GIGABYTE p34g v7

I am not sure why I have not seen reviews of this unit online. Maybe it has only been released in Australia, where I live? Anyway, here is my unprofessional review.

I recently purchased the P34G v 7 with: i7-7700HQ, 8GB, 256GB M.2 SSD, 14inch FHD (1920x1020) IPS, GeForce GTX 1050-2G, WiFi, BT4.2, HDCAM, 1.69Kg, Win10 Home.

Overall, the v 7 refresh is great and currently relatively cheap for this space. I do not need any more than 1920x1020 in this form factor. At 14", my eyes are not good enough to take advantage of other offerings, such as QHD at 14". Also, QHD eats battery, so FHD achieves a good balance.

I find myself turning down the brightness in dimly lit environments as the screen at 100% is too bright. Outside in sunlight, the matte screen is reasonably good and it does need to be cranked to 100% for a passable viewing experience.

To test the graphics, I have only loaded up Skyrim (vanilla, non-SSE, no mods) because I mainly use this laptop for work. On Ultra settings, it gives 60FPS at 1920x1020. I doubt that more modern games will fare as well, but then I do not game too much anyway.

On the work front, CAD is okay too, but 2GB on the graphics card can be on the lean side for complex 3D drawings. For on-the-go drawing work or presentations, it is acceptable, but this machine is no replacement for a decent Desktop for complex CAD work.

The 2 internal fans are loud in "gaming" mode but not unexpectedly so for a gaming rig. I did not notice any throttling of CPU/GPU if the fan is set to gaming, but then I have also not done any synthetic benchmarks. The machine throttles significantly if put under load and the fan is in "quiet" mode.

The battery life is around 3-4 hours for browsing in "Balance" mode and with the screen at 30% brightness. I can only extract an extra hour or so (around 5 hours) in power saving mode doing browsing and lowering brightness to minimum settings (only usable in the dark). The WLAN card seems to chew significant power and turning it off does seem to increase battery life significantly in power saving mode. Putting the machine under constant high load causes the battery to last around 1 hour.

Putting the fan into "Quiet" mode causes the GPU/CPU temperature to hover around 55 degrees C, even at idle. The bottom of the case warms up so I mainly use the "Normal" fan setting if I have the laptop on my lap.

The 256GB SSD is small for a gaming laptop but is upgradable. Besides the M.2 slot (used by the provided Liteon CV3-8D256 SSD), there There is also a SATA connector in the case and a tight space for a 2.5" drive. I installed a Samsung 850 EVO SSD for a second drive as I am scared that any pressure on the bottom case (plastic) will crush a conventional HDD. Getting access to the internals is a pain and the whole plastic base of the laptop needs to be removed involving many fiddly screws.

The RAM is a single SODIMM module from Kingston 8GB 2400MHz. I was unable to find the module on Kingston's website, so perhaps it is a custom stick? The machine has a total of 2 slots of SODIMM available. Helpfully, the RAM can be accessed by opening a small RAM access panel (1 screw).

I have not noticed any issues with the speed of the laptop or the SSD. Gigabyte has done a good job of chipset integration and multitasking with many USB-3 ports and simultaneous high-throughput data transfers on all ports did not cause the machine to stutter (unlike a desktop setup I also have).

There are more powerful and expensive laptops out there. There are also much more lowly specced laptops in the same price bracket. This laptop for me gives a good balance between cost and performance. I am currently very pleased with it.

 

How much does it cost in Australia compared to the Aero14? I was surprised Gigabyte made a refresh of the P34 as it would seem to directly compete with aero for customers.

 

The Gigabyte AERO 14 v7 Black 14inch Core i7 GTX 1060 Gaming Notebook Gigabyte AERO 14 v7 Black Gaming Notebook, i7-7700HQ, 16GB, 512GB SSD, 14inch QHD IPS, Geforce GTX 1060-6G, WiFi, BT4.1, HD CAM, 1.89kg, Win10 Home sells for $2699.

The Gigabyte P34G v7 14inch Core i7 Gaming Notebook Gigabyte P34G v7 Gaming Notebook, i7-7700HQ, 8GB, 256GB M.2 SSD, 14inch FHD IPS, GeForce GTX 1050-2G, WiFi, BT4.2, HDCAM, 1.69Kg, Win10 Home sells for exactly $1000 less: $1699.

The Aero has a larger SSD, 1060 vs 1050, double the RAM and QHD vs FHD display. The Aero is also more flashy and that was one of the concerns I had about taking it into a business meeting. I prefer the understated black finish of the P34G. It is in a different market segment as a result.

 

here a review
http://www.techradar.com/reviews/gigabyte-p34g-v7

 

Yo

The P34W v5 has the same chassis, has a 3GB GTX 970M which is a bit faster, but has a Skylake CPU intead of Kaby Lake, but they should perform about the same. If you can find it it should be a bit cheaper then the P34G v7.

I managed to get the P34W v4 for $300 less than the regular price when the P34W v5 came out.