommended....if you can find one at a solid price.