TAIPEI — “Earth’s most powerful slim gaming laptop”: that’s the bold claim from Aorus for its brand-new X5 rig.
Aorus is a division of the better known manufacturer Gigabyte, spun off to be a gaming laptop specialist. Aorus already has two other gaming laptops in the market: the enormous 17.3-inch X7 and the more satchel-friendly 13.9-inch X3 Plus.
The X5 sits right in the middle with its 15.6-inch screen — that’s a 2,880×1,620-pixel resolution, by the way. It tips the scale at 2.5kg (5.5 pounds) and measures 390 by 272 by 22.9mm (15.35 by 10.7 by 0.9 inches).
That’s surprisingly light and thin given the gaming power that the X5 brings to the table. The Core i7-57000HQ chip running at up to 3.5GHz (depending on your configuration) is quite nice, but the dual Nvidia GTX 965M graphics cards are even better. The default is 8GB of RAM, but the X5 can take up to 32GB.
In terms of storage, you can mix and match — there are three slots for SSDs and one for a hard drive. According to Aorus you could max that out with three lots of 512GB and one 2TB hard drive.
The design is actually understated compared to some gaming laptops, but it’s striking all the same, with a backlit keyboard, individual macro keys and some clever work with venting for improved thermal management. In fact, the X5 has picked up the Computex Design & Innovation award and the Computex Best Choice award.
There are some extra features Aorus has included that will really appeal to the serious gamer. The addition of Nvidia’s G-Sync technology means that games can run smoother, with less chance of lag, stutter or tearing. There’s an optional hardware encoder for gamers who stream or record their sessions. Powered by AverMedia, this can actually let you stream and record HD gaming at the same time.
The Aorus X5 isn’t cheap — it starts at $2,299 and £1,799 (no Australian pricing just yet, but the UK price converts to around AU$3,575). But it looks like a great option for gamers who want something bigger than the X3 but aren’t quite ready for back-breaking enormity of the 17.3-inch X7.
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