Gigabyte Aero 14 GTX 970M Gaming Laptop Review

Introduction Consumers usually consider gaming laptops instead of traditional desktops because of space constraints or require a portable form factor. While this is the theory, many gaming laptops sporting impressive specifications are cumbersome and difficult to carry on long journeys. Unfortunately, technological restrictions have made companies employ heftier cooling hardware to prevent thermal throttling which results in a thicker frame. This also increases the weight and makes one question if the extra horsepower is worth the inconvenience. Honestly, I've never understood the appeal of extremely heavy gaming laptops featuring two MXM cards given the limited upgrade path and expense. In an ideal world, gaming laptops should retain a lightweight construction and find a better balance between portability and raw performance. Thankfully, new manufacturing processes and refinements in the cooling apparatus have helped matters. Interestingly, Gigabyte has unveiled a brand new laptop entitled the Aero 14 which manages to incorporate a relatively capable graphics chip. Even though the performance pales in comparison to higher-end Pascal offerings, it's a decent solution and has enough horsepower to uphold stable frame rates when applying modest graphical presets. Unbelievably, this enjoyable gaming experience is possible on a machine weighing a mere 1.89Kg and measuring 19.9mm thick. Not only that, the Aero 14 utilises an Intel Core i7-6700HQ with a frequency up to 3.5GHz, 16GB DDR4 memory and an incredibly fast 512GB NVMe M.2 boot drive. On another note, the unit has a premium 2560x1440 IPS display with 178-degree wide viewing angles and the 94.24Wh battery can apparently last around 8-10 hours. Gigabyte has also included dual 1.5-watt speakers, Intel Wireless 802.11 AC, Bluetooth V4.1, USB 3.1 Type-C connectivity and individual macro keys. As you can see, this is a wonderful package and I'm expecting the Aero 14 to be a revolutionary product which changes people's perceptions of gaming laptops. Specifications Name: Gigabyte Aero 14 Processor: Intel Core i7-6700HQ @ 3.5GHz System Memory: 16GB DDR4 2133MHz Main Boot Drive: 512GB Samsung MZVLV512 NVMe M.2 SSD Additional Storage Drive(s): N/A Graphics card: NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M 3GB Dimensions: 335(W) x 250(D) x 19.9(H) mm Weight: 1.89Kg with battery Display: 14-inch QHD (2560x1440) 60Hz IPS Anti-Glare Optical Drive: N/A Wireless: Intel DualBand Wireless-AC 8260 Battery: Li-Polymer 94.24Wh Speakers: Two 1.5 Watt Speakers OS: Windows 10 Pro 64-Bit Warranty: 2 Years Price: £1559.99 Packing and Accessories Gigabyte has adopted a really sleek and sophisticated box design which contains a gorgeous snapshot demonstrating the laptop's slim profile. The packaging is quite detailed and even highlights the faux carbon fibre section. On the opposite side, there's another image showcasing the laptop's stunning finish. Gigabyte has done extremely well with the packaging because it evokes a premium feel and creates a sense of excitement during the unboxing process. Once the top cover has been removed, the end-user is presented with the laptop itself, protected by a soft felt case, and various compartments for the documentation and power adapter. This arrangement is fairly standard because it offers superb protection and allows the end-user to remove each item in a quick and painless way. In terms of accessories, the laptop comes with a compact power brick, AC adapter, Windows 7 USB 3.0 flash drive installation guide, PowerDVD 12, user's guide, USB 3.0 to RJ45 adapter, global warranty card and driver/software disk. Gigabyte has made a fairly embarrassing blunder by using optical media for the software/driver disks considering the unit lacks an optical drive. Granted, it's easy enough to buy an external drive or copy the files from another laptop but this shouldn't be the case. Hopefully, this is resolved fairly quickly and USB drives are deployed for the software/installation media in the near future. The Aero 14's power adapter has an AC input of 100-240V, around 2.A and 50-60Hz rating. Additionally, the DC output is 19.5V, 7.7A while the USB output reads 5V, 2.1A. The ability to connect a USB device directly into the power brick is quite novel and I've found it extremely useful. In particular, the integrated port is handy when you need to suddenly charge a smartphone or tablet and have exhausted the laptop's USB ports. CPU-Z GPU-Z A Closer Look Gigabyte decided to focus on a professional yet stylish aesthetic design which wouldn't look out of place in an office environment. As you can see, the neutral black colour scheme is attractive without being overbearing and should appeal to a wide audience. Furthermore, the textured section adds a more distinctive appearance and provides a marvellous contrast. Please note, Gigabyte has created two alternative models featuring more lavish colours. The lime green and orange versions cannot be purchased as of yet in the UK but I'd like to see them in retail channels to provide customers with greater choice. Here we can see the product has numerous ventilation grills to aid airflow which ensures heat is dispelled in an effective manner. The logical placement optimises the air direction and provides surprisingly good dissipation in a slim form factor. To prevent the machine from moving around, Gigabyte included six durable rubber feet. These feature a large surface area and have been attached with high-quality adhesive. Despite my best efforts, I couldn't find any weak points and don't expect the rubber feet to erode over time. The bottom portion houses two 1.5-watt speakers which offer exceptional audio clarity and consistently output great noise levels without distortion. Ultrabook speakers tend to be overly tinny and lacking in bass due to space restrictions. Thankfully, the Aero 14's speakers are vibrant, with a superb dynamic range. Of course, it's not going to compete with a premium set of headphones, but the rich audio tone should please the majority of users. Not only that, the audio segment supports Dolby Digital Plus to create a virtualized surround sound experience when playing games or watching immersive video content. Opening the laptop is a relatively simple task if you have the right tools. As per usual for modern gaming laptops, Gigabyte has resorted to Torx screws to discourage end-users from cleaning or upgrading their hardware. Honestly, this is a cogent strategy and should deter those who are likely to cause damage from prying the protective cover off. If someone has a set of Torx bits ranging from T1 upwards, they're probably going to have a greater level of technical expertise. Therefore, the probability of damage by user error is lower. To dismantle the laptop cover, simply unscrew the 15 Torx screws and gently lift the plastic housing upwards. Unlike some solutions, I didn't have to insert a plastic tool between the cover and chassis. The machine's cooling hardware revolves around two large fans and two heat pipes which combine to adequately cool both the CPU and GPU. As expected, the slim form factor is quite limiting and it's not possible to utilise a large number of heat-pipes or fans with a thicker surface area. Given these restrictions, I think Gigabyte has managed to compile a good layout. Despite being a really compact system, Gigabyte hasn't taken any liberties when it comes to battery life. More specifically, the Aero 14's battery is rated to 15.2V, 6200mAh/94.24Wh. This is nothing short of astounding and a major selling point. Unfortunately, there's no room to install a traditional SATA drive which means the M.2 standard is used instead. Positioning the M.2 NVMe next to the cooling hardware should prevent the drive throttling and help the storage device to maintain high speeds. Also, the unit contains two DIMM slots which are populated with 2133MHz modules from Crucial. To reiterate, the PCB layout is superb with a very clean design and I'm pleased to see any excess cabling held in place with industrial non-conductive tape. Even though the review system only utilises a single storage solution, it's possible to add a secondary M.2 drive. This level of flexibility is wonderful and users who require extraordinarily fast storage could create a RAID array using NVMe devices like the Samsung SM951. On another note, the M.2 connector is easily accessible and doesn't require you to uncouple ribbon cables or other key components. Connectivity-wise, the Aero 14 has from left to right, a USB 3.1 Type-C connector capable of speeds up to 10Gb/s, Mini DisplayPort, two USB 3.0 ports and a DC-in jack. There's also a Kensington lock slot, HDMI 2.0 port which supports a 4K 60Hz output providing the display in question is HDCP 2.2 compliant, USB 3.0 port, 3.5mm combo audio port and an SD card reader. Clearly, the most glaring omission is an Ethernet connector. I'm not entirely sure why Gigabyte took this approach as many users prefer reliable traffic via a wired connection. Perhaps, the Ethernet port just exceeded the laptop's extraordinarily slim frame. Whatever the case, I'm pleased a USB to RJ45 adapter is included free of charge which makes this issue less of a concern. Another slight disappointment is the USB 3.1 Type-C connector's inability to support Thunderbolt 3. This is important because GPU enclosures which rely on this technology can transform a laptop's gaming performance. The Aero 14 is fitted with a 14-inch 2560x1440 IPS panel which equates to a pixels-per-inch rating of 209.8. Even though Gigabyte brandishes this screen with a "3K" tag, it's a little bit disingenuous and the 1440p standard is colloquially referred to as 2.5K. Despite this slight annoyance, the panel's high PPI rate ensures the text is incredibly sharp and easy to look at for long periods. I'm glad Gigabyte didn't include a 4K display because it would have forced the end-user to run games at a non-native resolution. This might still apply to the 2560x1440 screen because the GTX 970M is intended for 1080p scenarios. However, the 1440p display shouldn't pose a problem when using fairly low settings. According to my testing, the display is capable of 70% sRGB coverage. As expected for an IPS panel, the colour reproduction is immense and a joy to use. Also, the viewing angles are excellent and have a reduced colour shift. From what I could see, the panel didn't suffer from backlight bleed or have uneven brightness levels. Speaking of brightness levels, the laptop reduces the brightness down to 20% once the power cord has been unplugged. This is just about usable in a dark environment, but I would recommend setting the brightness to 30-50% unless you need the battery to last a long time. Gigabyte has utilised an aluminium casing which adds a premium touch and makes the unit seem more substantial. On the other hand, the screen is prone to some minor wobbling but you adjust to it relatively quickly. This is a byproduct of the thin frame and cannot be avoided. Laying the unit flat provides an insight into the stunningly slim form factor. The Aero 14 features an island-style keyboard which is really comfortable to type on even if you're accustomed to mechanical switches. Each key has a fair travel distance (1.7mm) which accentuates every key press without slowing down the typing process. Additionally, the keys emit a satisfying noise and feel responsive. On another note, the lettering is of a very high quality without any cosmetic imperfections and should stand the test of time. The Aero 14 even incorporates a number of macro keys and you can configure commands to be executed on-the-fly. Here we can see the laptop supports white illumination which aids typing late at night. The lighting is consistent and I didn't detect areas lacking in colour. Ideally, I would have preferred the option to blend different colours together using RGB backlighting. I'm not entirely sure why Gigabyte hasn't embraced RGB technology into their laptop range and it's one area that could be improved upon in the future. The touchpad has a marvellous soft finish and large surface area. This means it's extremely accurate and doesn't become tiring to use for long periods. Personally, I think it's one of the best touchpads around and the incredible soft coating cushions your fingers rather well which improves comfort. Gigabyte includes a piece of software entitled "Smart Manager" which allows you to adjust the volume, brightness setting, power mode, enable/disable the integrated webcam and much more. The one aspect I really enjoyed was the Smart Colour which houses different options to modify the panel's hue. Furthermore, the Fan Tweak is handy if you're not overly fussed with the noise output and want to enjoy lower temperatures. Testing & Methodology To test each system or notebook, we want to stress every component of the system to check stability and performance, giving us an idea as to why those particular components were picked for this particular system. We use a wide variety of applications to gain a broad spectrum of results for comparing diverse aspects of system performance. Unless specifically stated, all games are running at maximum settings but any vendor-exclusive features such as TressFX or PhsyX have been disabled to make the results fair. There are some titles where the maximum preset can be altered further in regards to AA, AF, Tessellation, and Draw Distance. To allow our readers to make the most informed decision, any additional options will be clearly labelled in this section. Please note each benchmark is run three times to maintain the highest level of accuracy. Hardware Acoustic dBA meter AC "Killawatt" power meter Software 3DMark AIDA64 Engineer Cinebench R15 CrystalDiskMark CPU-Z GPU-Z HW-Monitor MSI Afterburner Passmark PerformanceTest 8.0 PCMark 8 Prime95 WPrime Unigine Heaven 4.0 Grand Theft Auto 5 Rise of the Tomb Raider Hitman Far Cry Primal PC Mark 8 The PCMark 8 Home benchmark includes workloads that reflect common tasks for a typical home user. These workloads have low computational requirements making PCMark 8 Home suitable for testing the performance of low-cost tablets, notebooks, and desktops. Home includes workloads for web browsing, writing, gaming, photo editing, and video chat. The results are combined to give a PCMark 8 Home score for your system. Download here. 3D Mark The new 3DMark includes everything you need to benchmark your hardware. With three all new tests you can bench everything from smartphones and tablets to notebooks and home PCs, to the latest high-end, multi-GPU gaming desktops. Download here. Grand Theft Auto V Our GTA5 Benchmark is run on the standard benchmark with MSAA=Off, FXAA=On, Advanced Graphics Disabled and everything else set to their maximum values: Rise of the Tomb Raider Even though Rise of the Tomb Raider recommends graphics cards above 4GB for the Very High preset, we believe it's the best option to stress graphics cards and distinguish between systems opting for different hardware. Of course, lower-end hardware can struggle with the benchmark and output some unusual results. FXAA is also enabled. Hitman To properly test DirectX 12 performance, the integrated Hitman benchmark is used and everything is set to maximum with FXAA set to on. Far Cry Primal In this game, the Ultra preset is selected with the HD texture pack and FXAA. Once the settings have been dialled in, the game's built-in benchmark is run on multiple occasions before recording the average data. Cinebench R15 Cinebench is a widely respected benchmark for testing the performance of x86 CPUs. The program allows you to test single and multi-threaded performance as well as GPU performance by rendering with Open GL. Download here. WPrime WPrime is a computer program that calculates a set number of square roots using Newton's method for estimating functions verifying the results by squaring them then comparing them with the original numbers Download here AIDA64 Engineer Edition AIDA64 Engineer is a streamlined Windows diagnostic and benchmarking software for engineers. It has unique capabilities to assess the performance of the processor, system memory, and disk drives. AIDA64 is compatible with all current 32-bit and 64-bit Microsoft Windows operating systems, including Windows 8 and Windows Server 2012. Memory and cache benchmarks are available to analyse system RAM bandwidth and latency. Download here. CrystalDiskMark CrystalDiskMark is a portable storage drive benchmark utility that enables you to measure sequential and random read/write speeds on different block size data. CrystalDiskMark will work with any storage drives including hard drives, SSDs and USB flash drives. Download here. Passmark The PassMark Advanced Network Test (which is part of PerformanceTest) is designed to test the data transfer rate between two computers both of which must be running PerformanceTest. One of the computers must act as the server and will sit waiting for a connection. The other computer acts as a client. It connects to the server machine and sends data to it for the duration of the test. You can download a trial version of PerformanceTest from here. Acoustic Performance The amount of noise produced by any computer is a vital consideration for most buyers, even gamers don't really want a noisy PC because less noise is always better. We use an acoustic dBA meter held 2 feet behind our test system at idle and under load to get the idle and load noise levels for the system. For idle we allow the system to sit at the Windows desktop, for load we let Unigine Heaven 4.0 and Prime95 to loop together - we take the acoustic measurements 5 minutes into both of these scenarios. Battery Life To accurately test battery life, PC Mark 8's Home Accelerated battery benchmark is run which emulates the typical usage scenario including web browsing, photo editing, light gaming and other basic tasks. From my experience, this is a pretty reliable tool and provides a great insight into a laptop's battery life. Power Consumption To test power consumption we measure the total system power draw during idle and load scenarios. For idle we allow the system to sit at the Windows desktop, for load we let Unigine Heaven 4.0 and Prime95 to loop together – we take the power measurements from the “Killawatt” AC power meter 5 minutes into both of these scenarios at the same point. Temperatures To test thermal performance we measure average CPU and GPU core temperatures during idle and load scenarios. For idle we allow the system to sit at the Windows desktop, for load we let Unigine Heaven 4.0 and Prime95 to loop together - we take the temperature measurements from within CPUID HWMonitor 5 minutes into both of these scenarios at the same point. For load we take the average of the maximum temperatures, for idle we take the average of the minimum temperatures. Synthetic Benchmarks PC Mark 8 Before I get into the benchmarks, it's important to clarify that the Aero 14 is currently being compared to desktop systems and not other laptops because I'm waiting for more portable samples to arrive. While I still have the data on some older laptops, it's using a different process and relies on outdated games. Therefore, I updated the benchmarking suite to provide an accurate indication of performance. This means the laptop's standing will be understood better once I've analysed a number of competing units sporting a similar form factor. During PC Mark 8, the Aero 14 achieved a very respectable score and has enough horsepower to easily cope with basic tasks such as light gaming, photo editing and web browsing. Clearly, it's not a match for high-end Pascal systems, but this is to be expected and targets different types of customers. 3DMark The laptop's performance throughout 3DMark is commendable although it struggles with the intense action once the resolution goes beyond 2560x1440. Overall, the scores are impressive for an ultrabook but you are going to enjoy a huge performance boost when opting for the latest Pascal mobile chips. That's not to say the GTX 970M isn't going to uphold good numbers, though. Gaming Performance Grand Theft Auto 5 Evidently, the GTX 970M isn't engineered to deal with advanced graphics presets or extreme resolutions. In the interest of fairness, I decided to run the benchmarks using the standard procedure as a way of comparing with other systems, then selected more sensible settings. Hopefully, this will showcase the kind of your experience which is possible from the Aero 14's graphics chip. In Grand Theft Auto V, the Aero 14 performed admirably and managed to exceed an average frame-rate of 60 when scaling back the screen resolution to 1920x1080. Once the display ran at the native resolution, the frame rate remained solid although there are some moments when it drops considerably. Overall, a great result considering the demanding preset. If you decide to employ medium settings, the frame rate is much better and it's remarkably easy to maintain a fluid user experience. Even when using the 2560x1440 resolution, the performance is superb and demonstrates that it's feasible to enjoy 1440p gaming providing you make some concessions in the options menu. Rise of the Tomb Raider Rise of the Tomb Raider's Very High preset requires graphics hardware with a large framebuffer. During the testing, I disabled the safeguards and wasn't expecting the Aero 14 to perform well. Rather surprisingly, the average 1080p frame rate was decent and remained playable. Saying that, there are moments involving heavy effects which make the frame rate plummet. Also, the system struggles with the preset when using the native 2560x1440 resolution. Here we can see, the performance improves by a decent amount after applying the medium preset. This is enough to achieve a stable 60 frames-per-second figure at 1920x1080. Additionally, the 1440p frame rate is good and more than playable if you're accustomed to games running around 30 frames-per-second. Hitman Sadly, the Gigabyte Aero 14's graphics card hasn't got the required horsepower to provide a smooth experience when using the Ultra preset. While you might argue 35.3 frames-per-second is fine, it doesn't take into account the massive drops which often dip below 15. This is to be expected and lower settings are required. Once the medium preset was enabled, the system fared rather well and managed an average frame rate of 69.2 during 1080p testing. This is a stellar result and illustrates how well the GPU copes with medium settings 1080p gaming. Far Cry Primal In Far Cry Primal, the Aero 14 obtains a respectable result when scaling back the display to 1920x1080. I wouldn't personally sacrifice a higher frame rate to run the Ultra preset, but this shouldn't detract from another solid showing. As expected, the 1440p frame rate is unplayable and not recommended. Thankfully, it's possible to almost reach an average of 60 frames-per-second by enabling the "Normal/Medium" preset. The system didn't encounter any problems using the lower graphical details after setting the display to 1080p. Weirdly, the 1440p frame rate only increased by 10 which suggests there's a bottleneck coming into play. CPU & Memory Performance Cinebench R15 The Aero 14's i7-6700HQ is capable of excellent multi-threaded performance and attained a good Cinebench score which isn't too far behind the highly-acclaimed i5-6600K. This is a superb showing and exemplifies how impressive Intel's mobile processor range can be. WPrime Here we can see the laptop completed the WPrime 1024M benchmark in under 250 seconds and offered similar performance to desktops sporting the i5-6600K. AIDA64 Engineer When it comes to memory bandwidth, the Aero 14's 16GB dual-channel 2133MHz configuration is able to output great numbers and maintains read, write and copy rates above 30,000 MB/s. Storage and USB Performance CrystalDiskMark - Sequential Read The product's NVMe M.2 boot drive offers absurdly high read speeds and makes traditional SATA-based storage look archaic in comparison. As you can see, the system managed a read speed of 1840MB/s when deploying the Samsung NVMe SSD. The USB 3.0 read performance was solid and appeared very consistent during multiple runs. CrystalDiskMark - Sequential Write In terms of write performance, the boot SSD does quite well and almost exceeds the 600MB/s barrier. While it's not in the same league as some other high-end storage, the write rate is a good margin ahead of the previously tested systems using SATA storage. On another note, the USB 3.0 write was average and within the range I anticipated. Networking Performance Passmark PerformanceTest 8.0 Ethernet (LAN) As previously mentioned, the Aero 14 doesn't have an integrated RJ45 port and requires the use of a USB adapter, manufactured by Realtek. There's no need to worry, though, because the adapter provides exceptional bandwidth and defeated all the other rival products by a slim margin. WiFi When using the 5GHz WiFi protocol, the laptop attained commendable figures which remained within a small range. This provides an insight into the consistent bandwidth and is a vast improvement compared to the Chillblast Fusion Wolf 2. Acoustic, Battery, Power & Thermal Performance Acoustic Performance The Aero 14 is extremely quiet during idle usage situations and you'd be hard pressed to notice any fan noise whatsoever. I'm pretty certain the laptop runs in a passive mode until the CPU/GPU utilisation ramps up. As I initially feared, the system becomes very loud once stressed and it's common for the fan RPMs to suddenly increase in an obnoxious manner. Usually, there's a spike in the fan noise and it subsides slightly but this stems from varying CPU frequencies. Honestly, I'm not surprised by the noise output because of the slim frame and had realistic expectations. Saying that, it's not ideal for someone to values a quiet gaming experience. Battery Life Another important aspect of any laptop is battery life and I'm pleased to say that the Aero 14 has one of the best I've encountered. While running the PCMark 8 Home Accelerated benchmark which contains some casual gaming, web browsing and photo editing, the system achieved a very good result of 4 hours 42 minutes. Please remember that the tested battery life will be significantly less than someone who works on a spreadsheet and views some web pages. I'd expect the battery life to extend to around 6-7 hours for these circumstances. Power Consumption In terms of power consumption, the Gigabyte Aero 14 is economically-friendly and consumes around 161 watts under load. This figure seems to fluctuate though and often drops to 120-watts. Whatever the case, the laptop isn't power hungry even when the wattage jumps up to 160-165. Thermal Performance It's a crying shame the Aero 14's i7-6700HQ cannot maintain its maximum 3.5GHz due to thermal restrictions. When using the AIDA64 stress test, the processor is perilously close to 100C and begins to throttle back down to 2.5GHz. Thankfully, this isn't as prevalent when playing games and shouldn't impair the user experience. Saying that, the laptop still runs rather warm even though the fans are spinning at a high speed. Once again, it's not a shocking turn of events because the 19.9mm frame isn't big enough to house powerful cooling hardware. On a more positive note, the GPU temperature reading is marvellous and well within the chip's operating window. Final Thoughts Pricing Currently, the Aero 14 is available in two packages with different storage options. The basic model and I use that term loosely, includes a 256GB NVMe M.2 drive and retails for £1449.98 from Scan Computers. If you think this is too limiting, it's possible to acquire a higher-end variant featuring 512GB of NVMe storage for £1559.99 from Overclockers UK. Judging the value proposition of the Aero 14 in either form is challenging because the only real product which employs a similar form factor and has a bonafide gaming chipset is the Razer Blade Stealth. I've seen many comparisons between these two products but there are noticeable differences. For instance, the Razer Blade opts for a 3000x1800 touchscreen and the GTX 970M benefits from additional 3GB of VRAM. The Razer Blade has some enhanced functionality but this comes with a significant premium. Not only that, it's extremely difficult to find in the UK and I only encountered stockists prepared to ship the unit at a huge cost directly from the USA. Furthermore, it doesn't seem fair to criticise the Aero 14's pricing based on the graphics horsepower of much larger laptops. Gigabyte's creation isn't designed as the ultimate in performance to rival desktops; it's meant to be a sleek, portable device which has good gaming credentials. On the other hand, I'd like to see the Aero 14 modernised with NVIDIA's latest Pascal chips to become a more enticing product. Overview The Gigabyte Aero 14 is based on a minimalist design philosophy which makes it a suitable choice for professional work environments. Unlike many of their rivals, Gigabyte didn't adopt customisable RGB lighting or implement a two-tone colour scheme which usually appeals to the core gaming demographic. Instead, they decided to stick with a simple black finish and added a stylish section which mimics the look of carbon fibre. The textured portion is absolutely breathtaking and contrasts with the laptop's default colour tone remarkably well. This evokes such a sense of pride when using the product and it feels like you're receiving an expensive piece of equipment. On another note, the laptop is constructed from aluminium and doesn't use a plastic housing seen on some of Gigabyte's previous offerings. Once again, this enhances the premium feel and reduces the weight substantially down to 1.8KG with the battery installed. Clearly, this isn't the lightest ultrabook available today, but it's much more portable than traditional gaming laptops which usually range between 2.1KG up to 4.5KG on extreme units like the MSI GT80 2QE Titan SLI. Additionally, the Aero 14 is a mere 19.9mm thick and I found myself using it more frequently than other laptops due to the enhanced portability. Connectivity-wise, the Aero 14 is pretty impressive considering the compact form factor although there are a few caveats. Starting with the positives, the laptop houses a good array of USB ports including three USB 3.0 and a single USB 3.1 Type-C. The USB 3.1 Type-C provides good options for the future when more devices begin to adopt this new standard. Also, the three USB 3.0 ports allow you to connect a USB drive, mouse and a smartphone without running into problems. Interestingly, Gigabyte embedded another USB 3.0 connector directly into the power brick which is a stroke of genius. I have to commend Gigabyte for using the HDMI 2.0 standard which has the ability to output 4K 60Hz. Granted, the GTX 970M doesn't have the required horsepower to play games on a 4K display while maintaining a high frame-rate, but the amount of high-resolution 60 frames-per-second content on YouTube is growing at a brisk pace. Sadly, the laptop does have some glaring omissions such as Thunderbolt 3. This is important because Thunderbolt 3 GPU enclosures have the potential to dramatically enhance a laptop's gaming performance. Of course, it ruins the portability factor and costs a significant amount of money. Despite this, it should have been included to improve the laptop's flexibility. Another unusual move was to disregard the integrated Ethernet and prioritise WiFi networking. Even though WiFi is ample for many users, others prefer a wired connection because it's extremely reliable and offers faster speeds. To be honest, it's not a huge problem because Gigabyte acknowledged the situation and included an RJ45 adapter with the laptop. Therefore, I can't be overly critical. The configuration I received for review features a stunning 2560x1440 IPS display with fantastic viewing angles and a rich, warm colour gamut. As expected for an IPS panel, the viewing experience is superb and whatever content you're watching seems immersive. During the review, I didn't witness any motion blur, IPS glow or dead pixels. The screen's high PPI rate makes text look really sharp and Gigabyte has found a good balance between image quality and resolution. If they opted for a 4K panel, it would be impossible to run games at a native resolution and some applications could encounter scaling problems. As discussed earlier, the laptop's keyboard is comfortable to use and feels very satisfying. In particular, the ergonomic chiclet design allows you to automatically position your fingers on the correct key and mistakes didn't happen that often after I adjusted to the layout. Furthermore, the keys have a good amount of travel react well to various degrees of pressure. Also, the backlighting is another treat and helps you to work late into the night. The lighting is bright without being too over-the-top and makes the key caps easy to see. Personally, I would have preferred the option to cycle through various colours and transitional effects in a similar vein to MSI's gaming range. The trackpad is just as comfortable to use and features a soft cushioning finish which reduces hand fatigue. The Aero 14's speakers are another major selling point and greatly exceeded my expectations. To be fair, speakers within a small frame are usually quite tinny and sound quite flat, so the initial predictions were low. Rather surprisingly, the laptop's dual 1.5-watt speakers can output good volume levels and provide an excellent tonal balance. As a result, there isn't a distinct lack of bass which leads to an enjoyable listening experience. The laptop's battery life is exemplary and wasn't far off lasting 5 hours while running a relatively strenuous benchmark. Therefore, I'd expect the battery life to reach at least 6 hours in normal usage scenarios. This is fantastic for a slimline laptop and showcases the Aero 14's abilities as a portable workhorse. Unfortunately, the laptop's cooling solution isn't good enough to maintain the CPU's maximum 3.5GHz turbo frequency throughout testing. According to my results, the CPU constantly hits the 95C mark and throttles back down to 2.5GHz as a way of preventing possible hardware failure. To be clear, this was the case when using the AIDA64 stress test and the gaming thermals were much better. On the one hand, I expected the CPU to reach at least 90C because of the slim construction. The frame doesn't have the room to insert loads of thick heat pipes or utilise large fans. A similar problem exists on the Razer Blade which signifies why the surface area is so important when it comes to cooling. Not only that, the laptop is loud under stress and easily exceeds 50dB. The one saving grace is the idle noise output which is phenomenal and virtually silent. In terms of performance, the Aero 14 is a great package and excels in the storage department. More specifically, the high-end NVMe boot SSD is capable of wonderful read speeds and maintains commendable write rates. I do think a secondary drive using non-NVMe speeds would be advantageous and help to store larger games without worrying about the limited space. Saying that, this would affect the price and perhaps it's better to deploy an external large capacity SATA drive instead. Also, it's easy enough to remove the back cover and manually insert a second M.2 drive. The system's processor has a good reputation and it's well deserved as demonstrated by the narrow gap to the i5-6600K. The unit's GTX 970M is capable of decent frame rates in a wide variety of games providing you are prepared to select moderate graphical presets. This particular graphics chipset isn't designed for high-resolution gaming or tackling advanced forms of AA. Even though it's now been superseded, the GTX 970M can offer a good gaming experience at 1920x1080 or 2560x1440. I wouldn't personally use the Aero 14 at its native resolution because you're going to encounter stutter and some sudden frame dips. However, it's achievable on medium settings on current titles, but I wouldn't expect this to be the case for future releases. Now that the mobile Pascal variants have arrived, it almost seems counterproductive to invest in a new system sporting the older generation of hardware. This is especially true with Pascal because there's no longer a massive performance divide between the desktop and mobile chips. Essentially, new laptops with Pascal GPUs perform within 5-7% of the desktop counterparts and have revolutionised the current market. Subsequently, the sensible choice would be for Gigabyte to update the Aero 14 with the GTX 1060. Don't get me wrong, I understand that the product isn't just about gaming performance and targets a different kind of user, but it's something which is bound to deter some people from investing. Pros Aluminum construction Comfortable keyboard Decent gaming performance when using medium settings Excellent battery life Fantastic speakers Gorgeous slimline design Light and portable Premium packaging Responsive touchpad Superb networking Supports USB 3.1 Type-C Vibrant display Wonderful NVMe storage speeds Cons Cooling hardware struggles to keep the CPU running under 95C at 3.5GHz Emergence of Pascal mobile GPUs can make the system seem outdated Very loud under load Neutral Storage fills up quickly but this is easily resolved with an external HDD "The Gigabyte Aero 14 is a sleek, sophisticated ultrabook which has enough horsepower to uphold an enjoyable 1080p gaming experience when using sensible settings. Not only that, the stellar keyboard, lightweight construction and thin frame makes the Aero 14 a complete joy to use whether you're at home or in a busy public place." Gigabyte Aero 14 GTX 970M Gaming Laptop Review Thank you Gigabyte for providing us with this sample.