Newegg has
Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XD Gaming Laptop (AERO 15 OLED XD-73US624SP) on sale for $1899 -
$200 Gigabyte Rebate =
$1699.
Shipping is free.
Thanks to community member
Suryasis for finding this deal
Note, limit one rebate per address.
Adorama also has
Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED XD Gaming Laptop (AERO 15 OLED XD-73US624SP) on sale for $1899 -
$200 Gigabyte Rebate =
$1699.
Shipping is free.
Specs/Key Features- Intel Core i7 11800H 8-Core 2.3 GHz Processor (11th Gen Tiger Lake)
- 15.6" 3840x2160 4K/UHD Thin Bezel AMOLED 60Hz Display w/ 100% DCI-P3 X-Rite Calibrated/Validated Color Accuracy
- 1TB M. PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD
- 16GB (2x8GB) DDR4 Memory (3200MHz)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 8GB GPU
- Intel WiFi 6 AX200 w/ Bluetooth v5.0 + LTE
- Gigabyte Fusion RGB Per Key Backlit Keyboard
- Lithium Polymer 99 Wh
- Windows 10 Pro (64-Bit)
- Inputs
- 3x USB 3.2 Gen-1 (Type-A)
- Thunderbolt 4 (Type-C)
- Mini DisplayPort 1.4
- HDMI 2.1
Warranty- Typically includes a 1-year manufacture warranty w/ purchase
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Reasons why I returned it:
1. The Gigabyte control software for hardware functions is horrible, occasionally crashes, settings often randomly revert, the AI keeps turning itself back on.
1b. Did I say the Gigabyte software quality is horrible? So much so that it broke the built in Windows reset, and the Gigabyte specific reset in the Windows recovery menu would say it completed but didn't actually get rid of the data. I had to make a usb recovery drive with Gigabyte's USB Smart Backup Tool (which as far as I could tell isn't a backup tool but just a wipe the drive and reset to factory recovery tool) before I could finally return it to Best Buy. I reset the TPM chip to get rid of the bitlocker key on the windows partition before rewritting it with the tool.
The rest are much more minor complaints about the hardware:
1. The Intel CPU is decent but still not Ryzen-level, it ended up being power constrained pretty heavily. Cyberpunk 2077 would max all cores (perfectly playable but worrying for the future when my, all-be-it, desktop 3700x sits around 30-50% at 60 watts ish, Intel 11800 throttling to 45 watts ish in the upper 2Ghz or low 3Ghz range).
2. The 6GB of VRAM, size/bandwidth, was definitely a limiting factor in some scenarios against the 8GB GTX 1080. The 3060 mobile is still a great GPU, but it's sad to see it limited by that (and of course the 100 watt power limit).
3. No hardware MUX switch for the GPU output, meaning the internal screen will always be run physically from the i-gpu (10-20% performance hit in many games).
4. No USB C trickle charging and somewhat disappointing battery life, despite the 99WH battery and trying to minimize power usage (possibly due to the crappy Gigabyte software seemingly pulsing the dedicated GPU for no reason).
5. The hinge is a little wobbly and the fans are a bit high pitched.
Overall, I still liked the laptop but decided I could wait a while for other performance laptops with OLED screens at reasonable prices. If you need something now, the compromises on this aren't terrible.
PS: The 60Hz limitation wasn't nearly as bad as the consequential lacking of VRR/G-Sync. Still, turning VSync on if you can keep 60+ FPS mostly solves that.
I also did some comparisons between 1080p DLSS upscaling, Intel's integer upscaling, and native 4k on Cyberpunk. The quality difference isn't huge and I ended up settling on the integer upscaling for 20-30% more performance than DLSS (25fps ish DLSS to 35 fps ish integer)
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That statement OLED isn't good for gaming is wrong. In standalone displays, Alienware had a 4K OLED 55 inch monitor with 120 Hz display and lot of people are now using LG 43" 4K OLED 120 Hz tv as monitor and they're awesome, exceeding the performance of the best IPS Gaming monitors.
In laptop markets, only reason of not getting OLED for gaming is that lack of higher refresh rate.
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I have this exact panel for 2 years now (in Dell XPS 7590) and it's absolutely perfect, no burn in issues. Unfortunately nose cam and an uncomfortable keyboard are deal breakers for me.
OLED pixels "burn" from being lit, they do not simply burn from displaying a static element. The reason static elements leave after persistent images on OLED as a whole is because OLED subpixels have finite, measurable lifespans and the static element has a pixel area that was burned in accordance while the rest of the picture was dynamic and has burned in different ways, usually resulting in vignetting over time due to the focus of media usually having a brighter center and darker edges. This is the nature of that type of panel technology and will not be "fixed" as long as OLED is a thing. It's an inevitability, it is not fixed, and it is not fixable.
LED backlit displays also suffer from degradation and loss of luminescence over time, due to inorganic LEDs having a finite lifespan too, though significantly greater than organic. The reason nobody has to complain about LED degradation is because it is uniform, the entire panel was lit to the same intensity from the get-go so the entire panel is effectively dimmed all at once. "Local dimming mini-LED", "Electro-emissive QLED", and the eventual "MicroLED" too, will also suffer burn in when displaying static images, just with a few orders of magnitude longer time required to notice than with OLED (and "Photo-emissive QLED").
Most people are aware OLED burns in, and it's a fact that it does. Whether it is issue to you depends on your amount of usage, you typically won't see it within the first 2000 hours and UIs are mostly designed today without the kind of max intensity color elements to them which would more quickly cause a problem.
I'd expect something else in a gaming laptop to die in its lifetime before you would suffer any annoying burn-in issues from OLED. But an OLED burning is something that will absolutely happen by the nature of the technology behind it. If it's "on", it's losing luminescence, and there is nothing that can be done to prevent or reverse it.
And that's fine, just don't be misinformed and spread misinformation about it.
I bought my Gigabyte Aero 15 in 2018 and it has been performing excellently thus far. Mine has the lower resolution 15" IPS and I'm fine with that as it has a faster refresh rate than the 4k option they had at the time. I use my laptop for everything from production work and programming to moderate gaming.
I don't play too many resource intensive games so I cannot make statements about how it would run the most cutting edge FPSs. I do play Starcraft 2, Diablo 3, Rocksmith, and occasionally Left 4 Dead 2 all on max settings with little problems. There is the very rare slow down when running at the highest setting, but it's perfectly smooth for hours on the second highest setting in each game. I also previously played through GTA V on max settings if that is anything to note.
When not gaming or running massive conversion or calculation programs, the battery life is phenomenal. 8-9 hour battery life from light usage and web browsing was normal. 5-6 hours for movies and media use was great too. After 3 years of continuous use, my battery life has only degraded by about an hour in each of those categories. For comparison, my last gaming laptop (MSI GT63) used to only get about 2-3 hours from just light web browsing.
Some issues that I have with the laptop:
Terrible webcam placement
The webcam is placed at the bottom of the monitor on the hinge and is angled up at about a 45 degree angle depending on how you position your monitor. This gives the most unflattering up-nose shots you can imagine when on conference calls. Additionally, it tends to pick up a lot of dust for being placed so low. I just cover mine with some tape and use a dedicated webcam.
Small cramped keyboard layout
By including a full number pad on a 15" laptop, the keyboard is a bit narrower than most other gaming laptops. While the keys themselves are very good and have great response, it does take some getting used to with the smaller layout.
No physical switch or function to turn off trackpad
The trackpad is large, smooth, flush with the body, slightly offset from the keyboard home row, and cannot be turned off by button or keystroke. This makes for typing problems ranging from minor mouse jumps to "where did my paragraph go?" The only way to disable the trackpad is to go into the control panel, mouse properties, the ELAN driver tab, and select "Disable when external USB pointing device plug in." So now if I move my laptop to a different room without the mouse, I would have to either remove the USB microtransmitter or go through all of the steps to turn the trackpad back on. I've opted to leave the trackpad on and got a full size keyboard so I won't have to deal with those typing issues anymore (solves the previous narrow keyboard problem too).
Very hot during gaming sessions
While playing games or running more resource-hungry programs, the top of the laptop and bottom of the monitor can get very hot. This is because the exhaust vents are located along the hinge and blow hot air up in front of the monitor. The function buttons and number row of keys can get very toasty when the fan starts whirling up during longer sessions. Additionally, the aluminum grill bottom can get quite hot for use on your lap if you do anything more than web browsing or basic tasks.
Even with these issues, I love this laptop for it's performance, portability, and awesome battery life. It's a blend of a mid-teir gaming, productivity, and a thin-and-light laptop all rolled up into one. It suits my needs perfectly, but may be lacking if you are seeking more of any particular category. Hopefully the newest versions address some of its previous problems.
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