NEW Aero 14 w/ GTX1060

The IPC between the Skylake 965m version, and the Kabylake 1060 version of the Aero 14's, are basically the same, meaning the only differences you'll see will be accounted by CPU clockspeed differences.

• The 6700HQ has a max single-threaded turbo of 3.5ghz but otherwise runs all 4 cores at 3.1ghz.
• The 7700HQ has a max single-threaded turbo of 3.8ghz, but otherwise runs all 4 cores at 3.4ghz.

You're looking at a 300mhz difference in performance, or less than 10% here. I guess the question is if less than a 10% gain in performance is worth 500 euros to you, assuming the gfx card is not important, and you can get the same RAM config for both.

 

check post #794

 

Thanks - I've had the whole thing crash (reboot from USB) as well when I tried to put a docking station into the USB C port. Will give the driver a go, hopefully it'll work. Don't want to go through that again!

 

I think if you're looking at battery battery life, the newer processor usually has battery power efficiency at some tasks, eg. decoding x265 is more power efficient on the 7700s vs 6700 (hardware vs software). Then again, i do not believe that there are much differences processor wise between the two generations.

You'll probably see more difference in the graphics cards, if I'm not wrong, the newer 1060 has 3x more memory and is built using a more power efficient process 28nm (965m) vs 16nm (1060).

Anyone feel free to comment!

 

Thanks a lot!

So do you think the 1060 + the i7 7700HQ will consume less power than the 965M + i7 6700HQ, since the 1060 is still so much more powerful?

 

Answer is probably no. The 1060 has a significantly higher TDP than the 965M.

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Well, looking at this website: http://www.tomshardware.com/news/nvidia-10-series-pascal-mobile-gpus,32471.html

and the TDP posted here I would say when maxing out the GPU, yes, the 1060 does consume slightly more power. However, given a more efficient architecture and die process, given the SAME set of tasks, the newer GPU and CPU would consume less power overall - completing the task quicker, or more efficiently then older hardware.

 

I bought this USB-C hub from Amazon. With the new drivers it works a treat. I can run 4 USB hard drives from it without issue. Styling matches perfectly too with the orange.

https://www.amazon.co.uk/COZOO-4-Port-Devices-MacBook-ChromeBook/dp/B01DDD9A6U/ref=sr_1_13

 

Can you tell me how to update the Drivers?
My Aero crashed after I plugged a USB-C USB+Hdmi hub and wasnt able to boot anymore. It resulted in a 'System Thread Exception Not Handled' error and I had to reset the whole System because nothing else worked. I dont want to go through the same process again...

 

Yep, that was same problem I had. See my post further above for the fix. Which basically means using a later driver packaged by Dell.

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Long time lurker, first time poster. So... hello every body.
Thanks to this forum I pull the trigger on an Aero 14wv7 which is also my first gaming laptop in general. I'm just curious is there anything special I should do when setting this machine up to get the most out of it? Kind of a noob when it comes to tweaking and knowing what programs to ditch or to procure. So any helpful stuff would be nice.
Was looking up videos and was wondering was this a good start?

 

Can check out this to optimise your battery life: https://www.reddit.com/r/gigabytegaming/comments/5uqu1o/aero_14_v7_battery_life/

 

Hi all,

I've recently switched from a MacBook Pro to this new machine. Got the Kaby Lake model. I'm new to the Windows world and want to start fresh (i.e no Gigabyte bloatware). Got a few questions:

1)What is the best or easiest way to remove all the Gigabyte crap (including the emptyproject thingo)? My first guess is that I just use the "Reset" option in Windows 10. Does that reinstall all the Gigabyte software?

2) Is any of the Gigabyte software any useful if you don't care about fan management? I don't want to lose useful functionality from the keyboard etc.

Thanks!

 

Coming from a MBP as well, I wouldn't classify the Gigabyte Smart Manager/Smart Update as "bloatware". Smart Manager, with the exception of emptyproject11.exe allows you to control the much of the hardware e.g. keyboard backlight, color calibration of the monitor, automatic switching of power profiles, switching between auto brightness, and includes a toggle allowing your devices to charge when the computer is asleep/off. It also includes an OSD that will pop up when turn on Caps Lock/Num Lock, which is very useful, unlike the Macs, Gigabyte did not include any LEDs on the keyboard to let you know if its on or not.

One irritation I have, is when toggling the brightness using the hardware keys on the keyboard, the screen jumps out of auto brightness mode to manual, and you can't activate the auto brightness back on without either: using the gigabyte smart manager, or running through control panel > power settings > power plans. Same of the auto backlight.

The Smart Manager is essential for keeping your BIOS and Smart Manager up to date: even the latest version of Smart Manager (6.6.1) is not available on Gigabyte's website yet.

Smart Backup creates a usb bootable backup, which is useful when your entire disk fails, but you can uninstall that after you've created it.

For me, I got rid (uninstalled) Xsplit and CyberDVD apps, and just ran with the Gigabyte branded software.

Of course, you COULD reinstall windows, and then install Smart Update and selectively choose the Gigabyte software to install.

To get rid of the emptyproject, which will always be there whenever you use Smart Manager, you could replace it with a null exe, which you can find here: https://superuser.com/a/393508

 

if you have no need for fan control. i.e. set fan to "Quiet" to turn off the fan completely. You can do a fresh install of the windows. If you do this, none of the Gigabyte related softwares will come with you (meaning no emptyproject11.exe to worry about). However, should you need them later, you can download them from their driver website (They even have bloatwares like xplit, ampcam and powerdvd).

None of the Gigabyte softwares are "essential" as Windows will make sure your computer has the necessary new drivers there. Like I said before. BIOS is not something you update regularly. Congratulations on your new purchase in Windows.

 

Not all the software is available on the website, eg, the Smart Manager 6.6.1 can be downloaded through Smart Update, but the website's version is 6.4.7. Smart Update and Backup are also outdated on the site. Also Marco Hub is missing from the website.

 

Thanks for the replies guys, got my new Aero 14 today. So far it seems defect free which is great (although I had to plug the charger in to get it to boot).

First impressions are that it is a pretty solid machine. The build quality is good and this is coming from a long time Mac user. Unfortunately the trackpad is poor but looks like I'll use a mouse anyway like I did with my Mac.

I decided to keep Gigabyte's software but SmartUpdate is extremely slow (it was stuck on 1% for over an hour for the GPU updates). I decided to update the graphics drivers myself via the Nvidia Control Panel.

Windows 10 is ehh...it's not playing well with the QHD display. MacOS didn't have this problem. Microsoft could can go a long way to improve first impressions (why does it want to do a virus scan out of the box?). I haven't disabled "emptyproject" but I plan to do it soon. Overall, looks like an OK operating system but I prefer MacOS/Win7 more.

Also, I have 420/460gb free. Is there any way I can increase that. Most modern games are ~50gb so I looks like I'll be struggling for space in the long run.

Thanks again!

 

You can replace the SSD with a larger one to add space.

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You and me both, mine is coming from Germany. It will probably have the QWERTZ keyboard rather than QWERTY. So I'd want to pop the keycaps off and switch them. Any one know how to do this?

 

I think I read somewhere that this model comes with a dedicated graphics card. If so, perhaps it could be upgraded in the future? Do you have any knowledge of this?

 

I'll never touch another Razer product. I've had two Razer Orochi BT mice and both have issues. The first one ceased to function after a couple of years and the second still works but seems to have a problem with waking up after sleep. Also, I didn't like them taking the CMOS out of the mouse so you could no longer program and save settings internally.

 

Sigh, they are all there under utilities. Also... Smart update manager is there. (Meaning... you can update the updater--> subsequent Gigabyte programs after....) I did not think I needed to spell this out.

 

I replaced emptyproject.exe with nop.exe I found on the internet. Hopefully it will increase the battery life.

 

Hmmm, so slowly the problems with the keyboard get annoying. My Backspace key is only working 25%. 25% means, only if you press it on left half of the key, and then only if you press it quite hard. Really disrupted the daily work as I was used to use it with my pinkie which of course more like hits the right part of the key without too much force.

 

My bad, I must have missed it.

 

Looks like you'll have to pop the keycap off and look underneath. Write back here if you figure out how to do it.

 

Damn this laptop is a beast. Churning out Battlefield 4 on Ultra at 60fps on 1440p. During the work day, blowing through my fluid dynamics simulations like a breeze. All under 1.9kg. Battery life around 6-7h. Amazing.

 

Hey all! I'm new to this thread, so please excuse my ignorance.

A shop nearby sells the Aero 14 with the following specs:

i7-6700HQ
GTX 965M (2GB)
16GB DDR4 2133Mhz
256GB NVMe SSD
1920x1080 IPS panel
Windows 10 Home
94.24Wh Battery

The price is roughly 1399€ after taxes.
Is the old model still worth it?

I'm a full time engineering student who's about to graduate and apply for a Business school. As I'm likely to travel more than thrice the next year, I need a do-it-all-on-the-go laptop... sort of. I'll also be playing games during weekends, but nothing too demanding. It seems like the Aero 14 is the only option ticking all the boxes after checking what the shop offers. The MSI GS43VR is another solid option with the newer GTX 1060 for about 1649€, but the 40Wh battery ruins it.

Also to note: The old Aero 14 is essentially on a small sale, as the new refresh is being sold as well, with the 1440p screen and a GTX 1060, but it costs 1845€, which is way beyond my budget.

Any advice is welcome. Thank you in advance!

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The 965m will give you decent gaming performance at 1080 but you might need to turn the quality down a little on some titles.

As far as work and productivity go the aero 14 battery is amazing. The keyboard is also great to type on. I had reserved one here in Canada with the same specs for 1499 CAD but ordered the 1060 version instead because I wanted the performance and GPU processing power for games and some special processing tasks.

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I'd really love to buy the newer model as well. Since I'm picking it up by July, I'll just hope prices go down a bit, or maybe I'll do my best stretching my budget to around 2k.
Thanks for the input!

 

The 965m models that were on sale here got bought up and haven't come back. They went away in mid November. Would hate to see supply make a decision for you ️

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I wouldn't worry about the supply, as most people here are never interested in purchasing gaming laptops at over 1000€. The old Aero 14 was available in the shop for more than a year, which slightly implies what I've mentioned above, or the fact people here rarely know about Gigabyte. I've yet to see one owner.

 

Would like to ask has anyone done heavy duty gaming on their Aero 14? I have been trying to troubleshoot a string of BSODs I have while gaming. My unit seems to BSOD (different drivers pinpointed in the minidump as the cause) almost regularly when I leave the fans on "Gaming" or any AUTO mode. However, the computer is stable when I set the fans to spin constantly 65% or above, it doesn't crash at all, leading me to suspect there is something that is overheating. I have TS running, and it does not show any cpu temperatures over 87c, gpu stays below 78c.

 

I've played many hours of overwatch without issue on my skylake, with slightly better Temps.

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Fans on Gaming settings?

 

Yes, started on gaming and recently switched to custom with 100% auto max speed.

 

Have you done any undervolting to the CPU? I had a bunch of lockups when I undervolted too much that only appeared when I played heavy games. Found out it was due to too little voltage to the CPU when the turbo boost kicked in. If you did undervolt, try resetting it back to defaults and see if you still have issues.

 

Crashes are most of the time due to the undervolts. Undervolting and testing the stability through heavy benchmarks does not necessarily equate stability during gaming sessions.
To make sure the undervolt is the culprit, try resetting it and try a similar gaming load which caused the crash. If no crashes occur, apply the undervolt again but do a slight overvolt. Test the game again. Keep doing it until it stops crashing.

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Tried to poke around a bit but no luck. After 3 months of daily business use (and some decent gaming in the evenings/on the weekend) I have to say: The keyboard quality sucks!

I'm writing quite a lot on it per day but even then... after three months already four to five keys are not working properly anymore and a lot of the other make funny noises because the constant pressure seems to off-center them after a while. Especially the backspace, the arrow keys, space, and left shift are beginning to worry me while the 'letter' keys so far seem to be okay.

In 2 years having a Blade 14 2015 I never complained about the keyboard once. Too bad Razer really screwed up the last 3 Blade models (mid 2016, late 2016, early 2017 model).

So, all in all the Aero 14 seems to be a nice consumer laptop but not fit for everyday business usage. (apart from the not that nice and slick look of a Thinkpad or Dell)

 

Hey guys I need your input on something regarding fan speed, my Aero took a nasty 'slammed by wireless hoover and flew off the sofa on to the floor' kind of fall the other day and besides a little dink on the top left of the screen bezel it seems fine, though I have found that the fans seem louder when idle. I cannot be sure so I just wanted to ask you guys what the smart manager dashboard reports your fan RPM as when idling/using Chrome.

Thanks a lot, especially all the tips and tweaks you've all posted regarding this amazing laptop.

 

I can't see rpm in smart manager. Where are you looking?

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Found it, at normal profile while in chrome or basically idle I'm at 2126rpm

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Aha cheers! I hover around 2080rpm so it must just be paranoia from expensive laptop falling...

Has anyone here got specific tweaks to get the touchpad feeling just right? That's the only thing that is bugging me now I've got my temps down.

 

Where would one find spare replacement battery for this laptop? I suspect the battery is going to be shot in a couple of years due to constant heat.

 

Can somebody please confirm whether the updated kaby lake processor supports thunderbolt 3 via the usb type c port. I'm getting mixed facts and cant get a definite answer. Intel stated that all usb with have tb 3.
If tb 3 is really not available, is there an other way to connect to an external gpu via the other ports?

 

No, the Kaby Lake refresh does not support TB3 from its USB-C port.

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Now that I've had this laptop a couple of months I have to say I'm loving it - I've even (somewhat grudgingly) got used to running on Windows 10 Pro! I have had no issues whatsoever, have not needed to undervolt and have had no excessive heat issues. The battery life is so much better than any previous gaming laptops I've had. The only thing I can't comment on is the trackpad because I use a wireless mouse - I've never liked trackpads and doubt I ever will. Good job Gigabyte, this is a really nice machine.

 

I am hovering at 1900+ using chrome + youtube + external monitor

 

Hey all, I'm considering getting a p35xv6 or the aero 14. I need a minimum of 4 hours battery and weight is important because I'm traveling this year. I guess you guys might be the best people to ask. The p35 is $1599 and the aero 14 v6 is 1599 with the 14v7 being 1699. I'm a little worried about the weight of the p35 and the heat, otherwise it just seems better spec than the aero14. Also if I do get an aero14 is it worth the $100 for the v7?

Thanks!

 

As for the Aero 14 v7 with the 7700hq upgrade, I doubt you will notice the difference from the 6700, especially if it is primarily a gaming and productivity machine.

That seems like a very cheap price for the p35, perhaps used if it from eBay? I have always been warry about used laptops, especially 'gamer' laptops that may have been 'serviced' by previous owners. Online new v6 seems to go for at least 1800 minimum? Maybe I'm looking at the wrong items.

I can't compare to the p35 but I also considered it at one point and found the Aero to be a better buy thought it does have its own special quirks.

For travel too, Aero 14 form factor and weight is great, I teach in multiple rooms and buildings throughout the day and it is great to have a pretty powerful machine that is easy to cart around. My last laptop was similar weight to the p35 (only about 1.2 pounds heavier) but I greatly appreciate the difference.