Gigabyte Aero 15 is VR Ready in an Impossibly Thin Package

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Gigabyte's newest laptop is a jack of all trades that's VR ready, and boy, is it a stunner. The Aero 15, releasing today exclusively on Newegg for $1,899, is primed for creatives, gamers and anyone else who wants to combine serious power with ultra-light portability.

The laptop comes armed with an Intel Core i7-7700HQ CPU, Nvidia GeForce GTX 1060 GPU with 6GB of VRAM, 512GB  SSD and 16GB DDR4 RAM. It has plenty of ports for external displays and peripherals, including USB, Thunderbolt 3, HDMI, and a MiniDisplay ort. At 14 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches, it's on a par with the Razer Blade, another thin-and-light VR-ready PC. It comes in three colors: green, orange and black (we're partial to the green here at Laptop Mag).

In an early hands-on, we were blown away by the 15-inch, FHD display (a UHD version will be available in June). It's surrounded by a bezel just five millimeters thin, rivaling the InfinityEdge displays on the XPS 13 and XPS 15. Of course, that meant no room for the webcam, which is on the hinge. The screen is the first with X-Rite Pantone certification, so we're expecting high marks on our screen tests for color accuracy and sRGB gamut reproduction. Each screen will be individually calibrated before shipping, the company told us.

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The keyboard is a stunner, too. Gigabyte's new Fusion keyboard software allows users to turn any key into a macro key. Additionally, each key can be individually backlit with a different color.

We're looking forward to testing the Aero 15 in our labs, and we'll have a full review soon. After our preliminary hands-on, it certainly looks like a contender that can stand up to some of our favorite laptops.

Photos: Andrew E. Freedman / Laptop Mag

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Andrew E. Freedman