AI and gaming: review of the GIGABYTE AORUS 16X (2024) gaming laptop

The most productive laptops for entertainment and creative work can be found among gaming models. They are the ones with the most powerful processors, discrete video adapters, and are quite flexible in terms of RAM and storage expansion. And given that AI is currently a trending topic, manufacturers do not miss the opportunity to adapt to such things. Let’s take a look at what interesting things the GIGABYTE AORUS 16X (2024) gaming laptop has to offer in today’s review.

Характеристики GIGABYTE AORUS 16X (2024)

Package contents

There are no fundamental differences in the package. As is often the case, the laptop is accompanied only by the power supply it needs. This is the case not only with gaming models, but also with the vast majority of ultrabooks and simpler versions.

If the owner prefers to maintain the corporate style of accessories, the manufacturer will offer mice (and surfaces for them), keyboards, headphones, and even gaming chairs. However, there are no backpacks among the add-ons, which would be very useful for rather large laptops. However, third-party options are also suitable. For example, the AORUS 16X fit easily into my backpack, which has a separate compartment for 15-inch laptops.

Design and usability

The new AORUS 16X has its own features and, in my opinion, a much more interesting finish than the last year’s version. Since last year, a frequent update for gaming laptops has been to increase the format to 16 inches in an attempt to maintain relatively compact dimensions. And yes, they still can’t compare to conventional work models in terms of portability, but they are still trying to be mobile solutions.

Thus, the laptop has a plastic case with dimensions of 35.6 × 25.4 × 2.0-2.7 cm and a total weight of about 2.3 kg, which is less than its predecessor. It doesn’t feel too big, but it’s still far from being a compact option. There are no significant comments on the build quality: the case feels sturdy and does not deform during use without pressure. There were no squeaks or other unpleasant sounds from it either.

The manufacturer notes that the designers of this model were inspired by the appearance of sports cars. And it has its own accent, in which car fans will definitely see a certain parallel. Some cars have lights that are built into the doors and project the logo onto the asphalt when they are open. Similarly, the AORUS 16X projects its logo behind it when the backlight is activated. Of course, it has no practical use. Moreover, the user never sees it. However, the accent is interesting and original.

And along with the keyboard backlight, there are also two separate lines behind it, the reflection of which is also visible on the display lid when open. There is no practical application here either, but this is a traditional accent for such models that the designers did not ignore.

In addition, the case features laminated logos with a colored glow at different angles of light (which are quite difficult to capture with a camera, but look nice), stylized decorative lines, and corresponding cooling slots. All of this together does not focus attention too much and does not seem to be an outright overkill.

There is no large selection of body colors. The standard one is called Midnight Gray, which looks more like dark blue than gray. But it looks good, and the matte finish is quite practical. But for certain markets, another version is available – Aurora Gray, which consists of several layers and has the corresponding effect of changing shades at different viewing angles. Unfortunately, we got the regular version, but it did not spoil the impression.

Image: GIGABYTE

The bottom of the topcase also follows the general style of the cooling vents. It also features prominent rubber-coated feet that hold the laptop firmly in place while working and playing.

Looking at the whole thing, the AORUS 16X’s appearance is still quite restrained, but it also has its own interesting accents. All of this is mostly typical for this category of laptops, and the small projection of the logo adds a little originality to the model. The main thing is that the design is practical and still pleasant in everyday use. Of course, metal elements or a magnesium alloy would have added to the experience. But there is no reason to complain about this case.

Ports

This time, the manufacturer took a standard approach to port placement, distributing all interfaces for connecting external devices on the sides of the topcase. So on the left there is a power port, Ethernet, HDMI 2.1, USB-A 3.2 Gen2, and Thunderbolt 4. The right side has another USB-A 3.2 Gen2, USB-C 3.2 Gen2 (with DP 1.4 support), a microSD card slot, and a 3.5 mm jack.

Subjectively, there is one more USB-A missing on the left, because wired gaming accessories may require more ports, and the power, network connector, and HDMI could be placed behind and not interfere with the sides. For example, this was the case with the last year’s model. However, this is not an isolated case, and you can adapt to such an interface layout.

Display

As mentioned earlier, today we are talking about a laptop with a 16-inch screen. This is already one of the typical solutions for gaming models, and the configuration easily allows you to leave the resolution at 2560×1600 pixels with the corresponding 16:10 aspect ratio. And this is the only option for the entire lineup, meaning that the more expensive and cheaper versions of AORUS 16X will not offer anything more or less. Also, the manufacturer tried to improve the aesthetics by reducing the side bezels and relatively loyally treated the top and bottom bezels.

The display is also fast. Its refresh rate is 165 Hz and the response time is 3 ms. Optionally, you can reduce the first indicator to 60 Hz, which the laptop can also do on its own (depending on the selected performance mode). However, there are unlikely to be many users who want to do this.

And the picture did not disappoint either. The IPS matrix (BOE NE160QDM-NY1) does not offer a set of different profiles, but in its standard mode it fits into the sRGB color space, demonstrates an almost reference level of image temperature and a good gamut. This will be enough not only for gaming and other entertainment, but also for working with images (which is also expected for such a laptop).

In addition, the matrix provides a fairly good level of backlighting. The brightness can be adjusted in the range from 0.4 to 552 cd/m² (much more than the manufacturer specified), which will allow you to work comfortably both in the dark and in bright light. The display has a matte finish in all versions, which reduces the amount of possible glare and is an unspoken standard for its category.

Manipulators and multimedia

This time GIGABYTE decided not to burden the topcase with a full keyboard, so there is no NUM block (although it used to be). And despite the large amount of free space, the keys are quite compact. For example, the navigation block is not placed separately. However, this does not create any inconvenience (although it still requires minimal adaptation), and it definitely does not interfere with blind typing. At the same time, the keyboard has RGB backlighting, low-noise mechanisms (with a travel of 1.7 mm), dedicated “game” keys with translucent caps, and additional macro settings via a proprietary utility.

The manufacturer also emphasizes the dedicated Copilot key. This is not GIGABYTE’s idea, as Microsoft itself began to implement this solution since it was Microsoft that started to implement it. However, now even gaming laptops are taking up the initiative. And given the fact that the new AORUS puts an additional emphasis on working with AI, it would be strange to miss this. So, those users who have already adapted to using Copilot in their daily work will feel more comfortable with it.

Traditionally, a large trackpad is located under the keyboard. Its dimensions are 135×90 mm, and its position is exactly in the center of the topcase. As is often the case, even despite its large dimensions, this arrangement is convenient enough for me personally to keep the trackpad on during games. But in the opposite case, there is a separate hotkey for this. And working with it when you don’t need a mouse is just as good with the standard settings.

Sound is provided by two speakers that point downward. They are loud and support additional sound options via Dolby Access. The playback quality is good enough to accompany movies or YouTube videos. Music is also relatively well reproduced, but in this case, I would like more bass. However, it will still be much more comfortable to play with headphones, and listening to music will be much better with external systems, as always.

The 2-megapixel camera is capable of capturing Full HD images of quite decent quality. This will be a nice bonus for those users who often communicate online with family and colleagues. But even better is the support for Windows Hello with infrared face scanning. The laptop quickly recognizes the owner, which allows you to bypass password entry and improves the user experience. For some reason, not all of the competitors’ expensive models have this functionality, and AORUS has never neglected such a nice addition before.

In turn, the microphones are located next to the camera. They manage to capture the user’s voice, but to do so, the sensitivity needs to be raised to almost the maximum level. And in this case, along with the voice, they transmit touches to the trackpad, keys, and noise from the cooling system into the conversation. Therefore, you need to use additional noise-canceling programs separately, or better yet, use third-party microphones. The latter is definitely a common practice for gamers, so it’s unlikely to be a problem.

Performance and software

The new AORUS 16X will also offer several configuration options. The choice will be among solutions with 13th and 14th generation Intel processors, and in all cases, discrete graphics of the 40th NVIDIA RTX series are offered. Accordingly, the price of the models relevant for Ukraine can range from UAH 63 to 92 thousand.

Our editorial team got a version with a 16-core Intel Core i7-14650HX (8 powerful cores up to 5.2 GHz, 8 energy-saving cores up to 3.7 GHz, 24 threads, 30 MB cache, 55 W), NVIDIA GeForce RTX4070 (8 GB GDDR6, up to 2175 MHz, 140 W), 16 GB DDR5-5600 RAM (two 8 GB slots), and a terabyte NVMe drive. Upgrade space allows for the installation of up to 64 GB of RAM, and there are two slots for storage.

A new receiver with Wi-Fi 7 support (which helped us to get acquainted with the new wireless standard in this article) and a gigabit Ethernet port can provide connection to the network. For wireless accessories, there is support for Bluetooth 5.4.

The system is controlled by the familiar GIGABYTE CONTROL CENTER utility, which retains all performance settings. A year ago, the Ai Boost style inscriptions were not so much of a focus, but now the manufacturer is more actively promoting the idea of artificial intelligence. So now there is Ai Nexus along with Ai Power Gear. All of these are the usual operating mode settings, thanks to which the system selects the necessary parameters depending on the current tasks. It can do this automatically, or the user can set their own “pace” at their discretion.

And there are no problems with performance. However, the new model does not demonstrate significant acceleration. However, there are still slight improvements in the tests. For obvious reasons, they mainly concern the CPU, not the video, which has not been updated recently. So the AORUS 16X hasn’t lost anything, but it has managed to add a minimum of good numbers to its already good performance.

But we are talking about the maximum load mode. This time, the system showed more aggressive “belt-tightening” in terms of energy saving. Therefore, working without power and in the maximum energy saving mode, the new model reduces its capabilities more significantly than the previous ones. However, as in most cases, the overall capabilities of such systems are much higher than the “printing” models. So, despite the decrease in performance, the laptop doesn’t feel like a Lamborghini Huracan or a Toyota Prius in economy mode.

Once the laptop was powered back up and running, we could start playing games. As expected, there were no significant problems with them either. Among the selected options, in all cases, the AORUS 16X was able to maintain good average frames per second and, in principle, provided a fairly comfortable gameplay (this is especially important for competitive shooters, where your own performance directly depends on the computer’s capabilities). All this with high graphics settings and full display resolution. I agree that these are not fantastic figures, and similar desktops could do better, but for a portable system these are quite decent results.

Another important point for gamers is stability. And the cooling system with the unchanged name WINDFORCE Infinity (two fans, 5 heatpipes and 3D VortX airflow direction) does an excellent job with this. Based on the AIDA stability test, the laptop maintained an average temperature of 74°C for an hour. The maximum value of 89°C was only at the start, while the fans were slowly reaching high speeds. At the same time, even during gaming sessions of several hours in a row, there will be no significant heating under the hands. Yes, you can find warm spots on the topcase, but they will not cause any discomfort. However, you shouldn’t keep chocolate near the vents either. Also, cooling, typical of gaming models, is loud at high loads.

As for the proprietary software, the user will only need GIGABYTE CONTROL CENTER. In addition to the aforementioned AI functions and a generally not new set of settings (backlight, performance, cooling, etc.), there is another update – Stable Diffusion. It’s not that other computers can’t afford it, but given the positioning of AORUS 16X, we expected to see something similar here (except as a separate application, not in the system settings utility).

Battery life

GIGABYTE hasn’t changed the battery either. As with the first 16-inch versions, the AORUS 16X has a battery capacity of 99 Wh. In a typical office test, the laptop depletes its reserves in four and a half hours, and watching a two-hour movie with comfortable display brightness and speaker volume settings will cost 45% of the charge. It could be a little better. However, when it comes to the gaming test, the laptop managed to hold out for almost two hours. That is, we are not looking at a marathon runner, but a confident sprinter.

The bundled power supply has a power output of 240 W (its predecessors had 280 W). It’s not very big, but in a backpack it will add another 700 grams to the total weight. And given that even a simple office routine is unlikely to last for a working day, the power supply will most often be an integral part. And it will be able to fully charge the battery in a little over an hour and a half.