Computer Shopper - UK (2020-07)

ISSUE389|COMPUTERSHOPPER|JULY2020

SPECIFICATIONS

Windowsoverall

Multitasking

Batterylife

0% -50 Reference + 50 + 100

Seepage100 forperformancedetails

PROCESSOROcta-core2.3GHzIntelCorei7-10875H•RAM16GB

• DIMENSIONS356x260x25mm•WEIGHT2.3kg•SCREEN
  SIZE15.6in•SCREENRESOLUTION1,920x1,080•GRAPHICS
  ADAPTOR8GBNvidiaGeForceRTX2070SuperMax-Q•TOTAL
  STORAGE512GBSSD•OPERATINGSYSTEMWindows10Home


• WARRANTYOneyearRTB•DETAILSwww.gigabyte.com•
  PARTCODEAorus15GXB

6h25m

Mostimportantly,,therewasn’t
anyevideenceofthermmal
throttlinggin our CPU
performaancetests.Thhe
Aorus 15 GGscoredan
incrediblee 24 6overalll,
takinginttoaccount
animageetest
scoreof 1179 ,a
videotesstscore
of 240 annda
multitaskkingscoreoff 27 3.
ThisputsstheCore i7--10875H on a
par withaarespectablehigh-enddesktopCPU.
SinceIntel’s10th-ggenchipsarestillnew,we
won’t havvemanycommparisonstomakeuntilwe
testmoreecontemporraarryyrriivvaallss;;wwee’rreehhooppiinnggttoo
acquireoone of thenew Blade15models soon,for
instance.Still, the Aorus 15G is well ahead of
gaming laaptopsthatuseprevious-generationIntel
chips;thee 2019 Blade 15 (Shopper 38 0)isleftwell
behind,eevenwithitshighoverallscoreof 17 4.
TheRTX 2070 SuperMax-Qisalsoas
effecctiveingamesasyou’dhope.Inour
nnativeresolutiontestofMetro:Last
Light Redux, running at theHigh
preset with SSAA off,itaveraged
an extremely smooth 185fps. Besides
beinghighenough to take advantage
of the boosted refresh rate, this handily beats
the2019 Blade15’s 146fps, not to mention
the 82fpsofthe Asus ROGStrix Scar III
(Shopper380). That’s especially impressive
considering the latter launched at £2,800.

Since theGPU supports both real-time
ray-tracingand Nvidia’s recently upgraded DLSS
2.0 –machine learning-basedanti-aliasing tech –
we alsoadded alittle bonus test, booting up
Remedy Games’ Control to see howboth
technologies would cope on the Aorus15G.
With thehighestpreset selected, DLSS off and
raytracing enabled we saw averageframe
ratesofjustover 40fps; that’splayable,but
by enablingDLSSinplace of regular AA, this
jumped up to 70fps with very littlelossinquality.
Forboth the laptopand DLSS2.0, that’s awin.

EXTRATIME
Remarkably,withall of this powerontap and
the fans blowing up astorm, theAorus15G still
managedtoput in adecent shift in ourbattery
lifetest. It lasted for6h25m of continuousvideo
playback, which isn’tamazinginthe overall
scheme of things butisastonishinglygoodfor a
laptop so beefy. TheBlade 15 only managed
1h 51m, and gaming laptops in general usually
struggle to make it pasttwo or threehours.
All of this runs through that super-slick240Hz
15.6in 1080pdisplay. Thehigh refreshrategives
gamesahuge boost –and the RTX2070 Super
Max-Q is genuinely powerful enough to take
advantage –but theFullHDpanel is also

technically very competent.Colour coveragge

ssppaannss 9933 .. 22 %%oofftthheessRRGGBBccoolloouurrggaammuutt,,ccooolloouurr

accuracy is exceptional with an average delta-E of

0.7,and the contrast ratio is acreditable1,120:1.

The display’s peakbrightness of 276cd/m^2

is slightly disappointing, butit’sstill plenty

bright enough forindoor use. If this is a

compromise youhavetomakefor the silky

240Hz smoothness, it’s worth it.

TOPTALENT

Thanks to Intel’s and Nvidia’shardware, the

GigabyteAorus15G is themost powerful

Windows laptop we’ve ever tested; it’san

immensely capablenotebook. Not only that,

however,it’salsoathoughtfully put together

gaming machine as well,withacomfortable RGB

mechanical keyboardand ahighlyeffective

coolingsystem thatensures allthatsilicon is able

to perform at its very best. Even battery lifeisn’t

toobad;aremarkable feat given howmuch

power is surging through this thing.

The lookswon’t be foreveryone andthe price

is fairly high, but if you’re after thefastest gaming

laptop moneycan buy, then aheftyprice tag

goes with the territory.Unless thenew Razer

Blade 15 cansteal its thunder with somecanny

UK pricing (and ideally better battery lifethanthe

last model),the Aorus 15G looks set to keepits

gaming laptop crownfor some time to come.

JonathanBray

246

273

Thanks toIntel’s and Nvidia’s hardware,the Aorus 15G is the

mostpowerful Windowslaptop we’veevertested