Aorus X7 v2

Gaming Laptop

The Aorus, a Gigabyte by any other name, crams a lot into a case that measures 22.9mm thick and weighs 3kg – less than the average mass of another hot thing that purrs loudly on your lap.

The pair of GeForce 860M GPUs (Kepler, not Maxwellgeneration chips) in SLI configuration have 4GB of memory each, and there’s a further 16GB of system RAM for the i7-4860HQ. There are also three 120GB SSDs in a striped RAID 0 set up for more storage performance. The new 802.11ac variant of Wi-Fi is nice to see, as is the ‘killer’ LAN interface that claims 0 per cent packet loss. The inbuilt speakers are decent too, with woofers that give sound a thick, meaty quality.

The keyboard was the first thing, however, that tipped the scales against the X7 v2. The keys don’t have much travel, and with their non-standard positioning are tricky to use without a lot of practise. The keyboard on our review unit was also slightly loose in the top corner. The macro keys are a bit better, but they still feel flat under a fast stab of a digit.

Hilariously, the Aorus website suggests you might need all this for spreadsheets, but this is a gaming machine first and foremost. The array of programmable macro keys on the left of the keyboard gives that away long before you see the specs list.

The trackpad is shiny and feels slick beneath your fingers, and although the two ‘mouse’ buttons below it are responsive, tap-to-click isn’t. Messing up drag operations in Windows doesn’t bode well for laser-cutting in Wolfenstein.

For all its flaws though, this is a powerful machine and one that will give a great gaming experience if you’re prepared to swallow the price. It’s nicely bloatware free, with clever utilities for updating drivers, programming the macro keys and locking the Windows key during gaming. The 17.3in 1080p screen is capable of some lovely image quality, which the SLI GPUs are more than happy to supply.

Of course, all that power needs cooling. The fan arrangement here is smart, with heatpipes directing the excess warmth to two fans that vent to the back and sides. Those fans like to let you know they’re working, though. Their speed and noise jerk upward until they sound like a redneck’s air conditioning. The fans even spin up while the machine is idling on the desktop, but we saw no evidence of heat-based CPU throttling in our tests.

For the best experience with the X7 you’ll need to be tethered to a wall socket. Battery life of 2.5 hours isn’t great, and there’s a notable drop in performance running on internal power. You’ll also want a controller or external mouse, possibly a keyboard, and a noise-cancelling headset to drown out the roar of those fans. It may be slim, and even light for a 17in gaming laptop, but of all the portable gaming options, this might be one to leave at home.

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