Review: Gigabyte Aero 15 Classic

by Parm Mann on 3 June 2019, 14:00

Tags: Gigabyte (TPE:2376), Intel (NASDAQ:INTC), NVIDIA (NASDAQ:NVDA)

Quick Link: HEXUS.net/qaeaeh

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Conclusion

...understated and packed full of today's best components, Gigabyte's Aero 15 Classic ticks a lot of the right boxes.

For enthusiasts in the market for an ultra-powerful laptop that's reasonably slim, understated and packed full of today's best components, Gigabyte's Aero 15 Classic ticks a lot of the right boxes.

The latest revision of the 15.6in machine touts a 9th Gen Core i7-9750H processor, GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics, 16GB of DDR4 memory, a fast 512GB M.2 SSD and a buttery-smooth 240Hz full-HD display. Add to that a decent keyboard, broad connectivity options and good battery life, and it's easy to see why performance aficionados continue to view the Aero 15 as a go-to destination.

Yet while there's plenty of good, the Aero 15 Classic shares weaknesses that are common in most gaming laptops. Heat and throttling is an issue as the chassis struggles to tame such high-end components, and though Gigabyte has attempted to stabilise performance by using Azure AI technology, turning it on makes fan noise insufferable.

Bottom line: heat and noise go hand-in-hand with gaming laptops, but that's the price you pay if you crave desktop-class performance in a slim 15.6in form factor.

The Good
 
The Bad
Ultra-fast slim 15.6in laptop
Silky gaming at native 1080p resolution
240Hz display is buttery smooth
Broad selection of ports
Good battery life
 
Awkward webcam position
Can get really loud
Struggles to keep cool



Gigabyte Aero 15 Classic

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HEXUS Forums :: 4 Comments

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Its great to see your totally unbiased and independent review cough cough and in particular the “gaming Benchmarks” but again seemingly failed to provide any benchmark comparison to other laptops.
Troopa
Its great to see your totally unbiased and independent review cough cough and in particular the “gaming Benchmarks” but again seemingly failed to provide any benchmark comparison to other laptops.
Hi Troopa, thanks for the feedback. We made the decision not to cross-compare games as performance can fluctuate significantly over time; a driver or game update would often skew results, and we don't get to keep the laptops for re-testing at a later date.

Instead, we show a selection of modern games on the laptop in question using relevant settings and the latest available driver at the time of writing. We do provide 3DMark results that can be used to compare GPU performance across systems, but we've taken your feedback on board and may re-evaluate the way the gaming tests are run. Hope you found the results useful nonetheless, and in the meantime do note that the same games have been used to benchmark recent laptops, so there is an option to compare numbers between reviews.
Parm
Hi Troopa, thanks for the feedback. We made the decision not to cross-compare games as performance can fluctuate significantly over time; a driver or game update would often skew results, and we don't get to keep the laptops for re-testing at a later date.

I think that's a wise decision. Perhaps it'd be useful to refer to prior equivalent laptops in the article, but maybe not chart them as if it's representative of the current performance of those laptops. I know it's especially hard to standardise testing for drivers on laptops.
When this comes with 10th gen INTEL, ill then consider it.