Review: Gigabyte Aero 15X

Conclusion

The arrival of Nvidia Max-Q GPUs has given manufacturers renewed impetus to create modern gaming laptops that offer high-end performance potential without traditional trade-offs such as size and noise.

Proving that today's existing systems can also benefit from Nvidia's tempered line-up, the Gigabyte Aero 15X employs a GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q chip to deliver the punch of a potent gaming rig in a relatively sleek, quiet and portable 15.6in form factor.

Performance purists may lament the fact that this isn't the GeForce GTX 1070 in its truest form, yet despite the drop in peak frequency, the Max-Q variant serves as a useful step-up from GTX 1060, with no discernible impact on power consumption, temperature or battery life.

Expect all the major manufacturers to introduce Max-Q models in the months ahead, and as the line between gaming laptop and Ultrabook continues to blur, anticipate an entirely new breed of high-end portable PCs. Gigabyte is off to a solid start, yet the number of competitors in this space is certain to grow, and we're intrigued to see what the likes of Dell, HP and Lenovo will have to offer when Max-Q inevitably invades their portfolio.

Bottom line: we don't envisage existing Aero 15 owners rushing out to upgrade, yet the Aero 15X is a serious candidate for gamers looking to migrate from an older model, and going by this showing, the future is bright for Max-Q laptops.

Gigabyte Aero 15X

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

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