1 00:00:00,080 --> 00:00:02,620 When we last looked at the Gigabyte Aero 15, 2 00:00:02,620 --> 00:00:06,280 we concluded that it was the perfect thin gaming laptop 3 00:00:06,280 --> 00:00:09,070 because, well, at the time, 4 00:00:09,070 --> 00:00:11,950 it was pretty much the only thin gaming laptop 5 00:00:11,950 --> 00:00:14,990 that didn't make a bunch of other stupid compromises 6 00:00:14,990 --> 00:00:17,990 in the name of just raw performance. 7 00:00:17,990 --> 00:00:22,070 But since then, the field has opened up a fair bit 8 00:00:22,070 --> 00:00:23,990 with Razer refreshing the Blade, 9 00:00:23,990 --> 00:00:25,950 Alienware bringing out the M15, 10 00:00:25,950 --> 00:00:30,450 and ASUS continually refining their Zephyrus lineup. 11 00:00:30,450 --> 00:00:35,460 So then, Gigabyte's response to all this mounting pressure? 12 00:00:35,460 --> 00:00:37,960 AI. 13 00:00:37,960 --> 00:00:38,800 AI? 14 00:00:38,800 --> 00:00:40,000 AI laptop? 15 00:00:40,000 --> 00:00:42,200 What even is AI laptop? 16 00:00:42,200 --> 00:00:43,860 Just keep reading, it's down there. 17 00:00:43,860 --> 00:00:44,980 Just go. 18 00:00:44,980 --> 00:00:46,020 Oh, we get to that later? 19 00:00:46,020 --> 00:00:46,860 Yeah. 20 00:00:46,860 --> 00:00:48,000 No, okay. 21 00:00:48,000 --> 00:00:50,840 So then, AI laptop. 22 00:00:50,840 --> 00:00:55,840 Can a feature that we called the worst demo at CES 2019 23 00:00:56,120 --> 00:00:57,240 possibly make 24 00:00:57,240 --> 00:01:00,140 the Aero 15 X9 stand out from the crowd? 25 00:01:00,140 --> 00:01:04,720 And failing that, is the overall design still solid at least? 26 00:01:04,720 --> 00:01:07,420 With GlassWire, you can instantly see your current 27 00:01:07,420 --> 00:01:09,720 and past network activity, detect malware, 28 00:01:09,720 --> 00:01:13,200 and block badly behaving apps on your PC or Android device. 29 00:01:13,200 --> 00:01:16,000 Use offer code Linus and get 25% off GlassWire 30 00:01:16,000 --> 00:01:26,420 at the link below. 31 00:01:26,420 --> 00:01:27,700 Looking at the Aero 15, 32 00:01:27,700 --> 00:01:30,580 the overall design is reminiscent of the gaming laptops 33 00:01:30,580 --> 00:01:33,300 of several years ago, which I guess makes sense 34 00:01:33,300 --> 00:01:35,500 since it hasn't gotten a chassis update for about two years. 35 00:01:35,500 --> 00:01:35,740 So, let's take a look at the Aero 15. 36 00:01:35,740 --> 00:01:40,100 With that said, I can't really complain about the ID 37 00:01:40,100 --> 00:01:42,300 from an objective standpoint. 38 00:01:42,300 --> 00:01:44,520 The screen bezels are super narrow, 39 00:01:44,520 --> 00:01:46,260 the chassis is nice and rigid, 40 00:01:46,260 --> 00:01:48,480 and the design is reasonably understated, 41 00:01:48,480 --> 00:01:51,600 so it won't give away how much raw gaming performance 42 00:01:51,600 --> 00:01:54,220 is inside if you worry about that sort of thing 43 00:01:54,220 --> 00:01:55,840 in your board meetings. 44 00:01:55,840 --> 00:01:57,460 Sticking with a more traditional design 45 00:01:57,460 --> 00:01:59,900 also means more traditional IO. 46 00:01:59,900 --> 00:02:02,440 Quite literally, more of it. 47 00:02:02,440 --> 00:02:05,260 Along the sides, we find loads of USB type A's, 48 00:02:05,260 --> 00:02:08,620 an HDMI port, and even a full-sized SD card reader 49 00:02:08,620 --> 00:02:11,580 so you can go dongle-free if you want. 50 00:02:11,580 --> 00:02:13,920 Then, they also threw in Thunderbolt 3 51 00:02:13,920 --> 00:02:16,460 if you're more of a dongle-embracer. 52 00:02:16,460 --> 00:02:19,900 So, that's all pretty normal so far. 53 00:02:19,900 --> 00:02:23,440 But where the Aero 15 is exceptional is under the hood. 54 00:02:23,440 --> 00:02:28,480 Ours comes equipped with an Intel Core i9-8950HK, 55 00:02:28,480 --> 00:02:30,260 yes, that's the overclockable one, 56 00:02:30,260 --> 00:02:33,860 and an NVIDIA RTX 2070 Max-Q, 57 00:02:33,860 --> 00:02:34,980 meaning that it packs, consistently, 58 00:02:34,980 --> 00:02:37,820 considerably more punch than I would expect, 59 00:02:37,820 --> 00:02:40,180 and even, in most cases, recommend, 60 00:02:40,180 --> 00:02:42,760 in a chassis this slim. 61 00:02:42,760 --> 00:02:46,000 Like, we have seen much thicker laptops than this 62 00:02:46,000 --> 00:02:48,740 fail to cool this CPU adequately. 63 00:02:48,740 --> 00:02:53,330 And as for how Gigabyte fares, ugh. 64 00:02:53,330 --> 00:02:55,570 Although the Aero does have a better showing 65 00:02:55,570 --> 00:02:56,890 than the MacBook Pro, 66 00:02:56,890 --> 00:02:59,990 it only narrowly edges out the Core i7s 67 00:02:59,990 --> 00:03:02,070 in its competition in most tasks, 68 00:03:02,070 --> 00:03:04,710 and occasionally even gets straight-up beaten, 69 00:03:04,710 --> 00:03:07,550 all while hitting the thermal limits of the chip. 70 00:03:07,550 --> 00:03:09,090 So, what this basically means 71 00:03:09,090 --> 00:03:10,830 is you should buy the i7 model 72 00:03:10,830 --> 00:03:13,850 to get similar performance for less monies. 73 00:03:13,850 --> 00:03:17,090 It might not sound as sexy and exciting, 74 00:03:17,090 --> 00:03:19,250 but it will still be incredibly competent 75 00:03:19,250 --> 00:03:20,650 at video editing, gaming, 76 00:03:20,650 --> 00:03:23,610 and really whatever you wanna throw at it. 77 00:03:23,610 --> 00:03:26,370 As for the RTX 2070 Max-Q, 78 00:03:26,370 --> 00:03:29,490 well, since this is our first laptop with one of these, 79 00:03:29,490 --> 00:03:31,850 we can't say exactly how it'll compare 80 00:03:31,850 --> 00:03:32,710 to other RTX 2070 Max-Qs, 81 00:03:32,710 --> 00:03:33,710 but we can say that this is the best laptop we've ever had. 82 00:03:33,710 --> 00:03:34,550 So, let's take a look. 83 00:03:34,550 --> 00:03:38,930 So, what we can say is that it performs pretty darn well. 84 00:03:38,930 --> 00:03:42,010 Expect to be getting lots of frames in your games 85 00:03:42,010 --> 00:03:46,470 with anything but the heaviest AAA titles with RTX enabled, 86 00:03:46,470 --> 00:03:49,730 being capable of hitting the 144 hertz refresh rate 87 00:03:49,730 --> 00:03:51,090 of the built-in display, 88 00:03:51,090 --> 00:03:53,610 many of them even on ultra settings. 89 00:03:53,610 --> 00:03:56,130 Perhaps more impressively is the fact 90 00:03:56,130 --> 00:03:58,910 that our Aero 15 X9 managed to do this 91 00:03:58,910 --> 00:04:01,390 while maintaining a sort of high, 92 00:04:01,390 --> 00:04:04,430 but still very reasonable noise level. 93 00:04:04,550 --> 00:04:06,370 Okay, then. 94 00:04:06,370 --> 00:04:09,270 What about the apparent star of the show? 95 00:04:09,270 --> 00:04:10,570 AI. 96 00:04:10,570 --> 00:04:12,890 Can that make the Core i9 cool 97 00:04:12,890 --> 00:04:14,770 through machine learning sorcery? 98 00:04:14,770 --> 00:04:17,370 Or give our mere RTX 2070 99 00:04:17,370 --> 00:04:20,840 the graphical performance of a Titan? 100 00:04:20,840 --> 00:04:22,220 No. 101 00:04:22,220 --> 00:04:24,720 Actually, everything we've shown you guys so far 102 00:04:24,720 --> 00:04:26,840 has been with AI enabled. 103 00:04:26,840 --> 00:04:29,540 And unfortunately, contrary to the claims 104 00:04:29,540 --> 00:04:32,160 that Gigabyte was making back at CES, 105 00:04:32,160 --> 00:04:35,020 it does not give you any extra performance. 106 00:04:35,640 --> 00:04:40,460 But that doesn't mean that it's pure BS either. 107 00:04:40,460 --> 00:04:43,180 See, the AI will optimize the system 108 00:04:43,180 --> 00:04:46,100 based on what tasks you're currently performing. 109 00:04:46,100 --> 00:04:48,320 So if it sees that you're playing a game, 110 00:04:48,320 --> 00:04:52,560 it will optimize for GPU performance and up the fans. 111 00:04:52,560 --> 00:04:55,140 During a render, it will optimize for CPU. 112 00:04:55,140 --> 00:04:57,300 And then when you're just working on a Word document, 113 00:04:57,300 --> 00:05:01,040 it will optimize for low acoustics, and so on and so forth. 114 00:05:01,040 --> 00:05:02,880 Now, all of these modes are available 115 00:05:02,880 --> 00:05:05,420 on basically every gaming or professional laptop. 116 00:05:05,420 --> 00:05:07,700 It's not like there's a laptop on the market. 117 00:05:07,700 --> 00:05:09,660 But according to Gigabyte anyway, 118 00:05:09,660 --> 00:05:13,180 80% of users never bother changing the modes, 119 00:05:13,180 --> 00:05:16,040 which basically means that having AI enabled 120 00:05:16,040 --> 00:05:20,980 is not gonna be giving you 120% performance. 121 00:05:20,980 --> 00:05:23,360 It just also means that you'll be getting 122 00:05:23,360 --> 00:05:27,360 your 100%-ish performance at a lower power level 123 00:05:27,360 --> 00:05:30,200 and or noise envelope without ever having to think 124 00:05:30,200 --> 00:05:32,360 about optimizing any settings. 125 00:05:32,360 --> 00:05:35,420 So then, now that our expectations have been adjusted, 126 00:05:35,420 --> 00:05:37,680 and there really were some outlandish claims 127 00:05:37,680 --> 00:05:39,100 they were making at the show, 128 00:05:39,100 --> 00:05:42,400 it is much more clear to me how this technology 129 00:05:42,400 --> 00:05:46,340 can deliver a very real benefit to the average user. 130 00:05:46,340 --> 00:05:49,300 And the good news kind of keeps rolling here. 131 00:05:49,300 --> 00:05:52,440 Gigabyte really hit the nail on the head with the display. 132 00:05:52,440 --> 00:05:56,460 Its 144-hertz refresh rate makes it excellent for gaming, 133 00:05:56,460 --> 00:06:00,400 and its Pantone color calibration makes it even suitable 134 00:06:00,400 --> 00:06:03,840 for prosumer-level photo or video work. 135 00:06:03,840 --> 00:06:04,880 The only other thing 136 00:06:04,880 --> 00:06:07,240 that I might want, I guess, 137 00:06:07,240 --> 00:06:09,920 is G-Sync for the hardcore gamers, 138 00:06:09,920 --> 00:06:11,880 but for the eagle-eyed among you 139 00:06:11,880 --> 00:06:14,860 who are bothered by the pedestrian 1080p resolution, 140 00:06:14,860 --> 00:06:18,560 you can simply go for the 4K 60-hertz panel if you prefer. 141 00:06:18,560 --> 00:06:21,340 It, too, comes Pantone certified. 142 00:06:21,340 --> 00:06:23,660 Where Gigabyte misses the nail, however, 143 00:06:23,660 --> 00:06:26,880 and goes straight for the thumb is the webcam. 144 00:06:26,880 --> 00:06:30,260 Thanks to its spectacular placement below the screen, 145 00:06:30,260 --> 00:06:34,380 you're enjoying just a tremendous view of my nose hairs, 146 00:06:34,380 --> 00:06:36,720 and making matters worse, I lied. 147 00:06:36,720 --> 00:06:38,660 There's nothing spectacular about any of it. 148 00:06:38,660 --> 00:06:42,000 The image quality is unexceptional at best, 149 00:06:42,000 --> 00:06:44,140 and it doesn't support Windows Hello. 150 00:06:44,140 --> 00:06:47,710 It's just not spectacular at all. 151 00:06:47,710 --> 00:06:49,790 And I know I'm harping on this a bit here, 152 00:06:49,790 --> 00:06:54,260 but holy crap, stop doing this. 153 00:06:54,260 --> 00:06:57,620 There are plenty of other solutions. 154 00:06:57,620 --> 00:06:59,300 The trackpad is all right, though. 155 00:06:59,300 --> 00:07:01,620 It's glass-topped, doesn't flex over much, 156 00:07:01,620 --> 00:07:04,700 it's a decent size, and it uses the Windows Precision drivers, 157 00:07:04,700 --> 00:07:07,180 which checks all the boxes for me, 158 00:07:07,180 --> 00:07:10,440 putting it, shockingly, in, like, what, second place 159 00:07:10,440 --> 00:07:14,560 for gaming laptop trackpads that we've looked at recently? 160 00:07:14,560 --> 00:07:18,520 Not bad, just don't screw it up, and it's all good. 161 00:07:18,520 --> 00:07:20,840 What isn't quite as good, though, is the keyboard. 162 00:07:20,840 --> 00:07:22,320 It's only fine. 163 00:07:22,320 --> 00:07:25,220 The force required to press the keys is a little high, 164 00:07:25,220 --> 00:07:28,140 despite the switches having no real tactile bump. 165 00:07:28,140 --> 00:07:30,240 The key stabilization could be better, 166 00:07:30,240 --> 00:07:31,920 and the smaller right shift key 167 00:07:31,920 --> 00:07:33,780 is a little bit awkward to hit. 168 00:07:33,780 --> 00:07:34,080 Honestly, though, it was fine. 169 00:07:34,080 --> 00:07:38,440 It was probably A-minus material a couple years ago, 170 00:07:38,440 --> 00:07:40,540 but nowadays, it's just a B+, 171 00:07:40,540 --> 00:07:41,860 since this is another area 172 00:07:41,860 --> 00:07:45,180 where the competition has really stepped up their game. 173 00:07:45,180 --> 00:07:47,340 Another area the competition has caught up 174 00:07:47,340 --> 00:07:49,480 is in the battery life department. 175 00:07:49,480 --> 00:07:51,760 With Alienware and Razer now boasting 176 00:07:51,760 --> 00:07:53,440 large-capacity batteries, 177 00:07:53,440 --> 00:07:56,440 the 94-watt-hour unit in the Aero 15 X9 178 00:07:56,440 --> 00:07:58,980 isn't quite as impressive anymore, 179 00:07:58,980 --> 00:08:03,980 but given that 94 watt-hours is getting very close, 180 00:08:04,080 --> 00:08:07,240 to the limit to what you can carry onto a plane, 181 00:08:07,240 --> 00:08:09,400 there really wasn't a ton of room 182 00:08:09,400 --> 00:08:11,540 for upward mobility for Gigabyte here, 183 00:08:11,540 --> 00:08:14,300 and the around six hours that you get 184 00:08:14,300 --> 00:08:17,000 is still darn impressive. 185 00:08:17,000 --> 00:08:19,040 Honestly, it only gets beaten by laptops 186 00:08:19,040 --> 00:08:20,640 that have sacrificed performance, 187 00:08:20,640 --> 00:08:22,740 making this a very potent machine 188 00:08:22,740 --> 00:08:27,000 for people that need both power and potency on the go. 189 00:08:27,000 --> 00:08:29,540 As for upgradability, opening up the Aero 15, 190 00:08:29,540 --> 00:08:32,600 we get easy access to both RAM and storage, 191 00:08:32,600 --> 00:08:33,440 along with that massive battery, and, of course, the battery. 192 00:08:33,440 --> 00:08:36,880 Which is pretty much all we can really hope for 193 00:08:36,880 --> 00:08:39,960 in a laptop like this, so full marks there. 194 00:08:39,960 --> 00:08:41,660 And all that means, the Aero 15 195 00:08:41,660 --> 00:08:43,520 is sitting in pretty good shape here, 196 00:08:43,520 --> 00:08:45,700 standing up to basically every test 197 00:08:45,700 --> 00:08:47,220 we could think to throw at it, 198 00:08:47,220 --> 00:08:50,940 even if it didn't blow me away at any point. 199 00:08:50,940 --> 00:08:53,440 Which leads us perfectly into the conclusion. 200 00:08:53,440 --> 00:08:55,760 If money was no object, honestly, 201 00:08:55,760 --> 00:08:58,020 I would take either the Razer Blade 15 202 00:08:58,020 --> 00:09:01,000 or Alienware M15 over this. 203 00:09:01,000 --> 00:09:02,600 But, unfortunately for all of us, 204 00:09:02,600 --> 00:09:03,440 we're gonna have to wait and see. 205 00:09:03,440 --> 00:09:05,760 Plus, money is a thing. 206 00:09:05,760 --> 00:09:10,460 And this is where the Aero 15 X9 really flexes. 207 00:09:10,460 --> 00:09:12,440 With our recommended config coming in 208 00:09:12,440 --> 00:09:16,480 at $150 less than the Alienware M15, 209 00:09:16,480 --> 00:09:20,160 and $250 less than the Razer Blade, 210 00:09:20,160 --> 00:09:22,220 with double the storage to boot, 211 00:09:22,220 --> 00:09:24,680 it's really hard not to get behind 212 00:09:24,680 --> 00:09:29,300 the awesome versatility of this unit from Gigabyte. 213 00:09:29,300 --> 00:09:31,680 So thanks to Joan for sponsoring this video. 214 00:09:31,680 --> 00:09:33,440 Their meeting room booking devices, 215 00:09:33,440 --> 00:09:36,700 well, make booking meetings in your meeting rooms 216 00:09:36,700 --> 00:09:37,800 a lot easier. 217 00:09:37,800 --> 00:09:39,860 With a Joan device outside your meeting room 218 00:09:39,860 --> 00:09:40,760 or conference room, 219 00:09:40,760 --> 00:09:42,840 you can schedule a meeting from anywhere 220 00:09:42,840 --> 00:09:44,760 and then not have to worry about someone 221 00:09:44,760 --> 00:09:46,160 nabbing the conference room 222 00:09:46,160 --> 00:09:48,560 right as you need to go in for a call, 223 00:09:48,560 --> 00:09:51,140 to conduct an interview, or to do a presentation. 224 00:09:51,140 --> 00:09:53,440 It easily syncs with all major calendars, 225 00:09:53,440 --> 00:09:54,860 it's completely wireless, 226 00:09:54,860 --> 00:09:58,520 and the Joan board gets up to a year of battery life. 227 00:09:58,520 --> 00:10:01,320 So check them out over at getjoan.com 228 00:10:01,320 --> 00:10:02,800 and use code Linus8 to get 8% off. 229 00:10:03,440 --> 00:10:06,340 Show it to your colleagues and or your boss. 230 00:10:06,340 --> 00:10:07,400 So thanks for watching, guys. 231 00:10:07,400 --> 00:10:09,820 If this video sucked, you know what to do. 232 00:10:09,820 --> 00:10:11,260 But if it was 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