Gigabyte Aero 15 X Gaming Notebook With GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q Graphics

[jonneymendoza]

I haven't spoken up for a while, but still really happy with my 15X. I'm currently contracting by day which means carrying the kit into an office, using it all day long for code and communications (Meet, WebEx). Also lugging it back home again for a bit of Shadow of the Tomb Raider in the evening.

Can't say that I _love_ using the built-in web cam, but that was never the point, and I've got a pretty handy external one that works lovely. (Or I can use the dubious angle of the built-in as an excuse to not use a camera at all.)

I had a small case of flea power affecting the mouse pad a couple of months ago, which brought to light that it's not as easy as some laptops to just pop the battery off and discharge the static. But I let the battery drain 50% and it seemed to fix itself from there.

But, other than those minor issues, I'm having zero problems. Which is amazing. I can't remember the last time I had a laptop over 6 months without completely losing a random piece of hardware (often the wifi).

I maintain the screen and keyboard are the things that make this laptop go from good to outstanding.

I'll be installing more memory and SSD when I start getting paid in anger. I'll be back with feedback.

is it dead silent when doing coding or does the fans come up?

How does it fair when throttling?

 

[YeWhoEnter]

is it dead silent when doing coding or does the fans come up?

The only time I've noticed the fans while coding is when I caused a tight infinite loop ... right in the middle of an interview tech test. Which was good. Meant that I didn't sit for 30+ seconds waiting for a response; I knew what i'd done as soon as the fans started taking off.

How does it fair when throttling?

It takes slightly longer to fire up a new process, which can be irritating if you're doing a lot of test-driven development. It's not slow (we're talking about a quarter second up to less-than-half a second), but it adds up if you're doing it a lot.

There might be a way to turn off that throttling. A lot is configurable. But I'm usually only off-power when I'm travelling and I want the battery to last more than I want to be super-fast.

* Edit: I intended to make it clearer that there is no obvious sign of throttling once a process is running. Unless that process is a heavy 3D game.

 

[mambo1888]

for my personal suggestion the performance would be better if the OS's installed into Samsung one. But before doing that DO remember to backup the IMG through Smart USB Backup

maybe try install the stock driver from NV and launch the game via GeForce Experience

Hi @mambo1888 - thanks for the feedback, glad everything installed and working for you. Hope you work in a nice large office with plenty of people you can showcase your AERO to! (don't get caught watching Netflix at your desk though

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

Thanks Baloney, I may try doing a fresh install on the samsung at some stage but for the time being it seemsseem to be working great. I have installed the nvidia driver and geforce experience but have the issue where it cant get the settings, seems to be a common problem lately, I noticed there is a new driver out now but im stuck offshore so dont have very good wifi at the moment.

I dont work in an office unfortunatley, im paid from the head down lol. I wish I had a desk to get caught watching netflix at

 

[Atom80]

I haven't spoken up for a while, but still really happy with my 15X. I'm currently contracting by day which means carrying the kit into an office, using it all day long for code and communications (Meet, WebEx). Also lugging it back home again for a bit of Shadow of the Tomb Raider in the evening.

Can't say that I _love_ using the built-in web cam, but that was never the point, and I've got a pretty handy external one that works lovely. (Or I can use the dubious angle of the built-in as an excuse to not use a camera at all.)

I had a small case of flea power affecting the mouse pad a couple of months ago, which brought to light that it's not as easy as some laptops to just pop the battery off and discharge the static. But I let the battery drain 50% and it seemed to fix itself from there.

But, other than those minor issues, I'm having zero problems. Which is amazing. I can't remember the last time I had a laptop over 6 months without completely losing a random piece of hardware (often the wifi).

I maintain the screen and keyboard are the things that make this laptop go from good to outstanding.

I'll be installing more memory and SSD when I start getting paid in anger. I'll be back with feedback.

Hi @YeWhoEnter - thanks for your feedback, glad that you are both happy together. Long may it continue

Have a good weekend.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Atom80]

Thanks Baloney, I may try doing a fresh install on the samsung at some stage but for the time being it seemsseem to be working great. I have installed the nvidia driver and geforce experience but have the issue where it cant get the settings, seems to be a common problem lately, I noticed there is a new driver out now but im stuck offshore so dont have very good wifi at the moment.

I dont work in an office unfortunatley, im paid from the head down lol. I wish I had a desk to get caught watching netflix at

 

[xaldub]

Hi all, thinking about purchasing this laptop ( the 4k screen version with 16Gb, 512Mb SSD ) to replace my aging MacBook. My main use will be for content creation / photography, with some light gaming on my travels. This laptop seems to tick quite a number of boxes for me : 4k 100% AdobeRGB matte finish screen, good port selection including a UHS-II SD card slot, relatively slim profile & reduced weight whilst maintaining build quality, good battery, and of course overall performance. I'm encouraged to see it has potential for user upgrades, and from the off I think I would like to add in an extra SSD for storage, and perhaps an extra stick of 16Gb memory. Can anyone advise in advance what memory is required to perform this upgrade ? For the second M.2 slot I plan to purchase a Samsung 970 EVO 1 TB V-NAND M.2 PCI Express Solid State Drive. Any thoughts or comments ?

 

[YeWhoEnter]

Can anyone advise in advance what memory is required to perform this upgrade ?

Haven't done this myself yet but people further up the thread were talking about the Kingston HyperX SODIMM here:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/king...n-sodimm-module-hx426s15ib2-16-my-28h-ks.html

 

[xaldub]

Haven't done this myself yet but people further up the thread were talking about the Kingston HyperX SODIMM here:
https://www.overclockers.co.uk/king...n-sodimm-module-hx426s15ib2-16-my-28h-ks.html

Thanks for the reply. Have you had any need to use or contact Gigabyte's customer service ? What is their UK warranty like ? I think the thing that's holding me back from upgrading my existing laptop is the reported poor quality control & customer support from nearly all of the major manufacturers. That said I've had Gigabyte graphics cards in my desktop PCs before and never had any issue with them. The only other laptop that seems to meet my needs would be a Dell XPS 15 9570, but the thermals on that device seem iffy, the wi-fi card is allegedly very temperamental, and Dell's QA and customer support isn't particularly stellar either. If Gigabyte's support is decent then I think the Aero 15X wins the day for me ...

 

[Atom80]

Thanks for the reply. Have you had any need to use or contact Gigabyte's customer service ? What is their UK warranty like ? I think the thing that's holding me back from upgrading my existing laptop is the reported poor quality control & customer support from nearly all of the major manufacturers. That said I've had Gigabyte graphics cards in my desktop PCs before and never had any issue with them. The only other laptop that seems to meet my needs would be a Dell XPS 15 9570, but the thermals on that device seem iffy, the wi-fi card is allegedly very temperamental, and Dell's QA and customer support isn't particularly stellar either. If Gigabyte's support is decent then I think the Aero 15X wins the day for me ...

HI @xaldub - We offer good levels of support and warranty cover on all our machines, 2 year warranty and the ability to upgrade install additional parts without voiding warranty. In addition to the service provided by our service partner, we also do provide a lot of additional support direct to our customers through this forum.

There is plenty of positive feedback from customers on this thread referring to that point, not expecting you to take our word for it as such, but we wanted to give some additional assurance based on your post / comments.

Let us know if you have any further questions.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[YeWhoEnter]

Have you had any need to use or contact Gigabyte's customer service ?

Short version of a story you can find through this thread: I was getting BSODs a couple of weeks after I bought the laptop. I talked about it in here. Atom80 introduced me to one of their tech team directly. They figured out the problem from a couple of screenshots (it was a bad driver version), no need to go to a support centre. Then Atom80 sent ME a goodie bag, like as if I'd done THEM a favour.

I've had Lenovo, Acer, Dell and Sony laptops before and always had terrible support. Gigabyte has been a refreshing change. I'll buy from them in future based on that alone.

 

[Atom80]

Short version of a story you can find through this thread: I was getting BSODs a couple of weeks after I bought the laptop. I talked about it in here. Atom80 introduced me to one of their tech team directly. They figured out the problem from a couple of screenshots (it was a bad driver version), no need to go to a support centre. Then Atom80 sent ME a goodie bag, like as if I'd done THEM a favour.

I've had Lenovo, Acer, Dell and Sony laptops before and always had terrible support. Gigabyte has been a refreshing change. I'll buy from them in future based on that alone.

@YeWhoEnter

no "blushing emoji..... thanks for the feedback

Always a pleasure,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[xaldub]

Short version of a story you can find through this thread: I was getting BSODs a couple of weeks after I bought the laptop. I talked about it in here. Atom80 introduced me to one of their tech team directly. They figured out the problem from a couple of screenshots (it was a bad driver version), no need to go to a support centre. Then Atom80 sent ME a goodie bag, like as if I'd done THEM a favour.

I've had Lenovo, Acer, Dell and Sony laptops before and always had terrible support. Gigabyte has been a refreshing change. I'll buy from them in future based on that alone.

Thank you again for your input. Your comments on their customer support sound very reassuring

 

[xaldub]

Ok, well I have just bitten the bullet on this laptop and have ordered an extra stick of Kingston HyperX 2666 Mhz.DDR4 CL15 260-Pin SODIMM memory to upgrade to 32 Gb total. I also have a Samsung 970 EVO 1 Tb SSD to place in the 2nd M.2 slot when the laptop arrives. Hopefully things go smoothly … I'll keep my fingers crossed !

How have others found the performance straight out of the box ? Or is it worth doing a fresh Windows 10 install straight from the outset ? I've read some iffy comments about the pre-installed software/drivers, but perhaps things have improved in this regard since launch. It sounds like all the major vendors have had issues getting stability/performance right with the new i7/9 processors.

 

[YeWhoEnter]

How have others found the performance straight out of the box ? Or is it worth doing a fresh Windows 10 install straight from the outset ?

The things I needed to download and install off the bat:
* RGB Fusion software from Gigabyte's site, just to get the keyboard to stop flashing.
* GeForce Experience from nVidia's site, to stop it crashing.
* Realtek Audio Console from the Microsoft Store, to make it recognise my AKG headphones. (I forgot, that also came from Gigabyte support)

I suspect you'd need all those for a fresh Windows install too.

You are, obviously, also going to need to let Windows do 5000 updates and then run the Gigabyte Smart Update software about 14000 times (and it can be cumbersome, I'm not going to lie). But doing that is easier (IMO) than a fresh install and once you've done it, performance should be good. Gigabyte have tried to avoid bloatware.

 

[xaldub]

The things I needed to download and install off the bat:
* RGB Fusion software from Gigabyte's site, just to get the keyboard to stop flashing.
* GeForce Experience from nVidia's site, to stop it crashing.
* Realtek Audio Console from the Microsoft Store, to make it recognise my AKG headphones. (I forgot, that also came from Gigabyte support)

I suspect you'd need all those for a fresh Windows install too.

You are, obviously, also going to need to let Windows do 5000 updates and then run the Gigabyte Smart Update software about 14000 times (and it can be cumbersome, I'm not going to lie). But doing that is easier (IMO) than a fresh install and once you've done it, performance should be good. Gigabyte have tried to avoid bloatware.

I'll certainly give it a chance to update and then assess how the performance is before jumping into a fresh install. I wrongly assumed the RGB Fusion software came pre-installed. I'll add GeForce Experience as you suggest, but I won't be doing much gaming on it. Planning on installing Photoshop, Capture One Pro & Adobe Premiere as the core apps ; probably not much else other than drivers for my Wacom tablet and Logitech Master MX 2S wireless mouse.

 

[xaldub]

A quick update : I received my Gigabyte 15x ( 4k screen ) and couldn't be happier ; good build quality and everything seems to be functioning correctly. A little bit of light bleed around the edges of the screen but nothing that I wouldn't expect from a thin bezel panel. Took an age to update all the drivers, Windows 10 updates but that's mostly on Microsoft I found it quite difficult to prise off the backplate from the laptop but after that it was a snip installing the extra stick of RAM and 2nd SSD. The Kingston HyperX 2666 Mhz.DDR4 CL15 260-Pin SODIMM stick was recognised without any difficulty and is running at 2666 Mhz, so if anyone else purchases this laptop and wishes to upgrade from 16 Gb to 32 Gb have no fear.

 

[Atom80]

A quick update : I received my Gigabyte 15x ( 4k screen ) and couldn't be happier ; good build quality and everything seems to be functioning correctly. A little bit of light bleed around the edges of the screen but nothing that I wouldn't expect from a thin bezel panel. Took an age to update all the drivers, Windows 10 updates but that's mostly on Microsoft I found it quite difficult to prise off the backplate from the laptop but after that it was a snip installing the extra stick of RAM and 2nd SSD. The Kingston HyperX 2666 Mhz.DDR4 CL15 260-Pin SODIMM stick was recognised without any difficulty and is running at 2666 Mhz, so if anyone else purchases this laptop and wishes to upgrade from 16 Gb to 32 Gb have no fear.

Hi @xaldub - great to hear you received your unit, and couldn't be happier …. also excellent to see that upgraded RAM and SSD has gone smoothly for you - thanks for posting and sharing your experience.

From looking back at our communication, are we right in thinking you are some sort of designer / creative, and was the AERO was purchased mainly for those professional requirements, rather than gaming?

Always good for us to better understand our customers..

Thanks again for choosing Gigabyte and we look forward to hearing back from you.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[xaldub]

Hi @xaldub - great to hear you received your unit, and couldn't be happier …. also excellent to see that upgraded RAM and SSD has gone smoothly for you - thanks for posting and sharing your experience.

From looking back at our communication, are we right in thinking you are some sort of designer / creative, and was the AERO was purchased mainly for those professional requirements, rather than gaming?

Always good for us to better understand our customers..

Thanks again for choosing Gigabyte and we look forward to hearing back from you.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

Hi Atom80,

Yes, I do photography and bought this laptop primarily so I could do photo editing on my travels / out in the field. I also use Adobe Premiere for some videography, but the photographic side is my main interest.

ps. I should add that I love the selection of ports on the Aero 15x v8 particularly having the UHS-II SD card reader.

 

[Atom80]

Hi Atom80,

Yes, I do photography and bought this laptop primarily so I could do photo editing on my travels / out in the field. I also use Adobe Premiere for some videography, but the photographic side is my main interest.

ps. I should add that I love the selection of ports on the Aero 15x v8 particularly having the UHS-II SD card reader.

Hi @xaldub,

Cool, so we presume the pantone calibrated screen was also a factor in you choosing AERO15?

Thanks for the feedback,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[xaldub]

Hi @xaldub,

Cool, so we presume the pantone calibrated screen was also a factor in you choosing AERO15?

Thanks for the feedback,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

Yes, absolutely. Having proper colour calibration is a must for doing photography / videography work. And I rather like the matte screen, as opposed to the usual glossy finish seen on most laptops.