Review Aorus X7 Notebook

The Aorus X7 is the right device if you are looking for a nice looking notebook without exaggerated color and design experiments. The deep black and mainly aluminum surfaces remind us of gaming products from Razer and MSI (Blade 14 and GS70 respectively), even though the distinctive back has similarities with the Asus G750. Overall, the X7 looks nice and should appeal to most gamers.

One of the most important unique features is the thin chassis construction. The Aorus X7 is one of the thinnest high-end notebooks in general (standard: more than four centimeters; ~1.6 inches) at just 2.5 centimeters (~1.0 inches). A weight of 3.25 kilograms (~7.2 pounds) is also low for a 17-inch gaming notebook. Some competitors like the Alienware 17 or Medion Erazer X7825 weigh more than 3.5 or even four kilograms (~7.7 and 8.8 pounds). The difference is even bigger when you compare it with other SLI notebooks. Clevo's P370SM barebones (One K73-3S, Schenker XMG P723) looks like a real monster in comparison. Almost 30% more weight and twice the height discourage carrying it around on a daily basis. It will be interesting to see the emissions of the X7.

But back to the topic: The build quality could be better when you consider the retail price of 2,000 Euros ($2099 in the U.S.). It starts with the keyboard, where we could see an uneven gap between it and the palm rest. However, this could also simply be a result of slight damage during shipment or an engineering defect on our particular sample. In addition, the top display frame did not permanently lock, which resulted in another visible gap. It is also not a good sign that the background illumination shines through the display frame at some spots. However, the quality impression is still on a good and competitive level when you consider all aspects.

The 17-inch device is also decent with regards to the stability. Both the lid and the keyboard could have been a bit more torsion-resistant, but the stability is acceptable for an ultrabook-like device. This also applies for the hinges and you can easily open the lid with one hand.

Aorus does not include a lot of unnecessary bloatware and preloads the notebook with some of its own tools instead. Let us start with a tool called Power Switch, which can be found in the task bar so you can comfortably turn the notebook off (keyword Windows 8). Even more interesting is the so-called Command & Control, which combines several settings in one simple tool. Amongst others, you can change the fan mode (Stealth, Auto & Turbo).

On the left, next to the keyboard are some macro keys (G1-G5) that can be configured via the Macro Hub. The application Drivers Update (see screenshot below) is also a nice idea. Finally, you get a media player from Cyberlink and a tool for system backups. PDF-files are handled by Acrobat Reader XI and other documents can be edited with a trial version of Office 365.

Keyboard

The chiclet keyboard holds a few surprises for the user. First of all, you get a two-stage background illumination, so you can comfortably use the Aorus X7 in dark environments.

Another highlight is the already mentioned macro keys, which can be assigned with five functions each. Passionate gamers therefore have 25 additional keys. The macro area does however take some time getting used to. The standard keyboard does not start directly at the left side of the case, so you might get some occasional typos.

It is a good keyboard, but not an excellent one; there is still room for improvement. Pressure point and stroke are usable, and the same applies for the typing noise as well as the layout. We were convinced by the layout, except for the combined Ins/Del key. Gamers will be happy about the specially marked WASD keys and the standard sized arrow keys.

Appropriate size: The keys are convenient at 15 x 15 millimeters (spacing: ~3 millimeters). The half-size F-row can convince us with dozens of comfort features. Besides an audio and multimedia control, the X7 also has a switch for the wireless adapter, the display, the touchpad as well as the webcam.

Processor

The Core i7-4700HQ is a powerful high-end CPU from Intel's Haswell generation (22 nm manufacturing) with four native and four virtual cores. Besides Hyperthreading, the quad-core also supports automatic overclocking via Turbo Boost.

Similar to its sibling Core i7-4700MQ, the clock can be raised from 2.4 up to 3.4 GHz under load. TDP and L3 cache are also identical with 47 Watts and 6 MB, respectively. The integrated HD Graphics 4600 GPU is deactivated in the Aorus X7; Nvidia's Optimus technology is not supported because of the SLI configuration.

An SLI configuration with two GTX 765M cards is not only very rare, but also extremely powerful. The high-end chip does not set any records with 768 Unified Shaders and 2 GB GDDR5 memory via a 128-bit memory interface, but the combination of two cards can actually threaten the currently fastest GPU.

The current top version GTX 780M, which is also produced in 28 nm, has 1,536 CUDA cores and 4,096 MB video memory (interface: 256-bit). Clocks on the other hand, are very similar: The core of the GTX 765M usually runs at 850 MHz and the GTX 780M is specified at 823 MHz.

The Aorus X7 does show off in relation to the storage solution. Aorus equips the 17-inch device with two SSDs in a RAID 0 configuration. More precisely two mSATA models with a capacity of 128 GB each (Lite-On LMT-128M6M). The RAID configuration guarantees excellent performance that clearly beats larger 2.5-inch drives like the Samsung SSD 840 Evo.

A sequential transfer rate of 950 MB/s (read) is currently beyond reach for a Solid State Drive without RAID. The same applies for the sequential writes of almost 600 MB/s. The 250 GB version of the Samsung 840 Evo inside the Schenker XMG A503 ‘only’ managed 510 and 462 MB/s, respectively. Access times of 0.077 ms and 0.066 ms are also very good (840 Evo: 0.057 @ read, 0.034 ms @ write). Only the performance of small 4K data blocks falls behind.

The two mSATA drives are accompanied by a 1,000 GB HDD from Toshiba. It has the designation MQ01ABD100 and is very popular amongst notebook manufacturers, which is not surprising when you look at the performance. Even though the large drive does not run at 7,200 rpm, CrystalDiskMark still determines sequential transfer rates of more than 110 MB/s while most 5,400 rpm drives stay below 100 MB/s. However, you will probably only use the conventional drive for videos, pictures and music once you have experienced the advantages of an SSD.

It is apparent that Nvidia creates good drivers when you look at the gaming benchmarks. We noticed a massive performance improvement with the second GPU in 13 of 14 tested titles, most of the time up to 100% (ForceWare 332.28). Only X-Plane 10, which is not perfectly optimized in general, did not show any improvement and was comparable to a single GTX 765M.

Otherwise the SLI combination does not have any problems with current titles either. Even complex games like Battlefield 4, Metro: Last Light or Call of Duty: Ghosts run with more than 30 fps at the maximum settings. There are just a few exceptions where you will see dropped frames (e.g. Crysis 3), but almost every game runs smoothly and looks good if you do not exaggerate the settings or the anti-aliasing.

However, there are well-known problems like the high driver dependency and micro-stutters, so we would still recommend a single high-end GPU for core gamers as well as less experienced users. The GeForce GTX 780M offers roughly the same level of performance as the SLI combination; a GTX 770M is around 30% slower.

Another problem is the temperature development. Similar to most thin notebooks we can see that the components get really warm – clever cooling or not. Our stress test with Prime95 and the Unigine Heaven benchmark almost resulted in 90 °C (194 °F) for one of the two GeForce GPUs (you can see why we did not use FurMark in the Energy Management section).

However, the main problem is the Core i7-4700HQ, which can reach up to 100 °C (212 °F) under extreme circumstances (according to CPUID HWMonitor). We already know this phenomenon from other reviews, Intel's Haswell generation seems to be pretty hot-headed in general. A maximum temperature of 37 °C (98.6 °F) for the storage is not low, either. 

Another issue is the surface temperatures that get perceptibly warm during idle. We can measure 33 °C (91.4 °F) at the top and 35 °C (95 °F) at the bottom on average. The MSI GS70 Stealth is significantly cooler (25/26 °C; 77/78.8 °F). Our measurements during the stress test cannot be compared because of the different software. A maximum temperature of 51 °C (123.8 °F) around the fan and up to 41 °C (105.8 °F) at the palm rest certainly indicates a powerful hardware combination. Thicker gaming notebooks like the Schenker XMG P703 or the One K73-3N are much cooler in this scenario.

Besides the emissions and consumption measurements, we also performed the battery runtime tests with activated keyboard illumination and the second GTX 765M. 1.5-3 hours are okay for an SLI notebook. The XMG P723 is on the same level, despite the larger battery (89 vs. 73 Wh).

Too good to be true? This question crossed our minds when the Aorus X7 was introduced. An ultra-thin chassis with two high-end GPUs is an absolute novelty and certainly deserves the related attention.

Our review, however, showed that it was not a full success. Yes, the manufacturer managed a small wonder with the realization, but nice looks and the thin construction are not very important when the device gets inconveniently warm and loud during gaming. The Aorus is definitely not the right choice for sensitive gamers.

Other issues like the bad gliding capabilities of the touchpad surface and the insufficient power supply unit also affect the overall rating. Build quality and the sound system could be improved as well.

Ignore these points of criticism and the Aorus X7 can justify its price tag. The SLI system and the SSD RAID provide excellent performance, both with 3D applications and everyday tasks.

The possibility to play games on three displays is also tempting. Thanks to the decent non-glare panel, you will also have a good experience with the integrated display. The manufacturer uses its own solutions for the keyboard (macro keys), the software and the design. The detachable bottom cover improves maintainability (Torx screwdriver required!).

Overall, the price of 2,000 Euros ($2099 in the U.S.) is reasonable given the pros and cons of the manufacturer's first notebook outing.