Amazon USA→ Shipper / Seller: Amazon.com ONLY
Amazon UK Shipper / Seller: Amazon ONLY
Summary/Purchase Decision Videos
English/Worldwide Purchase Decision VideoHindi/India Purchase Decision Video→ Will be made public if it launches in India
Cheapest 5070 laptop normally without sales. The only question is should you get this or get a 5060 but with not as much compromises. This review is all about finding what compromises has been made to get a 5070 for so cheap.
5070 basically performs like a 5060. 4070 115W also outperforms it.
And the 5060 version performs worse than a full powered 4060 and in some games LOQ 5050 outperforms the 5060.
Cheaper bin IPS panel is used so you might get a display with a lot of screen bleeding(It's common in IPS panels but the cheapest ones are used here).
Since it's not an HX CPU, you can't stop the CPU temperature spikes of 98°C. The avreage is quite cool but these spikes will be there. And since these are quick short spikes, the fans don't get the time to ramp up to cool it down. The CPU might be fine but other components beside the CPU might suffer in the long run.
Thermal materials on the parts beside the CPU and GPU will need proper replacement every few years if you want to use this laptop for a long time.
Cautions: VVI before you buy
There are other laptops that are far better value than this like the LOQ 250 5060/5050 which is something you should prefer first before looking into this.
Even though the 1200p screen says 165Hz due to horrible response times it might as well be aa 60Hz screen and with that 60% sRGB everything will look washed out.
There are 5050 and 5060 variants but we are focussed on the 5070 variant with the lower 1200p screen, there is also a higher resoultion screen but the review is based on the lower display.
Gigabyte might be great when it comes to motherboards but for laptops they have a bad habit of just putting their label on cheap Chinese laptops likke Clevo.
Also, with this A16, they have sent this laptop to a lot of youtubers but with different specs than what is mostly out there so be very careful what specs are of the reviews you check.
Gigabyte support is non-existent in many countris and the included Gigbayte Software(to change power mode) gets stuck and can cause inconsistent gaming performance after it's updated.
Amazon Verified Reviews:
1:
Satisfied I let it be for about a week until I began traveling yesterday and went to boot up a game i had tested before and its slow to launch, all inputs lag and i get about 5fps on all titles, that were previously tested and running well. Task manager shows none of the hardware being taxed in any capacity so i went to check GI Mate and its just spinning. Ive tried uninstalling and re installing from the website and it just spins. I know GI mate does interact with the hardware so I don't know if thats the issue is of if some aspect of the hardware is already on the fritz. I would have reset everything but since im traveling on on hotel internet I'd be home before all the updates were done.
During my question to get support from Gigabyte their live service has always told me its unavailable and I cant find a phone number so I currently await in my hotel during my free time with my very expensive netflix machine.
The second (and more aggravating) quirk is that the bloatware called GiMate, (which admittedly has a good dashboard and a lot of good functionality) but has added an AI data collection routine, which after it installs itself, Malwarebytes sees it and its three registry keys as parts of an overall Trojan infestation.
I opened and traced its xml code and found it to be related to both the video switching AND also collecting data to train their attempt at "doing AI". Every time I quarantined the four detections and deleted them, they came back the next day....over and over and over. Since they are NOT part of a destructive Trojan infection but actually something the bloatware has as GiMate's functionality, I put an Exception Rule for the AI file in my Malwarebytes installation. This single step stopped further problems for all four previous detections. I don't see any added value in their attempt at "doing AI", either.
Extra Notes/To confirm later/FAQ for people who can't find something on it.
Please comment on youtube video if you have more.
Specs say IR webcam but I yet have to find a review pointing face unlock works with it or not.
You can try to use Throttlestop to limit the CPU turbo boost so it doens't spike and trottle gaming performance.
Pros/Cons
Pros
Consistent CPU and GPU performance.
Due to lower CPU/GPU performance the CPU and GPU remain quite cool under stress (74°C CPu and 78°C for GPU).
Last year the CPU kept crossing 90°C so there has been some redesign by which I mean aggressive performance limit to make sure it doesn't stay hot normally.
P.S: As I noted below, the CPU still spikes to 98°C but it immeidately drops down.
Good battery life considering it's a gaming laptop:
8h+ in YouTube at 50% brightness and battery saving.
7h+ in Wi-Fi test(Reduced brightness 150nits)
8h+ hours in YouTube watch test(200 nits)
Witcher 3 gaming: 2h20mins
CPU: Even thought CPU is old it performs the same as 250/8845HS/7845HS. It's a decent performing CPU considering the price went into giving you a 5070 for cheap but it's still fine for most people.
It's nowhere close to the newer 255HX or 8940HX in case those are available at the same price range.
Two SSD and two RAM slots.
Officially says that it supports 64GB 5200Mhz RAM. (Others laptops also do but they don't mention in their specs so that people buy more expensive laptops)
Officially says that it suports Upto 4TB NVME M.2. Again as above most laptops already do but they don't want to mention this in their offficial prdocut descriptino.
RAM:
Up to 64GB DDR5 5200MHz
* 2x SO-DIMM sockets for expansion
SSD:
2x PCIe Gen4x4 M.2 slot
Up to 4TB PCIe NVMe™ M.2 SSD
*The storage capacity may differ by country and region. Please contact your local dealers or retailers for the latest product information.
**If there is any abnormality that cannot be attributed to Gigabyte/AORUS during the warranty period, it is not covered by the warranty. More info:https://member.aorus.com/global/productwarranty
Speakers are pretty good and louder than other gaming laptops however due to high fan noise it's not usable for high stress gaming but for movies it's good enough.
Neutral
Neutral-Good
Mux switch so you can directly use the dGPU for maximum performance and low latency→ REUIRES CHANGING IT FROM BIOS.
Plenty of ports and USB-C supports DP 1.4.→ TERRIBLE USB SPEEDS.
Left Side:
1 x DC-in
1 x RJ-45
1 x HDMI 2.1
1 x Type-A support USB3.2 Gen1
1 x Type-C USB3.2 Gen1 support DisplayPort™ 1.4 and Power Delivery 3.0
Right Side:
1 x Type-A support USB3.2 Gen1
1 x Type-A support USB2.0
1 x 3.5mm Audio Jack support mic / headphone combo
WiFi 6E & Bluetooth v5.2 is alright. No issues.
WIFI 6E (802.11ax 2x2)
LAN: 1G
Bluetooth v5.2
Laptop openes completely to 180 degrees.
Laptops and charger are a bit lower in weight and thinner when compaared to proper other gaming laptops.
Alright body. Alright keyboards and touchpads but nothing great.
In idle the laptop is quiet.
IR Camera so face unlock.
You can limit battery charging to 60% for a longer battery life.
Neutral-Doesn't Matter
Build: Although it's all plastic, it's still very sturdy. However there is some flex on the keyboard and the display panel.
Gaming laptop so expect heavy laptop
No camera shutter button. Use a tape.
Gets loud under full load just like other gaming laptops.
Usable toubhpad
Neutral-Bad
Despite no numpad, the arrow keys are crammed up
No thunderbolt or USB4 but that is to be expected for a laptop this cheap.
Slightly having issues with process latency being lower.→ All Windows 11 machiens are like this.
In gaming mode, the fans ramp up quite a bit.
Left side USB ports(c and A) are both pretty slow 5Gbps. Right side is even worse. so no high speed data transfer or trying to connect multiple devices in one USB port.
Mux switch is available via BIOS only. No Gsync when optimus is off.
Webcam is terrible and has a weird motion blur.
FHD (1080p) IR Webcam
Build-in array Microphone
Cons
100% sRGB is only for the 1600p screen, the other one is the worst at 60% sRGB and will be immediately noticable. Also the 1200p cheaper screen performs more like a 60Hz screen really.
Laptop keybaord heats upto 50°C on the top third, and 45°C in the middle part of keyboard. This is very noticable.
No Numpad despite being a large laptop.
SSD throttles a lot.
Since the 5070 is just 85W and has the same 8GB VRAM as the 5060, the LOQ with it's 5060 performs the same as this laptops' 5070.
The Gigabyte Aero X16 1WH with it's 5070 performs similarly.
CPU still hits 98°C for a short period of time and which is to be expected since this is Intel but since it's not an HX CPU you can't just tune into getting those spikes low.
