Gigabyte P35X v3

Specifications

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Reviews for the Gigabyte P35X v3

80% Review: Gigabyte P35v3
Source: PC Authority Archive.org version
There is a price for this performance, with relatively loud fan noise whenever games were played. Gigabyte’s software allows this to be tamed, but doing so will decrease performance. Battery life is also not this machine’s strongest point, measuring just 165 minutes. It’s the price to be paid for having so much power on tap.
Single Review, online available, Very Short, Date: 05/11/2015
Rating: Total score: 80%

80% Gigabyte P35X v3
Source: Computer Shopper Archive.org version
Overall, while the P35X v3's mighty 980M GPU lets you run the latest games on its ultra-high-res screen, you'll pay a price for that power. At $2,399, the laptop demands a significant premium over competitors like the MSI GE62 Apache. But if price isn't an roadblock, impressive performance, a gorgeous display, and excellent battery life will make you feel like you got your money's worth.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 04/24/2015
Rating: Total score: 80%

70% Gigabyte P35X v3
Source: Laptop Mag Archive.org version
The Gigabyte P35 v3 isn't the prettiest laptop on the block, but its performance makes this device a knockout. For $2,279, you get a notebook with the world's most powerful graphics card, an equally powerful CPU and a super-high-res display in a fairly portable chassis. However, for this kind of money, we'd appreciate better sound and a less erratic touchpad.
Single Review, online available, Long, Date: 03/24/2015
Rating: Total score: 70%

70% Gigabyte P35X v3 review
Source: Trusted Reviews Archive.org version
Gigabyte’s latest laptop is a pure power portable. Nvidia’s GTX 980M is a monster, and its prowess was demonstrated in benchmarks: at 1080p it’s miles ahead of the nearest rival, and it’s got the speed to play top titles relatively smoothly at native resolution. Gigabyte’s latest throws down the gauntlet thanks to a GPU that’s more powerful than anything we’ve ever seen in a laptop, but its impressive gaming potential is hampered by a poor screen, middling ergonomics and a lack of battery life.
Single Review, online available, Short, Date: 12/12/2014
Rating: Total score: 70% price: 70% performance: 100% display: 70% mobility: 50% workmanship: 80%

Comment

Model: With more users opting for slim and simple gaming laptop designs, Gigabyte released the Gigabyte P35X v3 to give those users what they want. The silhouette of the device mimics a more traditional business laptop with clean lines and a matte black finish. The Gigabyte P35X v3 comes with a full-sized backlit keyboard and a responsive touchpad. The laptop has a big ventilation port to aid cooling. 15.6 inch display has either WQHD+ or Full HD depending on the user's preference. As with any customisable high-end laptop, there are various options including Windows operating systems and hardware setup.

The highest hardware specification includes an Intel i7-4720HQ quad-core processor clocked at 2.6 GHz, up to 8 GB 1600MHz RAM and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M GPU with 8 GB GDDR5 VRAM. The Gigabyte P35X v3 supports a quadruple-storage system with options of SSD and HDD configuration up to 2 TB. Other features include a either a Blu-ray drive or a DVD RW, two USB 3.0 ports, two USB 2.0 ports, an HDMI out, a card reader and a Mini DisplayPort. Audio quality is superb utilising a 2.1 audio system with a woofer speaker and Dolby Digital Plus Home Theater technology. The Gigabyte P35X v3 ships with a Li-Polymer battery rated at 75.81 Wh.

Series: High-end laptops with appealing design are considered the top-trend for various kinds of user from the common users to specific users like gamers. However, Gigabyte doesn’t follow that trend. Specifically, the Gigabyte P35X V6 is an evidence. With a 4K screen and the Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor built in a 21 mm thick-frame, this notebook could attract most users due to its powerful performance. Its discrete Nvidia GTX 1070 graphics with the new Pascal architecture also helps it to become one of the top notebooks in the current gaming laptop series whereas its price is pretty reasonable.

Design

Because of focusing on the component improvement, it seems that the manufacturer, Gigabyte cannot make the outfit of the P35X-v6 distinct and compelling enough. “The seams between aluminum panels are a bit ugly, and we’re not keen on the wide screen bezel”, said page HardwareHeaven. Regarding a comment from GearOpen, this laptop is made from aluminum with mostly black, and there is a tiny orange accent on the lid, but not for decoration. Also following a remark from the HardwareHeaven, “Build quality is equally uninspiring. The wrist-rest flexes and the rear of the screen is pliable. It does not disturb the desktop, but we’d definitely use a protective sleeve”. The Gigabyte P35X v6 is said to be the world’s thinnest 15.6 inch notebook to feature Nvidia’s GTX 1070 graphics chip at the moment. Evaluated from ComputerShopper, “The P35X v6’s lid and chassis are plenty sturdy with no bend, creaks, or weak points evident as we put it through its exercise. The chassis feels supremely solid, a minor feat in itself given the whole notebook weighs 5.3 pounds”.

Screen and sound quality

The 4K screen is the biggest advantage of this laptop by its utter density display. GearOpen showed a viewpoint that the 3840 x 2160 resolution and 15.6 inch screen size means the P35X v6 churns out a density level of 282 ppi, which is just outstanding. This display is also even better than the current 15.6 inch Retina Macbook Pro. In the same opinion with GearOpen, the ComputerShopper’s reviewer evaluated “The 4K panel’s image quality is very good, with plenty of color and brightness. We did notice some brightness shift when looking at the display from extreme off-center angles, but the picture otherwise remained consistent off-center, thanks to the IPS panel” while the HardwareHeaven said that the huge density means user would have to use the Window 10 scaling settings to make icons and text legible, but they did not have any issues with that during their tests. “So this machine is all about how thin you want to go, and how much you care about 4K. Just know that all-out, details-cranked-up gaming at 4K is a stretch even for the formidable GTX 1070”, remarked ComputerShopper. And for the GearOpen, the laptop’s color is mostly better for both accuracy and color average are better on Gigabyte’s chosen panel. However, this page also found out the only problem with the screen is the screen uniformity: The top row of the panel gains about 10% more brightness when compared to a middle of the screen, while the bottom row of the screen sees a 13% drop in brightness. Sadly, the general complaint of ComputerShopper about the display was that it lacked support for Nvdia G-Sync for smoothing out in-game frame rates, which could help increasing battery life.

About the sound some reviews from page ComputerShopper say that the sound quality of this notebook is supposed to be its weakness. The stereo sound from Gigabyte P35X v6’s twin front-facing speakers was tinny and strained, especially at upper volume levels, so there wasn’t much in the way of volume, either, just enough for one or two sitting around the notebook while other laptops at this size offer the better audio output. For page GearOpen, “The aural range is dominated by high-pitched noises, but they all sound a little muddy - vocal sound as if they’re being sung underwater, or in an echoey room. The emphasis on high-end sounds means treble is underwhelming and a little buries, and there’s no subwoofer inside this machine, so bass is hard to find at all”. As commented on page HardwareHeaven, the complaint about the speakers still remains the same: “The two 1.5 W units inside this laptop are weedy: the top-end is dominant but too indistint and muddy, and that means the mid-range is buried and sometimes difficult to hear. There’s no subwoofer, either, so bass is almost absent. We’d definitely invest in a headset”.

Keyboard, touchpad, and connectivity

In general, the PC35x v6 has a reasonable layout: a number pad, full-sized return and space key, and highlighted WASD buttons. About the keyboard, this Gigabyte machine also suffers from the familiar chiclet issues as a statement from GearOpen. For example, its keyboard is good enough for users when typing but not really good for gaming purpose. That’s because it does not have a snap, speed or travel that a traditional laptop keyboard delivers. It falls even further behind proper mechanical keyboards. For the HardwareHeaven, they also offer the same review: “The P35X v6’s keyboard has a good layout, with large keys and a proper numberpad but the buttons themselves don’t have much travel. They’re a little wobbly, which means they don’t have hugely consistent feel - and the base beneath is too soft for our taste”. Besides, there is an opinion from the ComputerShopper that the lack of tactile feel in the keyboard keys is disappointing. There’s not enough of an up-and-down motion to each key-press, so the typing experience is a bit vague. The white LED backlighting is limited to two levels, plus off. It’s a bit dim in the daytime, but it works well in the dark.

The trackpad on the Gigabyte P35X v6 has its issues either. As a remark of GearOpen, the buttons barely move at all when they’re clicked, which made the reviewer second-guess when he was playing game. They’re a long way from the snappy, definite clicks offered by proper gaming mice. “The surface is fine, but the two-in built buttons don’t move much, which leaves us second guessing our clicks. They suggest we use USB mouse”, said HardwareHeaven.

However, according to ComputerShopper, the P35X v6 has an impressive port selection, packing everything from HDMI 2.0 to USB Type-C 3.1. The left side of the chassis holds the cable lock slot, an Ethernet jack, a pair of USB Type-A 3.0 ports, separate headphones and microphone jacks and the full size SD card reader. On the right side of the chassis, there are the mini-DisplayPort output, a sleep-and-charge USB Type-A 3.0 port, a USB Type-C 3.1, HDMI 2.0 and VGA. The front of the chassis has the built-in optical drive, populated in our review unit by a tray loading DVD-burner.

Performance and thermal

According to the ComputerShopper, Central processing power is courtesy of Intel’s bread-and-butter Core i7-6700HQ Skylake processor. This chip, which is mostly common high-end laptops, has four cores with a base frequency of 2.6 GHz, and a Turbo Boost up to 3.5 GHz in a single core. It’s an all-around solid choice for demanding tasks such as gaming and media-file crunching. Moreover, the Gigabyte’s GTX 1070 is an enormously powerful mobile GPU, so it’s no surprise that it scythed its way through 1080p and 1440p gaming tests. As evaluation of GearOpen, “It’s best 1080 average came in Middle-earth: Shadow of Mordor, where it scored 111 frames per second. At 2560x1440, the Gigabyte was similarly impressive, with average beyond 60 fps in all of our test tiles. Nevertheless, not every game will run this smoothly at 4K - there are numerous titles out there that are more demanding than our test games - but our benchmarks bode well.“ It also means the Gigabyte has enough power to handle VR headsets. Also, the HardwareHeaven remarked that the Gigabyte’s native resolution of 4K was a bigger test, but the GTX 1070 had continued to perform well. Its Fallout 4 average of 26 fps had been bolstered by a maximum of 37 fps, and it had delivered an excellent average of 35 fps in Witcher 3. About the heat, “There weren’t any surprises in thermal benchmarks, either. The Gigabyte’s peak CPU temperature of 98 Celsius degrees is worryingly high, and the GPU peaked at 90 Celsius degrees - another toasty figure”, the HardwareHeaven complained. Also on this page, the P35X v6 suffered from noise and heat transfer issues when playing games. The Gigabyte’s base panel became uncomfortably hot, while the fans rose to a high-pitched whirr that made us reach for headphones.

Battery life

In power-save mode, the reviewer of page ComputerShopper looped a video - a locally stored MP4 file containing the full the Lord of Rings trilogy - with screen brightness set at 50 percent and volume at 100 percent until the system conked out, the battery offers about 5 hours and 33 minutes. In addition, “The attributable element here was the usage of Nvidia Optimus. This technology automatically switched to the integrated graphics on the processor when no demanding 3D application is running, thus turning off the GTX 1070”, ComputerShopper commented.

Summary

Overall, the Gigabyte P35X v6 is not an extremely great laptop, yet it is still an adequate gaming laptop. Perhaps Gigabyte made this laptop insistent, particularly, the clear pros and cons. The powerful performance came from the Intel Core i7-6700HQ Skylake processor and the Superb GTX 1070 graphics is undoubtedly good. Performance and screen are plus points of the P35X v6. On the periphery, there are numerous issues, for example, keyboard, touchpad, and speakers. The Gigabyte’s keyboard and speakers are thought to be poor both and its design is apparently not attractive or surprising. Despite those flaws, there are still some advantages of the P35X v6, such as the high quality 4K screen or the fast SSD. That’s why this laptop is evaluated as “a confounding and insistent notebook”. However, in my viewpoint, the manufacturer Gigabyte should have done better. GearOpen concluded: “Those who prioritise performance over all else won’t be disappointed by the P35X v6, with the 4K screen an excellent bonus - but it does suffer some niggling issues. Despite these, however, it remains a powerful 4K contender”.

Press review by Capuchino Saber

NVIDIA GeForce GTX 980M:

Fast high-end graphics card based on the Maxwell GM204 chip from the GeForce GTX 900M series.

Modern games should be playable with these graphics cards at low settings and resolutions. Casual gamers may be happy with these cards.

» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Graphics Cards and the corresponding Benchmark List.

Intel Core i7: The Intel Core i7 for laptops is based on the LG1156 Core i5/i7 CPU for desktops. The base clock speed of the CPUs is relatively low, but because of a huge Turbo mode, the cores can dynamically overclock to up to 3.2 GHz (920XM). Therefore, the CPU can be as fast as high clocked dual-core CPUs (using single threaded applications) but still offer the advantage of 4 cores. Because of the large TDP of 45 W / 55 W, the CPU is only intended for large laptops.  

4710HQ: Haswell-based quad-core processor clocked at 2.5 GHz with Turbo Boost support up to 3.5 GHz. Offers an integrated HD Graphics 4600 GPU and a dual channel DDR3 memory controller.» Further information can be found in our Comparison of Mobile Processsors.

15.60":

15-inch display variants are the standard and are used for more than half of all laptops.

The reason for the popularity of mid-sized displays is that this size is reasonably easy on the eyes, often allows high resolutions and thus offers rich details on the screen, yet does not consume too much power and the devices can still be reasonably compact - simply the standard compromise.

Gigabyte: Gigabyte Technology is a Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer founded in 1986, best known for its motherboards and graphics cards. Gigabyte offers a wide range of products including motherboards, graphics cards, laptops, monitors, systems and components. Gigabyte's laptops offer gaming and creative features on the go. Gigabyte monitors offer 4K Pro Gaming.

76.6%: This rating is not earth-shattering. This rating must actually be seen as average, since there are about as many devices with worse ratings as better ones. A purchase recommendation can only be seen with a lot of goodwill, unless it is about websites that generally rate strictly.

» Further information can be found in our Notebook Purchase Guide.

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