Gigabyte P56XT Packs Plenty of Performance and a Swappable Drive

Designed for gamers who need plenty of power for high-end titles and VR, the 15.6-inch P56XT features Nvidia GTX 1070 graphics, a quad-core Core i7 CPU, an optional 4K display, and 16GB of RAM. Starting at $1,899 this laptop supports not one, not two but four different storage drives, including one unit you can pull in and out without turning the system off.

The P56XT has a conservative black chassis with a few orange accents. At 15.1 x 10.6 x 1.2 inches and 5.7 pounds, it's not very light or portable, but is about the same size as other 15-inch gaming laptops with similar horsepower.

The RGB Fusion keyboard gives the inside of the laptop a more vibrant look Using the bundled Fusion app, you can customize the backlighting per key or enable effects such as waves and ripples.

The 15.6-inch display is available with either a 1080p or 4K panel, with the 4K panel adding $200 to the price. A Gigabyte rep said that the higher-resolution panel can display up to 72 percent of the NTSC color gamut.

We spent a few moments checking out the P56XT at Gigabyte's booth and were pleased with its snappy, colorful keys. However, the main feature which tickled our fancy was the hot swappable storage drive bay. By default, the front iip of the laptop contains a DVD drive, but by flicking an unlock switch on the bottom, you can pull it out and replace it with the 2.5-inch hard drive or SSD of your choice. Out of the box, the P56XT will come with a 256GB SSD and a 2TB hard drive together.

The Gigabyte P56XT will be available in June starting at $1,899.

New Sabre 15 Pro and Sabre 17

At its Computex demo suite this week, Gigabyte showed off two new members of its Sabre line of mid-range gaming rigs: the Sabre 17 and Sabre 15 Pro. Both systems are designed to affordable, with starting prices ranging from $1,149 to $1,500.

The Sabre 17 sports a 17-inch 1080p display, Core i7 CPU and either Nvidia GTX 1050 graphics ($1,149) or GTX 1050 Ti graphics ($1,299). It weighs 5.9 pounds and is 1.1 inches thick.

The Sabre 15 Pro is a step up from the Sabre 15 that Gigabyte released earlier this year. With an estimated starting price around $1,500, the Pro has a GTX 1060 GPU and a more premium design than the original with a textured pattern on the deck and triangle-shaped edges on the front lip.

Both Sabres should be available in June.

Avram Piltch
Online Editorial Director
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.