Compare: Gigabyte AERO 17 HDR vs Gigabyte AORUS 17G

 

 

Pros and Cons

General Info

Gigabyte AERO

For years, those who were looking for a powerful laptop for professional tasks were forced to choose between options designed for gamers full of details and aggressive colors, RGB lights … however something is changing in the market. And Gigabyte is one of the brands that is betting heavily on the sector of professionals and content creators with its AERO range.

Externally, the AERO 17 HDR shares the same chassis as its gamer brother, the AORUS 17G that we were able to test recently, with an angular design that focuses efforts on maximizing cooling and that differs from a very nice matte black finish, but which is a real magnet for fingerprints, and some small aesthetic details like the grid pattern on the keyboard or the AERO logos.

The AORUS 17G from Gigabyte is a computer that mounts an Intel 10º Gen processor and an NVIDIA 2070 Super Max-Q, to be able to enjoy the games to the fullest on its wonderful 17 ″ and 240Hz screen. Do you want to know more about this laptop? Well, in this review I will tell you everything interesting.

The exterior of the AORUS 17G does not attempt to camouflage that it is a gaming laptop. It has a bold design with the corners and edges ending in impossible shapes and angles. It is mounted on an aluminum chassis and both the upper and lower covers appear to be of the same material. The most remarkable thing is its low thickness and weight, only 26mm high and 2.7Kg in weight.

Display

Gigabyte AERO

Gigabyte AERO comes with 17.3 ″ OLED panel with minimal bezels, 4K and HDR400 resolution, finished in matte and with a perfect factory calibration certified by X-Rite and Pantone, which gives us total security to be able to edit our photos and videos with the maximum color accuracy.

Gigabyte AORUS

The screen that mounts the AORUS 17G uses a panel of 17.3 ″ in size, with FHD resolution and a refresh rate of 240Hz. But possibly the most striking thing is that it comes individually calibrated under Pantone’s X-Rite standards.

Specification

Performance

Gigabyte AERO

Now that we have seen the laptop on the outside, we have to see what it has under the hood. In the unit we have an Intel i7-10875H processor with 8 cores and 16 threads that work at 2.3GHz but can go up to 5.1GHz, accompanied by two 8GB DDR4 3200MHz RAM modules, although they are configured at only 2933MHz.

For the graphics, we have the RTX 2070 Max-Q, with 2560 Cudas, 320 Tensor Cores, 40 cores and 8GB GDDR6 Samsung, in addition to the integrated UHD-630 from Intel, a combination that will allow us to reduce consumption in light tasks with the UHD-630, while the RTX 2070 Max-Q gives us all the power in demanding tasks such as hardware acceleration of our programs or a specific game when the day ends.

And as storage we have a Samsung NVME MZVLB512HBJQ, basically an OEM version of the Samsung 970 Evo with 512GB of storage and read/write speeds of around 3000MB / s, but we can add a second M.2 disk if we need more capacity.

Gigabyte AORUS

All gaming equipment has to have a CPU and GPU up to the task and this AORUS 17G is no wonder. The 17G-XB that integrates an Nvidia 2070 Super Max-Q but there is another model available with 2080. Max-Q means that it is a low consumption version of the 2070 Super but do not be fooled by its reduced consumption, performance is still spectacular.

Then we have the processor that is none other than the brand new Intel i7-10875H with 8 cores and 16 threads working at a 2.3Ghz frequency and a 5.1Ghz turbo. The main memory is made up of a couple of DDR4 modules at 3200Mhz in Dual Channel that, curiously, are only working at 2933Mhz.

Multimedia

Gigabyte AERO

At the connection level, we are more than enough, with 2 USB 3.2, microphone and headphone jacks, SD UHS-II card reader and a Gigabit port with Killer E2600 controller on the left side of the laptop.

While on the right are the DC connector, an HDMI 2.0, miniDP 1.4, a third USB 3.2 and a USB type C connector that allows Thunderbolt 3 connection, in addition to being able to use it to connect a monitor or use the fast charge of our mobile. And at the wireless level, we have the Killer AX1650 controller that combines  Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

Gigabyte AORUS

The AORUS 17G more than delivers. Not only does it have a good number of ports but it also has the latest technology. On the left we have: a Gigabit port with a Killer E2600 controller, an SD UHS-II card reader, two USB 3.2 ports and the 3.5mm jacks for microphone and headphones.

Then on the right side: another USB 3.2 port, a Thunderbolt 3 (Type-C) port, a mini-DP, an HDMI connector, and the barrel connector for power. Finally, for wireless connectivity, we have at our disposal a Killer AX1650 controller that combines Wi-Fi 6 and Bluetooth 5.0.

As you can see, it is really good but if you have to look for a fault it would undoubtedly be in the space between connectors. Some are very close together and the distribution does not seem entirely right to me.

Battery

Gigabyte AERO

In terms of battery, we have a capacity of 94Wh, much higher than other models focused on creators that tend to be around 80Wh, capable of giving us between 5 and 7 hours of autonomy depending on the intensity of our tasks. But we must be careful with the level of brightness since due to the high performance of the screen, it can significantly reduce autonomy.

Gigabyte AORUS

For those of us who think that there is not a gaming team with enough autonomy with this laptop, we have a dilemma. And is that the AORUS 17G mounts an extensive 94Wh battery that is capable of providing almost 5 hours of autonomy. Even so, we can get up to 7 hours if we lower the brightness, make use of the energy savings and deactivate the unnecessary.

Which is better!

With the Aero HDR range, Gigabyte has targeted content creators (photographers, designers, video editors, architects, etc.) with a clear commitment to bringing the best possible screen: OLED panel, 4K, HDR, and Pantone and X-Rite certified.