Our unit was provided by Xotic PC. In the box, users will find the notebook, the 150 W power adapter, a large microfiber cleaning cloth, and a synthetic laptop sleeve sporting the Aorus logo. There is also a small USB storage drive with drivers and Aorus software in case they need to be reinstalled.

Aorus includes several software suites to sweeten the X3 Plus v7. Users will find Xsplit Gamecaster for use in streaming and screen sharing, the Aorus Audio Equalizer for tuning the speakers and connected audio devices, and Aorus' COMMAND&CONTROL hub. COMMAND&CONTROLl gives full access to some hardware tweaks, including a CPU and GPU overclocking tool, fan control profiles, mouse cursor speed and sensitivity, and a blue light filter to ease eye strain. The overclocking tool is very straightforward; simply slide the tuner to the desired clock speed (for the CPU) or overclock factor (for the GPU), and the software will boost the components accordingly. We will explore this overclocking feature in the performance sections below.

Keyboard

The Keyboard is average. Travel is decent and there is a well-defined pressure point, but the plastic key caps clatter loudly when typing. The layout features the usual keys (e.g., function keys that double as system controls) with some additions gamers may appreciate. The WASD keys are outlined in white and there are 5 macro keys in a column on the left side of the keyboard deck, separated by enough space to make them feel distinct from the rest of the keys. Users can set up to 5 different profiles using the G key at the top of this column, with each profile indicated by a different color. This requires the Aorus Macro Engine, which was strangely not present on our review unit but can be downloaded online. The keyboard also features a two-stage white backlight. Unfortunately, the customizable RGB lighting from Aorus' other notebooks doesn't make the transition to their smaller device.

Touchpad  

The touchpad is a weak point for this notebook. While its glass finish and subtle Aorus logo look stunning, the pad itself is difficult to use. Tracking is smooth, but multi-finger gestures (such as two-finger scrolling) doesn't always register and is jumpy when it does. Palm rejection is also non-existent, and the touchpad frequently registers inputs from a user's palm while typing, resulting in frustrating cursor jumps and unintended clicks. Thankfully, there is a function key dedicated to turning the touchpad off; this feature is a godsend during gaming and long typing sessions. The bottom portion is textured and does not register tracking. The center of the textured section is completely immobile, so users are forced to click in the bottom left and right corners in a seesaw-like motion. The clicking mechanism is very stiff and not pleasing to use. Overall, the touchpad is poor and will leave users reaching for an external mouse. 

One of the defining features of the X3 Plus v7 is its gorgeous 3200x1800 IGZO display. Images and text are crisp and tack sharp. While the resolution offers a high amount of detail, the 13.9" size is a bit small for this many pixels. Users will likely opt to scale the display to 150% for a more usable experience, but the option for more screen real estate is there. In gaming, the native resolution is out of reach for the GPU in our unit, a factor we will explore further in the performance sections below. Suffice it to say the high resolution makes for some stunning images but likely won't be used in favor of legibility and reduced eye strain.

Response times are in line with other gaming notebooks, although the lightning fast OLED panel of the Alienware 13 is much quicker. The panel also has a relatively low PWM frequency of about 200 Hz that is noticeable at about 50% brightness and below. Backlight bleed is minimal and only noticeable in the bottom corners under very dark settings. It won't distract from regular use in even low-lit environments. The screen gets very bright, peaking at an average of 359 nits. This, coupled with the matte finish, makes the device usable in almost any lighting condition. The screen is still usable in direct sunlight and remains vibrant in the shade.

Color space is good at 96% of sRGB and 62% of AdobeRGB. This rivals the great color space of the Alienware 13 and trounces rivals, which tend to have a more limited range of colors. 

Colors are vibrant and fairly accurate; our measurements peg the screen at a delta of 2.4. Generally, deltas lower than 3 are acceptable for professional work. With calibration, deltas fall to 1.6, which is phenomenal and should be more than acceptable for must color professionals. Greyscale deltas are also fantastic at 2.4; only the Alienware's OLED display (which can turn off individual pixels for true blacks) beats it. When calibrated, this number falls to an outstanding 1.1. The high resolution and excellent color reproduction could make the X3 suitable for professional video and photo work on the go.

The IGZO panel has good viewing angles, but can't quite match those of an IPS display. When viewing the screen past 45°, colors begin to wash out and the screen looks dimmer. Text is still very legible, but images lose their punch. White colors also take on a yellowish tint at these angles. The screen is still good when used off-center, but quality quickly diminishes as viewing angles increase. 

In keeping with its philosophy of making powerful, premium notebooks, Aorus has equipped the X3 Plus v7 with an unlocked Intel Core i7-7820HK. With an L3 cache of 8 MB, a base clock of 2.9 GHz, and a boost clock up to 3.9 GHz, the 7820HK is powerful right out of the box. However, users can overclock the CPU to 4.3 GHz using the included COMMAND&CONTROL software package. All benchmarks recorded in the tables below were run at this overclock unless otherwise specified.

In Cinebench R15, the X3 Plus v7 puts up quite a show with a single-core score of 181 CB and a multi-core score of 819 CB. The roughly 10% gain in maximum clock results in about a 15-20% bump in performance over the Intel Core i7-7700HQ more commonly seen in gaming notebooks. It also outperforms the previous generation Core i7-6820HK (seen in last year's Aorus notebooks) by about 6-7%. The 7820HK only falls behind the i7-7700K found in the Eurocom Tornado F5, a 91 W processor made for desktops. Even then, the Tornado F5's 7700K (which has a TDP twice as high as the 7820HK) beats the X3 by a mere 10% in multi-threaded workloads. There's no doubt that the 7820HK packs some serious power.

When running the CPU at its pre-configured settings, the performance gap is greatly reduced. Cinebench R15 scores are still in the X3's favor, if only by about 5%. Users that opt to run the 7820HK at its standard clock speeds to increase battery life and reduce heat emissions can expect slightly better performance than its rivals in CPU intensive tasks.

The CPU is rock solid over long term use. Running Cinebench R15 multiple times in a row yielded similar results, which shows that the 7820HK performs at the same level over long periods of use.

Update (24/05/2017): Further testing confirms that the Core i7-7820HK is capped at the non-overclocked boost of 3.9 GHz when on battery. Users can expect a lower level of performance when unplugged.

For more information and benchmarks on the Intel Core i7-7820HK, check out our dedicated page on the CPU here.

The Toshiba NVMe SSD in the X3 is lightning quick, but performance is inconsistent. CrystalDiskMark returned average read and write scores of 1498 and 1324, respectively. Applications and programs load quickly, and load times in games are fast. The X3 bests the LiteOn NVMe SSDs used by the Aero 14 and Aero 15, but the Samsung SSDs found in the Tornado F5 and MSI GS63VR offer faster performance. 

The NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 is quickly becoming the go-to GPU solution for mid-tier gaming notebooks, and it's no surprise why. The 1060 is well-suited to use at Full HD. It dominates 1080p gaming and even opens the door to 1440p gameplay, albeit at lower settings. Our model uses the higher-specced version of the 1060 with 6 GB of GDDR5 VRAM. The GPU can be pushed to its limits by using Aorus' included overclocking tools. This feature can squeeze out a few more frames, and we will explore it in the section on Gaming Performance. Suffice it to say that, coupled with the powerful 7820HK, the 1060 tears through graphically heavy tasks. The X3 scored 12298 in the Fire Strike Graphics benchmark, beating out its rivals by 5-9%. Therefore, users can expect a bit more performance out of this machine than other notebooks equipped with the GTX 1060. The X3 performs at a similar level while running on battery power, making 3D intensive tasks as smooth away from the outlet as they are when plugged in.

UPDATE (24/05/2017): After further testing, we can confirm that GPU clock speeds can hit the overclocked speeds while on battery power, but the average clock will be lower. The result is about a 10-15% performance hit in Fire Strike Extreme. While this drop is significant, it doesn't affect real world usage; we did not notice any notable difference in frame rates while running the Witcher 3 on battery.

For more information about the NVIDIA GeForce GTX 1060 and other benchmarks, please visit our page dedicated to the GPU here.

Here lies the Achilles Heel of the Aorus X3 Plus v7. The small chassis struggles to keep the immense power of the overclocked CPU and GPU reined in, and the result is some harsh thermal throttling. Using Prime95 to synthetically stress the device and tax the CPU far beyond the strain of real-world use, we see the 7820HK boost to its overclocked maximum of 4.3 GHz for a short time. After coming under strain for about 10 minutes, however, the CPU quickly reduces its clock speed back to a more conservative 3.6 GHz in order to keep temperatures in check. While boosting, we see a maximum of 100º C on the CPU package, which is Intel's advised threshold to prevent damage. Once clock speeds come back down, the CPU sits at about 95-96º C. While this is still hot, it's within tolerance. If users are going to tax the X3, they should ensure the notebook is well ventilated and receiving enough fresh air.

FurMark creates an unrealistically heavy workload for the GPU. When strained by the benchmark, the GTX 1060 performs admirably. Maximum temperatures reach 88º C but average at about 82º C. This is a good result considering the GPU is able to hit its overclocked speed of 1650 MHz periodically throughout the test. The CPU  reaches 99º C for a brief moment (likely due to heat runoff from the GPU) but keeps its cool after the fans dump the excess heat.

Running Prime95 and FurMark together is where problems begin. After running both stress tests concurrently for an hour, the 7820HK is brought to its knees and chokes back to 2.3 GHz. At the beginning of the test, the CPU reaches 4.0 GHz, but only briefly; most of the benchmark sees the 7820HK hovering around 2.3 - 2.5 GHz. Temperatures also reach 90-95º C across all four cores, which explains the lower clock. The GPU again does well here, reaching a maximum of 1632 MHz while averaging about 88º C. The GTX 1060 settles in between 1475 - 1500 MHz and sits there for most of the test. 

While the thermal throttling seen here may seem damning, keep in mind that Prime95 and FurMark are unrealistically difficult tests meant to place an inordinate amount of stress on the internals. Using an hour long play session of The Witcher 3: Wild Hunt, we gain better insight into real-world stress the X3 will actually see. While temperatures across the CPU die are still high and flirt with the 100º C threshold, the 7820HK hits its 4.3 GHz overclock before dialing back to 4.0 - 4.1 GHz. The GPU really shows the benefits of overclocking here; it hits a maximum clock of 2000 MHz and stays there throughout the test. Even at this level of performance, temperatures are still manageable at an average of 85º C.

While the internals will get hot, that's the price for increased performance. If users consider these temperatures too hot for their tastes, the CPU and GPU can both be dialed back to their defaults through software, resulting in lower temperatures at the cost of reduced performance. 

The aggressive nature of the fans does have a benefit. Exterior heat is well controlled. Under max synthetic load, the hottest spot of the notebook is the back center of the bottom panel. This area is right where the CPU and GPU rest, so the aluminum chassis will transfer the most heat in this spot. Because of this, the notebook can't be held in the lap without considerable discomfort while gaming or other intensive tasks.

On the plus side, the keyboard deck stays relatively cool, especially the wrist rest and area around the WASD keys. This will be important to gamers; their hands won't get warm or sweaty during long gameplay sessions. The notebook's heat system is well engineered for gameplay.