REVIEW: GIGABYTE AERO 15 – Worker By Day, Warrior By Night

Gaming tech producer GIGABYTE Technology aims high with its new flagship gaming-hybrid laptop and recipient of 2020 Red Dot Design Award the AERO 15.

GIGABYTE is carving out a niche in the market for a hybrid laptop that can appeal to the masses with the AERO line. The AERO 15 comes in two display options: the 4K AMOLED and 144Hz high refresh rate Full HD gaming display. I reviewed the 4K AMOLED.

Design

The AERO 15 OLED showcases GIGABYTE’s subtle shift into the content creator market, with a less ostentatious “gaming” laptop featuring higher design specs. It feels impossibly thin for its CPU power and full array of ports.

It has a svelte aluminium chassis with a two-tone metallic finish and sharp lines for an edgy look and feel. The front panel Gigabyte logo has been replaced on this next-gen model with “AERO” backlit in white LED.

GIGABYTE has also redesigned the hinges to perhaps allow for better heat distribution from the fans, but the new design can result in a wobbly display. The base of the laptop features the cooling vents in a suitable Predator-esque design.

Keyboard

Day-to-day, I use a full mechanical keyboard. Switching to the much smoother (and quieter) AERO 15 OLED keyboard was not an unwelcome change.

The keyboard has a softer, shallower touch, offering very little sound – even with my ferocious typing style – as if the keys have been muted or cushioned, making it ideal for long typing sessions.

Another feature of the laptop that I loved was the tactile feel of the touchpad. The trackpad was very responsive, with smooth transitions and a nice amount of pressure for clicking. The trackpad also includes a fingerprint sensor, which worked very well and is a nice security feature.

Display

The real star of the AERO 15 OLED is its simply spectacular 4K display, one of if not the best screen I have ever experienced. It meets the VESA DisplayHDR 400 True Black specification offering the blackest blacks and luscious colours at 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 gamut and each panel is X-Rite Pantone certified.

The colours are breathtaking, details are super sharp and brightness levels are excellent, offering great visibility even outdoors under the sun, though it is very reflective.

Also included to boost these specs is the new GeForce RTX 2070 Super Max-Q graphics adapter with 8GB of GDDR6 memory.

This is a dream display for content creators, especially graphic designers and video editors. High-res imagery and streaming video are beautifully presented on screen, even this Word.doc looks incredible.

The stunning screen is given as much real estate as possible, with a thin bezel and no notch for a front-facing camera. Instead, GIGABYTE has placed the 720p webcam below the screen above the power button and keyboard, providing a very unflattering angle for video chats – your knuckles and chin will be centre-stage.

The AERO 15 OLED does include a handy shutter for those that like to ensure their camera is not activated. Another nice security feature.

Performance

It is an incredibly light notebook, at only 2kg, but the 4K screen does put a strain on the battery life, and while I didn’t experience much if any issues with app scaling, some gaming sessions weren’t the best I’ve experienced.

The AERO 15 OLED does manage to tackle the higher graphics in top gaming settings, even with its 4K resolution, thanks to its powerful GPU. But for best gaming experience, dial back some of the game display settings. I would imagine that the version with the 144Hz refresh rate would definitely meet gaming requirements.

Battery-wise, GIGABYTE claims up to 8.5 hours without Bluetooth and other features turned on. With regular general use, the battery on the review unit I received lasted around 6 hours when I used it for browsing and watching some videos, and a heavy gaming session for one and a half hours.

Be prepared to plug it in if you are planning to game for long, especially when gaming online.

Rating

This laptop is the ideal choice for a creative professional who loves to dabble in gaming pursuits from time to time.