The Gigabyte Aero 15X brings heavyweight performance without bulk

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Whether you’re an on-the-go gamer or a travelling designer, you need a laptop that’s lightweight, compact, rugged, and can punch through everything you throw at it. But somewhere along the way, the notion of high horsepower became synonymous with gargantuan and cumbersome. With the Gigabyte Aero 15X, however, there’s no need to compromise between performance and portability.

A decade ago, if you wanted a laptop that was even remotely portable, you simply had to accept its mediocre performance as a fact of life. Fast forward to 2018, and transistor power efficiency has improved by leaps and bounds. High-end processors and graphics are becoming increasingly prevalent in compact devices. The Gigabyte Aero 15X is a prime example of such a machine.

The Aero 15X is 4.4 pounds of raw power neatly packed in to a 0.7-inch thin body. With a 5 millimeter screen bezel, its dimensions are much smaller than a standard 15-inch laptop despite having a 15.6-inch screen. Close the lid, and the Aero 15X can almost slip into a handbag; you won’t pull a muscle carrying it, either. 

What’s under the hood is equally impressive. The Aero 15X had been upgraded to house Intel’s 8th Generation “Coffee Lake-H” mobile CPU. The new Core i7-8750H mobile processor increases the core count to 6 from the 4 of the previous generation, greatly improving multi-threaded performance. As games and software continue to leverage more and more threads, this upgrade is practically a necessity.

The new processor is flanked by the Nvidia GeForce Max-Q GTX 1070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM. For the uninitiated, Nvidia’s Max-Q technology tweaks the GPU and the driver to operate at an optimal power-to-performance ratio. Peak performance takes a 10 to 15 percent hit, sure, but it’s a small price to pay when it makes working under heavy loads quieter, cooler, and more power efficient.

Waiting for your coffee sucks, waiting for your programs to load especially sucks. Thankfully, the Aero 15X sports a 512GB PCIe M.2 SSD. The SSD takes advantage of four PCIe 3.0 lanes and can deliver up to 3,200/1,700MB/s sequential read/write speeds. That’s more time for doing what’s important rather than twiddling your thumbs.

As powerful as the hardware may be, they’re wasted if the performance can’t be conveyed visually. High image fidelity is a must for professional production (think photography). For this scenario, we recommend In-Plane Switching (IPS) displays for the best image quality. For gaming where a high refresh rate is typically favored, Twisting Nematic (TN) displays offers the best bang for the buck. The Aero 15X has the best of both worlds with its new 15.6-inch, 4K resolution IPS display with AdobeRGB 100% color space coverage, and FHD resolution display with 144Hz refresh rate. 

Despite squeezing all that power into a paper-thin package, we’re pleased to see a 94Wh integrated battery. Its massive capacity can fuel your gaming addiction for just a bit longer and last a whopping 10 hours when you finally decide to work on that paper. When you eventually do run dry, the laptop can be fully charged in an hour with its Express Charging Mode.

Laptops with eccentric “gamer” designs may suit a LAN party, but whip one out at a business meeting and you’re asking for disapproving stares. The Aero 15X embraces a no BS, flush look to avoid just that. Finely crafted using CNC aluminum, it’s as durable as it is sleek. The RGB backlit keyboard injects a bit of playfulness into your busy day.

For a limited time, purchasing the Aero 15X equipped with the full-HD display will net you a sweet set of Beats headphones free of charge. Gigabyte also vows to plant a tree for every laptop you register. Now you can help save the planet both in game and in real life, isn’t that great?