Gigabyte Aorus 16X (2024) Review w/ 14900HX & RTX 4070

After putting the Gigabyte Aorus 16X through its paces over the last week, I have to say I am generally impressed with what Gigabyte has done with this laptop. It may not be class-leading in any one area, but taken as whole it does feels like more than the sum of its parts.

The spec, for instance, is pretty solid, especially in the CPU and memory department, with Intel's top-of-the-line i9-14900HX offering eight P-cores and sixteen E-cores, while that is outfitted with a forward-looking 32GB of memory. 2TB of Gen4 storage is also a welcome inclusion, as is the WiFi 7 module and relatively strong I/O selection.

I'd argue the display is the main highlight here, offering 16 inches of 2560×1600 goodness. It's fast and fluid for gaming with the 165Hz refresh rate and decent response times, but it also offers solid contrast, surprisingly high brightness of over 550 nits, and impressive colour accuracy. When many other laptops in this class are still only using FHD screens, this is great to see.

My main gripe with the Aorus 16X is the choice of graphics. RTX 4070 Laptop is perfectly fine in most instances, offering performance that's broadly equivalent to the RTX 4060 Ti desktop part. It is, however, equipped with just 8GB of VRAM, which is only going to become a more significant limiting factor as time passes. I do appreciate that most laptop gamers are generally going to be happier to compromise on image quality settings than you would on a desktop PC, given the portable nature of the machine and the much smaller display. If you're looking for something to play AAA games at maximum settings for years to come, I don't think 8GB VRAM will be up to the task.

To add to that, RTX 4080 laptops with 12GB VRAM are available for not a whole lot more at the time of writing, typically starting at around £2000, though that is typically for a FHD screen and only 16GB DDR5 so there's two compromises already. RTX 4070 will do the job for most games right now, especially if you enable DLSS, but it is the longevity that concerns me.

My only other real complaint is the noise level, as the laptop does get loud, especially if using the AI Gaming profile – and don't get me started on the Turbo mode! In speaking with my colleague Leo Waldock, he suggested the Windforce Infinity cooling setup looks relatively basic considering the 14900HX CPU used, so high fan speeds may be used to overcome that, resulting in high levels of noise – but the same can also be said for many other portable machines.

Overall, the Gigabyte Aorus 16X is a solid laptop that delivers a good user experience. Depending on the type of games you play, you may want to consider looking at an RTX 4080 laptop instead, but for many I have no doubt that this machine will have strong appeal.

We don't yet have a buy link for this model, but Gigabyte tells us it will be in stock at Curry's in a couple of weeks, priced at £1899.99.

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Pros

• Good-looking machine.
• Decent build quality.
• Keyboard and trackpad get the job done without a fuss.
• Impressively bright 2560×1600 display offers good colour accuracy.
• Healthy selection of ports.
• Strong CPU performance from the i9-14900HX which is a good inclusion at this price.
• Enough grunt for 60FPS in most games at the native resolution.
• Surprisingly capable battery life considering the hardware.
• Nvidia Advanced Optimus is supported and works well.

Cons

• RTX 4070 Laptop only has 8GB VRAM.
• Can get very noisy under load.
• No full-size SD card slot.

KitGuru says: There's a lot to like about the Aorus 16X, and provided you are happy to work within the 8GB GPU framebuffer, it's certainly worth buying.

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