A NEW Level of Gimmick? Gigabyte Aero 15 x9 Review
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2019-05-06
·
1,767 words · ~8 min read
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When we last looked at the Gigabyte Aero 15,
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we concluded that it was the perfect thin gaming laptop
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because, well, at the time,
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it was pretty much the only thin gaming laptop
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that didn't make a bunch of other stupid compromises
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in the name of just raw performance.
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But since then, the field has opened up a fair bit
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with Razer refreshing the Blade,
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Alienware bringing out the M15,
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and ASUS continually refining their Zephyrus lineup.
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So then, Gigabyte's response to all this mounting pressure?
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AI.
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AI?
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AI laptop?
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What even is AI laptop?
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Just keep reading, it's down there.
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Just go.
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Oh, we get to that later?
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Yeah.
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No, okay.
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So then, AI laptop.
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Can a feature that we called the worst demo at CES 2019
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possibly make
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the Aero 15 X9 stand out from the crowd?
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And failing that, is the overall design still solid at least?
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Looking at the Aero 15,
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the overall design is reminiscent of the gaming laptops
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of several years ago, which I guess makes sense
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since it hasn't gotten a chassis update for about two years.
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So, let's take a look at the Aero 15.
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With that said, I can't really complain about the ID
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from an objective standpoint.
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The screen bezels are super narrow,
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the chassis is nice and rigid,
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and the design is reasonably understated,
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so it won't give away how much raw gaming performance
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is inside if you worry about that sort of thing
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in your board meetings.
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Sticking with a more traditional design
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also means more traditional IO.
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Quite literally, more of it.
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Along the sides, we find loads of USB type A's,
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an HDMI port, and even a full-sized SD card reader
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so you can go dongle-free if you want.
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Then, they also threw in Thunderbolt 3
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if you're more of a dongle-embracer.
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So, that's all pretty normal so far.
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But where the Aero 15 is exceptional is under the hood.
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Ours comes equipped with an Intel Core i9-8950HK,
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yes, that's the overclockable one,
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and an NVIDIA RTX 2070 Max-Q,
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meaning that it packs, consistently,
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considerably more punch than I would expect,
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and even, in most cases, recommend,
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in a chassis this slim.
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Like, we have seen much thicker laptops than this
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fail to cool this CPU adequately.
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And as for how Gigabyte fares, ugh.
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Although the Aero does have a better showing
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than the MacBook Pro,
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it only narrowly edges out the Core i7s
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in its competition in most tasks,
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and occasionally even gets straight-up beaten,
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all while hitting the thermal limits of the chip.
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So, what this basically means
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is you should buy the i7 model
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to get similar performance for less monies.
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It might not sound as sexy and exciting,
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but it will still be incredibly competent
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at video editing, gaming,
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and really whatever you wanna throw at it.
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As for the RTX 2070 Max-Q,
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well, since this is our first laptop with one of these,
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we can't say exactly how it'll compare
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to other RTX 2070 Max-Qs,
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but we can say that this is the best laptop we've ever had.
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So, let's take a look.
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So, what we can say is that it performs pretty darn well.
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Expect to be getting lots of frames in your games
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with anything but the heaviest AAA titles with RTX enabled,
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being capable of hitting the 144 hertz refresh rate
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of the built-in display,
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many of them even on ultra settings.
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Perhaps more impressively is the fact
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that our Aero 15 X9 managed to do this
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while maintaining a sort of high,
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but still very reasonable noise level.
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Okay, then.
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What about the apparent star of the show?
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AI.
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Can that make the Core i9 cool
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through machine learning sorcery?
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Or give our mere RTX 2070
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the graphical performance of a Titan?
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No.
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Actually, everything we've shown you guys so far
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has been with AI enabled.
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And unfortunately, contrary to the claims
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that Gigabyte was making back at CES,
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it does not give you any extra performance.
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But that doesn't mean that it's pure BS either.
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See, the AI will optimize the system
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based on what tasks you're currently performing.
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So if it sees that you're playing a game,
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it will optimize for GPU performance and up the fans.
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During a render, it will optimize for CPU.
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And then when you're just working on a Word document,
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it will optimize for low acoustics, and so on and so forth.
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Now, all of these modes are available
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on basically every gaming or professional laptop.
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It's not like there's a laptop on the market.
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But according to Gigabyte anyway,
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80% of users never bother changing the modes,
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which basically means that having AI enabled
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is not gonna be giving you 120% performance.
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It just also means that you'll be getting
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your 100%-ish performance at a lower power level
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and or noise envelope without ever having to think
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about optimizing any settings.
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So then, now that our expectations have been adjusted,
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and there really were some outlandish claims
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they were making at the show,
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it is much more clear to me how this technology
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can deliver a very real benefit to the average user.
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And the good news kind of keeps rolling here.
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Gigabyte really hit the nail on the head with the display.
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Its 144-hertz refresh rate makes it excellent for gaming,
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and its Pantone color calibration makes it even suitable
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for prosumer-level photo or video work.
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The only other thing
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that I might want, I guess,
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is G-Sync for the hardcore gamers,
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but for the eagle-eyed among you
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who are bothered by the pedestrian 1080p resolution,
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you can simply go for the 4K 60-hertz panel if you prefer.
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It, too, comes Pantone certified.
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Where Gigabyte misses the nail, however,
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and goes straight for the thumb is the webcam.
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Thanks to its spectacular placement below the screen,
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you're enjoying just a tremendous view of my nose hairs,
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and making matters worse, I lied.
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There's nothing spectacular about any of it.
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The image quality is unexceptional at best,
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and it doesn't support Windows Hello.
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It's just not spectacular at all.
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And I know I'm harping on this a bit here,
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but holy crap, stop doing this.
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There are plenty of other solutions.
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The trackpad is all right, though.
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It's glass-topped, doesn't flex over much,
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it's a decent size, and it uses the Windows Precision drivers,
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which checks all the boxes for me,
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putting it, shockingly, in, like, what, second place
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for gaming laptop trackpads that we've looked at recently?
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Not bad, just don't screw it up, and it's all good.
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What isn't quite as good, though, is the keyboard.
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It's only fine.
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The force required to press the keys is a little high,
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despite the switches having no real tactile bump.
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The key stabilization could be better,
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and the smaller right shift key
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is a little bit awkward to hit.
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Honestly, though, it was fine.
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It was probably A-minus material a couple years ago,
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but nowadays, it's just a B+,
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since this is another area
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where the competition has really stepped up their game.
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Another area the competition has caught up
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is in the battery life department.
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With Alienware and Razer now boasting
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large-capacity batteries,
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the 94-watt-hour unit in the Aero 15 X9
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isn't quite as impressive anymore,
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but given that 94 watt-hours is getting very close,
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to the limit to what you can carry onto a plane,
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there really wasn't a ton of room
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for upward mobility for Gigabyte here,
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and the around six hours that you get
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is still darn impressive.
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Honestly, it only gets beaten by laptops
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that have sacrificed performance,
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making this a very potent machine
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for people that need both power and potency on the go.
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As for upgradability, opening up the Aero 15,
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we get easy access to both RAM and storage,
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along with that massive battery, and, of course, the battery.
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Which is pretty much all we can really hope for
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in a laptop like this, so full marks there.
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And all that means, the Aero 15
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is sitting in pretty good shape here,
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standing up to basically every test
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we could think to throw at it,
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even if it didn't blow me away at any point.
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Which leads us perfectly into the conclusion.
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If money was no object, honestly,
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I would take either the Razer Blade 15
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or Alienware M15 over this.
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But, unfortunately for all of us,
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we're gonna have to wait and see.
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Plus, money is a thing.
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And this is where the Aero 15 X9 really flexes.
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With our recommended config coming in
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at $150 less than the Alienware M15,
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and $250 less than the Razer Blade,
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with double the storage to boot,
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it's really hard not to get behind
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the awesome versatility of this unit from Gigabyte.
9:29
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9:58
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Show it to your colleagues and or your boss.
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