Gigabyte Aero 15-X9 Review – with RTX 2070 Max-Q

1. Introducing Gigabyte Aero 15-X92. Features and Hardware3. Diving inside4. Testing and Performance5. Cooling and Battery6. Closing Thoughts7. View All Pages

Gigabyte has launched five new laptops with RTX 20 Series graphics. There are three X9 models with RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics and two Y9 models with RTX 2080 Max-Q graphics. We think it is telling that Gigabyte sent us the cheapest model priced at £2,399 which is the model they expect will be the biggest seller.

The specification combines Core i7 with RTX 2070 Max-Q and a 1TB SSD. We have a question mark over the 16GB of single channel DDR4 as that looks like a potential bottleneck but other than that it all looks good. As a general rule of thumb we think £2,000 is a sensible budget when you shop for a laptop so £2,399 is pushing the limits slightly. This stack of five laptop goes all the way up to £4,499 which is pushing the limits by any standards.

Our review sample is the Aero 15-X9-7UK0310P which is the entry level model at £2,399 with RTX 2070 Max-Q graphics, an FHD 144Hz IPS screen, Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, 16GB of single channel DDR4 and a 1TB SSD.

If you spend £2,699 for the Aero 15-X9-7UK4410P you get dual channel DDR4 and a 4K display panel.
RTX 2070 Max-Q/4K/Core i7-8750H/32GB dual channel DDR4/1TB SSD

Another big jump in price to £3,299 will get you the Aero 15-X9-9UK4410P with a Core i9-8950HK CPU which is still 6-cores but has considerably higher clock speeds.
RTX 2070 Max-Q/4K/Core i9-8950HK/32GB dual channel DDR4/1TB SSD

The junior RTX 2080 model is the Aero 15-Y9-7UK0410P at £3,199
RTX 2080 Max-Q/FHD 144Hz/Core i7-8750H/32GB dual channel DDR4/1TB SSD

If you push the boat out and spend £4,499 you get the Aero 15-Y9-9UK4720P
RTX 2080 Max-Q/4K/Core i9-8950HK/64GB dual channel DDR4/2TB SSD which combines RTX 2080 graphics with a Core i9 CPU, 64GB DDR4 and 2TB SSD.

It is also worth noting that all of the 5 Aero 15 SKUs come with one SSD pre-installed, but with 1x spare M.2 slot as well if you want to add more storage down the line.

Specification

CPU Intel 8th Gen. Core i7-8750H, 6 cores with HT, 2.2GHz base clock, All Core Boost 3.4GHz, Max Boost 4.0GHz, 45W TDP
Screen 15.6-inch, 1,920×1,080 resolution, 144Hz refresh IPS by LG
Graphics Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q 8GB GDDR6
Memory 16GB Samsung DDR4-2666MHz single channel
Storage 1TB Intel 760p M.2 NVMe SSD
2x NVMe PCIe M.2 slots
Audio 2x 2W speakers
Ethernet Killer Doubleshot Pro LAN
Wi-Fi Killer Wireless-AC 1550

I/O ports
1x USB 3.1 Gen2 Type-A
2x USB 3.1 Gen1Type-A
1x Thunderbolt 3 Type-C
1x HDMI 2.0
1x Mini DisplayPort 1.4 and USB 3.1 Type-C
3.5mm Headphone jack
UHS-II SD card reader

Battery 94.24Wh 6200mAh, 215W adapter
Dimensions 356mm x 250mm x 18.9mm
Weight 2.09kg plus 720g for power supply and mains cable

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