New gaming notebook unveiled - AORUS X7

Uhh.. This is my dream notebook!
I am planning for months to buy a notebook in Germany in early march (first days of march) and I planned on the XMG c703,
which with my configuration would have a Samsung EVO 500GB SSD (i'd ditch the HDD altogether) for about 2100$.

In order to buy this laptop I would apparently need to wait a complete month without a computer (if not more until it's available in Europe..) and spend a few extra hundred dollars on a 500GB SSD..

TOO HARD TO DECIDE

 

You've gotta be kidding me. So maybe I should blame BF4 as well for heating my CPU past 90 °C?

Oh wait, these are the same excuses you made for the MSI GT70 Dragon Edition when you attacked AnandTech for its review Mr. huaxshin.

Yeah for a 765M SLI system those benchmark scores are seriously low LOL. My Y500 gets about 25 FPS in Sleeping Dogs built-in benchmark at 1080p with every setting maxed out and Extreme AA (which is I believe is FXAA High + 4X supersampling/4K native?) plus driver-forced 16X AF. I haven't tested Hitman at Ultra with 8X MSAA because it maxes out my VRAM and causes stuttering but I'm pretty sure I'd get higher than them as well.

Maybe the aforementioned CPU overheating is causing it to throttle to 1.2 GHz or 800 MHz and dragging the benchmark scores way down? LOL.

Speaking of which, mid-90's CPU temps should not be considered acceptable at all as it is just a few degrees below the max of 100 °C at which point the CPU will either throttle or thermal shutdown depending on what the OEM sets.

 

It can be at that point 24/7 for all I care, as long as it doesn't throttle or shutdown due to the heat and is reasonably quiet. I'd let the CPU/GPU run hotter if it means less noise any day.

 

When you play with fire you're gonna get burned. All it takes is a temperature spike on one CPU core and BAM thermal protection kicks in and shuts you down hard or reduces FPS by half. Could easily happen in a game during an intensive scene, e.g. a large explosion or physics event/destruction. There's almost no headroom to account for high ambient temps (looking at you people living near the Equator), inevitable dust buildup, thermal paste degradation, obstructed airflow, etc.

 

My Clevo runs 90-95C frequently with BF3/4. Worse case is that it throttles. Or just use Intel XTU and set the clocks a little lower and/or use FPS limiter to keep temps reasonable. They could have gone with the 4702HQ which is a 37W CPU, but it's been shown that the 4702MQ vs 4700MQ results in little to no temperature difference, and just lose extra performance due to lower TDP.

I also won't get too excited about a synthetic benchmark spiking CPU temps, until I see how games affect it. If 95C is the absolute max temp it hits, well, then it's in good shape.

 

As I said, if it doesn't throttle I don't care about the temperature. What you say is correct of course about it leaving a very small "buffert" but as that buffert is sufficient I don't mind. There's too many variables involved to say that 94 degrees alone implies that it will hit it's thermal limit. I'd personally be more worried about micro stuttering due to the SLI solution than FPS drops from overheating at this point.

 

So on a realistic scenario like surfing the web, you might actually get 3hour+? Not bad not bad

I still think that CPU temp is wrong.

To quoute their homepage

Meaning its Furmark for CPUs or something like that. With gaming it will be lower, probably in the 80s. But still, I will have to see another review before concluding here. CPU paste on the model they tested might have been applied wrong too. Anandtech tested the GT70 and also got 94C on the CPU. Tomshardware did another review and got 80C (ish).

 

$2100? way too expensive compared to a Lenovo y510p ...

 

but then the performance you get out of this compared to a Y510....and yeah until either someone at NBR get their hand on one of these treasures or we get a legitimate review, don't give it s**t yet.

 

That price range was expected. It's probably not going to sell well. I think people got too excited about this laptop. Early benchmarks show it's worse than everything it's trying to compete with, and that's embarrassing.

 

I'm fairly certain those benchmark scores were the result of SLI not kicking in. Perhaps they need a proper driver or a little fine tune. Otherwise it's no worse than a stock 765M.

 

It's not surprising to me, though. A company tries to release the "coolest and thinnest gaming laptop" on the market (for the performance) and it doesn't turn out to be all it's cracked up to be. How many times has that happened? Countless times. I'm sure they'll refresh it and fix the issues, though. They won't just abandon it.

It has potential, that's all I'm saying. It just needs some tweaking.

 

You were expecting a laptop that can deliver approximately double the graphics horsepower of the Blade Pro in a similarly thin form factor to retail for $1,000 cheaper?

When it launches, unless there is another surprise at CES, Aorus will be the only thin laptop on the market with this kind of horsepower. The models that come closest are the Gigabyte P35k, MSI GS70, Razer Blade Pro, Blade and Gigabyte P34G, which use a single 765m or 760m and are all in the range of 0.66 to 0.88" thick.

The y510p is not a thin form factor model at all. It's 1.4" thick, which is rather bulky, more along the lines of the desktop replacement, competing in a class with the Clevo/Sagers, MSI GT series and Asus G75 laptops of the world.

A thinner form factor corresponds to a significantly higher perceived value among consumers shopping for a laptop. Not to mention the challenges involved in engineering an innovative design that crams two 765m video cards in this chassis.

 

Me likely, gonna keep my eye on this when it's released to see if its worth buying or not. I've been looking for a 17" gaming laptop that comes close to the Razer Blade Pro (size & weight) but with better specs and expandable HDD slots.

 

There's no way the sli is even working because the scores are too similar to a single 765m.

Beamed from my G2 Tricorder

 

It is worrisome because:

1. It can't be the absolute max CPU temp; it's a shared cooling design and the GPU's aren't even working at all during the test.

2. AIDA64 does not generate as much heat as Prime95 and Linpack (e.g. IntelBurnTest, OCCT) and a gaming laptop worth its salt in the cooling department should be able to handle those tests by themselves without overheating.

Who knows, maybe the "turbo fan" option was not engaged during the test and that's the reason for the high temps. In that case, it's a shame that they'd have to depend on cranking up the fan noise to a jet engine in order to adequately cool the system à la MSI.

Would've been very informative if they'd looped the Hitman and Sleeping Dogs benches for 15-30 minutes and reported the maximum CPU and GPU temps after that. Both tests are very hard on both the CPU and GPU and would've represented a good worst-case scenario for a gaming workload.

Ah but you will see microstuttering when the FPS falls off a cliff due to CPU throttling.

 

EDIT: I`m confused. Basically all websites say Gigabyte under the X7 articles.
"Gigabyte is joining Razer in trying to change that perception, however, with the new Aorus line of gaming devices announced during CES 2014. The new company’s first PC is the 17.3-inch X7 gaming laptop"
http://www.pcworld.com/article/2086049/gigabytes-aorus-x7-gaming-laptop-stuffs-two-gpus-into-a-slim-sleek-package.html
Can anyone explain this? If it is kinda like Alienware and Dell, why is none of the X7 notebooks mentioned anywhere on Gigabyte`s different websites? You can find Alienware on Dell.com



I`ll be damned.

AORUS is NOT Gigabyte. AORUS is a fresh new BRAND. They do not belong to Gigabyte.

Why?
They say so in this recent video:
Aorus X7 Laptop & Thunder K7, M7, & H7 Peripherals @ CES 2014 - Newegg TV - YouTube

The X7 is not listed in in Gigabyte homepage, nor is it mentioned on Gigabyte Notebook facebook page.
The X7 is listed on aorus.com and it is listed on Aorus facebook page.


This means that
This article is wrong
http://forum.notebookreview.com/notebook-news-reviews/742236-gigabyte-aorus-x7-debuts-style-power-discussion.html

The X7 thread do not belong in the Gigabyte subforum
Gigabyte

 

@CloudFire you should link the LinusTechTips YouTube video review of this laptop to the main post.[/QUOTE]"]

First page finally edited to what it deserves
Yeah I know. That took some time. I`m lazy

 

Haha, for real? I wonder how they feel with this much of the internet thinking they're Gigabyte's luxury new brand.
Well, for a new company, if their product delivers like it promises, it's going to be a hell of a new contender.

 

I finally found the answer. False alarm. It is kinda like Dell and Alienware, except much more separate where Aorus does their own marketing. They fooled me. Well done

Aorus launches the X7: thinnest, lightest GTX SLI gaming laptop - Laptop - News - HEXUS.net

 

Don't get cattywampus over the name. The fact that Bentley doesn't advertise its parent company doesn't change the fact that its owned by VW.

 

True. I`m just so used to how Alienware operates.

I had to google "cattywampus" btw. Sounds australian or something

 

Hmm, the plot thickens.

Seems a bit strange to invest heavily in developing this Aorus brand, while selling other high end laptops and peripherals under the Gigabyte brand aimed at the exact same PC gamer market segment.

At any rate, at least they are developing a few different gaming laptops with a thin form factor

 

I don't think it's strange...it's about as strange as Dell using the Alienware name. And the Aorus is pretty revolutionary, there hasn't been a sli laptop that thin...that would slip easily into someone's briefcase or bookbag without taking much room. I can't wait to laugh at the power supply though

 

Gigabyte`s plan is probably letting AORUS do the gaming notebooks for hardcore gamers (think SLI, GTX 780M etc) while Gigabyte themselves make the notebooks with low/midrange hardware like GT GPUs and such.
You are right that GigaByte have made gamer notebooks before, like this one with GTX 770M which is not too bad.
I guess this ends now and that AORUS is here. They sure know how to engineer, looking at how bloody impressive X7 is and how it took CES by storm

It will be like Dell make the XPS/Inspiron notebooks while Alienware make the best ones.

They said in the video I link to that there will be more notebooks coming from AORUS so they are here to stay. I hope X7 will be a success

 

Perhaps Gigabyte is still getting their footing on how to handle the new brand, but in my view, Dell has taken a more rational approach by clearly differentiating the brand image and not promoting the Dell brand among PC gamers. They have done a fantastic job nurturing the Alienware brand since it was acquired in 2006, to the point where it has become one of the most recognizable global brands among PC gamers.

Gigabyte's approach is more diluted. It has a number of product lines it still markets heavily to the same gamer demographic it is trying to appeal to with Aorus. They would benefit from more distinct identities for these two brands.

 

Isn't there a difference here? Dell didn't invent AW; and from what I hear, Dell doesn't' t micromanage AW either. It was an independent company before the acquisition, and remained operationally independent afterwards.

 

I was only referring to the marketing and promotions side. The internal management style of the parent company towards the business units or divisions, etc., doesn't really matter much from the consumer's perspective. And if this is not a separate company but simply their own new branding concept, they should have even better control of the messaging. Instead they are promoting the Gigabyte branded P35k as a high end thin gaming laptop right alongside the Aorus brand which is in its infancy.

If you have worked at a company with lots of different brands, what counts is how each brand resonates with its respective target market. If you work hard to raise awareness of both Gigabyte and Aorus among the same market segment, for example, you end up diluting your efforts.

Unless you are competing on price alone with a low margin game, you want your brand to have some perceived value among consumers, and it's a lot of work to develop an strong image and identity for that brand. It's very challenging to successfully launch a new consumer brand in any context, let alone the heavily saturated laptop market.

 

Think of it this way, 4700HQ is the cheapest Intel quad core (embedded at least), and they cool it best they can. Otherwise what options are there? ULV CPU? That sure as heck is not going to cut it. So your option is either quad core i7-4700HQ and put up or shut up.

Also, if turbo fan is needed, I don't think that's horrible. I mean you're talking requiring to cool 170-180W TDP without fan noise? Seriously? It's a simple matter of physics. You simply need a larger heatsink and more importantly larger fan to cool it while keeping db at a minimum. That obviously is not going to happen in this form factor.

Battlefield is the absolute worse case CPU and GPU load for gaming (and most anything). It pushes any system to its cooling limits. But I agree they do need to run more than a synthetic benchmark, which is why you shouldn't get too over negative about the results. No reliable or authorized sources have published any results yet, so it's a bit premature to make assumptions like this.

 

I agree, Dell has done great at this. When I think gaming laptops the first thing that pops into my head and everyone else, is Alienware. Asus comes in at 2nd and maybe they are closing the gap...but that gap must be huge. Asus seems to cater to mainstream with their Best Buy exclusives rather than allowing customizations for die hard gamers that Alienware allows, and that might be hurting Asus or helping them. MSI and Lenovo seem to have great products now. The gaming laptop market has gotten very competitive over the last few years wouldn't you say? Wasn't long ago where the only real options was either Alienware, or the boutique brands like clevo/sager. This increase in competition is probably due to better gpu / cpu technology, as more brands are able to make a practical gaming laptop with decent battery life, into a reasonable form factor. You have to give credit to Gigabyte with Aorus however. Alienware has nothing close to the Aorus model, as far as form factor, and Alienware would do well to start focusing on designing slim and powerful gaming laptops.

 

Well maybe to be fair, maybe you're right. On the other hand, the laws of physics aren't going away any time soon. We shall see.

Actually, I reserve credit until more questions have been answered and facts verified. For now, gaming superiority still goes to AW.

I don't think so. For one, I don't think that's the biggest interest with gamers. Not that a lighter, cooler running laptop isn't attractive. Its just that there are other more important things to gamers than just a lighter, slimmer laptop.

Otherwise they would have migrated to Mac and the PC business would have dried up a long time ago.

 

I don't think gaming superiority is in question here. It's the performance for the form factor. If nothing else I like that they're somewhat forcing a thinner and lighter form factor. If I want a DTR, I don't care how big or heavy it is. But if I want to be portable and still game, this is a good option. Cheaper than the blade Pro with what should amount to significantly better performance. It also has the benefit of what looks like ease of user upgrading as well, something Razer frowns upon.

 

Absolutely, it looks like they designed the laptop I've been waiting on for the past three years. They are on the right track with the press event at CES and the initial P R efforts. However, I'd hate to see a great product flounder as a result of a muddled marketing approach.

Seen it happen before. By way of example, HP has burned up whatever remaining equity they had in the Envy brand. It was originally the highly regarded Voodoo/Envy laptop and desktop line marketed toward gamers. They never capitalized on this initial perception of the brand. By 2010 HP stopped offering models with gaming-capable cards, then they launched an army of Envy budget netbooks, Envy monitors, now they even have Envy inkjet printers, and the brand has been diluted to a meaningless generic concept at this point.

 

Focus was the wrong term, I really meant Alienware should add one or two models of slim/powerful laptops like the Aorus, while still retaining their current lineup.

 

My excitement is gone.

But well done anyways!

 

I know, it's outdated already, sheesh.

 

Funny how quick people change their opinions.

A) Its a chinese mini-review. We don`t know its accurate and if they tested a model they had on CES that may have been assembled in a hurry to be ready for the show. They might not have paid much attention to pastiing protocols on that one.

B) They tested AIDA64 which is a system stability test. Its a tool which OEMs use to test the maximum temperature a notebook can ever see on the CPU. Like Furmark, it test the notebook to its limit, it doesn`t reflect normal user scenarios.
94C as the very max temperature means the notebook cooling system can withstand anything.

Lets just wait for another review, before concluding guys. I`m sure BF4 or something like that will reveal the CPU running in the 80s. It have 4 huge exhaust holes right next to the fans, which I think will give the notebook really good ventilation. The CPU itself have 3 heatsinks running through it.

 

Cloudfire, are you sure you don't work for Aorus, or have one on preorder! ;-)

 

He just likes to get the first scoop on new technology. Maybe he takes it a little too far...

I appreciate his enthusiasm as long as he doesn't go around speculating - that just makes things worse.

 

by that logic he must have worked at every laptop manufacturer there is or owned their respective product by now. But yeah he's able to keep his enthusiasm in check now from what I've seen )

 

According to people I spoke to over the last year I work for Nvidia, MSI, Alienware and AORUS.
I should be bloody rich by now
But I`m not. That should answer your question

Meh, I`m just very enthusiastic about new hardware. I have the Alienware 18 which is better than this AORUS X7 anyway. But I don`t see the point in being a complete downer for the rest of the people interested in this notebook.

 

Hi Cloudfire, first page looks good except a minor typo regarding the gpu's.

Looking forward to seeing more reviews!

 

Ooops, GTX 765M and not GTX 675M. Fixed now
Thanks for the feedback!

 

Wow, they're going really retro.

 

Haha, yes, it's OK, my comment was in good jest!

 

hehe yes. Imagine two GTX 580M`s in X7. If AORUS could manage to cool off two of them, they can put in anything they want in that machine. Good ol` Fermi

 

If my tax return ends up what I believe it will be, I will most likely be buying this, as long as it doesn't have any glaring issues that come up in the mean time.

 

I'll be waiting for an awesome review.

 

Thats the big selling point for me.

Can't wait to read it since it's looking like the laptop for me once its released.

 

Great to hear - I look forward to another one of your famous benchmark threads on this model.