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As we headed into this review of the Gigabyte Aorus 17G YD we had a sense of trepidation.
Based on our experience with quad core Tiger Lake, we expected the Intel Core i7-11800H would demand a lot of power and would likely run hot but we weren't sure how well it would perform. We were correct on the first count, wrong on the second (as Gigabyte has employed a decent cooling system) and pleasantly surprised on the third point.
On balance the Core i7-11800H puts up a good fight against the Ryzen 9 5900HX, and that is high praise. When it comes to performance, power, heat and cooling you may find the Gigabyte AI software can get annoying in which case we recommend you click the big ‘Gaming' button for gaming and ‘Creator' for everything else.
In most other respects Gigabyte has done a decent job with the Aorus 17G YD. Clearly it is disappointing that retail units are only likely to offer 8GB GPU VRAM but we have learned to make allowances during the Great Shortage. One point we find quite unacceptable is the position of the webcam at the bottom of the screen where it is practically useless. It is perfectly possible to keep screen bezels slender while positioning the camera up top, where it belongs.
The styling of the laptop is pleasant and while we cannot see the visual echoes of racing cars that Gigabyte alludes to we certainly have no issue with the look, feel and construction. The arrangement of ports and connectors on the left and right hand sides works for us, although we noted at least one comment below our video stating the exact opposite. The alternate view is that most connectors should go at the rear and while we disagree, we are open to the point that this is a matter of personal taste.
The keyboard and touch pad both work well. The controls feel right, they are precise and responsive and while they certainly click they don't do it especially loudly. The problem for Gigabyte is that I expect things to be this way, so I consider an unsatisfactory keyboard to be a negative while a good keyboard is just how things ought to be.
It is a similar story with the display which is nice and bright, has a good colour range and a seemingly infinite viewing angle with no hint of ghosting or other nastiness. In an ideal world the display would be 1440p however those panels seem to be very thin on the ground so it makes sense for this gaming laptop to pack a 1080p display instead.
You can buy the Gigabyte Aorus 17G YD for £2690 HERE.
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Pros:
- Eight core Intel Core i7 delivers grunt for gamers.
- Very nice HD screen.
- Price is reasonable.
- Both M.2 slots accessible.
Cons:
- Gigabyte’s AI software is frustrating.
- SSD only has 512GB capacity (by default, though this is user-upgradable).
- The HD webcam is at the bottom of the screen.
- Availability of RTX 3080 16GB is a moving target.
KitGuru says: The Gigabyte Aorus 17G is a fine gaming laptop capable of pushing high frame rates at its native display resolution.
