Summer brings tons of outdoor fun, but some days, it's just too hot to be outside. On those days, the best plan is to kick back with your favorite games on a speedy, powerful gaming laptop. 

Right now, you can nab the Gigabyte Aorus 15 for just $1,399 at Best Buy with a Plus membership — that's a total savings of $300! With this beast of a gaming laptop — equipped with an Intel Ultra 7 155H CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU, and 16GB of RAM — you can play your go-to AAA games on high settings.

This gaming laptop's sharp 15.6-inch QHD (2560 x 1440), 165Hz display will make your games look and feel buttery smooth.

If you're not a Plus member at Best Buy, you can snag the same Gigabyte Aorus 15 configuration for $1,399 at Amazon. Or, if you're looking for a less powerful laptop for more basic daily tasks, check out our other best laptop deals for more options.

Today's best Gigabyte Aorus 15 deal

One of the more interesting developments in monitor technology at CES in January and Computex in June this year is the expansion of QD-OLED panels. 

QD-OLED is a sub-category of OLED display technology that uses quantum dots that emit color when receiving an electric current. Like OLED panels, QD-OLED displays are also incredibly vibrant and feature deep black shades, but QD-OLED panels can get even brighter than OLED displays. So seeing so many different QD-OLED monitors in the tradeshow circuit this year can only mean better display options for those who have the money to pay for a more expensive panel.

One of the newer options on the QD-OLED side is the Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ gaming monitor. Boasting Vesa Display HDR TrueBlack 400, bright vivid colors, a 144Hz refresh rate, and 0.03 ms response time, the CO49DQ gaming monitor could end up as one of our best gaming monitors.

Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ monitor: Pricing and configurations

There is only one configuration of the Aorus CO49QD monitor. For $1,099 you get a 49-inch DQHD (5,120 x 1,440) super ultrawide QD-OLED gaming monitor with 144Hz refresh rate and 0.03ms GTG response time.

The Aorus CO49DQ is available for purchase through Newegg.

Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ monitor: Design

The Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ has a minimalist V-shaped monitor stand, though it is VESA mount compatible if you’d like to fit it to an armature or alternative stand instead. As a super ultrawide monitor, it does have a pretty generous curve to the display panel. However, it isn’t a very severe curve so you have a bit of range on the viewing angle.

At 24.8 pounds, the CO49DQ is heavy, 18.3 pounds of that is the display, while the stand weighs 6.5 pounds. Measuring 47 x 22 x 10.29 inches with the stand, there's a good chance it will dominate your desk. However, if your desk can fit the monitor, you should still have enough space for all of your gaming accessories. 

Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ monitor: Ports

There are plenty of ports on the Aorus CO49DQ monitor so you should have no problem connecting all of your gaming accessories straight to the monitor. The gaming monitor features two HDMI 2.1 ports, one DisplayPort 1.4 connection, one USB Type-C upstream port with power delivery up to 18W, two USB Type-A 3.0 downstream ports, one USB Type-A upstream port, and a 3.5mm audio jack.

However, if you need more ports we recently added a gaming docking station to our list of the best docking stations.

Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ monitor: Display

If the Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ monitor holds true to the standards set by other QD-OLED monitors, it will be one of the nicest gaming displays you can get your hands on. Gigabyte has rated the CO49QD as a Vesa Display HDR TrueBlack 400 panel with 99% coverage of the DCI-P3 color gamut and a refresh rate of 144Hz with a 0.03 ms response time.

Of course, we’ll need to wait until we get a review unit into our labs and tested with a colorimeter to confirm, but the technology does have a reputation for producing bright, vibrant displays for good reason.

Outlook

The Gigabyte Aorus CO49DQ monitor has a lot going for it, when it comes to providing some of the latest monitor tech to the gaming community. With a VESA HDR TrueBlack 400 rating, 0.03ms response time, 144Hz refresh rate, DQHD (5,120 x 1,440) resolution, and 99% DCI-P3 gamut coverage there is plenty to recommend this gaming monitor to your wishlist. 

And while QD-OLED panels aren’t cheap, at $1,099 the CO49DQ gaming monitor isn’t the priciest out there. Of course, to determine just how well it holds up to its promises we will have to wait until we spend a bit more time with the monitor and run it through our benchmarks. But based on what we've seen so far, things are looking pretty good for this Aorus display.

In some years, there hasn’t been a lot at Computex that’s truly new. 2024 is not one of those years. We got new AI chipsets from AMD and Intel and a closer look at Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus silicon. In addition to the AI takeover of Computex, companies went all out in unveiling new handheld gaming PCs, and we also saw a large investment in the sim racing space from companies like Corsair and Thermaltake.

If there was ever a year to pay wrapt attention to Computex news, this was the one.

I've spent the last week speaking to every major brand and getting my hands on every product I could, so for everyone who couldn’t make it out to Taiwan, here’s our list of the top ten products from Computex this year.

Acer Predator SpatialLabs View 27

Acer has shown off the Spatiallabs 3D technology before, and we are completely blown away every single time. This year at Computex, Acer set up two Predator SpatialLabs monitors on the show floor to let fans duke it out in Street Fighter 6 in 3D. It doesn’t sound too impressive, but the Spatiallabs 3D eye-tracking has only gotten smoother since the 2022 Predator Helios Spatiallabs edition.

Asus ROG Concept Dali

The longer I looked at it, the more impressive the Asus ROG Concept Dali got. The e-ink cover display may only have six colors, but they look so much better than any e-ink I’ve ever seen. This laptop is only a concept for now, but if enough people demand it, we could see a version of the Concept Dali go into production.

MSI MEG 321URX monitor

MSI bills the MEG 321URX as the world’s first AI monitor, and it very well may be. The monitor saw some attention back at CES earlier this year, but personally I think the Monster Hunter: Rise demo at Computex made a better case for why you’d want a monitor with an NPU in it. In terms of PvP games, the enemy detection features could present an unfair advantage, but in a coop game like Monster Hunter, it just seems like a logical next step in monitor tech.

Asus ROG Harpe Aim Extreme

The Asus ROG Harpe Ace Extreme is one of those products where picking up the demo unit on the Computex show floor, I assumed it was just a dummy mouse because it was so light it didn’t even feel like Asus put a battery in it. It’s a carbon-fiber ultralight mouse designed for competitive eSports players who need quick reaction times. But its also so light it could be a very convenient travel mouse for those looking to save weight in their carry-on luggage.

Corsair Sim Racing

This is still just a prototype, so Corsair has yet to give this sim racing cockpit a name, but it is a fully customizable, modular system. The pedal block and seat can each move, the racing wheel can also be extended closer to the driver, there are slots along the outside rails to connect a shifter to either side of the cockpit, and there’s even space for your gaming and streaming accessories like an Elgato Stream Deck. The thing that really sold me on this cockpit is its height range. Supporting gamers as small as 4’8” to over 6’. The frame will also fit most existing sim racing gear, so you can bring over your favorite accessories. It can also support up to 4 monitors or a 65-inch TV.

MSI Claw 8 AI+

The Lunar Lake update to the MSI Claw was first unveiled this week alongside a Fallout-themed version of the current 7-inch Claw. While we’ve had some difficulties with the base model of MSI’s handheld, the promised updates like an 8-inch IPS display and 80-watt-hour battery coming with the new version later this year are enough to have us excited regardless.

Drop x Lord of the Rings keyboards

Drop’s customizable keyboards are an enthusiast’s dream. Not only can you swap the case materials between ultralight carbon fiber to 24-karat brass, but you can also add weights to the base, hot-swap switch plates and keycaps, and change out the gaskets. Drop recently partnered with The Lord of The Rings for a series of Elvish, Dwarvish, and Black Speech keyboards and keycaps. They even have artisan keycaps styled after The One Ring and a Barad-Dûr keycap holder. 

Acemagic X-1 dual-screen

Dual-screen laptops have kind of decided on a set design with a screen on the top and bottom of the traditional clamshell form factor. The Acemagic X-1 is different. It opens horizontally on a 360-degree hinge with a keyboard below the primary display. Controls on the keyboard’s function row allow you to mirror the display, extend the display, or display only on one screen. What makes the X-1 so interesting is that, with a 360-degree hinge, it becomes the ideal laptop for running presentations, with the second display flipped around to the back of the first.

SCUF Nomad

The SCUF Nomad is hoping to break the hold that the Backbone has on the mobile gaming community. Optimized for iPhones, the Nomad takes everything SCUF knows about gamepads and translates it into an adjustable phone controller with comfortable grips, hall-effect joysticks, and custom-mappable buttons. It’s the most comfortable phone controller I’ve held so far.

Gigabyte AI Top

Okay yes this is a desktop and normally we at Laptop Mag don’t really cover those. But the Gigabyte AI Top is a full desktop ecosystem designed to allow small developers to train their own large language models and small language models without needing to rent AI processing from a cloud computing service or buy a whole server farm. It’s a more budget and security-conscious way for small developers to create and train their own AI software, which could lead to better AI programs for the rest of us to use on our personal computers. Which makes it noteworthy all on its own.

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If you're in the market for a new gaming laptop, don't sleep on Gigabyte. This brand offers a range of powerful gamer and creator laptops at an affordable price. Currently, you can get the Gigabyte Aorus 15 with RTX 4070 for $1,299 at Newegg with rebate. It usually costs $1,649, so that's $350 in savings, making it the lowest price ever for this Gigabyte laptop. Out of all the gaming laptop deals I've spotted so far this year, this is one of the most epic. It's also $50 cheaper than Amazon's current price for the exact same laptop. 

Newegg further sweetens this deal with an extra $20 off when you pair your purchase with an MSI 24-inch monitor (valued at $110).  That's a total savings of $370 for this gaming laptop with monitor bundle.

Best Gigabyte Aorus 15 deal

Amid the hustle and bustle of Computex 2023, in Gigabyte’s booth sat an unassuming system. This silvery fox sat along the edge of the company’s laptop display, in the shadow of the flashier Aorus gaming laptops. But one glance at the Aero 14 OLED and I knew Gigabyte was onto something — at least if you count yourself as a creative professional.  Jam packed with ports, a 14-inch, 2.8K OLED display and a powerful Intel processor coupled with an Nvidia RTX 40 series GPU, the Aero 14 OLED could be the new king of content creator laptops. 

Pricing and configuration

Gigabyte is staying mum on the pricing for both the Aero 14 OLED and the Aero 16 OLED (yes, there’s a 16-inch iteration). They’re even being a little secretive on the specs. But I did glean a few choice specs. Starting with the Aero 14 OLED, the notebook will be available with either a 12th or 13th Gen Core i5 or Core i7 processor with up to 16GB of RAM, a 14-inch, 2.8K OLED display and an undisclosed Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPU. 

The Aero 16 OLED offers a boost in power with either a 13th Gen Intel Core i7 or Core i9 CPU, dual DDR5 Channel RAM slots and Dual Gen4 SSD slots, and a 16-inch, 16:10 aspect ratio 3840 x 2400 OLED display.

Design

What can I say? Compared to the behemoths it was next to, the Aero 14 OLED is straight up adorable. A weigh-in of 3.3 pounds puts the Aero 14 in the ultraportable class with the likes of the MacBook Air (2.7 pounds), Dell XPS 13 Plus (2.7 pounds) and Acer Swift 14 (2.9 pounds) — albeit on the heavier side of the spectrum. 

Meanwhile, the Aero 16 OLED lands itself square in thin-and-light territory with a weight of 4.2 pounds. That’s lighter than the 4.8-pound MacBook Pro 16 and 5.3-pound Dell XPS 17, but heavier than the 2.5-pound LG Gram 16. 

Both of the Aero’s are made from silver CNC-aluminum that has just the slightest touch of pearlescence. The lids are bare save for the engraved white Aero logo. The laptops’ exterior offer more of that silvery metallic goodness offset by the full-sized white island-style keyboard. It’s a nice touch that helps both systems stand out from the usual MacBook clones. 

Ports

As befitting of a content creation system, both the Aero 14 and 16 OLED offer plenty of ports, my favorite of which is the full HDMI 2.0 port hiding in the rear of the devices alongside a full USB Type-A port. A pair of Thunderbolt 4 ports sit on the right with a USB Type-C port, a microSD card reader slot and a headset jack on the left. 

And while those are plenty of ports in this day and age, if you need a bit of port expansion, check out our pages for best USB Type-C hubs and Best Laptop docking stations. 

Display

When you’re a content creator, nothing’s better than a vivid, sharp OLED display, except a color-calibrated OLED panel. Gigabyte knows what you want and decked out both the Aero 14 and 16 OLED with the aforementioned color-calibrated screens.

According to Gigabyte, both panels have a Delta-E score of less than 1. And with 0 being the ideal, I’m eager to get both laptops in front of our colorimeter to put them to the test. But to the naked eye, each screen, whether it’s the Aero 14’s 14-inch 2.8K (2880 x 1800) panel or the Aero 16’s 4K (3840 x 2400) display, both of which have a 16:10 aspect ratio, deliver deep coloration and crisp detail. 

Battery Life

Now here’s where things get interesting. For the Aero 16 OLED, Gigabyte estimates a 7.5-hour battery life. That’s feasible, especially with a discrete graphics card and a 4K display. When I looked for the Aero 14’s battery life, all I could ascertain was that the unit has USB Type-C fast charging capabilities. The vagueness is worrying. However, I could be overthinking things. But now, I’m chomping at the bit to see how long both systems last on our battery life test. 

Bottom Line

The Gigabyte Aero 14 is an intriguing little system. It’s got a sleek, elegant look backed up by a fair or great amount of power depending on the configuration. It also has a super high-res panel that I’m eager to spend several hours getting lost in. But that’s not to slight the Aero 16 which with either a Core i7 or Core i9 and an Nvidia GeForce RTX GPU is a powerhouse in its own right — so much so that some of the more popular brands might want to watch their back. 

But this is all conjecture until we actually get the laptops in for testing, which I’m hoping will happen sooner than later. 

Plenty of Black Friday 2022 deals are already pouring in, with significant price cuts on some of the best gaming laptops around. Now, we've spotted an $800 price drop on this RTX 3070 Ti gaming laptop, and it's down to under $1,500.

Right now, the Gigabyte Aorus 15 XE5 with an RTX 3070 Ti GPU is just $1,499 at Best Buy. That's quite the plummet from its usual $2,299 price tag, and considering the powerful specs it packs, including a 12th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, and a 1TB SSD, this is one of the best early Black Friday deals we've seen.

Gaming laptops are getting price cuts left, right, and center, with this Asus ROG Zephyrus G14 with AMD Ryzen 7 falling to just $899 and this Acer Predator Helios 300 dropping to under $1,000. You can check out the latest deals in our best Black Friday laptop deals live blog, but for a killer gaming laptop offer, stick right here. 

The Gigabyte Aorus 15 XE5 boasts some powerful specs under the hood, including its 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12700H CPU, 16GB of DDR5 RAM, 1TB SSD for plenty of storage, and of course, the beasty RTX 3070 Ti GPU. With that kind of power, expect to play the latest PC games in all their glory. Plus, the 15.6-inch QHD (2560 x 1440) display it sports is sure the show off all those demanding graphics in fine detail.

Although we didn't test this exact model, we reviewed its sibling, the RTX 3070 Gigabyte Aorus 15G. We were impressed by the laptop's superior performance, graphics, and colorful panel. We expect the laptop in this deal to be on par if not surpass its previous-gen sibling in overall performance.

It isn't easy to find a gaming laptop with these specs at a price this low, and not even many of the best gaming laptops under $1,500 can keep up. This goes to show the Gigabyte Aorus 15 XE5 in this deal is definitely worth checking out.

On the hunt for even more offers? Check out these brilliant early Black Friday deals. 

Black Friday 2021 is kicking off with waves of spectacular deals on the best gaming laptops on the market, but if you're hunting for RTX 30 Series GPU power, look no further than Newegg's Gigabyte G5 gaming laptop offer.

The Gigabyte G5 with RTX 3060 GPU is now $150 off — taking the price down to $999 for a limited time at Newegg.

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Gigabyte G5 Black Friday deal

Black Friday always delivers stellar gaming laptop deals, but once you throw in an RTX 30 Series GPU for under $1,000, we can't let it go unnoticed. 

Up top, you have a spacious trackpad and keyboard for gameplay, alongside a gorgeous 15.6-inch 1080p display with a 144Hz refresh rate and powerful Nahimic 3D virtual 7.1 surround sound tech.

There’s an Intel Core i5-10500H processor with speeds of up to 4.5GHz, along with a beefy GeForce RTX 3060 GPU with 6GB GDDR6. Multitasking is handled with 16GB DDR4 RAM and the 512GB NVMe SSD is both spacious and allows for super-fast load times.

With a $150 price cut, the Gigabyte G5 is a fantastic gaming laptop. Whether you’re an enthusiast looking for a portable upgrade or on the hunt for your first gaming laptop, this is a great option.

Gigabyte is adding a new external GPU to its line of Aorus Gaming Box eGPUs, offering Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti power to supercharge your laptop's graphics — all you need is a Thunderbolt 3 port.

The Aorus RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Box (model GV-N308TIXEB-12GD) aims to boost a laptop's GPU performance when playing high-demanding PC games or heavy-duty photo or video editing. What's more, the external GPU is equipped with a "Waterforce" all-in-one water cooling system to keep things frosty when overclocking. 

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The Aorus eGPU comes with a few notable perks. Laptops with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity can easily connect to the Gaming Box, and users will also get additional ports including three USB-A 3.0 ports, two HDMI outputs, and three DisplayPort, along with an Ethernet slot.

Even better, Gigabyte claims it supports Power Delivery to charge your laptop while plugged in thanks to an 80-Plus Gold 550W power supply. Not to be forgotten, it also boasts RGB Fusion 2.0 to sync color lighting with other Aorus laptops and devices.

As spotted by sister site Tom's Hardware, the Gaming Box isn't currently available and there is no release date or price shown on Gigabyte's listing. However, the eGPU is expected to the launching soon seeing as it's on the company's website.

Gigabyte already offers similar eGPU Gaming Box units, including an RTX 3080 model and a beasty RTX 3090 edition. The latter is priced around $2,000, while the RTX 3080 can be found for $1,200. The RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Box is expected to bridge the gap between these two, so expect prices to be around $1,500.

External GPUs can bring the power of desktop GPUs to your laptop, but can also be pricey. If you are after the best gaming laptops today, you'll find quite a few of them are already equipped with strong RTX 30 series performance. 

Hardware companies including Asus, Gigabyte, and MSI have unveiled a list of devices, including laptops and motherboards, that will officially support Microsoft's upcoming Windows 11 OS.

With Windows 11's confusing TPM 2.0 requirements and the updated minimum Intel and AMD processors needed to run the new OS, notable manufacturers are now offering a list of approved devices that will support the operating system. In fact, Dell, HP, and Acer have already revealed devices that will run the new OS. 

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As spotted by Neowin, other big brands are doing the same. Asus, known for its incredible line of gaming laptops, published two lists. The first offers the hardware requirements and Windows 11-compatible Asus motherboards and processors, including for Intel and AMD.

The second list features PCs, laptops, workstations, AiO, and more devices that will be compatible with Microsoft's OS. With the hundreds currently listed, chances are owners of Asus laptops will be able to support Windows 11.

As for Gigabyte, the company announced that "lots of GIGABYTE Intel and AMD motherboards can pass the TPM 2.0 verification of the Windows 11." Gigabyte compatible motherboards include Intel's X299, C621, C232, C236, C246, 200, 300, 400, 500 lineups, as well as AMD's TRX40, 300, 400, 500 motherboards.

MSI also revealed a list of desktops that will run Windows 11, but the page appears to have been taken down at this time of writing. However, the company has published a Reddit post detailing the motherboards that will support the OS. According to Windows Central, MSI-compatible devices include Infinite, Codex, Trident, Aegis, and PRO all-in-one lineups.

Windows 11 is set to arrive soon, possibly as soon as October, but there's already a way to get a sneak peek via the preview build. Apparently, Parallels is working on bringing Windows 11 to macOS, too. 

Got yourself a new gaming laptop? Awesome — now how about a gaming monitor for all the gaming at home? 

Luckily, Gigabyte’s got you covered with a huge sale across their line of gaming monitors, including savings up to a massive $140.

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Whether you are just starting out in PC gaming or you’re an enthusiast, there’s something for everyone in this gaming monitor sale. From the $189 Gigabyte G27FC with a FHD screen and 165Hz refresh rate, all the way up to the $765 CV27F with plenty of game-winning features like noise cancellation and an aim stabilizer that actually combats the recoil frames of a sniper rifle shot to help you see more clarity for your next shot.

They may not be the absolute best gaming monitors out there. To get one of those, you’ll be dropping a lot more cash for the privilege. But with a strong spec list, a great picture and (most importantly to you) cheaper prices, these provide great bang for your buck.

Gigabyte is a name synonymous with giving PC gamers serious power, and they are continuing the trend with all-new G-Series gaming laptops.

Most gamers will scoff at the idea of a mid-range machine, but wait before you do because these bring some serious horsepower that you would expect to see in professional portable gaming setups to a really good price point.

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You can get a laptop armed with Nvidia’s latest GeForce RTX 30 series GPU for under $1,000. Let that sink in for a second!

Gigabyte A5 X1, A5 K1 and A7 K1: the AMD flavor of the day

AMD's Zen 3 architecture leads to an almost zen-like state of peak gaming performance across the A5 X1, A5 K1 and A7 K1 models in Gigabyte’s new G-Series line.

We have no idea what the “X” or “K” mean in their names, so we’ll fill in the gap and guess the former stands for “Xtreme” (so insane it ignores correct spelling) because it sports the crazy good Nvidia GeForce RTX 3070 GPU with 8GB GDDR6 memory and the top-of-the-line AMD Ryzen 7-5800H CPU.

The K1s are no slouches either, with either the above Ryzen 7 or Ryzen 5-5600H processors and GeForce RTX 3060 graphics — with either 6GB GDDR6 for the A5 or 8GB for the A7.

You can fit all of these models with up to 64GB RAM and a whole lot of speedy storage, courtesy of a 2.5-inch HDD/SSD, SATA socket and 2x M.2 NVMe SSD sockets. 

And all of this is kept cool with their unique Windforce technology, a cooling solution with anti-turbulence inclined fans that run ultra-quiet with a pure copper heat pipe. Simply put, you can fit a lot of games onto these machines, which will run great and the laptop won’t sound like it’s about to take off!

The A5 starts from $999 (under a thousand bucks for a 30 series GPU-armed laptop), and the A7 kicks off at $1399 for the base configuration. You can pre-order right now.

G5-7 KC: Intel feelin’ so fly like a GeForce

And on the other side of the CPU wars, Gigabyte is also offering Intel versions of these laptops — with either 10th Gen Core i7-10870H or i5-10500H processors.

These options come complete with the RTX 3060 GPU, up to 64GB DDR4 RAM (no 3070), all the same I/O, wireless options, patented Windforce cooling system and an identical 49Wh battery.

Plus, they share the same 1080p matte-surface panel with 240Hz refresh rate with Nahimic 3 surround sound as their AMD brethren. In fact, the only real difference beyond the engine under the hood is they are a couple of millimeters thinner.

The G5 base model starts the pricing at $1099 and the G7 will not be available in North America. Pre-orders are up now.

For more CES news, keep your eyes locked on our CES 2021 hub. 

TAIPEI, TAIWAN -- Gigabyte just unveiled the latest additions to its gaming laptop catalog, and they're lean, sexy and hella powerful. Targeting gamers and content creators, respectively, the Aero 17 (available starting in August, pricing TBD) and Aero 15 (available starting June 15, pricing TBD) prove Gigabyte is ready to make a major statement in the gaming laptop space.

Design

The Aero 17 marks the first time Gigabyte has made a 17-inch gaming laptop for this line. The laptop measures 15.5 x 10.6 x 0.9 inches and weighs 5.5 pounds, putting it head-to-head with the Alienware m17 (6.2 pounds, 16.1 x 11.5 x 0.7~0.9 inches) and MSI GS75 Stealth (5 pounds, 15.6 x 10.2 x 0.7 inches).

At 4.7-pounds and 14 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches, the Aero 15 is a little slimmer than its bigger brother, but on par with competing systems like the Lenovo Legion Y740 (5 pounds, 14.2 x 10.5 x 0.9 inches) and the Razer Blade 15 (4.7 pounds, 14 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches).

Gigabyte laptops have always been slim, but after they ditched the bright green and orange paint jobs, they tended to fade into the background. Not anymore. Gigabyte has updated the Aero line, starting with the lid. Instead of a Gigabyte logo, a backlit Aero emblem dominates the center of the aluminum lid. Toward the bottom, you’ll find a cool bird-like design. Flip the laptop over to expose the undercarriage and you’ll see the large vents, which are also shaped like a bird and reminiscent of an Aorus laptop, Gigabyte’s high-end gaming notebook line.

While the Aero 17’s chassis is made of black aluminum, Gigabyte is looking to start playing with color again. I was shown a potentially limited-edition Aero 15 in a stunning white that puts up a direct challenge to Razer and its Mercury White finish. I’m hoping Gigabyte will bring the white to market and also consider playing with color again, as it did in the early 2000s.

Display

When the Aero 17 comes to market, it will have several display options to choose from. There’s the 1920 x 1080 (FHD) panel with a 144-Hertz refresh rate for entry-level systems, and a 240Hz FHD screen for enthusiasts. But if you’re looking for the best color and contrast available, you’ll want to consider the 4K UHD panel, which is gorgeous in person.

You can get the Aero 15 with either an FHD Sharp IGZO panel with a 240Hz refresh rate or a 4K Samsung AMOLED panel. When I watched a short video of flowers blooming, I was captivated by a sprig of blue flowers slowly blooming, showing off a small catalog of blues, whites and greens.

Gigabyte has partnered with Pantone to ensure the Aeros' displays are individually factory calibrated with the former’s XRite software.

At 0.1 inches, the bezels on these Gigabyte laptops are some of the slimmest in the game. That means the webcam is still located in the bottom bezel, making it a nose cam. However, this time around, the company’s added a physical shutter, so out of sight, out of mind, I guess.

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Specs

So what’s under the hood of these sleek stunners? Both systems can be configured with up to a 9th Gen Intel Core i9 processor with up to 64GB of RAM and up to 2TB of Intel M.2 SSD storage. For the graphics cards, the laptops start with a base Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti GPU and max out at an RTX 2080 Max-Q. In terms of networking, both systems will feature a Killer Ethernet E2600 controller and a Killer Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 module, which is powered by Intel.

Cooling

Both Aero systems will have better heat dispersion by way of a fan redesign. Gigabyte has outfitted the notebooks with a pair of fans sporting 71 blades each. Gigabyte claims the revamped fans will offer 30% better cooling than the previous Aero 15.

Battery Life

During my demo, a Gigabyte representative stated that the company is giving the systems an estimated battery life of 8-9 hours. While that might be feasible with the FHD panel, I’m not too sure about the AMOLED screen, especially if you’re performing more demanding tasks like gaming or video editing. But I’m eager to put the claim to the test once the notebooks become available.

Bottom Line

Move over Aorus, it's Gigabyte's time to shine. Instead of doling out all the high-end goodies to its enthusiast brand, Gigabyte is serving up two impressive systems that, while focused on creators, will make a gamer plenty happy. Pricing has yet to be announced, but I’m hoping that with the addition of lower-end specs, these laptops won’t be too pricey. But we’ll just have to wait and see.

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• Aorus & Gigabyte Gaming Laptops – Brand Rating and Report ...

Both Gigabyte and Aorus produced some solid all-arounders over the past year. With their vibrant displays and thin bezels, innovative mechanical keyboards, and helpful gaming software, Aorus and Gigabyte made a mark. However, that mark isn't as high as it could be.

Each category score landed somewhere in the middle, mostly because there wasn't a single laptop that really blew us away. The Gigabyte Aero 15X and Aorus X9 had solid scores, but both also had strong cons that held them back. The company went for quantity over quality, which put a damper on things.

Reviews (29/40)

Gigabyte and its sister brand, Aorus, had five laptops in our labs this year, but the lack of Editors' Choice awards held them back. The combined brand had an average review score of 3.6, bolstered by the 2017 version of the Gigabyte Aero 15X. In our review, we gave the Aero 15X 4 stars and praised its bright display and strong performance. (The 2018 model, which has a lesser display and poor speakers, got 3.5 out of 5 stars.)

The $3,900, 3.5-star Aorus X9 broke barriers by being one of the first Coffee Lake Core i9 laptops we saw, but its dim display and steamy temperatures held it back.

The Gigabyte P57Xv7 had an innovative swappable optical drive and a solid screen, but both the audio and the battery life were lackluster.

Design 16/20

Gigabyte started the year bucking the trend of what gaming laptops should look like, unleashing the Aero 15 upon the world in all of its pistachio-green glory. This laptop even has the tiny bezels we love so much on three sides of the display. As cool as those bezels are, it also creates the laptop's biggest flaw: the bottom-mounted webcam, derisively known as a nostril cam.

Gigabyte's also fond of the color orange as evidenced by the P57Xv7 and it's lovely persimmon accents. But as the year progressed, Gigabyte seemingly became more color adverse as shown in the 2017 and 2018 models of the Aero 15X. Aorus, Gigabyte's enthusiast brand of gaming laptops, also comprises of models decked out in all black. However, where the Aeros have a boxy shape, the Aorus X9 offers bold lines that make it look like a badass stealth fighter. To brighten up the laptop's disposition, there's a set of 11 RGB lights that can act like a visual equalizer, if you're so inclined. But it still doesn't change the fact that Gigabyte is becoming more color-averse.

Display 11/15

Gigabyte's displays offer an impressive amount of brightness, while Aorus' screens stand out with their lush colors. The Gigabyte Aero 15’s 1080p panel covers 106 percent of the sRGB color gamut and emits 324 nits of brightness. It also features X-Rite Pantone's color-calibration program, which allows for an even more vivid viewing experience.

On the flip side, the Aorus X9’s 144-hertz, 1080p G-Sync display provides a vibrant 122 percent of the sRGB gamut. However, the panel is dimmer than we would like, at 243 nits.

Innovation (6/10)

With the Aorus X9, Gigabyte and Aorus have finally joined the ranks of laptop makers bold enough to stuff a full-on mechanical keyboard into a gaming notebook — and to great effect.

The company's more affordable, Gigabyte-branded laptops also deserve props, mainly for cramming impressive performance and battery life into subdued, fun designs (such as those of the Aero 15). Other than the Aorus X9, though, Gigabyte's recent laptops focus mostly on power and looks rather than on truly game-changing features.

Software (7/10)

The Aorus Fusion app gives users a centralized location for a lot of tools, including per-key lighting customization on the Aorus X9. There, you'll also set up keyboard macros, create game-specific profiles and change audio settings. Similarly, Gigabyte Fusion comes on select Gigabyte laptops, such as the Aero 15, and helps you to customize key colors and program macros.

Overclocking is made easy in Aorus Command & Control, which also provides fan controls and a Do Not Disturb mode that will stop Windows from interrupting your gaming sessions with a random system update. The X9 includes Killer Control Center, where you can prioritize bandwidth for streaming priority.

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Additionally, Aorus tosses in a one-year subscription to XSplit Broadcaster and Gamecaster and a 90-day subscription to TriDef SmartCam for immersive streaming (removing your background and dropping you in to the corner of the screen) on services such as Twitch and YouTube. Gigabyte, though, gives you only three-month trials of XSplit Broadcaster and Gamecaster with the Aero 15 and the 57xv7.

The Gigabyte P57Xv7 includes fewer utilities than you get on the Aorus system, with more-general system tools such as Smart Manager, for adjusting fan speed and other settings, and LAN Optimizer, for adjusting which applications get more bandwidth.

Configurations and Warranty (3/5)

Between the two brands, Gigabyte and Aorus offer an almost overwhelming number of machines. The benefit is an abundance of choice for buyers, whether they’re looking for a more middle-of-the-road system like the $1,899 Aero 15, a beefy, GTX 1080-powered juggernaut like the 17-inch Aorus X9, or something in between, like Gigabyte’s Aero 15X. Both brands also offer very different design touches; Aorus sports more aggressive-looking machines, while Gigabyte tones down the exterior while delivering the same performance gamers look for.

The warranties for Gigabyte and Aorus’ laptops differ depending on the brand and model. Some offer the standard year-long coverage, while others last two years. That’s a huge plus over most other brands, and we like that both companies will foot the bill for shipping in both directions when you send your unit in. However, Gigabyte and Aorus have been known to seal components like storage and RAM with warranty stickers in the past. You’ll have to break the seal to replace them, which voids the terms — something to be mindful of.

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Typically when you think of Gigabyte/Aorus, you think of laptops like the Aero 15X or X9. Beautiful, powerful laptops with budget-breaking prices.

However, Gigabyte is now trying to spread the PC gaming love to more people with its two newest gaming laptops, the Sabre 15 and Sabre 17. Starting at $1,299, these affordable notebooks will be launching just around the time you're sending the kiddies back to school.

Design

Although they're Gigabyte-branded, both Sabres look more like Aorus laptops, the company's enthusiast brand. Both notebooks have that sleek black, soft-touch chassis accented with a shiny silver Gigabyte emblem at the top of the lid. The interior is also made with black soft-touch finish and houses a backlit, island-style keyboard with 1920 x 1080 displays.

The laptops are loaded with ports, especially the Sabre 17. Although it was plugged into several things at the Gigabyte booth, I saw a mini DisplayPort, HDMI and several USB Type-C ports. That means this system is ready and able to support a VR headset like the HTC Vive, Vive Pro and Oculus Rift or several monitors with a few cables.

Gigabyte didn't divulge dimensions for either laptop, but the company is known for making some of the slimmest laptops on the market. So you shouldn't be surprised if you get some incredibly thin-and-light measurements.

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Keyboard

You're not going to get a mechanical keyboard in a gaming laptop for $1,299, but Gigabyte also isn't going to short change you just because you're on a limited budget. Both Sabres will feature a customizable keyboard with 16.7 million color options with 2 millimeters of key travel. That's well above our 1.5mm minimum threshold. The keys are comfortable and very bouncy.

Specs

For so-called budget systems, the Sabres are pretty stacked with an 8th-Gen Intel Core i7-8750H processor, up to 32GB of RAM, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU with 4GB of VRAM and a dual storage system capable of supporting up to 3TB worth of PCIe SSDs. The 1050 GPU pretty much limits you to gaming on mid-level settings, but it should still net you some respectable frame rates depending on the title.

Outlook

Although $1,299 isn't what I'd call a budget system, the Sabres are downright bargains considering how expensive Gigabyte and Aorus systems typically are. For the price, you can get a 15 or a 17-inch gaming laptop that can deliver relatively solid frames as well as multitask with the best of them and a great keyboard. If you're on a fixed budget, you might want to check out the Sabre come fall.

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TAIPEI, Taiwan -- The Aorus X5 blew our minds when we saw it at CES 2015, with its dual Nvidia GeForce GTX 965M graphics chips and powerful 5th-generation Intel Core i7 processor. The company has sweetened this already awesome rig by throwing in Nvidia's new G-Sync technology, which promises much smoother gameplay with minimal tearing, as well as a desktop-level video encoder for optimized live streaming. The X5 will be available on June 23 as a Newegg exclusive for $2,100.

During my time with the Aorus X5 here at Computex, the notebook was zippy and responsive, opening apps and switching between windows with ease, all while live streaming a game of Witcher 3 on Twitch. With Nvidia's technology inside, the display refresh rates are synchronized to the GPU to eliminate screen tearing and minimize display stutter and input lag. In addition to super smooth gameplay, scenes should appear instantly, objects should look sharper. Of course, we'd have to really put the X5 through our benchmark tests to see if it can hold up under more pressure. Gigabyte, the company behind Aorus, says the desktop-level video encoding on a laptop is the first of its kind.

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Just like we saw at CES, the X5 is a sleek stunner of a gaming laptop. Its anodized aluminum chassis in matte black draws your gaze, but it's the X5's glass touchpad that begs for your touch. I loved idly moving the mouse around just so I could feel the cool glass trackpad and texturized bottom row. Like most gaming notebooks, the X5 also offers a row of programmable macro keys, which you can assign up to five profiles for easier deployment of shortcuts while frying baddies.

The X5's 15.6-inch 2880 x 1620-pixel IPS display offered generous viewing angles for the notebook's Windows 8.1 system. 

Gigabyte also upgraded the 17-inch Aorus X7 with G-Sync, calling that model the Aorus X7 Pro-Sync. It will be available via Newegg at the end of June for about $2,600. 

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Looking to blend serious power with stylish looks, Gigabyte has unleashed the P25X v2 notebook onto the gaming masses. This mobile monster boasts a fast Core i7 processor, a muscular GeForce GTX 880M GPU and a crisp 1080p display. However, with a hefty build and equally hefty price tag, does this $2,200 rig deserve a place in your command center?

Design

Like a laptop version of the Transformers' Bumblebee, the Gigabyte P25 is a sleek, black-and-yellow machine that opens up into a battle-ready beast. The notebook's smooth, mustard-yellow lid sports an emblazoned silver Gigabyte logo, which is complemented by a layer of premium-looking silver around the edges.

This classy chassis continues on the inside, where you'll find a black, aluminum-brushed deck that houses the island keyboard, below the perforated speaker bar. The laptop's rear edge hosts two massive vents. Combined with the removable battery pack, they look like the exhaust pipes of a stylish sports car.

While the current trend among gaming laptops is to get thinner and lighter, the 15.43 x 10.35 x 1.51-inch, 6.2-pound P25 is a bit of a throwback. By comparison, the 2014 Razer Blade 14 (13.6 x 9.3 x 0.7 inches, 4.4 pounds) and MSI GS60 Ghost (15.4 x 10.5 x 0.78 inches, 4.2 pounds) are notably more svelte.

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Graphics and Gaming

Click to EnlargePacking an Nvidia GeForce GTX 880M GPU with 8GB of VRAM, the P25 has plenty of graphical muscle for most of today's more demanding PC games.

Running and gunning through BioShock Infinite was a gloriously smooth experience in 1080p with Ultra graphics on, as I was able to Sky-Hook around Columbia and wade through waves of enemies without any noticeable stutters.

On the synthetic front, the P25 scored a strong 132,272 on the 3DMark Ice Storm Unlimited benchmark. This trumps the Blade 14 (113,793) and GS60 Ghost (113,571), and more than doubles the 58,964 mainstream notebook average.

Back to BioShock Infinite, the P25 ran the game at a super-smooth 150.5 frames per second at 1080p with the graphics set to low, trouncing the Blade 14 (120 fps) and the GS60 Ghost (91 fps) at the same settings. The P25 remained at a highly playable 64.5 fps when we kicked the graphics to high, once again beating the Blade 14 (51 fps) and GS60 (35 fps).

Finally, we put the P25 through the boss fight of our benchmark process: 4A Games' highly demanding Metro: Last Light. The P25 handled the game on low settings at 1080p with ease, running the title at 85.7 fps compared to the Blade 14's mark of 70 fps and the GS60's showing of 53 fps.

Gigabyte's notebook dipped to 24 fps at high settings, finally falling below our 30 fps playable threshold. That's still higher than the Blade's 19 fps and the GS60's score of 12 fps at the same settings.

Display

Click to EnlargeThe P25 might not have the Blade 14's ultra-sharp 3200 x 1800 screen, but its 1920 x 1080 matte display is still satisfyingly crisp. It faithfully preserved the rich blue skies and colorful floating structures of BioShock Infinite, along with the grimly detailed enemy faces of the gritty Metro: Last Light.

The P25's display also proved apt for everyday entertainment. The 1080p Guardians of the Galaxy trailer was filled with detail, from the bumpy, red scales on Drax's torso to the moss growing out of tree-person Groot's shoulders.

Gigabyte's notebook produced an average 215 nits on our light meter, failing to outshine the Razer Blade 14 (261 nits), MSI GS60 Ghost (299) and the 253-nit mainstream average.

The laptop fared far better in terms of gamut and color accuracy, though. The P25 produced 98.2 percent of the sRGB color gamut, which is a bit behind the Blade 14's showing of 101.5 percent but far ahead of the 76.5-percent mainstream laptop average.

The notebook demonstrated a near-perfect color accuracy, or Delta E, of 0.5 (closer to 1 is better). The Blade 14 came similarly close, at 1.5, and both notebooks trounced the 7.8 category average.

Audio

The Gigabyte P25's stereo speakers provide serviceable clarity, but you're better off using headphones or external speakers if you want to get fully immersed in your favorite game.

When playing BioShock Inifinite, my machine gun's rollicking gunfire sounded satisfying, as did the sound of bodies colliding whenever I performed a vicious Sky-Hook takedown. However, the overall volume was a bit too soft for me to feel the full impact.

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I could have used more oomph when streaming music, as well. Pop tunes like Taylor Swift's "Shake It Off" boasted crisp vocal clarity, but the thin bass and percussion were underwhelming. Heavy rock songs like System of a Down's "Chop Suey" fared even worse, as the track's blistering guitar work quickly devolved into a muddy mess.

The P25 registered 84 decibels on our audio test (sound volume from 23 inches away), tying with the 84-decibel GS60 Ghost and falling a few decibels behind the Blade 14 and mainstream average, which both landed at 86 decibels.

Ports and Webcam

Click to EnlargeThe P25's concave left and right edges host a healthy port selection. You'll find DC-in, a VGA port, a USB 2.0/SATA port and a 12.7-mm BD-Writer optical drive on the left; on the right, there's an Ethernet port, HDMI port, SD Card slot, 2 USB 3.0 ports, and headphone and microphone jacks.

The notebook's 1.3-MP webcam is far from the sharpest selfie-taker, but it gets the job done for Skype chats or Twitch broadcasts. Taken under fluorescent office light, my photos were appropriately bright, but made my skin tone look washed out and my entire face a bit pixelated.

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Heat and Noise

Click to EnlargeDespite being a mobile gaming powerhouse, the P25 is still better off on your desk than your lap. After 15 minutes of streaming HD video, the notebook's touchpad and G and H keys reached a manageable 87 and 89.5 degrees, respectively, but the underside hit a much hotter 109 degrees. We consider anything over 95 degrees uncomfortable.

You might not want to fire up the P25 in the middle of the night if you've got a roommate sleeping nearby. After just a few minutes of gaming at default settings, the notebook's fan produced a loud whir, one that my coworker a few seats down noticed instantly. However, you can quell this a bit by turning the fan to stealth mode in the GigaByte Smart Manager menu.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Click to EnlargeThe P25 touts a springy set of black chiclet keys, complete with a full number pad on the right and an icy-white backlight beneath. The WASD keys, used for movement in most games, are outlined in white. There are dedicated buttons for volume control and opening the Smart Manager settings menu just above the number pad.

With a 1.8-millimeter travel and an actuation (required pressure) of 65 grams, the keys were satisfyingly snappy with just enough give. The Key Hero typing test reflected this, as I was able to type with 99 percent accuracy at a zippy 95 words per minute, well above my 75 wpm average.

While the mouse is the preferred weapon of choice for most PC gamers, the P25's 3.6 x 2.1 soft-touch touchpad is a smooth and responsive, if small, companion. I had no problem performing touch gestures like swiping left to right to change apps and pinching to zoom, and the lone click button below the touchpad provides a satisfying level of feedback.

Overall Performance

Armed with a 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-4810MQ processor with 16GB of RAM, the P25 chewed through just about every daily task we threw at it. Even when surfing a dozen Chrome tabs, streaming a movie on Netflix, running BioShock Infinite and performing a full system scan all at once, the gaming notebook carried on without a stutter.

The P25 scored a 14,124 on the Geekbench 3 general performance test, beating the Blade 14 (11,487, 2.2-Ghz Core i7-4702HQ), the GS60 Ghost (12,695, 2.4-GHz Core i7-4700HQ) and the 8,476 category average.

The notebook's 256GB SSD and 1TB, 7,200-rpm hard drive booted Windows 8.1 in a brisk 9 seconds, which just edges out the Blade 14's 256GB SSD (10 seconds) and the GS60 Ghost (11 seconds), which has a 128GB SATA SSD and 1TB, 7,200-rpm hard drive. All three notebooks blazed past the 19.9-second average for mainstream notebooks.

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The P25 proved to be a file-sharing beast, transferring 4.97GB of mixed media in 17 seconds, for a transfer rate of 299.4 MBps. This nearly doubles the Blade 14's 154.2 MBps and more than triples the GS60 Ghost's 91 MBps. The P25 also scorches the 103 MBps mainstream average by a mile.

During our spreadsheet test, Gigabyte's gaming machine matched 20,000 names to their addresses in 3 minutes in 34 seconds. This tops the Blade 14 (4:15), GS60 Ghost (4:00) and the 5:44 category average.

Battery Life

The P25's 8-cell, 3,000-mAh battery packs plenty of juice to last through a long day of travel. The notebook endured 7 hours and 22 minutes of continuous Web surfing over Wi-Fi at 100 nits, outlasting the Blade 14 (5:19), GS60 Ghost (5:34) and the 6:33 mainstream notebook average. You'll see less endurance during gameplay.

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Software and Warranty

Click to EnlargeAside from default Windows 8.1 apps like OneDrive and Skype, the P25's app selection is mostly a blank slate that you can fill with your favorite games.

There are some handy extras present, though, starting with the Nvidia GeForce Experience app. This software helps you keep your GPU drivers up to date, provides a quick glance at your machine's specs and can automatically toggle optimal settings for select supported games.

GeForce Experience also provides access to ShadowPlay for recording your gameplay, and the app's Battery Boost function lets you cap the frame rate for either optimal performance or long battery life. If you have an Nvidia Shield Portable or Shield Tablet handy, you can use the app's GameStream feature to play your PC games remotely.

GigaByte's Smart Manager puts a host of tweakable settings at your fingertips, from basic parameters like volume and brightness to more intricate ones like mouse speed and monitor switching. Mouse purists can toggle the trackpad off in this menu, and you can tweak the notebook's fan to provide minimal noise or maximum cool down.

The P25 ships with a 2-year global warranty for parts and labor, while the battery and power adapter are covered for 1 year.

Bottom Line

Click to EnlargeThanks to its beefy Core i7 GPU and GTX 880M GPU, the Gigabyte P25X v2 is one of the most powerful gaming notebooks we've ever tested. Games look vivid on the P25's 1080p display, and the laptop's stylish, sports car-esque design turns heads.

What Gigabyte offers in style and power, however, it sacrifices in portability. The P25 is notably thicker and heavier than rivals like the $1,800 MSI GS60 Ghost and $2,400 Razer Blade 14, so you might not want to keep this device in your bag at all times.

If you can live with the bulk, though, the P25 does exactly what a great gaming notebook should: tear through today's most graphically intense games with ease.

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The world's lightest gaming laptop packs a heavy dose of graphics might and display resolution. Today, Gigabyte announced the Aorus X3 Plus, a 13.9-inch gaming notebook that packs a powerful Core i7 CPU, Nvidia GTX 870M graphics, dual SSDs and a stunning 3200 x 1800 display into its 4.12-pound, .9-inch thick body.

Gigabyte touts the $2,299 Aorus X3 Plus as the lightest gaming laptop ever and, indeed, it appears to be the new leader. At 4.12 pounds, it is a tad lighter than the Razr Blade 14, which weighs 4.2 pounds, but is quite a bit thinner at just .66-inches thick. However, in our brief hands-on, the Aorus X3 Plus seemed a lot thinner than the 22.9 mm (.9-inch) thick measurement touted in its specs, because most of the girth is in the lid and only visible when the clamshell is closed.

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There are other contenders for the lightweight gaming crown but, to our knowledge, none are shipping a product with this much performance in this weight class. MSI showed off a prototype 15-inch gaming laptop that was less than 3-pounds at CES 2014, but it wasn't even a working model. The CyperPowerPC Zeus Herculues gaming laptop weighs just 4 pounds, but doesn't have discrete graphics, a must for serious gamers.

We had a chance to spend a few moments with the Aorus X3 Plus and were most impressed not with its light weight, but with its slick design, sharp screen and helpful Macro Engine customizable shortcut keys.

The raven black Aorus X3 Plus looks a lot like a Stealth fighter with curved edges and dual exhaust ports in the back that reminded us a bit of the famous plane. The bright backlight on the island-style keyboard adds another high-tech, space age element to the design as does the glossy glass touchpad.

In our brief experience, the keys on the notebook offered a generous amount of tactile feedback that reminded us of some of the better gaming keyboards we've used. The large, all-glass touchpad provided extremely navigation around the desktop.

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Perhaps the most unique and impressive feature of the Aorus X3 Plus is its Macro Engine set of programmable keys. Located on the left side of the keyboard, the Macro Engine column features a mode change key and five customizable keys labeled G1 to G5.

Using the control panel software on the notebook, we were able to assign programs to these keys, and we could have also assigned key combinations for gaming. The mode change key lights up in five different colors. As you hit it and it changes color, the macros for the five keys below change accordingly, allowing you up to 25 different macros. For example, the "green" mode could house shortcuts to all your productivity apps.

The 3800 x 1800, 13.9-inch display on the demo unit offered wide viewing angles and sharp images. It was difficult for us to get a sense in the demo area of how vibrant and accurate the colors were, but Gigabyte claims that the Aorus X3 Plus covers 72 percent of the NTSC gamut.

Starting at $2,299, the X3 Plus is powered by a speedy Intel Core i7-4710HQ CPU, capable of running at up to 3.5-GHz, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 870M CPU with 6GB of DDR6 video memory, 8GB of RAM and dual 256 or 512GB M. SSDs in RAID 0 configuration. Thanks to their speedy M.2 interface, the SSDs promise transfer rates as high as 1,000 MBps, about triple what a typical single SSD configuration can provide. To ensure speedy connectivity, Gigabyte packs the Aorus X3 Plus with a Killer E2200 1000Mbps Ethernet port and 802.11ac wireless.

Gigabyte also makes a 13.3-inch version of the same notebook. Dubbed the Aorus X3 (without a plus), this notebook will start at $2,099 and feature a 2560 x 1440 display instead, but otherwise have the same specs. Gigabyte also showed off the a new configuration of the Aorus X7, a 17.9-inch gaming notebook it unveiled back at CES 2014, that comes with dual Nvidia GTX 860M graphics cards for blazing fast graphics. 

We look forward to taking a closer look at the Aorus X3 Plus, Aorus X3 and Aorus X7 when they launch sometime in Q3 of this year.

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Mobile gamers looking for a high-performance laptop have a few new options, thanks to Gigabyte. The Taiwanese hardware company has announced a partnership with iBuyPower  to sell configure-to-order gaming notebooks through the latter company's website. Dubbed Optiboost, the new customization program will allow users to choose their storage drives, RAM and other components when they purchase one of Gigabyte's Ultraforce line of high-performance gaming laptops. 

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The Optiboost program will initially include three notebooks: the 14-inch P34Gv2 and the 15-inch P35Gv2 and the P35Wv2, with more to come. Starting at $1,399, the 14-inch P34Gv2 comes standard with a 1920 x 1080 display, a 2.4-GHz Intel Core i7-4710Q CPU, 8GB of RAM, Nvidia GeForce GTX860M graphics and a 500GB hard drive.

At present, shoppers can only configure the P34Gv2 with up to 16GB of RAM and dual hard drives or SSDs. There's no current option for choosing a different CPU, display, graphics card or wireless radio.

The 15-inch P35Gv2 starts at $1,439 with the same Intel Core i7-4710Q, 8GB of RAM and GeForce GTX860M graphics but with a 1TB, 7,200 rpm hard drive. You can configure it with a faster GTX870M GPU, your choice of storage drives and an optional optical drive.

Also 15-inches, the P35Wv2 starts at $1,599 and has all the same base specs and config options except for the GPU. Instead, the more powerful GTX870M comes standard. Both 15-inch laptops are available for pre-order while the P34Gv2 is shipping now.

While configure-to-order may be a new concept for Gigabyte, competitors have been letting users choose their components for years. Alienware, for example, lets you select the screen resolution, video card, storage drive and memory for its 14, 17 and 18-inch systems. Nevertheless, we look forward to giving one of these gaming rigs a spin.

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TAIPEI, TAIWAN—Gigabyte unveiled its first gaming laptops toting Intel’s latest Haswell chip at this year’s Computex. Dubbed as one of Gigabyte’s Ultrablade notebooks, the company flaunts its P35K as one of the thinnest and lightest gaming notebooks on the market, measuring just 21mm thin and weight 4.8 pounds.

The flagship P35K laptop features a 15.6-inch full HD 1080p IPS display and comes equipped with Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 760 or 765M graphics chip.

The company’s Haswell-powered P35K also comes with a swappable ODD, meaning you can switch out the optical drive for more storage space. At maximum capacity, it can squeeze two 512GB mSATA SSDs and 2TB of HDD in its motherboard, which doesn’t include expanded storage that can be added via its removable ODD. 

The demo unit didn’t come with any pre-loaded games to test, but we viewed a demonstration video of World of Tanks to see just how those Nvidia-powered graphics look on the P35K’s 15.6-inch IPS display. Visuals looked sharp and colorful, with plenty of depth and detail for an immersive gaming experience. However, we were disappointed to find that pressing on the notebook’s keyboard produced a noticeable amount of flex. Even when typing normally without applying much pressure, the keyboard felt weak.

Pricing hasn’t been confirmed just yet, but the P35K gaming notebook is expected to fall in the $1,299- $1,999 price range. Gigabyte tells us that the notebook could launch as early as August, but may not make it to the US until later.

If you've got the cash to spend, a cool grand could net you a top-of-the-line Windows 8 slate this April. The S1185, an 11.6-inch tablet from Gigabyte, will feature a 1920 x 1080 IPS display, Core i5 Ivy Bridge CPU, up to 8GB of RAM and an SSD ranging in size from 64GB to 256GB. Throw in full-size VGA, HDMI and USB ports -- not to mention a whopping 5,270-mAh lithium-polymer battery -- and you're looking at a tablet that's one step away from replacing your laptop.

The S1185 also sports a microSD card reader and a SIM card slot. The rear-facing camera boasts a resolution of 5-megapixels, while the front-facing camera features a 1.3-megapixel resolution. In addition to standard 802.11b/g/n wireless and Bluetooth 4.0 connectivity, the tablet also supports so-called "3.5G" WWAN access. The tablet measures 11.69 x 7.2 x 0.53 inches and weighs 3.2 pounds with the keyboard and battery included.

Unfortunately, despite the hefty price tag, the S1185's magnetically-attached keyboard dock is sold separately. We busted Microsoft for failing to include the touch cover for free with the Surface, and the Windows RT version of that tablet cost half of the S1185's starting price. The Windows 8 Pro model, which also features a Core i5 processor and 1920 x 1080 display, starts at $899. The Acer Iconia W700, another $1,000 Windows 8 tablet, came bundled with a Bluetooth keyboard and dock.

Will the inclusion of full-size ports and an extra-large SSD merit such a steep price point? We'll find out in April.

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Ultrabooks with Intel's 3rd Generation Core Series processors may be good enough for productivity tasks, but we wouldn't recommend playing "Batman: Arkham City" on them. Fortunately, you don't have to choose between a thin, lightweight notebook and one with strong graphics performance. While it's not marketed as a gaming rig, the new Gigabyte u2442 14-inch Ultrabook comes with an optional Nvidia GT640M graphics chip, but weighs a reasonable 3.5 pounds while measuring just 0.7 inches thick. 

The notebook comes in three main configurations: the entry-level U2442C that has a 1366 x 768 display, integrated graphics and a 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5 CPU; the U2442V that uses a 1.9-GHz low-voltage Core i7 CPU with a 1600 x 900 display and integrated graphics; and the U2442N, which has the 2.5-GHz Core i5 with a 1600 x 900 screen and the Nvidia GT640M chip. All versions have a wide selection of ports including full-size HDMI, Ethernet, SD card reader and USB 3.0 slots.

We got a first glance at the U2442 at Cebit in March, but today in Taipei we had a chance to take a somewhat more detailed look at the U2442V, which looks identical to the U2442N but doesn't have the same discrete graphics/CPU under the hood. We really like the Tron-esque blue keyboard backlight, the silver-colored chassis and the bright, colorful screen. We also love the back area behind the hinge which houses two different vents, one each for the CPU and the GPU. A Gigabyte rep says the vents help the notebook stay cool even under load.

We're really looking forward to testing a U2442N in real-world scenarios where we can see how it plays HD video and games, but for now, it looks promising. Check out the video and gallery below for a closer look at the U2442.

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While Acer and ASUS have been trying to blur the line between tablets and notebooks at Computex Taipei, Gigabyte has simply tried to perfect the Ultrabook. At just 2.1 pounds, the Gigabyte X11 is certainly one of the lightest notebooks to hit the market, and a Gigabyte spokesperson told us they believe it is the lightest 11.6-inch laptop ever made, easily besting the 2.4-pound MacBook Air 11-inch.

The reason for the X11's light weight is that the chassis is built entirely from carbon fiber. While other systems may have carbon fiber lids or bottoms, the X11 is carbon fiber on the keyboard deck and everywhere, just to keep it light. The carbon fiber lid has an attractive, but rather subtle, diamond pattern, but the rest of the system is raven black. At its thickest point, the X11 is 0.6 inches, but at its thinnest, it's just 0.1 inches. That's about the same as the MacBook Air which tapers from 0.1 inches to 0.7 inches.

Inside, the X11 sports either a 3rd generation Core i5 or Core i7 CPU, 4GB of RAM, a 128GB SSD and a 35 watt hour battery. Unfortunately, it's a bit short on ports as it lacks Ethernet and only comes with two USB 3.0 ports, a Mini Display port, an audio jack and a microSD slot. The microSD card slot could be painful for those who like to use their cameras a lot, as they'll have to carry an SD card reader.

The Gigabyte X11's screen is a rather average 1366 x 768 display, which is what you get on the MacBook Air's 11-inch, but not competitive with the 11-inch Acer Aspire S7 or 11-inch ASUS Taichi, both of which offer 1920 x 1080 in the same form factor. However, the X11 is ready today while the ASUS and Acer products won't ship until after Windows 8 launches.

We got to take a brief look at the Gigabyte X11, but didn't get to really put it through its paces. Overall the notebook seemed attractive, but its main feature is its light weight and small profile. With a 3rd Generation Core Series processor in tow, the $999 X11 could provide a really strong alternative to those who like the size of the MacBook Air 11-inch but don't want a Mac.

We look forward to getting a closer look at the Gigabyte X11 in the near future. Until then, check out the video and gallery below.

• Video: ASUS Taichi Notebook Has Second Screen on Back of Lid
• Viewsonic VCD22 Android Smart Display Fingers-On: An Ice Cream Sandwich All-in-One
• Acer Announces Aspire S7 Ultrabooks: Full HD Touch in 13.1 and 11-inch Sizes

We got up-close and personal with new ultrabooks and budget laptops during the first full day of the CeBIT digital technology conference in Hannover Germany. Find out which tech really caught our eye.

The Timeline Ultra M3 continues Acer’s Ultrabook ambitions with a relatively low price point (starting at 799 euros) and strong specs that include an optical drive, Nvidia GeForce graphics and a promised 8 hours of battery life.

Read Our Hands On

The first Ultrabook from Gigabyte, the U2442V, comes with a $1,200 start price a backlit chiclet-style keyboard, not to mention customization options such as a Thunderbolt port, solid-state drive, and Intel Core i7 CPU.

Read Our Hands On

The special features and specs of the Acer V3 Series read like a gamer's dream. There's Bluetooth 4.0 for wireless headgear, Dolby Home Theater audio mixing, Nvidia GeForce graphics, and a Blu-ray drive for the beautiful 1600 x 900-pixel display.

Read Our Hands On

When it ships in May, the Gigabyte P2542G's eye-catching yellow aluminum finish won't just turn heads, its speedy Nvidia GeForce GTX660M graphics and quad-core Ivy Bridge Intel CPU will break necks too.

Read Our Hands On

Acer's CeBIT agenda isn't relegated to ultrabooks. The company also announced the thin-and-light V5 Series, a budget-conscious featherweight advertised to be 30 percent thinner than the average notebook and comes in three flavors: 11.6, 14 and 15.6 inches.

Read Our Hands On

We demo'ed Tobii's eye-tracking user interface at CES 2012, but now the team has rigged up an Asteroids arcade game to use the technology while gamers play in 3D.

Read Our Hands On

The first Ultrabook from Gigabyte, the U2442V, was officially announced yesterday, and the company shared some specs which we in turn shared with you. Now it's time for a closer look. In addition to hands-on footage, we got a price estimate for the U2442V--and presumably its U2442N sister. The lowest config sh0uld sell for about $1,200, and further customization options, such as a Thunderbolt port; an SSD vs. hard drive; and Intel Core i5 vs. Core i7 power, will up the price point.

At 3.3 pounds, the U244SV is light, and its 0.7-inch profile (at its thinnest) is nothing to scoff a . Light-sensitive chiclet-style backlit keys are another nice touch. Check out our video for more impressions.

Seeking to provide serious multimedia chops in a thin and light laptop, the Gigabyte M2432 has a sleek, attention-grabbing design. And this notebook backs up those good looks with Core i5 power and an optional extended battery that you can swap for the optical drive when you need more juice. But is that enough for this $1,049 system to compete against the bigger brands?

Editor's Note: While the overseas version of the Gigabyte M2432 has an optional docking station that adds discrete Nvidia graphics, the company has decided not to make that accessory available in the U.S.

Design

Click to EnlargeWe were immediately taken with M2432's bright red brushed aluminum lid. It's a welcome departure from the blacks, whites and various shades of gray and silver proliferating the market. The notebook is also available in midnight blue for users looking for a bit more subtlety. The Gigabyte logo has raised silver lettering that adds a nice touch of contrast. The lip of the lid is made of a hard plastic that extends into a small, unnecessary lip.

The M2432's interior is a bit more traditional, a silver deck surrounding a black matte keyboard deck.

Click to EnlargeA large black speaker grille sits above the keyboard and houses the Power and SmartSwitch buttons. Our favorite part of the deck is how it gently slopes toward the notebook's rear, making way for the hinges. A docking connector can be found at the bottom of the Gigabyte in the right rear corner.

At 12.9 by 9.1 inches, the 4-pound M2432 has a smaller footprint than both the 4.4-pound, 13.2-by-9.2-inch Dell XPS 14z and the 4-pound, 13.1-by- 9-inch Samsung Series 5. However, at 1 inch thick, the M2432 is a hair thicker than both units. The M2432 also picks up an additional 0.2 pounds when you swap the optical drive for the extended battery.

Keyboard and Touchpad

Click to EnlargeDespite its fairly large deck, we found the M2432's keyboard to be somewhat cramped. That's because there's 0.75 inches of wasted space on either side of the keyboard. As a result, all the keys are a little undersized, especially the right Shift key. However, they provided a decent amount of feedback as we typed.

We took more issue with the relatively small 2.8-by- 1.6-inch Synaptics touchpad, which isn't centered under the G and H keys and instead is off to the right. While we liked how the dimpled touchpad felt under our fingers, multitouch gestures were hit or miss. Two-finger scroll consistently delivered fast, smooth motion as did three-finger press, which launched our designated shortcut.

Click to EnlargeOddly, instead of including a pinch-to-zoom gesture for scaling images up and down, we had to rely on a two-finger scroll up to zoom in. This was not only awkward, but erratic.

We also weren't fond of the single mouse bar, but it was snappy and responsive.

Display and Audio

The Gigabyte M2432's 14-inch 1366 x 768 LED backlit display delivered rich colors with just a hint of graininess. Its measured brightness of 200 lux was comfortably above the thin-and-light average (169 lux), as well as other entertainment-focused notebooks as the HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition (177 lux).

When we watched the 1080p YouTube trailer of "The Hunger Games," we saw rich green foliage along with vibrant magentas and brilliant reds. Katniss Everdeen's blue eyes consistently popped against the backdrop. However, there was a pervasive graininess that took away from some of the color and detail. The viewing angles were a bit limited, so images washed out if we weren't directly in front of the display.

Click to EnlargeFor a notebook billed as a multimedia system, audio on the M2432 isn't the loudest. At full volume, the sound was barely able to fill a small room. However, we did hear crystal-clear piano chords and crisp per-cussion on Floetry's "Say Yes." Marsha Ambrosius' honeyed alto meshed perfectly with the sultry track without any distortion. Turning on the THX TruStudio Pro software resulted in richer, warmer sound.

Heat

After streaming a full-screen Hulu video for 15 minutes, the touchpad measured a pleasant 78 degrees Fahrenheit. The space between the G and H keys and the underside of the notebook measured a comfortable 85 and 86 degrees respectively. We consider anything about 95 degrees uncomfortable, so the Gigabye M2432 is relatively cool.

Ports and Webcam

Click to EnlargeThe right side of the M2432 houses two USB 3.0 ports, a USB 2.0/eSATA port, HDMI, VGA and a 4-in-1 card reader. A tray-loading DVD player sits on the left side along with a headphone jack, microphone jack, Kensington lock and the power jack. The optical drive can be swapped out for an extended battery.

The M2432's 1.3 megapixel camera can capture stills and video in 1280 x 1024 using the AmCap software. During a Skype call, our caller said we appeared dull and washed out. While we heard clear audio without any lag, our caller said we sounded hollow.

Performance

Users will have no problem performing everyday tasks with the Gigabyte M2432's 2.5-GHz Intel Core i5-2520M processor and 4GB of RAM. The notebook scored 2,223 on PCMark 07, 181 points above the 2,081 thin-and-light average. The Dell XPS 14z and its 2.8-GHz Intel Core i7-2640M CPU with 8GB of RAM notched 2,329. The Core i5 processor in the HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition delivered an even higher 3,827.

During the File Transfer Test, the M2432's 500GB 5,400-rpm hard drive duplicated 4.97GB of mixed media files in 2 minutes and 54 seconds, a transfer rate of 29.2MBps. That's slightly faster than the category average. The XPS 14z, which has a 750GB, 7,200-rpm hard drive, maintained its lead with a blazing 38.6 MBps.

The M2432 took 68 seconds to boot the 64-bit version of Windows 7 Professional, 5 seconds longer than the category average. The XPS 14z was slightly faster at 60 seconds.

On the OpenOffice Spreadsheet Test, the M2432 took 5 minutes and 5 seconds to match 20,000 names to their corresponding addresses. That's 59 seconds faster than the 6:04 category average.

Graphics Performance

The Intel HD Graphics 3000 GPU inside the Gigabyte M2432 has enough power to run casual games and play high-def video, but the competition is faster. In the 3DMark06 benchmark, which measures overall graphics performance, the M2432 notched 3,377. The HP dm4 Beats Edition (which also has integrated graphics) notched 4,627, and the XPS 14z and its switchable graphics (Intel HD 3000 Graphics, Nvidia GeForce GT 520M) posted an impressive score of 5,461.

When we ran the "World of Warcraft" benchmark, the Gigabyte M2432 delivered a frame rate of 24 fps at 1366 x 768 on autodetect. That's less than half the 66 fps thin and light average. The HP dm4 notched a smoother 32 fps.

Battery Life

Click to EnlargeDuring the LAPTOP Battery Test (continuous Web surfing via Wi-Fi), the Gigabyte M2432 lasted 4 hours and 16 minutes. That's 1 hour and 50 minutes short of the 6:06 thin-and-light notebook average. However, with the $79 extended battery, the M2432 lasted an epic 8 hours. The Dell XPS 14z lasted 5:23, while the HP dm4's runtime was 5:48.

Software and Warranty

Click to EnlargeGigabyte doesn't overload the M2432 with a ton of preloaded software. There's Gigabyte SmartManager control panel, which provided quick access to all of the system settings, including display brightness and enabling/disabling the touchpad.

Gigabyte Smart Switch was one of the more interesting utilities, allowing us to quickly switch between the 32- and 64-bit versions of Windows.

Third-party applications include Microsoft Office Starter, Windows Live and Adobe Reader 9. Surprisingly, Gigabyte didn't package the M2432 with any antivirus software, but at least you don't get any annoying pop-ups out of the box.

The Gigabyte M2432 comes with a two-year warranty.

Verdict

Click to EnlargeIn the $1,049 Gigabyte M2432, consumers get solid overall performance in a stylish package. Those on the go will definitely want to pick up the $79 extended battery. Once you get in that ballpark though, we prefer the $1,199 Dell XPS 14z, which offers better audio and discrete graphics in a thinner package. Those looking to save a few bucks should check out the $899 HP Pavilion dm4 Beats Edition, which offers a 1600 x 900 display and great speakers, too. While the M2432 is one of the better looking portable multimedia notebooks, its shiny red lid takes it only so far.

• Top 10 Laptops Available Now
• Best and Worst Laptop Brand 2011
• Editor's Choice Award-Winning Laptops

During the official first day of the Consumer Electronics Show in Las Vegas, our reporters and editors combed the floors in search of the hottest news of the day. And they found it. Here's a quick recap of the top events of 1/10/12.

This conceptual gaming tablet, codenamed Project Fiona by Razer, blew our minds. It sports two controllers to either side, and inside offers up Core i7 processor and Windows 8.

See It In Action

Priced between the Kindle Fire and iPad 2, the $329 10-inch Acer Iconia Tab A200 features Tegra 2 power and 16GB of storage space. From our hands-on time with it, we can say it’s a slate that’s stripped down in some ways, but comes with a unique ring interface.

Watch the UI In Action.

Lenovo's small business line of ThinkPad's is getting a makeover with the Edge S430, upping the ante with a lighter, thinner chassis. But most important new features include its 1600 x 900-pixel HD resolution, non-reflective display, and the included Thunderbolt port.

Watch Our First Impressions

The Lenovo K800 Android 4.0 smartphone impressed during our hands-on time with it. It's powered by Intel’s 32nm Atom Z2460 processoer, which runs at 1.6 GHz. Unfortunately, for now, it's a China-only device.

Watch It Work

Texas Instruments showcased its OMAP 4400 series CPU’s support for wireless display technology and ability to display different content on an Android tablet than from what's projected on the big screen.

Watch It Work

Razer’s long-awaited entry into the notebook space is finally here in the flesh, and it was worth the wait. The Blade's most interesting feature is SwitchBlade UI, which includes a touchscreen that doubles as a touchpad and the 10 customizable keys above it.

Watch Us Play

Manufactured by Russian company Ectaco, the Jetbook Color eReader shows off a 9.7-inch, 1600 × 1200-pixel display imbued with color E Ink technology. Their target is the education set, but we'd love to see this display technology come to more devices.

Read More

Samsung puts Alienware on notice with the 17-inch Series 7 Gamer by packing in specs such as Intel Core i7 processor, Nvidia GeForce GTX670 with 2GB of graphics memory, and a 2TB hard drive.

Watch Us Play

Our hands-on time with the LG Spectrum revealed a 4.5-inch high-resolution display made from scratch-resistant Gorilla Glass and featuring a resolution of 1280 x 720 pixels. The sharp and colorful screen is—hands down—one of the best we’ve ever seen in a smartphone.

See For Yourself

We spent a few minutes with the 17-inch Samsung Series 7 Chronos and liked what we saw–and heard from the built-in JBL speakers and the subwoofer down below for supplying extra audio oomp.

Hear It In Action

Dell has entered the Ultrabook race in a big way with the XPS 13, a superslim aluminum and carbon fiber notebook that crams a 13-inch screen in a body that’s 15 percent smaller than the MacBook Air. We took a few moments to examine the durable Gorilla Glass display and Intel’s Smart Connect Technology that's built in.

Check It Out

First shown off at IFA Berlin, Samsung officially released the Galaxy Tab 7.7 to U.S. customers at CES 2012. We got some hands-on time with this 7.7-inch tablet, which boasts a 1280 x 800 Super AMOLED display and 4G LTE connectivity through Verizon Wireless.

Watch It Work

ThinkPads get the Ultrabook treatment with the T430u from Lenovo. It's also the first Ultrabook to feature a fingerprint reader and removeable bottom.

See For Yourself

We got a chance to go hands-on with Gigabyte’s T1132N, a convertible notebook that becomes a tablet and then a desktop-style machine thanks to the included dock that connects to a monitor via HDMI. The T1132N runs a Core i5 CPU and boasts a generous selection of ports, including USB 3.0 and HDMI, plus four speakers and a DVD drive on the dock.

See For Yourself

The voting began yesterday for our Readers' Choice: Best of CES 2012 award. You can tell us which of the amazing pieces of technology--including such choices as FXI Cotton Candy, HP Envy 14 Spectre, Lenovo IdeaPad Yoga, and several more--is your favorite.

Vote Now

• CES 2012: Full Coverage
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LAS VEGAS -- We maximized our time at Gigabyte at CES by checking out another new system, the 14-inch M2432. This multimedia notebook has a second-gen Intel Core i5 CPU under the hood and Nvidia GT440 graphics, courtesy of an optional dock. 

Travelers will like that Gigabyte was able to cram the M2432's 14-inch display into a 13-inch notebook frame, and keep the notebook's weight to 3.96 pounds and its thickness to 1.06 inches. Like all of its new mobile products, the M2432 includes USB 3.0 connectivity (six USB ports total) and HDMI. Uniquely, users can swap out the optical disk drive for a battery slice, which brings the notebook's endurance up to about 10 hours. 

The M2432 will cost $1,049; the dock's pricing has yet to be determined. Both should be available in February. 

Click through to see our gallery and hands-on video.

• CES 2012: Complete coverage
• Top 10 Notebooks Now
• Longest-lasting notebooks

LAS VEGAS -- Today at CES we got a chance to go hands-on with Gigabyte's T1132N, a convertible notebook that becomes a tablet and even a desktop-style work machine thanks to the included dock.

The notebook runs Windows 7 and sports an 11.6-inch, 1366 x 768-pixel capacitive display. The T1132N runs a Core i5 CPU and boasts a generous selection of ports, including USB 3.0 and HDMI, plus four speakers and a DVD drive on the dock. The real appeal of the dock, however, is the ability to connect the T1132N to a big screen via the dock's HDMI port. Check out our hands-on video for a closer look.

• CES 2012: Full Coverage
• Gigabyte Unveils New Tablets, Notebooks
• Top 10 Notebooks Now

Hardware manufacturer Gigabyte is primarily known for stamping out individual computer parts, but now it's making the whole package. The Gigabyte P2532N is its new multimedia notebook that comes with a smattering of impressive offerings under its hood: a quad-core Intel Core i7-2630QM processor, NVIDIA GeForce GT550M GPU, four dual-channel stereo speakers (and a subwoofer), and a full HD display. Seems like a pretty good package for a competitive $1,385. But how does the Gigabyte stack up against laptops from more established brands?

Design

Black with silver trim, the Gigabyte P2532N has an understated, classic look that would seem right at home in a corporate setting. Its black chrome lid has a plain matte finish that ostensibly repels finger marks, although it does retain minor discolorations from dirty fingers. Conversely, the edges of the laptop's lid and deck are trimmed in a shiny, silver aluminum that's a perpetual print magnet. It didn't bother us too much since the lining was only 0.2 inches thick, but some will want to ready their polishing cloths. The lid is embellished with a slightly raised Gigabyte logo scribed in the same silver.

Click to enlarge

Pop the lid of the P2532N and you'll see that the interior continues the laptop's black theme with a brushed metal treatment. Gigabyte also included a Battery Status Check panel below the keyboard on the left side of the deck - an indicator with several lights - which you can use even while the computer is powered off to see exactly how much juice your notebook has left.

Measuring 15.4 x 10.3 x 1.1-1.4 inches and weighing 5.8 pounds, the P2532N is not made for travel. The laptop was manageable when we moved from room to room, though we did start to notice the heft. However, the P2532N is lighter than both the Dell XPS 15 (6.6 pounds) and the ASUS G53SW-A1 (8.2 pounds).

One minor design flaw of the P2532N emerged when we tried watching a DVD. When we exerted more pressure than usual with our resting palm, the material bent and the disc inside made a loud whirring noise against the notebook's deck. We tried another disc and were unable to reproduce the effect, but there was still observable flex on the deck.

Heat

Inside the P2532 are two heat sinks, one for the CPU, and one for the GPU. Gigabyte says that this arrangement not only keeps the system cooler, but also extends the life of its components. We found them to be fairly effective, as the P2532N ran warm but never crossed into unacceptable territory. After we streamed a Hulu video at full screen for 15 minutes, the bottom of the laptop registered 95 degrees Fahrenheit. The touchpad and the space between the G and H keys were cooler--80 and 91 degrees, respectively. We noticed that the notebook sometimes hummed softly when we used it for some multimedia tasks, such as streaming a video online.

Keyboard and Touchpad

We appreciated how Gigabyte gave the recessed, island-style keyboard generous spacing between the flat-topped keys. The company shrunk the 0 and right Shift keys to incorporate direction keys, which also double as multimedia play/pause. A complete number pad is to the right side of the keyboard, but it's strategically cropped so that it fits in like a puzzle piece with the rest of the keys. The result? A neatly arranged and evenly spaced rectangular layout.

Click to enlarge

Typing was generally a pleasant experience on the Gigabyte P2532N, with just a little keyboard flex and satisfying tactile feedback--though the keys were a bit too stiff for our taste. However, we found one minor source of discontent: Since the touchpad isn't centered below the G, B, and H keys, our right palm would often land on it and inadvertently move the cursor around the screen while we were typing.

Still, that's not to say Gigabyte's touchpad design is without virtue. At 3.6 x 2.1 inches, it's spacious enough, and its textured surface lent us enough friction to move around the display with precision. The touchpad's size was also large enough to comfortably carry out standard multitouch gestures such as pinch-to-zoom.

The big button beneath the P2532N touchpad is split into left and right divisions (for left and right clicks). Jabbing the button right in the center - as we were prone to do - doesn't register any command, which led to some initial confusion.

Display and Audio

The 15.6-inch glossy display on the P2532N offers full HD 1920 x 1080 resolution. It deftly handled the 1080p trailer of New Year's Eve. The hues of colorful confetti raining down in Times Square looked vivid and accurate, while bursts of light from fireworks popped radiantly against the blackness of the New York sky.

Click to enlarge

The display had no problems handling a DVD of Weird Science, either. In the scene where Gary and Wyatt turn a doll into Kelly LeBrock, crackling blue lightning glowed brightly where it struck the house. Wide viewing angles allowed three people to sit down side by side in front of the notebook and watch the show. Tilting the display as far back as possible revealed a little bit of color distortion, and generally speaking, we found the tones to be a bit too red; but all in all, the P2532N's display was crisp and sharp.

Located right above the keyboard are four dual-channel stereo speakers, and a woofer resides on the bottom. Combined with THX TruStudio Pro technology, the P2532 consistently produced sound that was loud enough to fill an entire room. Bass in 50 Cent's "In Da Club" , and we also noted good clarity and detail while playing a song with brighter tones (Jason Mraz's "I'm Yours"). In both cases, the instruments -- the bass and the acoustic guitar -- were always distinguishable from the vocals, and never once overpowered them.

Ports and Webcam

Look around the right side of the Gigabyte P2532N and you'll find Ethernet, an HDMI port, a 4-in-1 memory card reader (MS/MS PRO/MMC/SD), two USB 3.0 ports, a headphone/external output jack, and a microphone input jack. The left side houses a DC-in jack, a VGA port, a dual USB/eSATA port and a DVD burner. Sorry, no Blu-ray here.

Click to enlarge

The Gigabyte P2532N features a 1.3-megapixel webcam. During a Skype call, our friend on the other end noted that our image appeared with good--but not great--detail. They also reported loud, clear audio along with the decent image, and some motion blur (though our Internet connection could have been to blame).

Performance

With a 2-GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-2630QM processor and 8GB of RAM, the Gigabyte P2532N powered through PCMark Vantage, a benchmark that measures overall performance, to post a score of 8,780. That's an impressive 2,947 points above the current category average of 5,833. The P2532N also bested the ASUS G53SW-A1 (8,470) and the Dell XPS 15 L502X (8,548), both of which have a 2.6-GHz quad-core Intel Core i7-2630QM CPU. During real-world use, we simultaneously opened 11 tabs on Google Chrome, streamed a movie on Netflix, and chatted on Skype, and the Gigabyte P2532N never faltered or showed any signs of lag.

The 750GB hard drive (spinning at 7,200 rpm) booted Windows 7 Home Premium in exactly 1 minute, four seconds faster than average. This beats out the ASUS G53SW-A1, which took 1 minute and 8 seconds, but the notebook underperforms slightly compared to the Dell XPS 15 L502X's 53-second boot time.

On our file transfer tests, the P2532N duplicated 5GB of mixed-media files in 2 minutes and 33 seconds for a rate of 33.3 MBps. This is fairly decent considering the category average of 3:12 (data rate of 26.7 MBps), and it's exactly the same file transfer rate as posted by the Dell XPS 15. However, the ASUS G53SW managed the task in 2:10.

Finally, we set the Gigabyte P2532N to perform a complex VLOOKUP operation on 20,000 rows on the OpenOffice software; it accomplished this in a fairly quick amount of time (5 minutes and 14 seconds), compared to the category average of 7:14.

Graphics

The P2532N's NVIDIA GeForce GT550M and 2GB of VRAM achieved a strong score of 8,816 on the 3DMark06 test, which measures overall graphics performance. This showing is almost twice as high as the category average (4,504) and better than the XPS 15's Nvidia GeForce GT 540 ( 8,101) but far less than the gaming-centric G53SW's Nvidia GeForce GTX460M (14,070). The P2532N also includes Nvidia's Optimus technology, which automatically switches between discrete and integrated GPUs depending on the task at hand.

When we played World of Warcraft, the P2532N delivered 42 frames per second with the game's settings at maximum (1920 x 1080 resolution). Although the notebook didn't do as well compared to both the G53SW (59 fps) and the XPS 15 (53 fps), its performance would still be considered quite good, given the notebook category average of 28 frames per second.

In the much more intensive Far Cry 2, the P2532N notched a pretty smooth 59 frames per second in 1024 x 768 resolution, (the average is 45 fps) but dropped down to a paltry 12 fps at 1920 x 1080, which is 8.3 points behind the category average.

Battery Life

Click to enlarge

When we ran our LAPTOP Battery Test (continuously surfing the web on Wi-Fi), the P2532N lasted 4 hours and 27 minutes--certainly thanks in part to Nvidia's Optimus technology. The result is a few minutes less than the mainstream notebook average of 4:34, just a minute off compared to the XPS 15 (4:26), and much better than the G53SW (3 hours).

Software

The Gigabyte P2532N ships with some interesting preloaded software. The Gigabyte Smart Switch lets you switch quickly between 32-bit or 64-bit operating systems; Gigabyte Smart Manager lets you change system settings from a quick-access panel; and Gigabyte Smart Charge, which lets you to charge USB devices when the notebook is plugged into a power source, or even when it is off (as long as there is sufficient battery life).

Click to enlarge

The notebook is backed by a two-year global warranty for parts and labor, and a one-year global warranty for the battery and adapter.

Configurations

We tested the $1,385.79 Gigabyte P2532N, which comes with a full 1920 x 1080 HD display. Gigabyte also offers a 3D model of the notebook, the P2532V, which supports NVIDIA 3D Vision technology and has a screen resolution of 1366 x 768. However, this model is currently unavailable in the U.S..

Verdict

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Multimedia mavens will be drawn to the $1,399 Gigabyte P2532N. There's much to love, from the notebook's five high-quality dual-channel speakers (including a subwoofer) and blazing-fast Intel Core i7-2630QM processor to a robust NVIDIA GeForce GT550M graphics card and an exquisite 1920 x 1080 HD display. The lack of Blu-ray functionality and a less-than-stellar webcam dampen our enthusiasm a bit, especially since you can get a Dell XPS 15 with Blu-ray and an HD webcam for $1,199. But if you're looking for a 15-inch entertainment laptop, the P2532N definitely deserves your attention.

Hardware manufacturer Gigabyte made news at Computex 2011, the glitzy Taiwanese computer trade show. The company has unveiled multiple new mobile products including a line of P2532 multimedia notebooks, a S1080 tablet and a host of devices with interesting convertible designs.

The P2532 notebook will have a 15.6-inch display, a quad-core Intel Core i72630QM CPU with clock speeds ranging from 2.0 to 2.9 GHz. Graphics are provided by an Nvidia GeForce GT550M GPU with 2GB of dedicated RAM. To save on power, Optimus technology, which switches between discrete and integrated graphics, is on board as well.

Other variations of the laptop will be offered. These include the P2532V that comes equipped with Nvidia's 3D vision technology. The P2532N will boast a sharp 1920 x 1080 resolution screen with LED back light. Clearly engineered for movie watching and gaming, the P2532N will sport not two but four speakers plus a subwoofer with THX TruStudio Pro audo enhancements.

The S1080 tablet is expected to run Microsoft Windows 7, feature a 10.1-inch capacitive touch screen, Intel Atom N570 CPU, and a large 320GB hard drive. Other goodies include USB 3.0, a 1.3 megapixel Webcam, and Bluetooth 3.0.

Besides these machines, Gigabyte showed off the Booktop T1125P, a device it calls "the world's first 3-in-1 computer" which looks to be an 11.6-inch tablet and docking station combo. Also taking the docking station approach is the Booktop M2432 laptop. The company's Q2432 and Q2532 notebooks are targeted at the everyday user, while the T1005 will be Gigabyte's latest convertible tablet product. For more on the new devices announced be sure to check out Gigabyte's Computex 2011 press release.