The Aorus 15G’s gunmetal exterior and black chiclet keyboard look aggressive
yet professional, leaving out the bright colors and look-at-me LEDs that
sometimes adorn gaming notebooks. (Not that those features are bad, but they
aren’t for everyone.) Aorus’ passively backlit logo is on the back of the lid, but
that’s it.
The chassis makes extensive use of aluminum for the palm rest, keyboard
surround, bottom panel, and lid for structural support, so it’s not just looks. The
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portable than its competition. (The Razer Blade 15 Advanced is 4.7 pounds.) I
like that the lid can be opened with one hand.
Meanwhile, the chassis is respectably trim at 14 by 9.9 inches. Its 1-inch
thickness is more than the 0.7 inch of the Blade 15 Advanced and Zephyrus S
GX502, but one keystroke on the Aorus’ keyboard is enough to forgive that.
MECHANICAL BLISS: OH, WHAT A KEYBOARD!
Perhaps this laptop’s headline feature, the keyboard features mechanical
switches by Japanese maker Omron. Keystrokes make delightful clicks and
clacks just like a mechanical desktop keyboard, so typing stealthily on this
laptop isn’t an option.
The key throws are luxuriously long (the main reason for the extra chassis
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you hit the bottom of a keystroke. It’s a superb tactile journey. The keyboard
also gets points for its full-size function row (the F1 through F12 keys, which are
usually half-size on laptops) and number pad, the last hardly being a given on
15.6-inchers that include one.