58 PCWorld MAY 2020REVIEWS GIGABYTE AERO^17
tradeoff. With the Aero 17
though, we’re pleased to say
battery life was far better than
we expected for a 4K panel
(more on that later).
And yes, the 4K pixel
density is far more useful on a
17.3-inch screen than a
13.3-inch panel. It’s enough
resolution that you can tile
multiple windows and
they’re all still legible.
The Aero 17’s panel is
also rated for VESA’s HDR
400 spec (go.pcworld.com/
hdr4), which mandates such
things as its name implies: a
minimum of 400 nits’ peak-
level brightness, and sRGB
color gamut support.
We measured the Aero 17’s brightness
peak at about 423 nits. While the HDR 400
rating is the entry level for HDR specs and
mandates only 100 percent of sRGB,
Gigabyte brings more to the table with 100
percent of Adobe RGB color gamut. The
panel, an AU Optronics B173ZAN03.2, is a
rated 10-bit panel, which means it’ll push
more than 1.07 billion colors.
Gigabyte continues to offer factory Xrite
Pantone color calibration on every laptop
panel. Gigabyte suggests, perhaps with
some bias, that some of its competitors only
do batch testing of panels.Let’s just say if you’re going to go big, you
might as well go with a panel with a lot of
pedigree. Because the Aero 17 leans toward
content creation professionals rather than
gamers, the panel and hardware are really
intended for workers, not players.FEATURES AND SPECS
Our Aero 17 review unit ($2,800 from
Gigabyte.com; go.pcworld.com/ga17)
exudes “content creator” from its high-end
chip to its fast RAM and discrete GPU. There’s
even an SD card slot for the photography
folks! Here are all the details:
CPU: Intel 10th-gen 8-core CoreThe 10th-gen Comet Lake H and GeForce RTX Super were supposed
to be the stars, but the 10-bit, HDR 400 4K screen is what might
convince you to ditch your tiny 13.3-inch laptop.