Aorus 17G XB Laptop Review: The mechanical keyboard rocks

The competing devices include: the Alienware m17 R2, the Lenovo Legion Y740-17, the Razer Blade Pro 17 and the Asus ROG Zephyrus S GX701GXR. These notebooks are shown in the charts to provide a basis for comparison.

With a height of 2.6 cm (1.02 in) and a weight of 2.7 kg (5.95 lbs), the Aorus 17G finds its place in the area between classical desktop replacements and the representatives of the thin-&-light category. Thanks to a bezel-less design, the chassis does not look too cumbersome. In terms of quality, the 17-incher leaves a very good impression. According to Gigabyte, the chassis has been machined from a block of aluminium using CNC technology. The metal surfaces feel nice to the touch and are very rigid. Even when a lot of pressure is applied to the chassis it does not bend in. Moreover, the display lid is also extremely rigid, which is not something we can say about most other laptops.

The build quality is on a satisfactory level as well. There are no chinks or gaps anywhere. Thanks to a relatively bright colour palette (the display lid and the upper side of the chassis are greyish in colour) users will not have to constantly wipe the device clean. Smudges such as fingerprints are not very visible.

Speaking of the looks: While devices in the Aero product line look quite restrained and therefore appeal to a broad range of buyers, the Aorus 17G is intended primarily for gamers. However, certain elements such as the fan intakes above the keyboard are quite remarkable in their own right. Anyway, in our opinion, the manufacturer did not go overboard here. Other gaming laptops, though, appear a bit more playful.

Ports

Except for the somewhat poor positioning (in our view, the power jack is sub-optimally positioned), there is nothing else to complain about when it comes to the ports. Like any other modern notebook, the Aorus 17G has a Thunderbolt 3 port. In addition, our review device features three USB 3.0 Type-A ports, two audio jacks (one for the headphones, the other for the microphone) and two dedicated video outputs (HDMI 2.0 + DisplayPort 1.4). The whole package is rounded off with an RJ45 Ethernet port and an SD card reader.

The integrated card reader supports the following formats: SD, SDHC and SDXC. It offers a great level of performance. Our reference-grade SD card operated at nearly maximum speeds (260 MB/s). As you can see in the chart below, many other competitors have to make do without an SD card reader.

Because we have recently upgraded our router (now we use the Netgear Nighthawk AX12, which supports Wi-Fi 6), only the Wi-Fi results from the Aero 17 HDR and the ROG Zephyrus S GX701GXR are comparable. The Gigabyte Aorus 17G comes with the state-of-the-art Killer AX1650x module, which delivers impressive results when both receiving and transmitting data. The Gigabit Ethernet Controller (E2600) also comes from Killer.

We would rather not talk about the quality of the web camera. Like with most other laptops, the image quality is very poor (sharpness, colours, etc.). Moreover, the web camera is located below the screen, which means that it points up your nose. However, it can be hidden behind a sliding cover.

The box includes the Aorus 17G, a quick-start guide and an almost 730-g 230-watt power adapter.

The maintenance options are typical for such a high-powered device. Once you undo 14 Torx screws on the underside, you will be able to remove the bottom cover by prying it away (we recommend starting at the RJ45 Ethernet port). Inside the chassis you will get access to the Wi-Fi module, the battery, two DDR4 RAM slots and two M.2-2280 slots. The cooling system consists of two fans, to each of which three heat pipes are connected. As per usual, both the CPU and the GPU are soldered-in and therefore cannot be replaced.

The TouchPad has a very smooth surface, which makes for effortless finger-gliding. It measures 10.5 x 7 cm (4.13 x 2.75 in). There is nothing out of the ordinary when it comes to the precision. The same can be said about multi-touch support. With two-finger gestures, users can easily adjust the zoom on web pages and in documents. Scrolling is also effortless. 

The inputs at the bottom of the TouchPad, for the left and the right clicks, work relatively well, which is not something you can take for granted with a TouchPad that does not have dedicated mouse buttons. Many users will also be happy to see a fingerprint sensor in the upper left corner of the TouchPad. All in all, the input devices of the Aorus 17G cut rather fine figures.

An additional strong reason to buy the Aorus 17G, besides the mechanical keyboard, is the 240-Hz screen. It improves the user experience not only when gaming but also in many other situations. For example, the mouse pointer moves exceptionally smoothly.

Thanks to an octa-core CPU, a high-end GPU, a PCIe SSD and 16 GB of RAM, our review configuration is quite future-proof. In the next one to three years, the system will rarely be stretched to its limits.

The CPU also supports Intel’s Turbo Boost technology. Under optimal conditions, the Core i7-10875H can boost up to 5.1 GHz. However, in practice, the processor usually runs at lower clock speeds. In the single-core section of our Cinebench benchmark, the Comet Lake-based chip runs at 4.5 to 4.8 GHz. Under an all-core load, the CPU initially runs at 4.3 GHz, but after a short while the clock speeds drop to 3.5 to 3.6 GHz. You can easily see this from our Cinebench graph, which shows significantly lower results after the first benchmark run. 

Anyway, when it comes to the Turbo Boost, the CPU of the Aorus 17G performs slightly better than that of Gigabyte’s own Aero 17 HDR. Here, the Alienware m17 R2 with the Core i9-9980HK trounces all other competitors.

The Aorus 17G takes first place in the PCMark 10 benchmark. Here, its lead over the competition ranges from 1 to 19%. Subjectively speaking, the overall user experience (boot-up times, loading times etc.) is on par with the rest of the competition.

The storage devices cannot be responsible for the poor latency performance. The 512 GB version of the Samsung PM981a SSD is used in many laptops which can achieve very high read and write speeds. Those who want more storage space will find an empty M.2 slot for PCIe or SATA drives under the hood.

Although many other manufacturers opt to use normal GPU models in notebooks with a height of 2.5 cm (~ 1 in), Gigabyte decided to go with the Max-Q versions of the RTX 2070 Super and the RTX 2080 Super instead. Max-Q variants generate less heat and draw less power.

However, in turn, buyers have to give up some performance. The RTX 2070 Super Max-Q in our review device comes with a base clock of 930 MHz instead of 1140 MHz. That being said, the amount of CUDA cores (2560) and the amount of VRAM (8 GB of GDDR6 memory) are identical to the standard version.

Thanks to GPU Boost, the Turing chip can increase its core clocks well above the base frequency. We did not observe any frame rate drops in our 60-minute stress test with The Witcher 3, during which the RTX 2070 Super Max-Q ran at 1350 MHz.

In our benchmark suite, the Aorus 17G is neck and neck with its comrade Aero 17 HDR, whose RTX 2070 Super Max-Q has a slightly higher core clock (on average about 1380 MHz) with the same settings in Control Center.

At its native Full HD resolution, our review configuration can run any modern game on the highest settings smoothly. In very demanding titles such as Red Dead Redemption 2, it may struggle a bit. The RTX 2070 Super Max-Q can also achieve playable frame rates in some titles at 1440p. Those who want to game in 4K should take a look at a GeForce RTX 2080 (Super).

When using the default settings, the fans even spin in idle operation and are usually audible. Here, the Alienware m17 R2, the Lenovo Legion Y740-17, the Razer Blade 17 and the Asus ROG GX701GXR can do better than 35 to 36 dB. However, the fans of the Aorus 17G rarely ramp up. 

Under load, the Aorus 17G produces about as much noise as the rest of the competition. 47 to 49 dB is loud and annoying enough that some users will feel the need to connect a headset to avoid hearing the noise.

Things look different when it comes to the surface temperatures. While the wrist rest area never gets hot, the temperatures on the underside can reach up to 59 °C (138.2 °F). This is why we do not recommend putting the Aorus 17G on the lap when gaming.

The stereo speakers at the front of the chassis sound all right. Our analysis also reveals the audio quality to be quite average. The lows are especially poorly reproduced.

There are no anomalies in terms of energy consumption for a Max-Q notebook. Thanks to Nvidia’s Optimus technology, the Aorus 17G draws only about 20 to 23 watts (with occasional spikes) in idle operation. Under load, the power consumption shoots up to 243 watts, which is very similar to the maximum power draw of the Aero 17 HDR.

The battery life of the Aorus 17G is also very similar to that of the Aero 17 HDR. With a battery runtime of up to 10 hours (idle operation, 1% brightness), the Aorus 17G is one of the longest-lasting gaming notebooks. 7.5 hours of Internet surfing at 50% brightness is also a very good result. This is not surprising because Gigabyte’s 17-incher comes with a 94-Wh battery. However, most other competitors feature 70- to 76-Wh batteries.