Item: GIGABYTE AORUS 15G
Rating: 5
Author: Michael Aulia

GIGABYTE AORUS 15G Review – GIGABYTE AORUS gaming laptops are the most recent gaming laptops in the market. Designed and manufactured by GIGABYTE, the AORUS family is a powerful gaming laptop with customisable options: processor type, screen size, and graphics card from the NVIDIA RTX20 Series.

The machine I have is the GIGABYTE AORUS 15G (AORUS 15G XB-8AU2130MP model, to be exact) and comes with quite a beefy spec.

The full specifications are:

15.6″ with 240Hz panel, FHD 1920×1080 IGZO Anti-glare Display LCD
10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H (2.3GHz~5.1GHz)
16GB (2x 8GB) DDR4 3200 MHz
GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER
512GB PCIe M.2 SSD

Design wise, the AORUS 15G has one of the slimmest bezels in a gaming laptop (3mm bezel) but this is at the expense of moving the webcam on the keyboard area like the HUAWEI MateBook X Pro I reviewed recently. This creates a rather awkward angle when making video calls but I’d take that over thick bezels. Thanks to the slim bezel, gaming immersion has definitely been improved, along if you are planning to watch movies on this laptop. Plus, you can easily close the webcam lens for privacy on the AORUS 15G.

The 240Hz gaming display offers one of the highest refresh rates which makes gameplay really smooth if you can achieve the fps. On games like CS:GO, this is definitely achievable on the GeForce RTX 2070 SUPER. Other modern games may require lowering down some graphics settings but I’m happy enough with 120-150 fps when playing Overwatch. The high refresh rate means no screen tearing and lag, which is a winning factor when playing online competitive games.

For my detailed coverage on gaming with the GIGABYTE AORUS 15G, make sure to check my other article out but here is a short gameplay of Modern Warfare (with Ray Tracing on).

The display also has 72% NTSC gamut which is important for having an immersive gaming experience. Scenes are more realistic with high contrast and brightness, and vibrant colours. Each display is also tuned by X-Rite™ Pantone calibration for colour accuracy.

45% vs 72% colour gamut difference:

Connection wise, AORUS 15G offers a variety of ports and connections: 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 (Type A), Thunderbolt 3 (Type C), 3.5mm headphone/microphone combo jack, mini DP 1.4, HDMI 2.0, RJ-45 (for wired/Ethernet connection – more stable network), and a UHS-II SD Card Reader to transfer photo files easily from a DSLR.

With all these, you can hook the laptop to any modern TVs and monitors, have the most stable gameplay experience with either Ethernet & Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (I’m currently reviewing D-Link’s Wi-Fi 6 flagship router, the DIR-X5460), and have a solid gaming experience with either a wired gaming headset or Bluetooth option (5.0).

Storage wise, my AORUS 15G comes with 512GB NVMe M.2 SSD but the machine also has another extra empty M.2 slot for expansion in the future. Using CrystalDisk Benchmark to check for the drive’s read and write speed give me 2,500 MB/s read and 1,125 MB/s write speed. It’s not the fastest NVMe available in the market, but still is fast – especially compared to a SATA SSD that usually has around 550MB/s read speed max.

One of the AORUS 15G highlights is the mechanical keyboard with RGB-per-key OMRON switches. It is definitely one of the best laptop keyboards I’ve ever used and typed on. On my desktop, I’ve reviewed tons of mechanical gaming keyboard and it is good to see that mechanical switches have made their way to a gaming laptop like the AORUS 15G too.

The switches provide a really good tactile feedback not just for typing, but also for gaming. Plus, they are also individually-backlit with RGB, truly a gamer’s keyboard. The keyboard also includes a numpad, which is quite surprising on a laptop. The good side is that it’s easier to crunch numbers on a spreadsheet but on the other hand, the keys are smaller compared to what you are probably used to.

The trackpack has a built-in fingerprint sensor on the top left, making it easier to log on to Windows through Windows Hello.

AORUS 15G has a really good cooling system, named the WINDFORCE Infinity Cooling System. In my experience with using the laptop for daily work and gaming for more than 2 weeks, heat is never a problem. The laptop gets the air intake from under the chassis and pumps out hot air constantly through the 4 exhaust vents. It has a great airflow overall and the machine never shuts down due to overheating even when playing graphics-demanding game like Modern Warfare with the highest setting and Ray Tracing turned on.

GIGABYTE AORUS 15G Review Conclusion

As a gaming laptop, GIGABYTE AORUS 15G is packed with killer features for gaming: up to 300Hz refresh rate with 72% NTSC gamut, powerful Intel processor, Ray Tracing with NVIDIA RTX series, a mechanical keyboard, NVMe SSD, and a really good cooling system. Compared to my old gaming laptop, ASUS ROG GL502VT, which weighs 2.2kg, GIGABYE AORUS 15G weighs the same but contains so much more power.

If you are planning to grab the GIGABYTE AORUS 15G as a gaming laptop, you will not be disappointed for sure. It’s powerful and offers immersive gaming experience thanks to the slim bezel, high refresh rate, and 72% NTSC gamut.

GIGABYTE AORUS 15G XB-8AU2130MP retails for AU$3,799 at MWave Australia but available in many different configurations. Make sure to check your local retailers to see availability and options.

By the way, they are having a massive Spring Sale with selected laptops (including AORUS 15G) and can save you up to $800 off plus free prize to redeem! Check out their Spring Sale page for more details. Promotion period is from 11-27 September.