*** OFFICIAL GIGABYTE AERO 15 OWNERS LOUNGE ***

Just figured I'd start this. Mine comes tomorrow and I have a Samsung EVO960 coming the next day to swap out the m.2 SATA drive.

Aside from removing the unneeded bloatware what other performance mods would everyone recommend?

Thanks!

Also, anyone that has received this already. Do you know if the drive has a recovery partition? If it does what is the best way to clone that drive over to the new SSD I'm putting in? Samsung's data migration software supposedly won't work if there's a recovery partition.

Thanks!

 

I upgraded to a 1TB Evo 960 too on my Aero 14. I used Acronis full disk backup to move all partitions to the new drive. Then used partition magic (free version) to resize the main partition.

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Is Acronis free? Sorry this is the first time I've ever done this. I've usually just done a fresh install when I change drives but I'm guessing there's no recovery media included with this computer

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do you guys know the internal DAC spec? how do you guys like the sound quality?

 

The sound chip in mine is the Realtek ALC255. I've done one listening session (headphones) so far and did not care for the results - music and video both sounded harsh and tinny on the high end. To be fair though most of my listening is via very nice equipment off my desktop, and that's not a fair comparison. But to be fair again on the other side, I also often listen to my iphone and ipad using the standard apple ear pods and if I'm not paying special attention there the sound will not draw attention to itself in a negative way like it did on the Aero 15.

Don't take this as the final word. The laptop sounds off enough to me that I suspect there may be a driver / "sound improvement filter" hidden somewhere I haven't found yet that just needs to be turned off or configured properly. I got one notch of improvement already by turning off the defaulted on dolby pro feature. I'm also not sure how different any other laptop would be.

 

Please let us know how it goes with your EVO 960... I've got one coming too. I'm on the fence between trying to move my existing drive contents or whether to start over with a fresh install of Win 10 Pro.

 

Has anyone undervolted their Aero 15 yet? If so care to share your final settings and temps?

 

I don't think so. @iunlock made a bunch of mods but I don't think that was one of them...

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Review will be up soon...

::iunlock::

 

Yes it has it. You can use macruim to clone it over to your new drive.

Always go a clean install.

::iunlock::

 

Unfortunately I don't have a Windows 10 disc and I doubt this comes with recovery media.

 

You can create a USB recovery pretty easily. Go with the July build if you don't care about the w10 bloat. Definitely stay away from creators build. It's a hot mess.

::iunlock::

 

Also, is there anything you think we'll need to do to make sure we get 4 lanes for the PCIe drive?

 

On the aero 14 you can create a recovery usb stick with the installed software. Acronis is not free, but relative to what you're paying for the laptop it's insignificant for a decent backup solution. However, I'd do the reinstall too given it should be near factory fresh when you upgrade to the Evo.

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Why not just use the builtin reset Windows option? Does it not get rid of bloatware?

 

So it seems that the Aero 15 is bring recalled? I just ordered mine on Xotic so I asked about it and they mentioned shipment may be delayed.

Here's what I'm referring to: https://www.reddit.com/r/pcgaming/comments/6a4hin/a_week_after_release_the_gigabyte_aero_15_has

 

I think that's in the UK not the U.S.

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recalled? if it's being recalled they should issue a statement asap. Hopefully it was just the ones in the UK, and newegg is just sold out

 

Newegg is defiantly sold out. I got the last one yesterday and I was guaranteed that it was shipping out today when I called this morning

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You mentioned that Newegg said the Aero 15 will be back in stock on tuesday. Was this through newegg live chat? When I tried asking they couldn't give an answer.

 

It was by a live rep on the phone. Newegg seems be a cluster ****. I'm still waiting on mine to ship and I paid for expedited processing. Need it by Thursday for a trip and they are probably going to miss the delivery after I was guaranteed by 3 people I'd have it by Wednesday. Order from therm at your own risk. If they miss the delivery it's going back to them and I'm ordering from Donald from HID Evolution once I return from my trip. I'm very disappointed in newegg...

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It seems the news about this new Aero 15 recall is starting to become viral - several technology reviewers have published articles relating to the recall and urging new customers to return the units immediately for new stock replacements from suppliers or contact Gigabyte relating to the matter.

Still no word from Gigabyte about this yet though, I wonder if they're keeping this as quiet as possible and only notifying the re-sellers to alert their customers of this to keep this to a minimum - giving the fact that all suppliers are willing to exchange the affected units for new replacements.

Liam.

 

Any word on this from the resellers here on the forum?

 

All the articles I'm seeing are simply quoting the reddit post so it's still possible that the recall is an isolated event. In any regards, I hope GIGABYTE would put out a statement soon addressing our concerns...

 

Maybe @Donald@HIDevolution can give us some insight?

 

News sites picked it up as well.

https://www.overclock3d.net/news/systems/gigabyte_is_recalling_their_aero_15_gaming_laptops/1

 

Just got a call from Newegg saying that their stock had been recalled by Gigabyte because the batteries may explode

 

if urs do explode, don't put water on it. Li + H2O = bad

 

I canceled my order from Newegg. They gave me a $200 discount on an Aorus x7 v6 which brought it down to the sane price as the aero 15. Still not happy and I may return it but we'll see

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damn thats bad news especially for whoever bought the one iunlock already did all that work on.

 

I think that is all the insight we need for now

 

Here's that email they sent me...

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Thanks for posting that email - it proved crucial to me when I called Newegg to find what was going on. Initially their customer service agent said they knew nothing about a recall. When I pressed she escalated to someone behind the scenes who it seems did a google search and found the reddit thread, and interpreted to mean I was OK because it applied to "earlier units" (I ordered the first day.) Finally I read back your Newegg email to them, which still didn't get me any new information but did get me a return authorization.

She wasn't able to help with my two other questions, which are 1) do the promised IGZO panels exist in any US models and 2) is the keyboard issue fixable (no ctrl + shift + n plus other bottom row keys.) I feel the Aero 15 would be a winner for me with these two fixed for sure, without them I'm back to feeling I'm on the fence with no one model checking all my boxes.

 

@iunlock do you have any thoughts on this computer VS the Aorus X7 V6? I know they are two totally different machines but I"m just curious...

 

Two very different classes so it's hard to compare.

Since Aorus is a subsidiary of Gigabyte, I look at Gigabyte as the GM, while Aorus would be their Cadillac...

 

If you could get both for the same price would you take the Aorus over the Aero?

 

Yes.

 

Thanks!

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What is your opinion on this Vs the AW15 r3, especially the screens of both? I like the look of the aero 15 but it's more expensive while being less powerful than the Alienware.

 

Hmmm....

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hi iunlock, I've been following your postings and reviews for Aero 15 for a bit since I'm very interested in the laptop. Will your review be delayed due to the recall? Looking forward to it, been checking twice a day! Thanks so much for all you do.

 

Interesting note on possible recall, I wonder if thats why all units are "sold out". When I talked to Newegg regarding keyboard issue they said no one else reported that problem, which isn't true. I tried contacting Gigabyte but they don't really have any answers as the team in charge of troubleshooting is overseas in Taiwan I believe.
For reference my video:

 

I just received this response from Gigabyte technical support:

Dear [Customer],

Yes, I have see that video and the Notebook Marketing and HQ is aware of this but we never advertised the Aero 15 with Anti-Ghost keyboard so some key combinations may not register. Thank you.

Best regards,

GIGABYTE Tech Support Team
​

This is not satisfactory to me as I believe that ctrl and shift are keystroke modifiers that are supposed to work under even the most basic implementation of the keyboard spec. For example, N, shift+N, ctrl+n, and ctrl+shift+n are all different keystrokes under all platforms, o/s, etc and this has nothing to do with "ghosting" or "n-key-rollover" or any other advanced capability. (If any readers here feel I am incorrect, please let me know.) The response that Gigabyte does not believe it is an issue is very concerning.

 

seriously? that's insane

 

New answer received re: keyboard after I disputed the first one:

Dear [customer],

Our HQ is working with the Keyboard manufacture to see if they can resolve this through a KB firmware update. This will take at least a few weeks. Thank you.

Best regards,

GIGABYTE Tech Support Team​

 

I got my Aero 15. Overall feel is great. I didn't know the display bezel was rubber; it's much nicer than the FHD xps 15. The keyboard is fantastic.

However, I have been having trouble getting hotkeys to work. I think it might be related to the gigabyte smart manager software, which doesn't work when I try to open it.

One thing to note is that the battery is not secured to the case in any way other than a few pieces of tape. If you don't have a second SSD in, the battery will actually move itself into the area of the ssd! Quality engineering, folks.

I used electrical tape to better secure the battery to the chassis and installed a second drive.

 

Thanks for the quick write-up, @Eason. Can you please explain what you mean when you say it looks better than the FHD XPS15?

 

I mean the rubber on the side of the screen looks and feels nicer than the plastic/rubber on the XPS's screen. The overall build is quite nice. Feels solid.

 

The battery not being secure isn't to reassuring.

 

Maybe this is what the hardware battery issue is after all?