NEW Aero 14 w/ GTX1060

Other than speed and egpu it seems maybe tb3 brings more display support. Maybe when things go the way Apple is going and just have USB-C TB3 might matter. But given the ports on the Aero 14 it really doesn't buy much now or in the future, IMO.

 

I just watched some 4k YouTube content and with the fan set to silent profile it runs at the slowest speed when the cpu starts to heat up and the cpu averaged around 63c. If I put it on normal mode the fan ran slightly faster (but still very quiet) and the cpu stayed at just shy of 60c.

 

TB3 to me seems ludicrous in all aspects. I can see for the razer blade stealth where you would want to dock into a GPU externally, but for the GPU in this laptop it's pointless.

TB3 does give you some nice docking solutions and gives you 40gbps vs the 10gbps of USB C. But unless you need to transfer data VERY fast to and from external media, or maybe want to do some specific external display stuff that DP doesn't you won't notice its missing.

 

I'd like to see TB3 purely for future GPU upgrade capability. I have kept my laptops for about 4-5 years, by that time a GPU upgrade would significantly lengthen the laptop's life, rather than spending a lot more on a new laptop. The Aero 14 is currently £1700 in the UK ($2090). That's a hell of a lot of money. My high-spec Gigabyte 14-incher from 4 years ago cost £1000, and it's rather a sting to be spending 70% more. If I were to, I'd want it to last longer!

 

I tried to heel this up over HDMI to my TV but couldn't get it to work right.

If I tried to mirror displays, the super high res attempted to get scaled down to the TV.

If I changed desktop resolution to 1080 and mirrored the displays, screen scaling goes away, but gaming makes the framerate go down by 50%

Trying to select external display only resulted in scaling, and there was no way to set resolution of the external display.

I was just using Windows's built in stuff that comes up when you hit the function keys. Is there a better way to control display settings on a laptop so that scaling is a non issue?

I knew it was scaling because 1:1 pixel mapping test patterns would not show up as Grey (except when mirroring 1080)

 

Strange it worked fine with my tv (samsung 4k)

 

Mine in a Samsung smart but only FHD

 

What were you using to change resolution. Did you try Nvidia control panel?

 

No I used the windows settings for less lotion under display properties

 

For resolution

 

Try Nvidia control panel with external display only selected for screen configuration.

 

sorry

 

I figured it out, you can't view a 1:1 pixel mapping test image properly at tft.vanity.dk if you have windows set to scale the UI etc. It messes everything up.

 

Aorus feels much smaller and portable compared to Aero. It definitely looks way better than aero too in my opinion.

Display wise, it can go either way. Aorus's display is much brighter than aero's but gamma isnt as good. Aorus's display also has higher response time resulting in noticeable ghosting in Fifa, Overwatch, and etc. On the Aero, I didn't notice that much ghosting so that's a plus. In terms of color accuracy, I would say both is pretty good after calibration.

Trackpad is way better on aorus than aero. Keyboard is also good but there's a flex on the right side of it. Aero doesnt have any keyboard flex. In terms of battery, got around 4-5 hours with aorus around 30-40% brightness in balanced mode compared to aero's 7-8 hours with same config.

Only issue I am having with aorus is the temperature when gaming. On idle its more than fine as it sits around 30ish C with normal fan setting and hovers around 42-45 C range in silent mode. When I game its a totally different story. Gpu temp rises to 86C when using laptop only and upto 88-90C using external display. Cpu temps are ok as they reach max temps of 78C but that is because it's undervolted by -140 on both cpu core and cache.

Aero's thermals are exceptional as it never reached beyond 80C on CPU/GPU for me.

Can anyone tell me if my gpu temps are safe for long sessions of gaming? Will my laptop survive with those gpu temps for the next 2-3 years?
Note: I don't game everyday, maybe every now and then.

 

Thanks for posting this. It's really interesting you find the Aorus more portable since, going by spec measurements anyway, it seems the Aero's thinner profile should give it a more 'portable' feel. In every other dimension, they are about the same but I believe the X3 is a little narrower (12.99in to 13.19in).

Disappointing about the screen ghosting though.

 

Thanks for your input. Seems like the Aero is the winner despite the touchpad.

 

First i would say is that 86c reached straight away? and if not is upto 86c over a long session 1hr +?

If it was over a long sustained load on the system then your probably ok if it hits that straight away i would be more concerned to what long sessions bring and also count in your ambient temps when taking this into account also.

My aero reahces upto 80c GPU and 85C CPU but thats after 4 hours with a 23c room temp and im ok with that sure it will last a good few years

i may re paste down the line also

 

Has anyone here messed around with Linux on the Aero and disabled secure boot? I finally got mine but I don't see an option to disable secure boot in the bios, just "delete secure boot variables". The FAQ on Gigabyte's website here http://www.gigabyte.com/support-downloads/faq-page.aspx?fid=3001 says there should be an option to disable secure boot, then restart and delete the variables. On mine secure boot is on and the disable option is replaced with the "delete variables option" and I don't know what that will do. Otherwise I got Mint running cause its apparently signed but I would like secure boot off for good measure

 

I have installed ArchLinux with secure boot disabled. To do this switch from Windows 10 to Windows 7/8 in BIOS. Then you'll also get option to do UEFI vs legacy boot (I boot using UEFI).

I needed to use following extra kernel options:

i8042.nopnp i8042.kbdreset=1 i8042.nomux=1 i8042.reset - otherwise touchpad sometimes is not detected (not sure if all of these options are needed, or just some subset)

i915.enable_fbc=1 - Intel power savings.

acpi_osi=! acpi_osi="Windows 2009" - otherwise enabling nvidia sometimes locks up system, this is ACPI bug from Gigabyte, here it is discussed in more details: https://bugzilla.kernel.org/show_bug.cgi?id=156341 and https://github.com/Bumblebee-Project/Bumblebee/issues/764

Other than that it runs great - everything else works out of box. I use NVME ssd and I installed Linux kernel patched for NVME power savings. ( https://github.com/damige/linux-nvme) This gives you ~8-9 hours of battery life when using Intel GPU.

 

Curious to see if you have tried to pass though the gtx 1060 to a Win VM using LinuxKVM? If you have what kind of performance are you getting?

 

Thank you thank you thank you! I freaking love this laptop. It runs as good as my desktop with a GTX 970. I'd hate to return it over something like this. Plus when I tried Mint I was only getting 3 hours of battery.

Also you said you replaced the hard drive, does that void the warranty?

 

I think I find it more portable since the bezels are so small on the aorus. The keyboard footprint is also small so maybe that's why overall I find the aorus more portable.

 

No not right away, it takes atleast 10-15 minutes to reach 86c and stays around that temp for the most part. It also depends on the game bc when I play FIFA, GPU and CPU temp hovers around 60-68c.

I have no experience when it comes to re pasting on a laptop so wouldn't want to do that since I might damage something unless there is a video tutorial.

 

I may have celebrated my victory too soon... How exactly do I do this? I don't see an option for this unless it has to do with resetting to windows 7 or windows 8.1/10 defaults. And will I still be able to boot windows 10 once this change is made?

 

That's what it does - if you choose "Reset Win7 defaults" it will disable secure boot. And new option under "Boot" will appear to toggle between UEFI boot (non-secure) and old legacy MBR boot.
If you choose "Reset Win8.1/10 defaults" then secure boot will be enabled back on.

AFAIK no. Replacing memory and SSD does not void warranty. I've seen somewhere (reddit?) people asking this to Gigabyte reps.

I've added second 16GB module (otherwise it was running single-channel 16GB SODIMM module, wtf??), and replaced SATA with NVM SSD (Samsung 960 EVO 1TB).

 

Sorry, I haven't. I bought this laptop for Linux. Few games I care runs natively under Linux and I want nvidia GPU for them.

KVM works fine though. I'm using qemu +kvm to run OSX, Ubuntu and Win10 virtual machines.

 

Just a note for euro / UK model aero's they have 2x 8gb ddr4 2400mhz for some reason different to US option, also come with a NVME ssd as well not sata.

why they have done that is anyone's guess....

 

Thanks man, that did the trick. And for anyone wondering, it set the bios to legacy boot but windows 10 still worked, I set it to UEFI and it still worked also. Of course my preferred distro, Manjaro KDE, hung on "quitting plymouth boot screen" but I can worry about that later

 

So how bad does the green or orange look? Should I wait for the Black? I can get the colors now but looks like black is a bit of a wait.

 

I got it in green. I like it. If you look up pictures of it, it's a bit paler than a lot of the promo pictures (even my phone makes it look brighter) so if you see pictures or videos where the color is more muted, that's more accurate.

I bought it cause green is my favorite color but I had second thoughts for a bit about taking to work someday but now that I have it, I don't really care. If I do change my mind later I can get a mat black skin for it from decalgirl. Even if they don't have the exact size, you can cut one yourself

 

Where are you seeing the green and orange ones in stock? I ordered green ~3 weeks ago and it still hasn't shipped yet. A few shops are showing the Aero 14 as in stock (GenTech, Xotic), but I think most of them don't actually have it.

 

Amazon 3rd party sellers. Newegg going in and out of stock.

 

Got a green and it's fine,

They all look the same when they are open in use which is pretty much the only time I look at it.....

I would have chose whatever was in stock that's just me

 

Sorry for the newbie question but, is it normal that on gentechPc, newegg and amazon the aero is sold for 1699$ and on xoticpc the price is almost 300 less ?

 

Specs are different. Compare SSD and RAM.

 

I saw it now , my bad
On xotic the base version is 8gb ram and 256gb ssd vs 16gb and 512 for newegg.

thank you

 

If you have any questions about pricing with this model, please send me a direct message.

 

Guys I am looking for 13'-14' laptop with gtx 1060. Only option I can find are MSI GS43VR (fat and ugly), Razer Blade (Expensive and loud), AW13r3 (uneven temp and battery troubles), Auros x3 v6 and Gigabyte Aero 14.

I am confused between Auros x3 v6 and Aero 14.
Auros is 1799 $ while Aero 14 is 1699 $, plus I will have to pay shipping+forwarding to INDIA and customs at 17%.

Guys please advise me on this.

 

This is the best 14" gtx 1060 system out right now if you want thin and light. It also has a massive battery.

 

From what I know the Aorus has unlocked CPU 6820hk vs the 6700hq plus a higher resolution screen, both which use more power and a smaller battery?

So unless you want the laptop for high intensity CPU Tasks like rendering then it's probably best to go for the Aero.

 

I ordered orange one from Gentech on Dec. 7. Today, they're shipping it. So, I think they're trickling in slowly.

 

They are showing up in ones and twos, but most turn right around for existing orders. It turned out to be a little more popular than expected I guess.

 

I am conflicted on buying stock vs buying somewhere that does a repasted. It seems the temps reported here, a repasted might not do much or at least isn't as needed since it doesn't run as hot as other laptops with a 1060.

 

I don't know if I got a unit with worse cooling or something but my Aero still runs pretty hot, at least the CPU temps get into the 80's when not using my laptop cooler. The GPU stays around 78ish. Fortunately the laptop cooler I got (Targus HD3) actually does an extremely good job when gaming with the laptop on my lap. It means instead of being uncomfortably warm it's actually got a nice cool feel as the fans draw in air past my legs. It also keeps the temps for both GPU and CPU in the 70's and more importantly trades the high pitched Aero fan whine (since they don't have to work as hard) with a more neutral sounding white noise of the cooling pad's fans.

So that being said, perhaps a repaste would help. (I ordered from newegg and therefore didn't have the option.) I would consider doing it myself but I've never done it before and I would hate to mess something up on this system. Also all this is even with the CPU undervolted, I think it did shave a couple degrees off the CPU temps but they still remained in the 80s.

 

Check the Task Manager. I had emptyproject11.exe executable running pointlessly and using 100% of CPU. Killing this process made CPU to go into power saving mode and CPU temperature went down.

 

Some great info on this thread. After using a friend's Alienware 13r2 for a couple of weeks, I have to say I love the form factor of these smaller laptops but needed more cpu power than the 6500u. I was also spoiled by the OLED screen.... Anyhow, with current pricing discounts and cash back sites, you can get an Alienware 13r3 with an i7, OLED screen, 1x8GB, 6700HQ, and a 256 nvme SSD for around $1450 tax included. A similar specked Aero 14 from Xotic PC with 256 sata m.2 ssd, 1x8 ram, 6700HQ for $1449.

I did place an order for the 13R3 but due to a shortage of OLED panels, it will not ship out until the end of Jan. In talking with Xotic PC, it seems they take a couple of weeks to ship as well. The Dell advantages for me are:
1. OLED screen
2. TB 3
3. Alienware graphics amp (already own one)
5. Two m.2 slots
6. NVME ssd - not a big factor for me as I cannot tell any difference between an NVME and SATA in real world use.

Advantages for the Aero 14:
1. Two year warranty - Dell has a 1 year onsite (I will use a citi card which will extend this another 24 months for free - nice perk for the card. Also would extend the Dell for 24 additional months as well)
2. Battery life - I need 5 hours and the Alienware seems to fall just short of this. This is one of the biggest advantages of the Aero over the Dell for me
3. Thermals - thermals seem better on the Aero from what owners are saying. Although I would do a repast on the Dell with Grizzly Conductonaut. The Aero seems fine without a re-paste and doing so would appear to void the warranty - please correct me if I am wrong.
4. Form factor and weight - although not a huge factor for me.

One thing holding me back on the Aero is the warranty. It is not onsite and I was wondering if anyone had any experience with the turnaround time if you need a repair? Would I deal with Xotic PC or Gigabyte?

 

Ordered the Aero 14Wv6-OG4 (orange) from an Amazon third-party retailer (EXcaliberPC). Didn't pay for expedited shipping so it will be here sometime next week.

I woulda liked black but it wasn't in stock anywhere. Planning to dual boot it with Arch Linux (~120GB LVM on LUKS with ext4 or xfs, 15GB shared NTFS partition, remaining 370GB for Windows).

The screen is going to be a yuge improvement over my junk 720p ThinkPad X220 screen. I'm planning to do a mini-writeup on /r/gigabytegaming when I get it.

 

Curious to see what you think of the color and how fast the shipping was.

 

@hodgeMN
I asked several Gentech and xoticpc that do repaste and GIGABYTE customer service in Korea (they are more easily accessible than US). They said with repaste, as long as what you are doing did not damage the item, it will not void the warranty.

 

Color wise, I'm more of a function-over-form guy, so I'm not too bothered by it. Reviews show it as neon, but I've heard from people in threads like these that it is more muted.

If I don't like it I'll probably just skin the front of it. I have a friend who did this to an Inspiron i5559 with blue 3M carbon wrap and it turned out very nicely.