Just recently we reviewed the Aorus X7 v6 laptop from Gigabyte. Today we’ll be looking at a sibling to the X7, the Aorus X5 v7.
Don’t let the naming confuse you, the X5 is by no means a lower performing laptop than the X7. A 4K display, good audio reproduction, seventh-generation Core i7 processor and a GTX 1070 GPU are some of the highlights of this device. When you factor in the spacious 32GB RAM and the great design, it only begins to get better.
Design
First, the X5 v7 is a portable and fairly slim laptop. It weighs less than 3 kg and has a thickness of 22.9 mm. The complete dimensions are – 390 mm wide, 272 mm deep and 22.9 mm thick. The two halves of the X5 v7 are held together by a single long but sturdy hinge.
Atop the lid is the Aorus hawk logo with backlighting. The top of the lid has a matte finish and is made from a durable material – maybe magnesium. Above the display is a 1MP 720p webcam for your video chatting and image capturing needs.
Since this is a gaming laptop, it needs a good ventilating system. Based on this, the Aorus X5 v7 is replete with many air vents – two at the rear and two each at the left and right sides. The chassis is well designed for cooling despite its slim package.
Display
The Aorus X5 v7 sports an Ultra HD IPS panel with a diagonal length of 15.6 inches. This ultra sharp display also comes with Nvidia’s G-Sync technology for reducing screen tear and ultimately for smooth graphics experience. The matte panel is bright enough for outdoor use, although you may struggle under direct sunlight. So much can be said about the X5’s display, but to wrap it up, you get a jaw-dropping display with rich colours and good brightness – a delight for most gamers.
Keyboard and Touchpad
A full-size keyboard with number pad adorns the lower half of the Aorus X5. This keyboard has per-key RGB backlighting, and through the included Fusion app, users can customize each of the keys on the X5. However, the keyboard has a shallow travel and little spacing between keys. In addition, there is a column of macro keys to the left of the alphanumeric segment.
Next is the touchpad. As with most other Aorus branded laptops, this touchpad has the Aorus hawk logo atop it. There are no visible buttons on the large and smooth touchpad. Users should not have a hard time using this responsive touchpad.
Performance
The CPU bundled in this laptop is the Intel Core i7-7820K processor that has been overclocked to 4.1GHz. In the graphics unit is the top-of-the-line Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 GPU with 8GB of VRAM. RAM size is 32GB and can be expanded to 64GB.
The above combination ensures that the Aorus X5 v7 performs really well. With the high-end processors on board, the X5 can comfortably handle anything thrown at it.
For storage, an SSD/HDD combination is present in 256GB/1TB arrangement.
Software for this system is handled by Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS (64-bit Home edition).
Battery Life
Moving forward, to keep the lights on after a power cut, a 94 Whr Li-Po battery is included. However, this large battery doesn’t translate to long battery life as the X5 is a power hogger. Average time on battery should be around 2 hours for this laptop.
Ports and Connectivity
Just like the Aorus X7 v6, the X5 comes with an abundance of ports. Four USB 3.0 ports, two USB 3.1 ports, HDMI out, a mini DisplayPort are some of the available ports. Others are an SD card reader, microphone and headphone jacks, Gigabit Ethernet port and a Kensington lock. Still on connectivity, there is Bluetooth 4.1 and Wi-Fi for wireless connections.
Pricing and Availability
Pricing for the Aorus X5 v7 starts at around $2000 for the 16GB RAM model and goes up for the variants with more memory.
Specs at a Glance
| Screen size | 15.6 inches |
| Maximum screen resolution | 3840 x 2160 pixels |
| RAM | 16GB/32GB |
| Internal Storage | 256GB SSD + 1TB HDD |
| CPU | Intel Core i7-7820HK |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Dimensions | 390 x 272 x 22.9 mm |
| Weight | 2.5 kg |
Conclusion
There are many things to look out for when selecting a gaming laptop such as the CPU, RAM, GPU and battery. The Aorus X5 v7 delivers perfectly on virtually all of these. However, despite the good things of this laptop, it is still costly when compared with similarly spec’d laptops. In all, the X5 v7 is a great buy.
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