Aero 15 X w/ 1070 Max-Q

http://forum.notebookreview.com/threads/aero-14-vs-15.810253/

 

Dell, especially their outlet really put me off.

As you said your XPS 13 had battery issues and they didn't care? How could they justify not replacing it? What did you do?

Makes me think the Dell outlet is full of returned units with their quality control issues - swollen batteries, laptops that don't sit flat on a desk etc.

And don't know how true this is, but I read they used to glue their components for prebuilt PCs.

I'd like to get the 15X really, not that bothered by the keyboard as I'll likely dock it and use a keyboard and mouse most of the time. That negates most of the issues really - trackpad and screen too.

But it's got a good screen size and form factor to work away from home etc.

Only two places seem to sell it currently though - Scan and Overclockers.
Having talked to Scan on live chat I wouldn't want to use them - they seem like box shifters that don't care. I asked about dead pixels and they'll only follow the manufacturers policy which is 6 full dead pixels together I think, otherwise you need to pay to return, and must be within 14 days - so they basically only do the legal minimum and that's it. Screw spending 2k with a business like that. No way I'd put up with a dead pixel spending 2 grand.

Hopefully overclockers are better if they're the only other option.

Saw your posts on their forum - so guess you got it there.

But realise you're not that happy with it.

Did you not try to return it given the backlight issue? That's something I asked Scan about too and they said it depends on how severe it is as to whether they'd see it as a manufacturer defect that qaulifies for free return.

If I had that backlight issue I'd want a replacement for sure. Not good enough on anything over 1k I think, certainly not 2.

Everybody seems to complain about quality issues and poor service from all the laptop manufacturers these days though - basically unless you get a Macbook (which can crack, throttles under load, is expensive, and not particularly powerful), you'll get poor service and often poor screens and trackpads seems to be the consensus. Heh.

Would be safer to build your own PC but a powerful laptop just makes more sense generally I think.

Although perhaps that is the answer - PC plus nicely portable laptop.
Rather than do it all expensive laptop with issues, docking, eGPU etc.

 

Well, I've had both side-by-side for a few days and

1.) The bezel difference is overblown, the screens are very similar in size. The 14 wins for me because is has significantly better contrast, is much sharper, and is capable of fitting a lot more on screen (important for my workflow). Once you get the dpi scaling dialed in for what works for you, it's a better experience.

I also noticed significant banding on the 15's screen, I'm starting to suspect the Pantone calibration was put in place to compensate for a sub-par panel.

Finally, the IPS glow on the 15 is significantly worse than the 14.

2.) No thunderbolt 3, I'm fine with that. That's up to your requirements. An eGPU doesn't make sense for me as the 1060 is currently crushing any game I'm throwing at it- in native res. The panel scales to 1080p fairly well, so if I were to get into a demanding AAA title I'd do that. The cost of an eGPU doesn't make sense to me.

The review you quoted made some points I can address as well:

The cooling on the 15 performs identically to the 14, I ran firestrike on both machines at the same time. The temperatures were near identical, with the 14 having a 2 degree higher min and a 1 degree lower max. The most significant takeaway was the 14's screen looked much better (girlfriend pointed it out, I agreed).

The 15's cooling does have a different sound profile that I preferred. The 14 has a bit of a higher pitch that the 15 doesn't exhibit as much.

The two M2 slots would be very nice, but I can get by with a usb 3.1-sata cable and a cheap SSD for game storage. If you're fine with the idea of an eGPU, a small SSD shouldn't matter.

Given the many problems popping up on the 15 line, two personally observed over two different units, I think the 14's greatest advantage is that it appears to have much better QC. It's been rock-solid for me, the 15s have been headaches. Given all that the idea of blowing 3k on a 15X is out of the question for me.

EDIT: Just saw your last post- the final line really sung to me. I own a powerful desktop with a 1070 as well. The Aero is meant as a long-term travel computer for me while away. I think that's why it makes as much sense as it does (for me). If you're running a single machine, largely docked and need it as future-proof as possible, I think the 15X would be a good machine. Just gotta play the lottery a bit.

 

My Aero 15x is so far without a doubt the best laptop I have ever owned. Nothing wrong with the adapter and the build is solid. I got what I paid for and am very happy with it. I don't think I will ever go back to any laptop with a thicker bezel. Runs cool and quiet enough for me. No complaints with the screen either. Guess I'm just an exception to the rule. But all this is probably a moot point to others since it seems the 15x has been discontinued.

 

Has it really been discontinued? It's still on GB's web site and several German online shops list it to be deliverable within one week (alternate, caseking).

I'm also really happy with this notebook. My only complaint is the cattering keyboard. However, their local support has already agreed on changing the keyboard with fetch&return service free of charge. It's only me waiting for when I can go without it for a week...

 

My keyboard chatters too but far to rarely to have it repaired. It's like a once a week double letter with mine.

 

The ccchattttter app at default settings totally took care of the chatter for me. With that fixed, the only two things I would change about this machine are these:

• Material less prone to attracting fingerprints
• A single connection for charging, dock, audio, ethernet and multiple monitors (ie TB3 is the only thing I have to connect when I get to the office)

Maybe the last one isn't possible... not really sure. I thought TB3 could do it all.

Otherwise, the build quality is great, the performance is stellar, and the battery life has meets my needs. I guess a 2K+ screen with 120hz would be nice, too.

 

AFAIK, USB-C Charging cannot power the GPU since it needs more than 130W and charging over USB-C can only provide around 65W.

Feel free to correct me, this is my general idea about this.

 

That makes sense. Thanks!

 

Hi Dylan,

As ramiro9 pointed out you definitely have a ground loop buzz. I managed to fix mine using a Behringer HD400 buzzkiller - it cost about £20 but well worth it to get rid of that dang buzzing. The reason I never needed one before was due to Apple products not being grounded, so as soon as you switch over to a non-Apple machine (which will likely be grounded), you will need one of these things.

Hope that helps!

 

Anyone else noticed that the Smart Update BIOS has been downgraded?

Has anyone downgraded? Any info on why this has happened?

 

Wondering if you use a short extension chord and remove the ground pins then?

 

You can ignore that unless it is actually the latest BIOS on Gigabytes support page.

 

Well the official one on their site is the FB01, I upgraded to FB02 through smart update a couple weeks ago...

 

NEVER remove ground pins, they are there for a reason and removal can lead to serious injury as well as no more laptop. Just buy the Buzzkiller and enjoy the silence once again!

 

Guys, some updates of my adapter problem. As I mentioned, they sent me the large brick shown in the picture from other guys. I am not satisficed ofcuz because this is a slim portable laptop and now the adapter is too heavy and too large. So I contacted Gigabyte TW by phone first and then online support. They asked me to send photos and description of what happened cuz I told them I dont want to be contacted and educated by thier CSR Edward, who asked me to post here what happened to show this is all my fault.
OK, as he wish, the main argument of hiim is that I asked them to give some compensation for the cost of shipping and packaging by steam card ( which they did when I gave comments on social network) or other ways and solve the problem of this huge adapter problem, or dont bother reply anymore. And so he chose to not reply! Great north america logic, just like no tips no service. This may make some of you feel offended. I even sent an email saying " so you chose not to reply?". I have given you a chance Edward. And this happend after 1 half month of endless waiting and instead of helping anything they just ignore my question or kick me around. Maybe I am used to the good service from Amazon and most of the other places' customer service, so I should accept this and just deal it with myself.
So following their logic, I go to Gigabyte TW which has much much much better service and efficiency. And that's why Edward contacted me again and educated me that logic. I can tell his raged at the moment XD.
So they do have the original adapter with them and TW told me they will send it to my Canada address tomorrow. Woaw! How fast is that! Great Job Gigabyte TW, maybe you just need some tips or whip.

OK,I may seem crazy a little bit but hope you understand when you have to ship it back after two weeks and w8 the whole holiday for it to come back with a huge adapter. And ppl keep ignoring your request, this is not expected. And now I will put customer service maybe as the second important factor on my choice.
Like Maan Kaas said about the power supply, I will leave the huge brick at home and use it when I am playing games as the problem happened while I was playing PUBG.
Another question for you guys, any of you play PUBG and what is temperature of you CPU? Mine got 87 or 88 highest sometimes and most of the time around 80. I changed the thermal paste and undervolted 120mV. When I was choosing from MSI GS63 and Aero 15x, I saw the reviews saying 15x has better cooling. So after undervolt and repaste(although I m not 100% sure whether the retailer Gentech really did it), I am expecting better result.

 

I get the same thermals on my stock Aero 15x without undervolting. PUBG is pretty badly optimised, on other AAA titles I'm not getting temps that high, but on PUBG and Escape From Tarkov they can get pretty high. I've dropped my graphics settings a notch and it's helped for PUBG and EFT.

 

Yes I know. What temp did you get when playing pubg?

 

On PUBG I'm getting the CPU at between 80 to 89 playing at max settings. GPU is down at about 75-80.

 

Are you using a stand to allow better airflow? After getting one, my CPU temps have been staying under 80.


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that‘s same with me. That means Gentech may not change the thermal paste.

 

Another question, are you using the high performance power plan or balanced?
I found that the high performance pegs the CPU at its boost clock (even when idle) which significantly increases temps. I would switch to balanced in that case.

 

I m using high performance.

 

That's it then. After switching to Balanced, my temps went from 89C to 79C max. Though I am using the Aero 15 with the 1060.

 

Duplicate

 

Just tried with balanced and it does indeed reduce the temps significantly, but at the same time the performance takes quite a hit.

 

My machine has a single 16GB Kingston Memory Module.

 

FYI all - I contacted Gigabyte about adding RAM.

I was told I have a single 16GB Kingston Module and was given the following PDF for upgrading Memory or SSD.

Kingston DDR4-2400 16GB RAM (Model Number: CBD24D4S7D8MA-16).

This is the link to the PDF of 100% supported memory and SSD Hard Drives
http://manage.faq.gigabyte.com/FileUpload/FAQ/global/3736/AERO 15X_HDD&RAM_en_20171027.pdf

 

Hey Guys, Maybe this is a dumb question but I don't want to screw this up so I'm asking just to be sure. I think I obtained
a virus or something, so I want to make a clean install. I have already made a recovery file using the smart USB Back up but that is after I have already installed a bunch of programs. So is this recovery thing is the only thing I need? or do I need to download another windows 10 as I have seen in youtube? My worry is that may lose the licensed windows 10 that is embedded in the bios of my machine. I need your help before I started doing something stupid. Thank you in advance.

 

If it’s a virus - you should just install virus protection software and remove it. Unless it’s a bad virus, you should be okay.




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I do have my own issue, anyone have a problem with the WiFi Device not being registered? In smart manager, it shows the WiFi is on, however my mouse can’t click on it but the shortcut key will say “WiFi on”. The shortcut key doesn’t switch to say “WiFi off” if pushed multiple times. The WiFi was working last night, left it on a stand and never moved it. Went to grab it tonight and the icon on the bottom right is just displaying that I’m not connected to an Ethernet.
Steps taken so far:

1. Updated the drivers in network adapter (didn’t work.

2. Uninstalled Realtek gaming driver under network adapter. Restarted and the Realtek gaming driver reappeared (still doesn’t work).

3. Just tried doing a restore point but restore point is failing. (Says virus protection maybe the cause but I disabled Microsoft and separate virus protection).

Next step tomorrow (going to sleep now) will be to hook up the laptop to an Ethernet cable and see if it connects then go to gigabytes website to see if there are any specific drivers for the network adapters.

If anyone has any other helpful tips or which drivers need to be installed , would be much appreciated.



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That is the problem, I can't install any new anti virus so maybe this is a bad virus that you are saying.
Ads keeps popping out every time I open my browser (google chrome). Is the reset this pc feature in
the setting would help?

 

Do the ads pop up on internet explorer? I know sometimes that some google extensions can be malicious like that.

Why can’t u install new software? What error are you getting?


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Whenever I tried to install an anti virus, it won't progress and keeps on loading. It also displays something about a log file then an error message.

At this point I am very tempted to use the reset found in the settings unless i found some better work around.

 

Smart Recovery will only bring your system to the factory state, so it won't recover your data and software etc. (it is basically the same as the recovery partition F9). You won't lose the license since it's baked into the motherboard. But you'll lose your data if not backed up. If you want to reinstall windows you can either install it from the recovery usb, recovery partition F9, or create a windows usb (media creation tool) but then you'll have to download some drivers by yourself. There is also a system reset option in the settings but i'm not sure what the result will be with the drivers either.

 

Thanks for the info. I'll try the reset option in the settings for the mean time. Although I would also like to try that media creation tool I just worried that after the installation process I might be asked for the windows key. As for the drivers, the smart manager would take care of it for me,right?

 

Yep, with media creation tool I've made a guide to properly set up the Aero 15(x) fully working without errors. Most of the needed drivers can be downloaded from SmartUpdate. (Side note: Currently my SmartUpdate can't connect to the servers, don't know about you, I hope they solve that soon). There should not be a problem with the windows key doing a clean install.

Edit:
Guide post: http://forum.notebookreview.com/posts/10655471/

 

Thanks a lot man. Can you point me out the link of your guide? I'll use this just in case the reset thing won't work.

 

Try getting MalwareBytes. I've found it helps me a lot in these situations.

 

Hello Everyone, I ordered Aero 15x from Amazon 4 days back and got it today. Has anyone tried out repasting the laptop ? How easy it is to remove the heatsinks ? I have some Thermal Grizzly liquid metal that I would like to try. P.S. - Laptop runs quite and cool and doesnt show any thermal problems. I just have had good results from liquid metal paste on desktops before so just asking.

 

I've worked with the regular Aero 15, it's not too hard to remove the heatsinks. Just have to unscrew everything which is about the most difficult thing about it.

 

I am interested in one of these. What is the general consensus on this model?
and is there any word of an updated model coming for 2018?

 

I unboxed it today and my first impressions (I am only mentioning the things that I found odd as there are multiple posts about the positive things on the laptop):

1. Nowhere does it says 15x. Everywhere it says Aero 15 - on the box, on the manual, on the CD, even on the laptop sticker. For once I thought its the Aero 15 with 1060. I checked in the device manager to confirm that its Aero 15X with 1070 maxQ.
2. When I booted, it gave the "Disk error message - press any key to skip disk checking" - i checked it was fine. I found it strange though.
3. Comes with a lot of bloatware - didnt bother me as I removed them.
4. The charger that I got is quite bigger than the what I had seen on reviews. Its flatter & bigger. It also doesnt have the USB port. Output is 19.5V/10.3A. It doesnt have any LED - I didnt like this at all !! Maybe the older charger model indeed had problems so they replaced it.
5. The screen panel doesnt go as far back as I had hoped for. Its not too bad but I was hoping for more than 120-130 degrees.
6. The right shift key doesnt glow when the color is Blue. Its fine with other colors.

 

where did you get yours?

 

Amazon. A few units were available on 30th morning. They went out of stock in couple of hours.

 

Nice man, been trying to buy
thx for the answer.

 

Just an update. I ended up just doing the reset thing in the settings. Since I'm afraid I might encounter a problem
with gigabyte software. Everything seems fine for now. I have installed a free anti virus to prevent it from obtaining
one again. But thank you for your guide, I would probably try that next time this machine screws up.

 

I'm only using Windows Defender which comes with Windows 10.
Control Panel>System Security

 

I've ordered mine on Amazon US on Jan 21th and still waiting for it to go back in stock. Recently it became unavailable so no idea when (or if) Amazon is planning to ship it to me. Weird that they had it in stock on the 30th but didn't fulfil my order.

 

I should be receiving mine from HIDevolution this week. I got the standard model with no mods. I kind of regret it now that the new gen 8th chip is being released soon.

This is the information on Excalibur PC's site:

Feb 4, 2018

Will the 8th gen model be essential the same as the current aero 15x spare the CPU. And will it be available for pre-order on here?

8th gen model detail will be finalized sometime in March. We expect the specs to stay just as competitive and hopefully with no price increase at all. Pre-order will start on April 16th is our estimate. GIGABYTE will not produce anymore of the Aero 15X-BK4, whatever there is left in the market that's it.