expiredDr.W posted Mar 13, 2024 11:55 PM
Item 1 of 2
Item 1 of 2
expiredDr.W posted Mar 13, 2024 11:55 PM
Gigabyte AORUS 17X: 17.3" QHD IPS 240Hz, i9-13900HX, 4080, 16GB DDR5, 1TB SSD $1849.00
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https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8...cBY
With DDR5, again unlike previous DDR, each stick has two individually addressable 32bit subchannels - effectively giving you dual channel efficiency on a single stick.
As a bonus, this laptop is super easy to open and upgrade, so if you want to add a 4TB ssd or 64GB of RAM it is cake unlike some of the other ones that are very difficult to pry up
Also, this laptop seems to have the best nexus of performance, screen size/quality, build quality, and slimness under $2000 for those wanting a larger laptop. It also runs cool unlike most laptops with similar hardware.
As a bonus, this laptop is super easy to open and upgrade, so if you want to add a 4TB ssd or 64GB of RAM it is cake unlike some of the other ones that are very difficult to pry up
Also, this laptop seems to have the best nexus of performance, screen size/quality, build quality, and slimness under $2000 for those wanting a larger laptop. It also runs cool unlike most laptops with similar hardware.
1) Screen brightness - But the screen is around 300nits. While this might not be good for outside, for indoors usage (which I imagine most will use this due to its size) 300 nits is fine for SDR usage. There are brighter laptops with HDR, but realistically for really good HDR you need 1000nits anyway and most of the brightest laptops are only 400-600 nits, meaning HDR will look subpar anyway. The screen quality is actually quite excellent, nits aside, given it has full DCI-P3 color coverage. So this seems more like a spec thing than a real world thing for general use.
2) Screen being 16:9 instead of 16:10... But it is a 17.3" screen, so its not like 16:9 is going to be small, and 16:9 has some benefits in that movies look better on it than 16:10 (no extra black bars on top and bottom), and more games are natively designed for 16:9 than 16:10 (meaning no zooming etc). So I don't see this as a valid complaint really. Its just that 16:10 is currently trendy, with a screen this big it isn't a benefit IMO; in comparison a 16" 16:10 screen is exactly the same height, but over 1.5" less wide.
3) CPU throttling to 65w when not in creator mode. But, I don't really see this as a negative as this is what allows the laptop to both run cool and have a slim form factor. Other laptops that do full CPU and GPU power are either substantially thicker or run hot. And, looking at benchmarks the CPU throttling doesn't really impact games since it has a powerful 13980HX CPU that is super fast even at 65w. Creator mode unlocks the full power of the CPU if you need it for something, but why add all that heat if it doesnt really help game performance much? Would you really rather have a hotter, thicker laptop that runs at full CPU power with no significant real world gains in games?
It seemed to me most of the negative comments of this laptop didnt take into account how some of those choices benefitted the laptop, or how they had no substantial real world impacts.
1) Screen brightness - But the screen is around 300nits. While this might not be good for outside, for indoors usage (which I imagine most will use this due to its size) 300 nits is fine for SDR usage. There are brighter laptops with HDR, but realistically for really good HDR you need 1000nits anyway and most of the brightest laptops are only 400-600 nits, meaning HDR will look subpar anyway. The screen quality is actually quite excellent, nits aside, given it has full DCI-P3 color coverage. So this seems more like a spec thing than a real world thing for general use.
2) Screen being 16:9 instead of 16:10... But it is a 17.3" screen, so its not like 16:9 is going to be small, and 16:9 has some benefits in that movies look better on it than 16:10 (no extra black bars on top and bottom), and more games are natively designed for 16:9 than 16:10 (meaning no zooming etc). So I don't see this as a valid complaint really. Its just that 16:10 is currently trendy, with a screen this big it isn't a benefit IMO; in comparison a 16" 16:10 screen is exactly the same height, but over 1.5" less wide.
3) CPU throttling to 65w when not in creator mode. But, I don't really see this as a negative as this is what allows the laptop to both run cool and have a slim form factor. Other laptops that do full CPU and GPU power are either substantially thicker or run hot. And, looking at benchmarks the CPU throttling doesn't really impact games since it has a powerful 13980HX CPU that is super fast even at 65w. Creator mode unlocks the full power of the CPU if you need it for something, but why add all that heat if it doesnt really help game performance much? Would you really rather have a hotter, thicker laptop that runs at full CPU power with no significant real world gains in games?
It seemed to me most of the negative comments of this laptop didnt take into account how some of those choices benefitted the laptop, or how they had no substantial real world impacts.
Hopefully you get a good unit though. Let us know.
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Hopefully you get a good unit though. Let us know.
The B&H customer reviews don't mean too much as there aren't many of them and most of them are nearly a year old - since then there have been numerous firmware and software upgrades. This year the laptop was a new redesign for Gigabyte so the software and firmware likely needed some updates out of the gate.
Hopefully you get a good unit though. Let us know.
First of all, in terms of looks, the laptop fits the bill. Sleek gunmetal grey aluminum chassis with cyberpunk aesthetic. Feels really good in the hand, and does not feel massive at all, not much different than the ASUS ROG M16 Zephyrus I had a couple years ago. Surprisingly thin and sleek for a 17.3". Touchpad is huge and extremely responsive.
The screen has a good amount of brightness and average contrast; definitely not cutting edge, but had no significant defects - no backlight bleeding, dead pixels, or stuck pixels and overall looked really nice. I would love to have a MINI LED display, but laptops this size with that type of display cost over $3000.
The speakers are also average for a laptop. It sounds like the sound is coming from multiple areas despite the speakers being on the bottom, but the sound fidelity is that typically tinny laptop sound - though the sound does get loud. Webcam was also average quality but Windows Hello face recognition worked extremely well.
The software that controlled the CPU and GPU worked just fine for me with everything updated and on the latest BIOS. No bugs to be found and performance was excellent - in Cyberpunk 2077 latest patch, I was able to play in 1440p at Ultra RT setting with over 80fps average and around 65fps minimum framerate using the built in benchmark, and that is using the "balanced" profile of the laptop which trades off some performance for less noise. The fans get somewhat loud when gaming but are not as bad as the thin ASUS laptops. The performance here in the relatively slim chassis is what you are paying for, basically on par with a high end gaming laptop but at the price and chassis size of a midrange.
The RGB software was a bit buggy, as I found especially with the keyboard it would not always save my custom lighting setup.
Overall, with all the latest updates and firmwares it performed really well and I was very excited to get such an awesome laptop...
EXCEPT the keyboard is defective, which sucks. Out of the box, many of the keys physically would not push down without getting caught up/stuck on something. Almost like a bunch were misaligned or something.
So, it turns out I did NOT get a good unit, but it did not have any of the issues discussed in the reviews. Instead, it was simply a broken keyboard. Now I have to decide whether to have gigabyte repair or get a new replacement. I am tempted to do the repair route because everything else with the machine was perfect, but we'll see. Overall I think it's a fantastic machine for the price assuming I am able to get one with a properly functioning keyboard.
First of all, in terms of looks, the laptop fits the bill. Sleek gunmetal grey aluminum chassis with cyberpunk aesthetic. Feels really good in the hand, and does not feel massive at all, not much different than the ASUS ROG M16 Zephyrus I had a couple years ago. Surprisingly thin and sleek for a 17.3". Touchpad is huge and extremely responsive.
The screen has a good amount of brightness and average contrast; definitely not cutting edge, but had no significant defects - no backlight bleeding, dead pixels, or stuck pixels and overall looked really nice. I would love to have a MINI LED display, but laptops this size with that type of display cost over $3000.
The speakers are also average for a laptop. It sounds like the sound is coming from multiple areas despite the speakers being on the bottom, but the sound fidelity is that typically tinny laptop sound - though the sound does get loud. Webcam was also average quality but Windows Hello face recognition worked extremely well.
The software that controlled the CPU and GPU worked just fine for me with everything updated and on the latest BIOS. No bugs to be found and performance was excellent - in Cyberpunk 2077 latest patch, I was able to play in 1440p at Ultra RT setting with over 80fps average and around 65fps minimum framerate using the built in benchmark, and that is using the "balanced" profile of the laptop which trades off some performance for less noise. The fans get somewhat loud when gaming but are not as bad as the thin ASUS laptops. The performance here in the relatively slim chassis is what you are paying for, basically on par with a high end gaming laptop but at the price and chassis size of a midrange.
The RGB software was a bit buggy, as I found especially with the keyboard it would not always save my custom lighting setup.
Overall, with all the latest updates and firmwares it performed really well and I was very excited to get such an awesome laptop...
EXCEPT the keyboard is defective, which sucks. Out of the box, many of the keys physically would not push down without getting caught up/stuck on something. Almost like a bunch were misaligned or something.
So, it turns out I did NOT get a good unit, but it did not have any of the issues discussed in the reviews. Instead, it was simply a broken keyboard. Now I have to decide whether to have gigabyte repair or get a new replacement. I am tempted to do the repair route because everything else with the machine was perfect, but we'll see. Overall I think it's a fantastic machine for the price assuming I am able to get one with a properly functioning keyboard.
It seems Gigabyte has been struggling with Quality Control issues as of late, specially with this latest laptop generation.
It seems Gigabyte has been struggling with Quality Control issues as of late, specially with this latest laptop generation.
The "QC" issues you see people complaining about with this laptop are mostly software from what I've reviewed, not hardware, so thats not really QC per se but programming that needs to be rectified. There were complaints about the keyboard but it was not what I was experiencing but rather a firmware issue that was corrected. It was a new generation of laptop chassis rather than just a refresh, so there were a lot of software/firmware bugs to be worked out.
Gigabyte does not actually make these laptops. They are made by the high end laptop manufacturer CLEVO in Taiwan. They license the basic design to companies like Gigabyte and Falcon Northwest who then add their own customizations and branding. They are actually pretty well known for excellent hardware, much better than Gigabyte's typical manufacturing output, actually.
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