Gigabyte announces new Aero 15

The laptop is only available (for now) on newegg ?

 

For now yes, but HID and other resellers said they will have the Aero 15s in stock around mid-May

 

Guys, should I go for this laptop, or for the Aero 14??
The thing is that I need the laptop by the end of this month, for work reasons. That means I cannot wait for the 4k version of the Aero 15.

I do a lot of photo editing, also often on the laptop screen itself.
Are there any comparison pics or videos comparing the two screens (the 14's 1440p screen vs the 15's FHD screen)?

Another important thing is the touchpad. Two reviews have already stated that the 15's touchpad is not very precise. I do a lot of keyboard shortcuts, but for photo retouching, for example, I need a good touchpad.
Again, is there a comparison between the older and the newer model? @Eason, @iunlock: Will you look at this in your review?

BTW, the 15's pre-calibrated screen makes little difference to me, as I would anyway calibrate the 14's screen. After that is done, the 14 will offer me a higher resolution.

 

Dave2d's review is up!

 

He calls it mostly plastic while other reviews say aluminum. Don't know what to think of this...

 

This is the first time I disagree with Dave in most of the video. Here are some points he failed to mention / praise:

Build quality and material: Dave says it's all plastic while it's actually alluminium. Gigabyte are actually doing a better job at quality control for the Aero 15!

I/O: Again, Dave says it's "mediocre" for "this kind of devices", while we know most 15" laptop will actually have missing ports (No TB3, earlier versions of DP and HDMI, no Ethernet jack). And another fact here is, Dave already said the Aero 14 would have been perfect if it had a TB3.

Cooling: Lol, it's the opposite here. Dave never mentioned the Aero 15 can literally fry eggs if you play games in quiet mode. Yes, it games silent but the temps are abysmal.

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Honestly idk if it is mostly aluminum. I have the 14 which is almost identical and it has a very sloppy plastic case surrounding the panels. And also random gaps and poor cuts. Why can't they just make an unibody design for $1900? As for cooling, idk why you would want to play it on silent mode. I disabled turbo and propped my aero 14 up and it rarely hits 80c+ when gaming

 

Some reviewers claim the Aero 15 is built better than the 14" version and it feels more solid.
And about the cooling, well, these thin laptops tend to sound very high pitched when the fans are ramped up, and it can be very annoying...

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I use headphones when I game. Don't know what else to say...you simply can't expect to not use headphones. And can you link some reviews that says it's better built than the aero 14? Really hope that's true

 

The reviews I've read do not directly imply it is better built than the 14" sibling, but the use of keywords like the CNC-milled aluminium framing means the Aero 15 is similarly built as a Razer Blade. The thin bezel automatically implies the area around the lid must be well made to hold the entire thing. The Aero 14 had a thick bezel, which resulted in the use of more plastic.

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They actually never said aluminum in their promos, just cnc. That was also what the aero 14 was designed by but it's nowhere near the same finish as a razer blade. And I don't want to leave the quality of a $1900 laptop to implications...

 

The screen in the Aero 15, specifically, must definitely be reinforced to help with maintaining the grip while opening the lid, otherwise it will break way too easily. If you look at the bezels up close (some zoomed photos with focus in NBC), you would notice the enclosure is made in a way it will hardly ever snap open, which is a good sign!
And again, seeing an average to good build quality definitely a trade off, as the Blade will cost 300-400$ more with similar specs. I'd still get the Aero 15 in this case because it handles the cooling better, and it allows for better fan tuning. Build quality can be tolerated as long as the hinges do not creak and the bottom lid stands straight in a surface. XD

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I suppose. Guess I'll wait for more user reviews. Otherwise, Razer blade with Microsoft warranty looks really attractive..if only it had 2 drive bays

 

When people say build quality, are they excluding thermal performance within the scope of that statement? I've read about so many heat issues with the XPS 15 and Blade (the competitor examples in the Dave2d review) that I sneer whenever I hear someone say they have good build quality. It's nice that they're sleek looking and built well enough that you don't need to worry about them as much when they're banged around a little. But any laptop that throttles while sustaining stock speeds or has so many people needing to do exchanges and returns due to poor QA (heat related or otherwise) can't be said to have good build quality. My dad has an XPS 15 and it looks and feels fantastic, but I'm glad he has a very long warranty on it because in the first year he's already had to replace it once due to the battery swell issue. And he doesn't do anything more than light office work and watch movies on his laptop, I'd fear for anyone putting a real strain on it. I'm upset that reviewers aren't devoting more time to thermals in their reviews because to me that's a considerably more important factor in build quality.

 

Do you guys think it's worth it to sell my Aero 14 v6 for the Aero 15? It should end up being a ~$400 upgrade after all is said and done.

 

Hang tight... few days...

Don't worry, you'll get a real review. very soon...

Have you seen my aw and other reviews? Click the links in my signature.





::iunlock::

 

Looking forward to it. Will you be doing the new X5 when it comes out as well? The temptation is strong to buy a new laptop right now, but the more I look, the more content I am to wait and be content with my Y410P. Maybe laptops paired with Coffee Lake and Volta will finally sway me.

 

Build quality for me is just sturdiness,feel,and finish

 

The finish of a razer blade is irrelevant as a comparison because the razer blade and razer are (literally) hot ****ing garbage. burn your money--it will keep you as warm as a razer blade.

Comparing the aero 15 to the AW13 is probably more apt.

 

I'm well aware of Razer's qa. But the Microsoft complete warranty is just so good

 

One extra year, one replacement, $99 deductible. If you can get Best Buy to match, their warranty has no deductible.

 

That's not what I've heard from people with the warranty

 

Dell's warranty is good too, but it can't save you from a lemon when they just keep repairing with broken parts

 

Dell doesn't have a physical store I can go and exchange a replacement

 

The one for Surface products is better. Read the terms for other laptops before you buy.

 

Where did you find the terms?

 

On the Microsoft store website. You might have to add the notebook and warranty to cart to see the link for the terms.

 

Microsoft complete for 3rd party manufacturers aren't on the website anymore. You have to go in store to buy it

 

Weird I was just looking at it online a few days ago. Perhaps the terms changed too. It's still a decent deal at $99 even with the deductible, since you can just go in store for help if you have one nearby. Best Buy's is probably better, but also $$$. Plus their return policy is only 14 days, vs. 30 at Microsoft. Also, the MS store rep said they have a deal where if you buy Complete and Office 365 with a notebook, you get additional discounts, but I didn't ask how much. Worth asking if you want them both, though.

Sorry for the sidetrack! I don't think I'd buy a Razer at all if I had to do it direct from their store.

Back to the Aero 15, I'd be curious to know if the logo backlight can be disabled. I understand the Razer's cannot be disabled on the 2017 Blade 14, it's always glowing.

 

I think the gigabyte glow is much better than the green snakes. If I do buy the Razer I'll definitely need to invest in a dbrand skin

 

Gigabyte say shipment for other resellers should be around 25th of May.

 

After 3 tries they should replace the system though. Even when its already a few years old. Some unfortunately abuse the system and drive up the warranty prices for well willing customers.

 

I don't mind paying hundreds more, but I do mind when the product arrives defective and then the company doesn't have functioning parts to fix it

 

Hi everyone,

I honestly just picked up my Aero 14 GTX1060, 512 ssd, 16gb ram model today, what should I do? Should I return and wait for the Aero 15?

Anyone got any idea when it will be in AUS and how much? I paid $2699 for mine, I'm assuming it will be around the 3k mark rrp?

 

I mean, it's up to you. Functionally, the 14/15 are no different. You have identical hardware, except the screens are slightly different.

If you prefer higher resolution, keep the 14 for its 1440p. If you love the look of the bezel-less display, then return the 14 and wait for the 15.

The 14 is slightly smaller than the 15 making it more portable.

The 15 has the Fusion keyboard which has full per-key RGB lighting.

What I'm trying to get at is that these 2 laptops are basically the same on the inside, so nobody can make a 'definitive' statement as to what you should do. You have to ask yourself what you value in a laptop, and then make your decision based off that.

For example, for me, I value portability, but I also value the way a screen looks. To me, the trade-off in portability from the 14 to the 15, versus the trade-off in the way the screen looks (what I'm going to be looking at day after day) is worth it. I'll sacrifice that portability for the near bezel-less display all day every day, since 1080p is perfectly fine for me.

But for you, your priorities may differ, so only choose according to what *you* want.

 

Thanks for the reply, I agree, the hardware is pretty much identical, what makes Aero 15 appealing for me personally is the bezel-less display, thunderbolt for futureproofing, inbuilt ethernet port (also included in the 14 but its just one less dongle to carry), and rgb keyboard. Both great laptops on paper but I'm not sure if I should wait and shell out even more $$ for Aero 15, even though I've spent $2699 on the 14.

 

Really interested in this one after being on fence for last year (if the new Microsoft Surface had a thunderbolt3 I would have probably done that one, as I need that for a family docking station we have set up).

Anyways my question: Do the resellers who offer thermal paste options help significantly with heat or fan noise reduction in a meaningful way for a system like this?

 

At full load like intensive gaming for long periods, the CPU and GPU are probably generating their maximum amount of heat regardless. That heat has to go somewhere. Better thermal conductivity of the processors to heatsink means that the CPU/GPU transfer the heat away quicker, so they should be less likely to throttle. Even with ideal thermal contact, the same amount of heat still needs to be moved out of the computer, so the fans still have to work about the same to move it from the heatsink out the exhaust vents. I wouldn't count on a big difference in overall temperatures of the notebook surfaces or reduction of fan noise in a thin and light system like this, where there may be other thermal bottlenecks like small heatsinks and fans. You should see lower internal processor temps, less throttling and hopefully somewhat better performance, which is the main purpose.

 

anyone found any pictures with aero14 and aero15 side to side? would be nice to see the size of both.

 

As someone who bought and ended up having to return a 1060 blade, I can attest to this.

 

Newegg's overview video has a couple side by side frames.

 

The Aero 15W is now up on our website for Pre-order. We expect to get them around May 28th.

 

Awesome! Just one little thing - in the promo material at the bottom of the page, the part about the screen says 2560x1440, when it should be 1920x1080.

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Actually, the promo graphic is still all Aero 14 ...we will get the 15W up as soon as we get it.
.

 

Ah ok, no problem. Thanks.

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@Donald@HIDevolution

Will you be offering a 3-year warranty for the laptop, or only the 2-year Gigabyte warranty that is currently available on the pre-order page?

Also, the images for the UK/AU plugs are swapped around, just so you know.

 

Hopefully it will come to Hong Kong.
Retailers here are lazy, a lot of high end laptops didn't get a chance to get to here.
Most of the gigabyte laptop didn't
Alienware 15/17 kabylake didnt
G701vi didn't
Acer predator didn't
Razer blade only has the 1080p varient.
Hope that aero 15 can make its way to Hong Kong.

 

Glad to find another fellow Hongkonger here
It is quite frustrating isn't it, despite having a few shopping mall dedicated to selling nothing but PC in shum sui po, a lot of top end notebooks decides to skip Hong Kong.
Was extremely excited about the aero 15, until I found out nobody sells gigabyte notebooks in HK. So I am currently anticipating sellers who are willing to ship internationally to stock the aero 15, like hidevoulution.

 

@TopQuark1212 @Sanfasteryler
In Hong Kong anyway notebooks tend to be overpriced compared to their USA counterparts. I've found many examples where buying a laptop from the US and shipping it to Hong Kong was actually cheaper than buying the same laptop in Hong Kong (for example, the Razer Blade is cheaper to buy from Amazon and ship to HK than it is to buy from Razer's Hong Kong store, never mind a shop in SSP!)

There's a 'tax' in Hong Kong on electronics that even extends to components like graphics cards. For example, the GTX1080 was consistently 100USD more than buying it in the US. Oddly enough, CPUs seem to be consistently a little cheaper.

 

New review:

http://www.expertreviews.co.uk/giga...iew-where-elegance-meets-high-end-performance

PCWorld video with XPS 15 and Alienware 15:



Contradicts some other info and says it is a VA panel. Gigabyte support told me it has an IPS panel, as I've seen elsewhere. The Newegg video review stated it has the same panel as the Dell XPS 15, the Sharp IGZO. Will be interesting to see which panel members here receive.