Gigabyte Aero 15-Y9 and -X9 Confirmed

From Notebook Check:

Next generation Gigabyte Aero 15-Y9 and 15-X9 confirmed.

• Chassis remains the same
• Slightly larger heatsink
  
• Core i7-8750H or Core i9-8950HK
  
• Max of 64 GB RAM, comes standard with Samsung memory modules
• Intel 760p SSD (claimed read speeds of 3200 MB/s)
• RTX 2070 Max-Q and 2080 Max-Q
  
• Killer LAN and Wireless (Intel 9560), Nahimic 3 audio, Bluetooth 5.0
• Microsoft Precision Trackpad
  
• Microsoft Azure AI to control CPU and GPU power based on application

Configurations

Four SKUs now listed on GigaByte's US online store:

• 15-X9-RT5P (i7-8750H, 16 GB, 2070, 1 TB, FHD): $2,399
• 15-X9-RT4K5MP (i7-8750H, 32 GB, 2070, 1 TB, UHD 4K): $2,799
• 15-X9-9RT4K5MP (i9-8950HK, 32 GB, 2070, 1 TB, UHD 4K): $3,099
• 15-Y9-9RT4K6MP (i9-8950HK, 32 GB, 2080, 2 TB, UHD 4K): $3,999

The warranty period has been reduced from 2 years to 1 year on all SKUs.

Reviews

• Tom's Hardware (i9/2070)
• Dave Lee (i9/2080)
• Mobile Tech Review (i7/2070)

 

Specs are here from the Gigabyte Official Site - tried to copy it but it won't let me:

https://www.gigabyte.com/Laptop/AERO-15--RTX-20-Series#sp

Looking forward to it - doesn't state as MaxQ, but when they brought out the AERO 15 RTX2080 on stage last night during the NVIDIA CES presentation it looked great. And I really liked it was able to do all that while on battery.

 

Wonder how the Aero 15 chassis and cooling will handle the i9 and 2080.....

 

Looks like a beast reakon $3500 AUD.

Sent from my Moto G (5) Plus using Tapatalk

 

Why not the 8850h? 4.0Ghz 6c12t would be huge in terms of bragging rights not to mention would make selling this machine much easier if properly marketed.

 

Same old jank keyboard? lol

 

With the same chasis, I don't expect the performance will be ok. The gen8 is already throttling at max temperature.

 

Yeah, I have to say this is dissapointing. Almost no chassis update.

 

RAM ships with samsung to reviewer than some no brand one to consumer. RAM is probably is going to picky.
Wonder when will they update the RAM profile and the touchpad driver for the v8

 

So basically 99% the same with new CPU + GPU which of course can't be easily replaced on current version.

 

Where are the 17 in counterparts at....no one cares for 15 inches plus same old crap in it except gpu.....disappointing. Wheres the X10!

 

There's some kind of Microsoft Azure AI feature in the revised Aero 15 as well but the details were scant:

The Aorus 15 got it too.
Any ideas?

Charles

 

I read that as "in order to determine how to best throttle the laptop"

 

I would never buy a 17 inch laptop for myself. Kind of wish a 13.3" had these RTX cards for portability, but to stay light and thin, cooling would be an issue. As far as I'm concerned if people need a laptop that lives on a desk, there are lots of monstrosities recently announced at CES for you. I'm looking forward to using a laptop like this as a fully portable gaming and work machine.

Pricing is high, here's an example from an Australian retailer as starting prices (for FHD panels):

Approx 3500 CAD/2700 USD for Aero 15 X9
Approx 4400 CAD/3300 USD for Aero 15 Y9

Source: https://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d630_gigabyte-aero-15-laptop-notebook.html

Looking forward to reviews on performance, heat, and noise. Size and weight are great if it can handle the heat...

CPU upgrade is due in about 4 months when Intel releases new gen 9 laptop procs. Maybe I'll buy one then when prices for these original models have come down a bit and it's more known .

Peter

 

As some of you have already mentioned thermals are probably going to be a nightmare. At first I thought that maybe the 2060 would be more power efficient than the 10-series but that doesn't appear to be the case. All versions of the aero (and some of the competitors like razer), come with a 230W power supply instead of a 180W supply. Under full load, thats 50W more power the computer has to dissipate without a significant change to the cooling system. These new machines have to be absolute volcanoes. The i9/2080 probably only hits base clock in Antarctica....

 

£4,499 for the top model in the UK. CPU is the I9-8950HK not the I7-8570H in the spec. It's a typo by the retailer.

 

Yeah that's pretty wtf pricing territory.

 

Shouldn't the top model have an i9?
Imagine paying almost 5 grand UK for a keyboard that doesn't register presses(they haven't said anything so)

 

It has an I9-8950HK, it's a typo in the spec list.

 

Worth mentioning in the post

 

Well, here's the NEW vs OLD guts view.
Looks like vRam get's some chill-love this time ..

p.s. could someone please point where PCH is located on the AERO ?

 

So it was confirmed that gpu models are max-Q. But I have a good feeling about the thermals on the I-9 model. I think serious HIDevolution modding for CPU and GPU might be enough to m aintain constant 4.1ghz with proper Undervolting. Anything more though is asking too much. Certainly not the 4.8ghz that it’s capable of.

 

Even the 2060 is MaxQ?

 

Tempting.. But, 9th gen chips are coming. The chassis will most likely get a upgrade later this year as well.
Unless you need a laptop now. I think waiting for Computex might be the best move here.

The temps/performance in the early 2019 models are going to be interesting.. These models are going to be throttled to death.
Also the pricing is kinda steep, is that confirmed?

 

I would not get excited nor wait for 9th gen H processors as they will most likely be built on the ancient 14nm node, so expect very minor bump in performance (around 10%). 10th gen will likely be the first mobile processors to be manufactured on the 10nm node which should provide alot of performance & power benefits. I'm also guessing they won't do a redesign until 2020.

 

For sure the 2070 and 2080 are max Q. I doubt the 2060 is just going off the fact 1060 max Q was kinda rare.
Ice lake hopefully will offer higher sustainable cpu performance. I think that meeting cpu performance demands is what really counts here if you really desire the newest and the best. Gamers on the other hand should take advantage of last gen Aeros being 500$ off right now. Including 1080 max Q models.

 

$500 off is a good deal, just like the Thanksgiving BF deals, so tempting. I've been trying to get Amazon to match the pricing from NewEgg but no luck so far.

 

So they didn't give it a beefier cooling solution? Man that's disappointing. From what I saw the last version had trouble keeping the 8750h cool. And now there is a 8950h option? Plus this AI software idea is kinda sketchy. Though I'll assume it'll have an off switch. Hopefully. . .

 

Sketchy ? Not even close to begin describing how I feel about all this ..
Damn shame. I thought I had my next laptop lined up. What a letdown

btw, have you seen this ?

 

I'll watch it again. What I remember was alot of "work in progress" or "not ready yet" being thrown around. AI in a laptop could be beneficial of it works. So I guess you have to start somewhere. But it shouldn't be a selling point if it's basically a paid alpha.

 

Yeah, the specs of the laptops on the other hand seemed decent. I know msi has a 2080 model in their gs76 as well as an I9, but I’m more curious to see how 10nm implementation looks probably Q3 of this year. If I’m not mistaken, it’s the new sunneycove models that implement the AI technology. So idk what gigabyte is going on about for the last gen coffeelake cpu’s anyways.

 

I would not expect to see ice lake 'H' processors in 2019. Given intel's historical trends, I would expect only 'U' processors to be available this year (Q3/Q4) and no 'H' until 2020, probably debuted at CES 2020 and available in Q2 (probably along the first set of desktop 10nm processors).

 

Yeah, you’re probably right

 

haha not quite.. $5899 for the i9 + 2080 max-q

https://www.affordablelaptops.com.au/contents/en-us/d630_gigabyte-aero-15-laptop-notebook.html

 

Four SKUs now listed on GigaByte's US online store:

• 15-X9-RT5P (i7-8750H, 16 GB, 2070, 1 TB, FHD): $2,399
• 15-X9-RT4K5MP (i7-8750H, 32 GB, 2070, 1 TB, UHD 4K): $2,799
• 15-X9-9RT4K5MP (i9-8950HK, 32 GB, 2070, 1 TB, UHD 4K): $3,099
• 15-Y9-9RT4K6MP (i9-8950HK, 32 GB, 2080, 2 TB, UHD 4K): $3,999

Also, the warranty period has been reduced from 2 years to 1 year on all SKUs.

 

First review came online. Not too positive, although it's about the i9 config, wich I would not choose. Speakers seem upgraded, but it's suggested the lid and case is now made of plastic!?!?

https://www.tomshardware.com/reviews/gigabyte-aero-15-x9,5684.html

 

2070 is slower than 1070 MaxQ in some games? lolwut

Battery life is worse? (Getting 3 hours on this 15X atm though)

 

It is expected, the way Tensor Core consume power is not ideal with laptop condition, thus they tend to power throttling faster. I am not sure but it seems 1170 series (non Tensor) will be better.

 

The tensor cores are being used in non rtx/compute games? The 2070 does beat the 1070 by a bit in Hitman 2, not sure if the CPU was a limiting factor there though

It seems they got rid of the indicator lights, I didn't like them on the previous model but they could have moved them or given an option to disable them, wonder if the Gigabyte logo can't be turned off again. Interested to see if they got rid of the lip where the keboard deck and outer shell/case meet...

 

They are shipping now. Just ordered the Y9 (i9, UHD, RTX 2080) version for myself on Newegg.

Comes with a "free" copy of Battlefield V if that’s your thing (you still have to pay taxes on it, because they don’t seem to know a $59.99 gift is not taxable.

I’m not worried about cooling... What’s the fun,without modding?

 

Let us know if the keyboard still has issues registering some keys if you don't press it centred

 

Yeah... That is my one concern coming from the MSI Ghost Pro with its excellent Steel Series keyboard. But we’ll see. The hardware is exactly what I was looking for (i9, UHD, 2080), and I’ve had a lot of crappy laptops for work, so hopefully not or I can keep replacing the keyboard until I find a "factory freak" that works right.

I have grand plans for cooling, including a peltier (i.e. thermocouples) cooling plate using an old zalman aluminum plate and water cooling the thermocouples.

From the looks of the laptop pictures posted online, I’m thinking that getting a replacement back panel and cutting large holes for thick thermal pads on the CPU/GPU and the cooling pipes terminating at the fan heatsink/radiator (for direct contact to my chilled plate), all may have a substantial benefit. It looks like they are all very close to the back plate.

With thermals in check, it’ll just be at the mercy of Gigabyte’s power delivery choices.

 

Hopefully you like the keyboard and they fixed the issues. I'm not a big fan of the keyboard on this 15X, I'd rather mushier/linear feeling ones to be honest. Honestly wish the arrow keys had brightness and volume when you press the Fn key like some MSI laptops or at least a function lock

Make a thread here if you're doing that it seems super interesting, haven't heard of people using peltiers in years Thick thermal pads on the cpu/gpu?

Hope it works out for you

 

I’m sure it will, just watched the tear down video above (I wish I knew what he was saying, but it was informative.

There will definitely be a thread if I pull it together. I wasted a summer modding my Sager NP8960 pictured in my avatar (+more fans, ofc).

Here, it’s just interesting how close the pipes are to the back panel, so thermal pads on top of the heat pipes / surrounding areas, would not need to be that thick to contact a chilled plate. The peltier chill pad is definitely going to happen though. Parts are already slowly being ordered and I can justify it more than laptop mods that only survive the life of that laptop. As this will benefit any (Air conditioned intake). Been kicking this idea around forever and I’ve found myself a slice of time to do it (long story and long medical leave, but time and just enough energy for tinkering).

 

It seems more to thermal throttling to me he didn’t mention cpu temperature, i9 is known with this issue on thin light like on MacBook Pro. Can’t believe too my Maxq 1070 performs better both on gta FPS shown above and Firestrike graphics that recently notebookcheck comparison on 15x vs other mobile Turing gpu.
Battery life most probably due Windows Update and optimization after out of the box. 15X was the best battery life on thin light categories last gen, and Turing mobile should around 40% more energy efficient compared to previous gen according nvidia.

 

That review was bad. Poorly executed, I mean. He didn’t seem too enthusiastic to be doing the review at all (like, "ugh, this was assigned to me.") But, it seems he got basic stuff wrong in his rush to publish first... like he calls it a plastic box, yet the lid and chassis are aluminum,at the very least. And comparing FHD rendering to UHD rendering with the cpu tests including the iGPU tests, well, that’s just sloppy.

EDIT: Gigabyte has already posted a new BIOS , that was unlikely to be part of the review... Probably a bit of "ship now, patch later." Hope they stay one top of it.

Update: FB05. 6.62 MB. 2019/01/30.

 

It's definitely throttling since my Aero 15X with an 8750H throttles, it's probably like the Lenovo laptops where the i5 is faster than the i7 SKUs, so much for "AI"

Best when it works lol, I'm getting the same 3 hours now on mine with undervolt, 0.8Ghz max, dgpu disabled etc. This laptop has been the buggiest pc I've ever used. Defo not 40% in the real world, more cores etc and only 14->12nm

I am waiting for notebookcheck or ultrabookreview to review these since Tom's is so basic regarding info. These laptop refreshes are disappointing

 

To be honest, if you have an X8, I doubt the performance upgrades are enough incentive to jump in on this platform. Especially if you feel like it’s so buggy. Ofc, you do you.

I wanted to holdout for intel’s 7 or 10 nm process fab; but my MSI GS60 is on it’s last legs (new audible capacitor whine and pops) and almost 5 years later it’s about the right time for my own PC "refresh." Haswell to unlocked coffee-lake-s; 970m to 2080 max-q.

Formatting the oem preinstall stamp and reinstalling windows will help civil down on preloaded junk. I know thermals are gonna be the general headache, though.