Gigabyte Aero 15 Laptop: 15.6" 4K OLED, i7-11800H, RTX 3060, 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD

Original Post

Now down to $1400. https://www.bestbuy.com/site/giga...Id=6463823

AERO 15 OLED KD
11th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-11800H (2.3GHz~4.6GHz)
15.6" Thin Bezel UHD 3840x2160 Samsung AMOLED Display (VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black, 100% DCI-P3)
*X-Rite™ Color Calibrated & Pantone® Validated
2x DDR4 Slots (DDR4-3200, Max 64GB)
Mobile Intel® HM570 Express Chipset
Intel® UHD Graphics
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 Laptop GPU 6GB GDDR6
Boost Clock 1530 MHz, Maximum Graphics Power 105 W
NVIDIA Max-Q Technologies:
Dynamic Boost 2.0, Resizable BAR, and Optimus™ Technology.

Full Specifications
2x M.2 SSD slots (Type 2280, supports 1x NVMe PCIe Gen3 & SATA/ 1x NVMe PCIe Gen4)
GIGABYTE Fusion RGB Per-Key Backlit Keyboard
N/A
3x USB 3.2 Gen1 (Type-A)
1x Thunderbolt™ 4 (Type-C)
1x HDMI 2.1
1x mini DP 1.4
1x 3.5mm Headphone/Microphone Combo Jack
1x UHS-II SD Card Reader
1x DC-in Jack
1x RJ-45
2x 2 Watt Speaker
Microphone
DTS:X® Ultra
LAN: RTL8125-BG REALTEK (2.5G) Ethernet
WLAN : Intel® AX200 Wireless (802.11ax, a/b/g/n/ac/ax compatible)
Bluetooth: Bluetooth® V5.2
HD Camera
Firmware-based TPM, supports Intel® Platform Trust Technology (Intel® PTT)
Li Polymer 99Wh
230W
356(W) x 250(D) x 19.9(H) mm
14.0(W) x 9.8(D) x 0.78(H) inch


Quite a good deal, IMO, especially if you're okay with the 3060 instead of a 3070 or 3080.

Looks like a new round of discounts for the whole model line, can be seen at Newegg and other retailers like Adorama.

https://www.newegg.com/p/pl?d=aero+15&N=4841

The 3080 version (same specs, just better GPU and 1TB SSD) at $2500 plus a $200 rebate at Newegg is also quite enticing.

https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E1683...-_-Product

You also have the option for the i9-11900HK version and 32GB RAM at $3000 but IMO there's no reason to get it as the thermal limits result in near equal performance between the two processors. The only reason to get it is if you want the 32GB of RAM without having to install it yourself (as a 32GB kit is $150-180 and very easy to put in)

Link for i9-11900HK:
https://www.newegg.com/p/N82E16834233455


A note about liquid metal repastes: having done a number of liquid metal repastes for laptops I cannot advocate for them as a sustainable solution. Sure if you upgrade every year, that's fine, but the liquid metal does not hold up under heavy use for more than 18 months and at that point you're probably looking at a new cooler. Using a high-performance standard paste is more than good enough and far more reliable.

I'm also baffled at the discussion of resale value. Laptops are not monetary investments, they are investments meant to improve productivity... so you use them until they are no longer productive or operative then buy a new one. Why buy a new laptop every year for marginal improvements in performance? The discussion of resale value is irrelevant to me because after 5 years my laptop either breaks in a way that can no longer be fixed or is so slow that it is no longer usable. In that case I simply write it off entirely.