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If we round this one out then, I like what has been done on the Gigabyte Aorus 17H. That combination of Intel’s Core i7-13700H and Nvidia's RTX 4080 Laptop GPU looks to be an incredibly well-balanced tandem.
Running the Core i7-13700H in sustained modes of 55-70W create a powerful rendering or content creation machine. Couple that with the 150W-capable RTX 4080 Laptop 12GB GPU and you have ample gaming performance on tap. Plus, we saw that combined power allowances of 170W or as high as 195W are possible. So, Aorus is clearly doing a stellar job in delivering this high-end hardware the energy it needs to perform at high-end levels.
Of course, there are downsides to the primary hardware pairing. Having such high-end, power-hungry hardware on tap requires cooling. That means that this 17-inch laptop is anything but nimble – it is clearly very beefy at 3cm thick and 2.7kg weight. Plus, the noise output when running hefty workloads is borderline unpleasant. For those around you, of course, as headphones will drown out a lot.
The cooling system does handle the heat load well, though; Aorus’ dual-fan, multi-heatpipe implementation is clearly up to the challenge.
Battery life from the 99 Whr unit is superb, and there’s plenty of power delivery available from the 280W power brick and charging-capable Thunderbolt 4 port. Build quality is good, with ample sturdiness from the keyboard and trackpad. I’m not massively keen on the widespread use of plastic, but I guess that’s a trade-off for the price and weight and design targets.
I’d have liked to see faster than 4800MHz RAM for a £2249 laptop in today’s market however. Plus, 32GB would be preferable, even if adding slightly to the cost.
The screen is an intriguing one, too. Its colour quality is good, I like the slim bezel design, and that 360 Hz refresh rate makes for smooth gaming in lesser demanding titles. But I really can’t help but feel that 1080p is just a little too slim on the resolution side for a 17” display. The pixel density isn’t high enough to result in a crisp image, to my eyes.
Overall, I like the Gigabyte Aorus 17H and what it offers at £2249 in the UK. The main hardware features – that Core i7 and RTX 4080 – deliver the goods. And the Aorus cooling solution that allows them to drink over 170W of sustained power is highly competent. This is a fast, large form factor gaming laptop that impresses.
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Pros:
- Excellent, well-designed performance levels from the varied power modes.
- Beefy cooling setup, with shared heatpipes.
- Big 99 Whr battery.
- Ample, sensible power allocation for the GPU and CPU.
- Good connectivity, including Thunderbolt 4.
- Spare M.2 slot.
Cons:
- 1080p on a 17” panel is not particularly desirable.
- DDR5 memory could have been faster than 4800 MHz.
- More than 16GB memory is starting to seem justified, especially on a laptop costing over £2K.
KitGuru says: Fast on both the CPU and GPU fronts, Gigabyte's Aorus 17H deploys the latest Intel and Nvidia hardware very well. If you're happy with a 17″ Full-HD display, this looks to be a good candidate for your gaming needs.
