While some companies are making their gaming systems look a bit more mainstream and non-descript, companies like GIGABYTE are still keeping with a gaming-centric look and design while slimming down. Many gamers, especially those who build their own systems, may recognize GIGABYTE as a motherboard and other components manufacturer. However, they do make complete systems as well, including gaming laptops.
Our GIGABYTE AORUS 17G review takes a look at a relatively sleek-looking 17-inch gaming laptop with beefy specifications while retaining a pretty thin design. Read on for our full review.
Specifications
The GIGABYTE AORUS 17G XB sent to us has the following features and specifications (configurable when ordering):
- Expressing A Complete Chassis: Full CNC Carved
- 17″ Gaming Laptop With Mechanical Gaming Keyboard: Under 26mm chassis, slimmest design in class
- Extreme Keystroke Response: AORUS 17G Equipped With A Mechanical Keyboard.
- Light Up The Room With Colorful Keys: Aorus RGB Fusion 2.0 Lighting Setting Software
- This IS The Multitasking Monster You’ve Been Waiting For: The First Laptop Equipped With 8-core Core i7.
- Seeing More Special Effect Detail: NVIDIA® Geforce® RTX SUPERTM Series
- Lag-Free Gaming: Killer Ethernet E2600 + Killer Wi-Fi 6 Ax1650
- A Battery That Lasts Longer In Battle Than You Do: Up To 7 Hours Battery Life.
- Unmatched Cooling, Fight All Day And All Night Without Losing Your Cool: WINDFORCE Infinity Cooling System
- One-click Game Optimizer Setting: Microsoft Azure AI Auto Optimize
- Refreshes So Fast Your Eyes Won’t Believe It’s A Game: 3mm Bezel + 300hz Gaming Display Panel
- Now, Your Ferrari Shows It’s True Color: X-rite Pantone® Calibration.
- Ultra-high Speed, No More Load Time: AORUS 17G Equipped With Ultra-fast SSD.
- Port City – Gear Up, Game On: Multiple Ports, Expand Possibilities
| Model | GIGABYTE AORUS 17G KB |
| Processor | 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H (2.3GHz~5.1GHz) (up to 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i9-10980HK (2.4GHz~5.3GHz) available) |
| Display | 17.3″ Thin Bezel FHD 1920×1080 IPS-level Anti-glare Display LCD (240Hz, 72% NTSC) (300Hz option available); X-Rite Pantone Certified, individually factory calibrated |
| System Memory | 16GB (2x DDR4 2666MHz/ DDR4 2933MHz slots (8GB/ 16GB/ 32GB, Max 64GB)) |
| Chipset | Mobile Intel® HM470 Express Chipset |
| Graphics | • Intel® UHD Graphics 630 • NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 SUPER™ With Max-Q Design GDDR6 8GB (GTX 1660 Ti, RTX 2060, RTX 2070 MAX-Q, and RTX 2080 SUPER MAX-Q available) |
| Storage | 500GB NVMe SSD (2x M.2 SSD slots (Type 2280, supports 1x NVMe PCIe & SATA/ 1x NVMe PCIe)) |
| Keyboard | AORUS Fusion RGB Per-Key Mechanical Keyboard with OMRON Gaming Switch, N-Key Rollover, 2.5mm Key Travel |
| Ports | 3x USB 3.2 Gen1 (Type-A) 1x Thunderbolt™ 3 (Type-C) 1x HDMI 2.0 1x mini DP 1.4 1x Headphone out 1x Microphone in 1x UHS-II SD Card Reader 1x DC-in Jack 1x RJ-45 |
| Audio | 2x 2 Watt Speaker, Microphone, Nahimic 3 software |
| Communitcations | • Killer™ Ethernet E2600 • Killer™ Wi-Fi 6 AX1650 (Powered by Intel) • Bluetooth: Bluetooth V5.0 + LE |
| Webcam | HD Camera |
| Security | Firmware-based TPM, supports Intel® Platform Trust Technology (Intel® PTT) |
| Battery | Li Polymer 94Wh |
| Adapter | 230W |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Pro (Windows 10 Home available) |
| Dimensions | 405 x 276 x 26 mm (15.9 x 10.8 x 1.0″) |
| Weight | 2.7kg (5.95lb) |
What’s in the box
- GIGABYTE AORUS 17G gaming laptop
- 230W Power Adapter
- Documentation
Design
When designing the AORUS 17G, GIGABYTE worked closely with the G2 Esport team to ensure a high-performance laptop for gaming. As a result, the AORUS 17G not only has a sleek look to it but it also features some components commonly found in desktop systems and peripherals.
The fully aluminum chassis is CNC machined and is modeled after the design of sports cars, giving it a slick unibody look. Rather than a sporty look though, albeit slick, it looks a bit more industrial to me, but not in a bad way. The lid is plain with the AORUS logo centered in the middle. As is the norm with many gaming laptops, this logo is an LED light and glows white when the system is turned on. The lid is attached to the main chassis by way of two substantially one-inch thick hinges.
Opening the lid, the user is greeted by thin 1/4-inch bezels on the top and both sides and a thicker one-inch bezel on the bottom. The AORUS wordmark is centered on the bottom.
The main chassis is where the slightly recessed island-style (rectangular) mechanical keyboard with a full-size number pad sits. The keys are black, RGB-backlit, and can be individually configured using the AORUS Control Center application. The keys themselves sit on low-profile Omron B3KL mechanical switches based on the taller B3K model. With 2.5mm of travel and a 1.6m actuation point, these switches are rated for 15 million keystrokes over their lifespan. Being a mechanical keyboard, typing on the AORUS 17G is a bit louder than other laptops, but the tactile response and faster actuation are worth it — especially for gaming.
Above the keyboard are a couple of air intake vents with the power button centered between them. Just above the power button, on an angled piece in the middle is the front-facing camera with a sliding privacy shutter. Unfortunately, this means when it’s in use, you’ll be showing others a very flattering chin and nostril view. Below the keyboard is a slightly off-centered touchpad with a fingerprint scanner (which works well) embedded in the upper left corner. The touchpad is decent enough and utilizes gestures for extra control. For example, swiping three fingers down will show the desktop while holding three fingers on the touchpad and swiping the outer two away from the middle will bring up the app switcher.
The GIGABYTE AORUS 17G has plenty of ports as well. The left and right sides bevel inwards from the top, following that sleek sports car look and feel. On both sides, there is an exhaust port for heat dissipation. The left side also houses two USB-A 3.2 Gen1 ports, an earphone jack, a microphone jack, a UHS-II SD card reader, and an RJ-45 Ethernet port. The right side is where you’ll find the DC-in power port, full-sized HDMI 2.0 port, mini DisplayPort 1.4, Thunderbolt 3/USB-C port, and a third USB-A 3.2 Gen-1 port. The back of the laptop doesn’t have any ports but it does have more vents for system cooling.
The bottom of the gaming laptop has two l-shaped rubber feet along the back and edges, with two more feet towards the front. The entire back half is covered with more intake vents for the WINDFORCE Infinity Cooling System. Housed underneath the vents are dual 7cm fans with 5 heat pipes to help keep the laptop cool while gaming. Finally, two more speakers are towards the front edge of the bottom for more sound.
For a 17.3-inch gaming laptop, the AORUS 17G is pretty slim, coming in at just an inch thick. It’s still a bit heavy (just under 6lbs) but compared to 17-inch laptops of the past, it’s much lighter in that regard. Overall, the GIGABYTE AORUS 17G is one solidly built, sleek-looking, and relatively thin gaming laptop.
Display
As mentioned in the previous section, the display on the GIGABYTE AORUS 17G gaming laptop has relatively thin bezels on the top and sides. Our review unit came with the 17.3″ FHD 1920×1080 IPS-level anti-glare LCD display with a 240Hz refresh rate and 72% NTSC color gamut. The display is also X-Rite Pantone Certified and individually factory calibrated. You can also get the system with a 144 or 300Hz refresh rate option depending on your preference and budget.
The display itself is pretty bright and the colour gamut is nice as well. With 72% NTSC coverage (the norm is 45%), the AORUS 17G is X-Rite Pantone certified with an accuracy of Delta E<1. This means the display is very close to matching the input color sent to it. In fact, GIGABYTE individually calibrates each and every panel in the AORUS laptops at the factory so you can be assured you’ll be getting a solid panel. You can verify this in the Windows 10 Display settings which should show a custom profile. In addition, you can also toggle X-Rite Pantone settings on and off in the AORUS Control Center to see the difference.
With its 240Hz refresh rate, gaming was nice and smooth, as one would expect. The anti-glare finish was also nice and reduced distractions from lighting while in a game. The colours were more rich and vibrant than some other displays I’ve tested.
While you may want a 4K display in a laptop for crispness, it will adversely affect your framerates while gaming. Personally, while the higher resolution is nice, gaming on a 17.3-inch screen at 1080p on the highest game settings with a smooth refresh rate is more than adequate.
Software
Besides shipping with Windows 10 Pro and its default bloatware apps, there isn’t a lot extra on the GIGABYTE AORUS 17G gaming laptop. Not even McAfee or Norton Antivirus (which is something I usually uninstall straightaway anyways. There are two apps that are included and quite useful: the AORUS Control Center and Azure AI applications.
The Control Center gives you quick access to your system, including increasing CPU and GPU performance. The main tab, Smart Dashboard, gives you an overview of current CPU, GPU, and memory load as well as used disk space. It also shows the current health status of your SSD drive, battery information, and fan information. From this screen, you can also manually increase (or decrease) your CPU and GPU performance and adjust your power plan.
The third tab is the Manager tab which allows you to toggle things like Do Not Disturb, OSD, WiFi, Bluetooth, and more. You can also use this screen to adjust your power settings (you’ll want to set this to High Performance for best performance) and your color preferences.
The Fusion tab lets you cycle through 18 different keyboard lighting presets, customize your own, or disable lighting altogether. As mentioned previously, the AORUS 17G keyboard features per-key lighting so the sky really is the limit as to how you want to configure your keyboard. You can also assign macros to each key on the keyboard as well from this screen.
The Device Setting tab lets you control your fan speeds. Finally, the Smart Utilities tab is where you can update your system, back up your system, check the user manual and FAQ, as well as register your system.
AORUS Control Center Screenshot Gallery
The second app, Azure AI, is pretty simple. Once installed, it places an overlay icon on your desktop. With this app, you have four basic settings: AI Disable, AI Edge Learning, AI Azure Download, and AI Azure Download and Upload. If you’re thinking Azure sounds familiar, that is because this app ties into the Microsoft Azure cloud-based AI.
With it, the AORUS 17G will dynamically be switched to the best CPU and GPU power mode for performance. In addition, this will reduce the heat and noise generated depending on the app you are using. In a nutshell, this app takes care of you having to go into your AORUS Control Center and adjust your CPU and GPU settings. I was doubtful at first, but as I mention in the next section, with the Azure AI app enabled, I did notice a 5-10 fps increase in games.
Performance
While not the best AORUS 17G configuration that you can get, our review unit is still pretty beefy. Under the hood, it’s running a 10th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-10875H (2.3GHz~5.1GHz), an NVIDIA® GeForce® RTX 2070 SUPER™ With Max-Q Design GDDR6 8GB video card, 16GB of Micron DDR4-3200 RAM, and a 500GB Samsung PM981a MZVLB512HBJQ NVMe SSD.
All benchmarks below are at 1920x1080p (FHD) on the highest game settings, unless otherwise noted with the Azure AI application enabled. I did test a couple of the games with the Azure AI disabled and observed a roughly 5-10fps drop.
- Heroes of the Storm: 145-198 fps
- Forza Horizon 4: 124/10/156.4 fps (avg/min/max)
- Forza Motorsport 7:
- 71.4/62.6/82 fps (avg/min/max) on Ultra settings; 4K
- 104/79.6/123.5 fps (avg/min/max) on Ultra settings; 1080p
- Wolfenstein: Youngblood:
- 105/13/162 fps (avg/min/max – Riverside)
- 98/48/146 fps (avg/min/max – Lab X)
- Gears 5: 76.7 fps average
- Middle Earth: Shadow of War: 86 fps average
- Gears Tactics: 83.6 fps average
As you can see, our middle of the model line review unit fared quite well with popular gaming titles. Of course, the NVIDIA RTX 2080 Super MAX-Q, the better CPU, and 32 to 64GB of RAM will give you even better performance. For those of you looking to mix things up, the system also performed well for graphics and video editing in the Adobe Creative Cloud suite of apps.
While gaming, or using CPU intensive apps, you could hear the fans spinning up. They weren’t overly loud, however, and the system seemed to stay relatively cool even while gaming for a few hours at a time.
With its HDMI and mini DisplayPort out, the specs are beefy enough that I had no issues gaming on a large monitor like the 49-inch Samsung Odyssey G9. The AORUS 17G was able to keep decent framerates and, according to GIGABYTE, supports up to three external monitors at once.
Sound Quality
With two 2W speakers, the GIGABYTE AORUS 17G does get pretty loud, but there is not much bass. The positional audio is pretty decent as well. Interestingly enough, even though the speakers are towards the front on the underside of the laptop, audio does sound like it’s coming out of the top air vents as well.
While the sound is decent, you’re still going to want to pick up a decent gaming headset to better enjoy your games and communicate with your teammates.
Camera
While the camera itself is an HD camera with decent image quality, the fact that it is below the display leaves a lot to be desired. As mentioned above, it does give a nice chin/nostril view. Personally, and it’s not only GIGABYTE, I wish manufacturers would stop putting cameras on the bottom of the display.
Battery Life
GIGABYTE claims that you can get over 7h of battery life on the AORUS 17G. Of course, this is with 1080p video playback, Wi-Fi and Bluetooth off, power set to power saver, and display set to 20% brightness. During testing, I had the display set to 50%, Wi-Fi on, and power set to better battery and I was surprised to see just around 4 hours before needing a recharge. Of course, this wasn’t while gaming but doing basic tasks like web browsing, music streaming, and the occasional video watching. While gaming on any gaming laptop, you can expect to get next to no battery life — not to mention poor performance.
Price/Value
As tested, our review unit came in at the US$2435.78 price point on Amazon. Given the design, specifications, and performance of the GIGABYTE AORUS 17G, it is a pretty fair price for the system.
Photo Gallery
Wrap-up
There is definitely plenty of choices out there when it comes to gaming laptops. If you’re after a relatively thin 17-inch gaming laptop with decent specs and great performance, the GIGABYTE AORUS 17G is worth considering. While it did receive an 8.4/10 overall, if you remove the camera and battery scores, this is definitely one decent gaming laptop.
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Last Updated on February 3, 2021.
