Gigabyte Aero 15 X Gaming Notebook With GeForce GTX 1070 Max-Q Graphics

[Atom80]

Yea think i've tried 4 different driver versions now. Going to do a factory reset tomorrow evening. Not even had it 7 days yet otherwise everything else is great

Hi Bry - if the sound / speakers are not working as they should, and you cannot resolve yourself (ie it appears to be hardware related) please return to OCUK for exchange to new unit.

Sorry for inconvenience, but fingers crossed you manage to resolve.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Atom80]

I missed out again on stock of the single ssd model version, any idea as to when it will be available again?

Why is the updated charger not being shipped outright with the laptop...

Hi noobftw - stock is being shipped regularly but is being consumed with satisfying pre-orders. We should see the situation improve over the coming weeks and start to see stock available with our partners.

Re the adaptor, its simply the fact that the "X" model is having a different adaptor than the "W", and the supply was disrupted before the laptops were ready, so HQ took the decision to not delay shipments because of the adaptor because demand for the laptop is strong. Not ideal, but was though to be the best solution.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[noobftw]

That makes sense, is the weight and dimensions any different between both power adaptors. I still have my fingers and toes crossed that stock of the laptop comes in this week

 

[cbwallop]

Thanks all for previous comments in this thread - I'd like to add my positive experience for both the Aero 15X laptop and for OC service and to Gigabyte for their prompt and helpful response prior to purchase.

My requirements were a work related performance laptop to run simulators in a VMWare workstation environment, to be portable, comfortable to use, responsive, a clear display, long battery life for general use and a decent option for some gaming performance when time permits.

So I pre-ordered and purchased this nearly 2 months ago then other commitments meant it sat unused for 6 weeks - sacrilege I know but I am happily re-united. So far I have opened it up, cloned the 512Gb drive to a 1Tb Samsung 960EVO (I installed Acronis 2018 with latest updates then had to re-install after the Win10 Creator updates - the clone worked flawless, rebooting with the active partition on the new Samsung drive). I upgraded to 32Gb HyperX RAM (2400 clk needed and no Crucial memory available at time of ordering – the only RAM that ever failed for me is Kingston so I wait to see how it performs over time) and added a second Samsung NVMe drive for VM guest images and as a separate drive to dual boot with Linux. (removing the laptop base is straight forward but requires care and usual precautions. It's a tight fit and needs some gentle but positive force to remove it - and acceptance of the risks involved of course)

So far I am very happy with my choice and the Aero 15X has had good comments from those that have seen it – the quality screen, size and appearance sell it well. I am adding work related software at the moment so cannot report on performance and haven’t loaded Steam yet until I get the basic software build finished. My only niggle is I wish the number-pad keys had been narrower leaving more space for the regular keyboard, which is similar to a 13 inch laptop and I am having to adjust to the smaller layout. I like the number-pad option but I feel it restricts the regular keyboard too much.

Has anyone got this working with dual boot for Linux yet and any links for advice on this?

I’ve recently read quite a bit about UEFI and Windows 10 interfering with BIOS options but as yet have no experience other than a Linux Live built USB stick failed to load correctly – that could be the LinuxMint-Mate 17.2 iso though – I’ll try with a not so cutback version)

Atom80 – do you have any dual-boot and Linux version recommendations? Such as what BIOS options to change (IF needed) and any negative Windows 10 boot side effects if any BIOS changes (I read the Win10 creator update modified partition labels or similar but I have that installed now)

 

[Shinoke]

Any news of availability?

Keen to get this laptop I think, although it is expensive.

Would personally have preferred if the battery were a little smaller (saving some weight), giving room for 2.5" SSD.
Mostly because I currently have 1TB Samsung 850 Pro 2.5" SSD I'd prefer to put inside as a second drive than have as a rather expensive external drive, oh well.

I'm thinking keeping of the stock drive as the OS/programs drive, and then add at least a 1TB M2 drive as the second drive. Not much point in going for PCIe for that though is there? I mean, can't you get a SATA M2 drive for a lot less, with negligible difference? I can only imagine PCIe being worth it for a second drive if there isn't much price difference or for use cases like @cbwallop's - VMs etc - where sustained data rate differences matter more perhaps?

The lack of removable battery etc. will be new to me though.

Current laptop is an EliteBook, and before that was a Thinkpad. Current laptop even has a hot swapable battery slice I can add to the bottom.

This all sounds and looks a lot more delicate, with a battery held in place with tape etc from what I've read?

Would have been nice if it were touchscreen too.

When I was looking at and considering the Dell XPS 15 a couple of years ago now (!), deciding between 1080p and 4k was difficult. But I think 1080p will be a lot more practical - will likely dock the laptop to a new 4k monitor, and 1080p scales better and is significantly better for battery life?

I really don't need 4k away from my desk. Just a workeable size.

On that though, is G-Sync supported for external monitors? Is it worth getting a G-Sync monitor?
Also I guess there's no limitation for making use of e.g. a 120Hz external monitor?

Really not that bothered by those missing from the laptop as likely will nearly always game at home with an external monitor.

Also looked at the MSI GS63VR and its predecessor - the Aero 15/5 very much look like a very nice cross between the other two laptops I looked at - the XPS 15 and MSI GS63VR.

Best of both worlds hopefully, for a very good all round package.

 

[noobftw]

Would also like to know if this will run Kali Linux at all?

 

[Bry]

Just edited my post - wouldnt mind if those who quoted me could edit too.
My sound problems was mainly windows update related. I did a factory reset in the end (took like 5 minutes to do, i remember when these used to take an hour to do.) and not had any problems for a few days since.
Really really happy with my aero 15x

 

[Curunen]

Just edited my post - wouldnt mind if those who quoted me could edit too.
My sound problems was mainly windows update related. I did a factory reset in the end (took like 5 minutes to do, i remember when these used to take an hour to do.) and not had any problems for a few days since.
Really really happy with my aero 15x

Glad to hear it!

One week in and I am also thoroughly enjoying my aero 15x. It still amazes me how it can have all this performance and portability.

Even the onboard sound sounds decent using a pair of sennheiser hd598 unamped. The packaged dolby digital plus with things like the surround virtualiser aren't too bad either. But then again I am a fan of the old dolby headphone so...

Witcher 3 runs flawlessly - I didn't bother measuring framerate as it's obviously good with most settings turned up high. More importantly the temperatures do get pushed a bit here - up to mid 80s on the CPU, but the GPU never goes beyond mid 70s. Most of the time it sits under 70*. Fans do kick in though when the CPU gets to 85/86 but with headphones on I'm not bothered - it is more of a whoosh sound, no whining or humming at all and as such I prefer this kind of fan.

One other minor issue I noticed was a small amount of backlight bleed in the lower left corner of the screen - however it is really small and unnoticeable in day to day usage or in games, especially as I prefer lower brightness of around 35%. I just wanted to mention this for the record - but it seems it is a common issue and from what I've seen it could be far worse. Currently it doesn't bother me at all.

Everything else is solid.

 

[Curunen]

Any news of availability?

Keen to get this laptop I think, although it is expensive.

Would personally have preferred if the battery were a little smaller (saving some weight), giving room for 2.5" SSD.
Mostly because I currently have 1TB Samsung 850 Pro 2.5" SSD I'd prefer to put inside as a second drive than have as a rather expensive external drive, oh well.

Funnily enough the long solid battery and no 2.5" slot are two of the positive selling points for me. I remember lamenting with older gigabyte models that had lower battery capacity and sacrificed the space for the extra 2.5" slot.

 

[noobftw]

Any further information on when stock will arrive?

 

[magick]

I'm also waiting to buy one. When will it be back in stock

 

[Atom80]

Any further information on when stock will arrive?

I'm also waiting to buy one. When will it be back in stock

Hi Both,

We expect stock of the CF2 sku to be leaving HQ this week, so ETA next Monday

We would suggest placing pre-orders if possible, current demand is meaning stock on the shelf is only happening briefly, if at all.

Hope that helps in some way, thanks for your interest and sorry for the delay.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[noobftw]

Awesome news

 

[cbwallop]

Would also like to know if this will run Kali Linux at all?

Officially Linux is not supported, however if you want to disable Secure boot will need to use the BIOS option to load Win7 defaults.
I haven't tried this yet and I am considering trying Fedora/Ubuntu or another distribution which does support secure boot.

I created the Gigabyte Smart Backup USB image and also I use Acronis True Image so have several images to restore from if needed.
I'd say You (we) are on our own here and best to have experience of recovering from "no OS found" and potentially booting from a Windows installation disk/recovery USB image and running bootrec /FixMbr; bootrec /FixBoot etc for any dual boot attempts.
I have not tried disabling secure boot from Win10 nor what impact changing the bios defaults would be on existing Win10 installation, nor what clearing the secure boot keys would be let alone trying to add any others, if this is even possible.

I'll update when/if I get around to it as is not a priority for me at moment.


btw - if anyone has noticed Smart Update indicates some installed (Current) drivers as later versions of the reported latest drivers, the advice I received was to stay with the currently installled versions and ignore the latest update buttons

After a successful BIOS update to FB02 (using Smart Update program) the Airplane mode driver no longer exists, latest is still 1.0.0.0 but it needs to be installed again which works with Smart update and a reboot.

I also updated all remaining Gigabyte SmartUpdate updates except..
Intel Management Engine (advises a later version is already installed so have not attempted)
Intel ME (this advises a later version than installed but it crashed out when trying to update, only tried this once, maybe does not work with later version of Intel Management Engine)
Intel Graphics (I tried this by mistake and after downloading, it advised I was already using a later version)
Wireless Driver.

And after the Windows 10 Creator Fall update I noticed hardrive usage had nearly doubled - I ran the Disk Cleanup utility and selected remove previous versions option which recovered over 40Gb

 

[noobftw]

Where has the AERO 15X-CF2 gone form the website?

 

[Atom80]

Where has the AERO 15X-CF2 gone form the website?

It is here my friend: AERO15X-CF2

The CF1 has been removed from sale as the available qty has now been pre-ordered @ OcUK, so to avoid disappointment it was de-listed yesterday.

There is more coming to UK, just not enough, sorry. The CF2 version will be arriving next week, with more following on behind.

Hope that clarifies.

Regards,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[noobftw]

Will the number of units coming in for the CF2 in next week fulfil all current pre-orders?

 

[Curunen]

Has anyone else's Smart Manager randomly switched to Chinese (I assume)?

It was in English when I first got this a couple of weeks ago but on installing the windows fall creator update (and numerous other updates), Smart Manager decided to change language and I can't seem to set it back to English.

Any ideas short of reinstalling? It's a bit annoying but fortunately still just about useable thanks to the images for each module.

 

[Atom80]

Has anyone else's Smart Manager randomly switched to Chinese (I assume)?

It was in English when I first got this a couple of weeks ago but on installing the windows fall creator update (and numerous other updates), Smart Manager decided to change language and I can't seem to set it back to English.

Any ideas short of reinstalling? It's a bit annoying but fortunately still just about useable thanks to the images for each module.

Hi Curunen = checking with HQ to see how to switch back for you. Please stay tuned and we will post when we have reply.

Thanks,

Gigabyte UK NB Team

 

[Atom80]

Has anyone else's Smart Manager randomly switched to Chinese (I assume)?

It was in English when I first got this a couple of weeks ago but on installing the windows fall creator update (and numerous other updates), Smart Manager decided to change language and I can't seem to set it back to English.

Any ideas short of reinstalling? It's a bit annoying but fortunately still just about useable thanks to the images for each module.

HI Curunen - Spoke with R&D,,,,, they are unable to replicate this issue, but provide some advise that might cure it - please try:

"Try remove smart manager and then reboot. Install smart update again after reboot. The reason to do this step is because the smart manager will detect O/S language. For the wrong UI language, it may need a reboot to clean up some incorrect temp files"

Let us know if that solves it, our team will support further if needed.

Thanks,

Gigabyte UK NB Team