Aorus X Series Laptops Get New RGB Keyboards, Better Cooling

Some of the most powerful gaming laptops are about to get a whole lot cooler in more ways than one. At Computex 2016, Gigabyte showed off new versions of its Aorus X7 Pro and X5 gaming laptops, complete with customizable RGB keyboards, more-responsive displays, next-generation Nvidia graphics chips and better air-in-take.

When we reviewed the Aorus X5S v5 this year, we found the simple white backlight on its keyboard classy but boring. However, in the third quarter of this year, all of the Aorus X series laptops -- including the VR-centric X7 DT -- will get refreshes that include a new Fusion RGB keyboard, which provides different color backlights for each key, using more than 16 million possible shades. In a brief hands-on at Gigabyte's demo area, we saw how the included Fusion utility will allow you to set different light animation patterns such as "wave," "pulse" or "breathing.” It also includes effects that only light up when you hit the keys.

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Gigabyte also plans to solve one other problem we had with its current-gen X5: the laptop’s high skin temperature. A company rep told us that the new X7 and X5 models have increased air-intake to help them keep cool while you game.

Gigabyte is upgrading the panels on the X7 and X5 so that they refresh at 120Hz with a 5ms response time. The laptops will continue to offer the sharp 4K resolution we loved on the current-gen X5.

When it comes to design, Aorus isn’t messing with a good thing, keeping both the X7 Pro and X5 laptops sleek aluminum chassis and glowing eagle logos intact. Both will also continue to come with quad-Core Core i7 CPUs, speedy NVMe SSDs, high-end Nvidia graphics and plenty of RAM.

While Gigabyte has not officially announced pricing, a rep told us that the X5 will probably start at around $2,399 while the X7 Pro will go for approximately $300 more. Both should ship sometime in August.

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The official Geeks Geek, as his weekly column is titled, Avram Piltch has guided the editorial and production of Laptopmag.com since 2007. With his technical knowledge and passion for testing, Avram programmed several of LAPTOP's real-world benchmarks, including the LAPTOP Battery Test. He holds a master's degree in English from NYU.

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