Table of Contents
Gigabyte Aorus 15: Introduction
The Gigabyte Aorus 15 works as a snoozer. There is hardly any indication that this is a gaming laptop when the strong laptop’s lid is closed. A 13th-Gen Intel Core i7 and Nvidia’s RTX 4070 mobile GPU, however, are just two of the cutting-edge components found inside the Aorus 15’s 2023 edition. The Nvidia Frame Generation technology, which employs Deep Learning Super Sampling (DLSS) to increase the number of frames in your games, is made available to the Aorus thanks to that GPU. About 20 extra frames per second, according to my benchmarks.
The Aorus starts at $1849. Given the performance it offers, this makes it fairly reasonable, but there are some obvious drawbacks, especially if you want to use it as your primary laptop.
Gigabyte Aorus 15: Features and Design
Features
The Aorus 15’s understated design is the first thing you’ll notice about it. Yes, there are indicators that it is a gaming laptop, such as per-key RGB and a bright light bar beneath the screen. But you may either limit or enhance your gamer look utilizing the Control Center software from Gigabyte. A variety of RGB light patterns are available; I favored RGB Rainbow Wave and found the Pulse and Cycle options annoying. When the lights is dimmed (and the annoying default background is changed), the Aorus resembles an actuary’s laptop rather than a gaming laptop. All things considered, a gaming laptop that blends in with its surroundings is a huge bonus, but it also means that the design may come off as a little uninspired.
The Aorus is only.82″ tall when closed, but its blocky, angular chassis gives the impression that it is much thicker. It’s also not exactly lightweight at 4.96 lbs. Although the base is made of plastic and the top display is made of metal, both feel very durable. The lid opens smoothly, and there is no audible cracking or squishiness in the plastic base.
Design
The 15.6-inch 2560×1440 display is supported by that lid. It is, at best, a stretch for Gigabyte to refer to it as a “Thin Bezel” frame. The chin is big, the top is not, and the sides are not particularly little.
A big camera array at the top bezel enables Windows Hello sign-in. It’s just not the best webcam out there, regrettably. The image it captures is frequently darker than it should be unless the lighting is ideal, and increasing the brightness has a minimal impact on the image’s quality.
The Nvidia RTX 4070 mobile GPU, 13th-generation Intel Core i7 processor, high-speed 16GB DDR5 48000MHZ SODIMM memory (configurable up to 64GBs), and a terabyte of NVMe storage for the OS drive (up to 8TB) are all included in the Aorus 15. The Aorus has several fan vents throughout to support its robust internals. The rear exhaust, which increases the laptop’s overhang by roughly an inch, is where almost all of the heat is forced out.
One of this year’s biggest design modifications, aside from the state-of-the-art specifications, is the port placement. Previously, connectors were crowded along the sides; now, five ports, including an HDMI 2.1 port, DisplayPort 1.4, Thunderbolt with power compatibility, and DC Power, are located on the back of the device. This significantly reduces the clutter of cords, especially when plugged in.
Gigabyte Aorus 15: Gaming Performance
There is no denying the Aorus 15’s might. Almost every game I tried allowed me to play at 60 frames per second or higher on Ultra settings. Even Cyberpunk 2077 achieved frame rates of above 60 without DLSS Frame Generation, and over 100 with it enabled.
The QHD Display is equally stunning, featuring sharp contrast and vivid colors. Gameplay seems fluid thanks to the 165hz refresh rate, and I never found myself wishing for a higher refresh rate.
The Aorus is silent when in regular use. While watching videos, browsing the internet, or engaging in other routine activities that make up a typical day of casual use, the fan noise is not audible. However, once you begin basketball stars game, the situation is completely different. It doesn’t matter if you’re playing Vampire Survivors or Valheim when the fans start shouting at you when you’re playing video games. This is made even more obvious by the speakers’ tinny sound and inability to effectively block out the humming of the fan. The fan speeds (and corresponding noise) can be adjusted in Gigabyte’s Control Center.
The fans do a fantastic job of keeping the laptop cool, which is the silver lining. The Aorus can exhaust a lot of air from the back without the keyboard becoming significantly warm.
Battery
Like other premium gaming laptops, the Aorus rapidly depletes its battery. It has a 90WHr battery, which in our PCMark Modern Office test lasted almost four hours and sixteen minutes. After adjusting Gigabyte’s Control Center software, we also put it through the Modern Office test, and the results were all over the place. The PC held up for seven hours and 33 minutes during one test. Unfortunately, it seems that this is the exception rather than the case, since the battery life during gaming was a pitiful hour and fifteen minutes.
The Aorus has an eye-catchingly sizable glass touchpad that somewhat reminded me of the best-in-class touchpad on the Macbook. It eliminates the need for a mouse for many tasks. But regrettably, if you’re like me and prefer a tactile click to a touch click, you’ll find the touchpad’s inconsistent behavior to be a constant source of annoyance. To reliably register, it needs to be pressed quite deeply. I repeatedly pressed buttons, heard the touchpad click, but nothing appeared to happen on the screen. The touchpad’s wide glass surface is otherwise precisely what I want in a laptop touchpad, which is a shame because this happened enough times for me to have a weird mistrust of it.
Gigabyte Aorus 15:Â Conclusion
Although the keyboard has improved, I still find it to be a little too mushy, and pushing keys on the right side feels substantially different from those on the left. Under the keyboard, the left has a little give, whilst the right feels firm. And when contrasted to all the other keys, the J, K, or L keys generate a distinctive sound.
