There seems to be no limit as to how powerful a laptop can be. The Aorus X9 gaming laptop is a testament to this. This next generation laptop features an Intel Core i9 CPU in partnership with a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 GPU. Some of the other impressive features of this gaming notebook are the programmable keyboard backlighting and the 144Hz Full HD display.
It is very rare to find a laptop that comes with 1TB of SSD in conjunction with another 1TB of HDD. This goes a long way in telling how serious Aorus is about their laptops.
Design
The Aorus X9 design can be summarized in four words – futuristically beautiful, technologically powerful. Don’t take my word for it though; you can check the image renders to confirm it yourself.
The black chassis is coated in aluminum and sports a white Aorus hawk logo atop the lid. The build is on the large side due to the large 17-inch display fitted in the notebook.
You shouldn’t expect a light or compact design with the X9 though, as it has a footprint of 16.9 x 12.4 inches with a height of 1.2 inches. While this laptop is not the lightest 17-incher, there are heavier gaming notebooks fitted with 17-inch panels. On the scales, the Aorus X9 weighs 8.1 pounds which makes it fairly portable for its size.
Display
As you already know, the display on the X9 is a large 17.3-inch IPS panel. The display is Full HD and has a high 144 Hz refresh rate with support for Nvidia G-Sync.
The display is sharp with good color reproduction. However, the below-average brightness takes away the shine.
Keyboard and Touchpad
A probable good reason why many gamers will opt for this keyboard is the included mechanical keyboard. The full-size keyboard also has a number pad. The keys have a deep key travel of about 2.3 mm and an actuation force of 72 grams; this means that typing with the keyboard should be comfortable as well as fun.
As stated in the introduction, this keyboard features per-key RGB backlighting which can be programmed using the included Aorus Fusion app.
Directly below the space bar is a button-less touchpad. Covering an area of 4.1 x 2.7 inch, the touchpad has sufficient space even for four-finger controls. Atop the touchpad is the Aorus logo in gold color.
Performance
On paper, the X9 is a great performer considering the Core i9 CPU and GTX 1080 GPU that it ships with. The Intel Core i9 is based on the latest eight-generation Coffee Lake architecture and has six cores. This processor combination ensures that this notebook handles even the latest AAA games with no trouble. Even at Full HD resolution, the laptop can render games at about 70 to 90 fps which is far above the average.
A large 32GB RAM and a storage combo of 1TB SSD + 1TB PCIe-based SSD complete the hardware configuration of the Aorus X9 gaming laptop.
Running on Microsoft’s Windows 10 OS, the X9 easily trumps the average performance score for a gaming laptop on Geekbench.
Battery Life
Battery life is not a strong suit of the Aorus X9. The large display and high-performing processors also contribute to this. The laptop can deliver up to about 2 hours on battery. This means that you need to be always close to a power outlet if you want to enjoy the X9.
Ports and Connectivity
All the essential ports for connectivity are present on the X9. Three USB 3.0 ports, an Ethernet port, one mini DisplayPort, an HDMI port, SD card slot, microphone and headphone jacks, and two Type-C USB (one with Thunderbolt 3 support) ports make up the ports of the Aorus X9.
Killer Wireless 1535 n/a/ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 are also present for wireless connections.
Price and Availability
The Aorus X9 is an expensive notebook at $3200. This is quite justifiable considering the inclusion of the latest high-end Intel CPU and Nvidia’s graphics processor.
Specs at a Glance
| Screen size | 17.3 inches |
| Maximum screen resolution | 1920 x 1080 pixels |
| RAM | 32GB |
| Internal Storage | 1TB SSD + 1TB HDD |
| CPU | Intel Core i9-8950HK @ 2.9GHz |
| Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
| Dimensions | 335 x 250 x 19.9 mm |
| Weight | 8.1 lbs |
Conclusion
With performance scores that are far higher than the industry average, the Aorus X9 is, by all means, a powerful laptop. This is clearly due to the use of gilt-edged processors which can only be found on few computing devices.
However, the hefty size and price, as well as poor battery life are the major drawbacks of this otherwise great gaming and computing behemoth.
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