SKIKK Green 14 Review

Published on 06 augustus 2019

Summarized

The SKIKK Green 14 has a 14" screen and a weight of 1 kilogram. That is exceptionally light for a laptop of that size. The performance of the CPU could have been better and there is only 1 slot for up to 16GB of memory. that the screen is clear and sharp and the maximum battery life with 11 hours in MobileMark 2014. In practice this can be less due to use, when watching YouTube videos over WiFi in battery saving mode we easily reached 7 to 9 a.m. An m2 slot is available, so that an extra SSD can be added.The laptop is a godsend for people who are looking for a relatively compact laptop with the lowest possible weight.

Pros
• Weighs less than a kilogram
• Free m2 slot
• Very good battery life, and therefore better for the environment.
• Environmentally friendly super magnesium housing.
• 100% Recyclable housing

Cons
• Other laptops with the same CPU are faster
• Card reader is missing
• No WiFi 6 support

Every laptop manufacturer nowadays has a thin and light model in its range. For people who take their laptop with them every day, a few hundred grams makes a big difference. SKIKK recently succeeded in building a laptop with a 14" screen with a weight of one kilogram. How SKIKK managed that and what you surrender to, you can read in this review.
One of the things that SKIKK has done , uses a magnesium alloy for the housing, which is even lighter than aluminum and stronger than steel, which means that the laptop feels very sturdy and seems to be able to withstand a significant impact.

When you open the laptop, the screen turns out to be able to rotate almost all the way until only one hand is away from the table. If you do that, you will notice that the laptop remains very stable and the weight distribution is well designed. When you lift the laptop for the first time, it will initially feel like you're holding a mock-up model without internal hardware, as the laptop is about a third lighter than its dimensions would suggest. A godsend for people who appreciate the weight of a 12" laptop, but with a 14" screen.

For peripherals, SKIKK has nicely divided the connections over both left and right. On the right you will find the charging connection and the HDMI, USB 3.1 (Gen 1) and USB-C (Gen 1) ports. On the left you will find the Kensington Lock, RJ45 Ethernet connection, USB 3.1 (Gen 1) and USB 2.0 ports and of course the 3.5 mm Audio Out & Mic in.

The maximum speed of the USB-C connection is 5Gbit/s. A card reader, in whatever form, is unfortunately missing.

Ultra-narrow bezel screen

Get more out of your viewing experience and focus your attention with minimal bezel and maximum screen area. Equipped with a Full HD 1920 x 1080 IPS panel, you can expect consistent and accurate colors from all viewing angles. Unlike standard panels, IPS panels do not illuminate and show no resolution issues when playing fast-moving videos. So you can also enjoy the latest movies or Netflix series on the go.

Quick Charge Technology

Faster charging than ever before with Quick Charge Technology

Keyboard and touchpad

Although light, the SKIKK Green 14 is not overly thin and so SKIKK has been able to fit a 'normal' membrane keyboard with 1.4 mm travel. As a result, you can expect the amount of travel that comes with an average 15" laptop and of course the keyboard is equipped with backlighting. The lighting is dimmable in 3 positions. The keyboard feels very nice for such a compact laptop. size that suits this laptop, and feels high-quality.

Display

The SKIKK Green 14 is equipped with a 60 Hz. Full HD LED screen with a resolution of 1920 by 1080 pixels and a wide viewing angle.

• Display diagonal : 14"
• Panel type: LED panel
• Refresh rate: 60Hz
• Display
coating : Matte • Display - Color gamut: 72% NTSC
• Display Backlight: Direct LED
• Display - HDR: No HDR
• Display - Brightness (nits): to 300 cd/m²
• Display - Contrast: 700:1
• Display - Response Time: 14 ms
• Display - Pixel Pitch: 0.0259 mm²
• Display - Pixel Density: 157 ppi

Standard SN500 250GB SSD

The SKIKK Green 14 comes standard with the Western Digital SN500 250GB NVMe SSD. Currently, the Western Digital WD Blue SN500 is a very attractive new option on the market for those looking for a faster than SATA SSD, without immediately having to break the entire piggy bank. Only users who work intensively with Photoshop and/or After Effects - and we are talking about (semi-)professional users - we recommend investing more and opting for a Samsung 970 EVO, because in those tests the Western Digital SSD a bit behind. For most other applications by far, it is one of the fastest or fastest in its price range, and therefore highly recommended.

Standard Specifications

The SKIKK Green 14 that we tested is the cheapest standard version, which at the time of this writing costs 829 euros and offers a Core i5 processor, 16GB memory and a fast NVMe 250GB SSD. A Core i7 version is also available with standard 16GB of RAM and a 250GB SSD. The laptops are fully configurable, so it is possible to have your own SSD or another one installed during the ordering process. Both versions are available in 'Gun Metal Black', like the model in this review. A 15" variant will also be available in the near future.

The super-light, super-strong, environmentally-friendly super-metal

Magnesium is the lightest structural metal and is abundantly available in the Earth's crust and seawater (it is the ninth most abundant element in the universe by mass). Magnesium is the third most commonly used structural metal, followed by steel and aluminum. With a density of approximately one-fourth that of steel and two-thirds of aluminum, magnesium offers excellent potential for lightweight applications in the transportation (land, air and sea), power tool and 3C (computer, communications and consumer products) industries. With a modulus close to that of human bones and unique bio-resorbability in the human body, magnesium is also emerging as a biomedical material.

Where is magnesium found?

Magnesium is produced from seawater, brines and magnesium-containing minerals, which provide unlimited reserves. Due to its widespread natural occurrence and the way it is harvested and processed, magnesium is considered the most environmentally friendly and sustainable metal in the world. Magnesium can be recycled 100% and dissolves naturally in the environment, leaving no trace behind.

The benefits of magnesium

100% recyclable
75% lighter than steel
50% lighter than titanium
33% lighter than aluminum

The lightest structural metal, magnesium has a density only slightly higher than plastics and glass/carbon fiber reinforced polymers.

It is the lightest of all structural metals.
It has high impact resistance.
It has a high strength-to-weight ratio.
It can be cast in net form (better castability than aluminum).
It has a very high specific stiffness.
It provides highly effective shielding from electromagnetic interference without filters.
It has excellent heat dissipation. Thin-walled components optimize heat transfer more effectively than aluminum and plastic.
It has one of the lowest carbon footprints in the entire chain relative to any construction material.