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

[Kissarmy]

Tech Adviser review
https://www.techadvisor.co.uk/review/laptops/gigabyte-aero-15x-v8-2018-review-3674665/

First review I've seen of the 4K display, worryingly battery life test is down to 3hours 55mins compared to the 9 hours 55mins they got with the old version. I hope ther is something wrong with their setup.

 

[Shinoke]

Here for the 144hz 1080p panel @ £2199.95:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...z-intel-i7-8750h-gaming-laptop-lt-08r-gi.html

and here for the 4k panel @ £2399.99:

https://www.overclockers.co.uk/giga...d-intel-i7-8750h-gaming-laptop-lt-08t-gi.html


Hexus.net review link here:

https://hexus.net/tech/reviews/laptop/116627-gigabyte-aero-15x-8th-gen/

Blimey that's pricey/expensive

I was expecting it to be around £2k for some reason - in line with the old pricing.

@Atom80 is that one 16GB DIMM, or 2 x 8GB?

I'd want to upgrade to 32GB, so 2 x 8GB would suck really.

I suppose I could cope with 512GB of storage at the start and add a second 1TB nmve stick later.

If they're going to add a 4K screen option they may as well make it touchscreen too so it's comparable to the XPS15 etc.

Not sure about the screen now. Will be used mostly docked when I get a new screen.

So in that sense having a lower battery draw screen when using it out and about makes sense

But 4K could come in handy, and also means 4K movies in bed.

 

[JimboJet]

In the absence of Atom80, i'll take the liberty of answering.

It's one GSKILL Ripsaw 16gb sodimm at 2666mhz. I believe its done to bring the laptop to market at a price lower than the competition (MSI) which does have 2x2400 16Gb sticks for the 32gb total but is more expensive as a result. For 90% of people right now, 16gb is enough and having just one stick does sadly mean the machine is running in single channel BUT gives the user the option of installing extra ram at their cost which is often cheaper than upgrading with the manufacturer directly. The fact that it is a faster speed RAM may slightly offset the fact that it's not dual channel, though the reality is again 90% of people won't notice. I thought it was odd myself at first but i'm happy with what they've done. A quick google shows that GSKill ram module is $193 from New(Easterxxx).com, so thats shaved a minimum of £150 off the retail price of the laptop.

Yes i think it is a little steep price wise, but the competition is more expensive currently.

 

[Shinoke]

Cheers

Yes one DIMM is a nice and uncommon choice.

Those that want to max it out to 32GB will benefit from dual channel, and those that don't likely don't care.

I max out 16GB routinely. Perhaps it's not really addressable properly by my laptop

Currently using 10GB with just browsers, one note, and notepad open.

Chrome is using around 4GB and Firefox around almost 2GB.

 

[JimboJet]

One other thing to note is that the 4k machine comes with Windows 10 Pro as standard. The 1080p 144hz model is with Windows 10 home. Pro allows up to 128gb ram whereas I believe the limit on Windows 10 home is 32gb. (not that many ppl will need more than this)

 

[OCdude]

One other thing to note is that the 4k machine comes with Windows 10 Pro as standard. The 1080p 144hz model is with Windows 10 home. Pro allows up to 128gb ram whereas I believe the limit on Windows 10 home is 32gb. (not that many ppl will need more than this)

I'm think Home supports 128GB and Pro supports 2TB of RAM

 

[Shinoke]

Yeah not that bothered by something changeable like an OS. Not sure Windows 10 Pro is a big deal, and if it were can always pay for an upgrade.

Looks like this will get the 11 series GTX card down the line, according to rumours.

I guess you can always wait, and now seems like a decent time - if the price is right.

Do these ever get discounted around Black Friday etc?

Never like to pay full price anyway, but the full price of this is really way above what I planned to spend.

Was originally looking at around £1600 based on XPS pricing etc, then pushed to possibly stretch to a nuts £2k for the previous 15X - but £2.4k, sheesh

That's premium business class notebook territory - and Gigabyte seem to struggle getting the basics right (keyboard, trackpad, screen before) - not even competing with other decent consumer notebooks - let alone premium business notebooks.

Might end up looking at the HP ZBook studio again etc. if they're asking this much and there's no discount from RRP.

The whole point was a Thunderbolt eGPU solution with an ultrabook like laptop would work out a lot more - but not sure if that really stacks up if you're paying £2.4k

Can get something slim and light for around £1.4k without graphics and then spend around £1k on an eGPU dock and graphics card.

 

[UTTER_FILTH]

Pre ordered the FHD version

I’ve loved my Aorus X7, but it is a bit of a monster to carry around and the battery life isn’t the best lol.

 

[Bron]

This pretty much looks like my perfect laptop - 6 core coffee lake, 1070, 4k, xps 15 like thin bezels.

My only concern is the single channel ram - I would just put a second stick in there (and I actually want 32gb so I like that I'm not wasting the original 16gb stick), but some reviews mentioned that there were tamper evident stickers over some of the screws (what looks like blue tape over the three central screws). Does anyone know Gigabyte's warranty policy and if upgrading the ram and maybe putting a second SSD in the spare M2 slot would void the warranty? If so, this would be a deal breaker for me.

 

[JimboJet]

I'm pretty certain this is allowed, otherwise why have 2 slots for dimms and 2 slots for m2? They may get iffy if you repaste and mess it up causing failures.

 

[Bron]

The problem is that there are definitely tamper evident screws on the back, and they must have been put there for a reason - see:

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8586/gigabyte-aero-15-coffee-lake-laptop-review/index3.html
https://www.tweaktown.com/image.php...te-aero-15-coffee-lake-laptop-review_full.jpg

For a £2400 laptop, I'd want to be certain that I'm not going to void the warranty - I've been stung by things like this before.

 

[Atom80]

This pretty much looks like my perfect laptop - 6 core coffee lake, 1070, 4k, xps 15 like thin bezels.

My only concern is the single channel ram - I would just put a second stick in there (and I actually want 32gb so I like that I'm not wasting the original 16gb stick), but some reviews mentioned that there were tamper evident stickers over some of the screws (what looks like blue tape over the three central screws). Does anyone know Gigabyte's warranty policy and if upgrading the ram and maybe putting a second SSD in the spare M2 slot would void the warranty? If so, this would be a deal breaker for me.

The problem is that there are definitely tamper evident screws on the back, and they must have been put there for a reason - see:

https://www.tweaktown.com/reviews/8586/gigabyte-aero-15-coffee-lake-laptop-review/index3.html
https://www.tweaktown.com/image.php...te-aero-15-coffee-lake-laptop-review_full.jpg

For a £2400 laptop, I'd want to be certain that I'm not going to void the warranty - I've been stung by things like this before.

Hi @Bron,

Thanks for your enquiry and interest in AERO15

For this generation product we chose to put single stick of 16GB RAM inside, to make it an easier and cost effective way for customers to upgrade by installing 1 x 16GB themselves. In the same vein, we also install 1 x 512GB SSD, but there is an additional M.2 bay that could accept further SSD should you wish to upgrade the storage.

We do not void warranty for opening machines and installing these components, although the additional RAM (or SSD) wouldn't be covered by the 2 year global warranty.

Customer induced damage isn't covered, so as long as customers have the knowledge and confidence to perform these upgrades themselves, it's OK with us.

Hope that clarifies the position for you,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Atom80]

@Atom80 I have a question about my 15x that I've been crawling the internet for since I got it several months ago. Can the model that does not come with a RAID array pre-configured have an array made later? I am a systems engineer with a dozen years of industry experience and I still can't quite figure this out. I have also called Gigabyte Tech Support and was told the engineering team would be looking into my issue and get back to me but that was over 2 months ago. I have 2 1tb NVMe drives installed, I flip the BIOS over to Intel RST, but as soon as I do the BIOS only sees 1 NVMe drive and RST manager in Windows shows nothing at all under storage. However, both drives are seen normally by Windows and perform perfectly fine as two separate entities when the BIOS is set to either AHCI or Intel RST Premium. I just do not like managing two separate storage pools and would much prefer one large 2tb space instead of two 1tb spaces. Any help would be much appreciated and thanks in advance.

Hi zaxbysauce - sorry for the delay - we will feed this straight into our R&D contacts and see what we can find out for you. Taiwan is on public holiday until Monday, so please give us a few days to come back to you.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Atom80]

Ok Atom80, you have my attention. I will be ordering one of these this time, if the price is not completely out of whack that is. Your refresh of the Aero 15X has actually saved me from ordering an i7 Surface Book 2 which I think I would have had issues with after a few months. Can I just ask if the new AeroX has a metal chassis? I just need to know its going to be durable? Also where are the exhaust fans, are they in the same position as the '17 model Aero15x?

One last question, I understand the NDA until 3rd April (looking fwd to that) but can you explain what you mean by shipping embargo? If you don't mind me saying, Gigabyte/Aorus haven't been great with supply since I've been following them actively. Assuming we can place pre-orders on 3rd April, when would we expect stock to land in the UK?

Hi jimoJet- Exhaust ports are actually on the base of the machine, same as first generation of these machines. Works fine and cooling system is very effective, and not noisy. Chassis, yes Aluminium, robust construction.

NDA - yes lifted on the 3rd, as you have seen, but the products are not released for sale until the 16th April. So pre-orders placed now can't be shipped to customers until that date, assuming there is stock to cover the demand.

Hope that helps and apologies for missing this post.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Atom80]

@Atom80 There is no mention regarding either the 144Hz FHD or 4K screen options as to whether they are Matte or Glare types, could you clarify this please.

Hi @Kissarmy - we will check the spec listing and ensure it is updated - ALL our panels are Anti Glare.

Thanks for your interest in Gigabyte AERO15.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Atom80]

@Atom80 There is no mention regarding either the 144Hz FHD or 4K screen options as to whether they are Matte or Glare types, could you clarify this please.

Hi @Kissarmy - thanks for noticing this. All three product specs have now been updated to reflect (no pun intended) the Anti-Glare nature of both panels used.

• FHD 1920*1080 IPS 144Hz Panel (Anti-Glare)

and

• UHD 3840*2160 IPS Adobe RGB 100% Panel (Anti-Glare)

Thanks again for bringing this to our attention.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Shinoke]

Hi @Bron,

Thanks for your enquiry and interest in AERO15

For this generation product we chose to put single stick of 16GB RAM inside, to make it an easier and cost effective way for customers to upgrade by installing 1 x 16GB themselves. In the same vein, we also install 1 x 512GB SSD, but there is an additional M.2 bay that could accept further SSD should you wish to upgrade the storage.

We do not void warranty for opening machines and installing these components, although the additional RAM (or SSD) wouldn't be covered by the 2 year global warranty.

Customer induced damage isn't covered, so as long as customers have the knowledge and confidence to perform these upgrades themselves, it's OK with us.

Hope that clarifies the position for you,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

Thanks for the updates and that's a sound decision. Glad Gigabyte chose a single stick of RAM and single 512GB SSD vs 2 x 256GB SSDs.

It really does simplify upgrades and make them more cost effective.

I'll probably buy another 16GB DIMM right away. Can you recommend a model/vendor?

Can keep the 512GB SSD for OS and programmes/games and then perhaps get a 1TB SSD for storage at some point.

Can you let us know what SSD you are using for this generation?

Thanks

 

[Bron]

Hi @Bron,

Thanks for your enquiry and interest in AERO15

For this generation product we chose to put single stick of 16GB RAM inside, to make it an easier and cost effective way for customers to upgrade by installing 1 x 16GB themselves. In the same vein, we also install 1 x 512GB SSD, but there is an additional M.2 bay that could accept further SSD should you wish to upgrade the storage.

We do not void warranty for opening machines and installing these components, although the additional RAM (or SSD) wouldn't be covered by the 2 year global warranty.

Customer induced damage isn't covered, so as long as customers have the knowledge and confidence to perform these upgrades themselves, it's OK with us.

Hope that clarifies the position for you,

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

Brilliant, thanks for the clarification - I think I'll be putting a pre order in for this one

 

[Atom80]

Thanks for the updates and that's a sound decision. Glad Gigabyte chose a single stick of RAM and single 512GB SSD vs 2 x 256GB SSDs.

It really does simplify upgrades and make them more cost effective.

I'll probably buy another 16GB DIMM right away. Can you recommend a model/vendor?

Can keep the 512GB SSD for OS and programmes/games and then perhaps get a 1TB SSD for storage at some point.

Can you let us know what SSD you are using for this generation?

Thanks

Hi @Shinoke - HQ on shutdown this week, back Monday, we will confirm brands of parts to you when we hear back from them.

But we think it is these parts:

Memory 16GB G.Skill RipJaws DDR4-2666MHz
SSD 512GB Toshiba THNSN5512 M.2 NVMe

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Mark Keiller]

Hi @Atom80 - very useful to see a Gigabyte Rep posting on forums! I've had a DELL XPS 9560 at work for the last year but will be moving to Australia in May. I had originally planned to get the new XPS 9570 before someone brought the Aero 15X to my attention and I realised it blew the DELL out of the water with its specs. The 1070 GPU vs the 1050Ti is a massive thing because I'll no longer have a desktop and need a laptop on which I can play games and also edit 4K footage etc.

Literally the only thing giving me concern is this; what is Gigabyte's policy around the international warranty? I'll be buying the laptop through Overclockers but will then be moving to Australia. OC Sales Rep seemed to think that if I needed a repair in the warranty period - I would have to send it back to the UK at my own expense and then pay for it to get sent back to Australia. Given there is a Gigabyte Service Centre in Australia, would I just be able to send it to them if it needed repaired?

Thanks in advance for any help as I'm practically hovering over the Add To Basket option