Review: Gigabyte Aero 15 X9

Conclusion

The Gigabyte Aero 15 X9 is a good first look at what RTX laptops will bring to the market. On the hardware side of things, it is a slim and portable 15.6in gaming laptop outfitted with a potent Core i9 processor, latest-generation GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics and a high-quality 4K IPS display.

All the ingredients of a stellar machine, and you can add 32GB of DDR4 memory, a fast 1TB SSD and a good selection of I/O ports to the list of hardware highlights. It is easy to see the appeal of Gigabyte's 2019 refresh, however the reviewed specification, at £3,300, isn't our preferred pick.

Performance is inconsistent, as the chassis struggles to keep everything cool, cloud-powered AI appears to add nothing of note, and the large premium attached to the Core i9 chip and 4K display make it extremely tough to justify. We can't shake the feeling that RTX 2070 Max-Q ultimately shouldn't feature in a £3,000-plus system.

Bottom line: Aero 15 X9 has promise, but if you can live without the extra pixels, a more affordable Core i7 model with a fast full-HD panel is arguably the safer bet.

Gigabyte Aero 15 X9

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The Gigabyte Aero 15 X9 laptop is available to purchase from Scan Computers.

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