Gigabyte Aorus Grasp 16 evaluation: highly effective graphics, LOUD FANS

The Gigabyte Aorus Grasp 16 is a gaming laptop computer, and it positive appears to be like like one. It’s an inch thick, weighs 5.5 kilos, and is awash in RGB lighting, stylized textual content, and curved plastic.

This Aorus Grasp affords highly effective {hardware} and a stunning high-res, high-refresh OLED show. It’s the primary of a number of laptops we’re reviewing with the GeForce RTX 5080, Nvidia’s second-fastest laptop computer graphics card of this era. At $3,100, it’s really a couple of hundred {dollars} lower than equally highly effective fashions from Razer, Lenovo, and Asus, and over a thousand {dollars} lower than laptops with the RTX 5090, Nvidia’s quickest GPU.

However in alternate for being a little bit cheaper than its direct opponents, the Aorus Grasp feels a little bit low cost, and its built-in software program features a ineffective AI chatbot however no customized fan controls. And people followers get loud.

Just like the Razer Blade 16, the Aorus Grasp 16 comes with a 16-inch 2560 x 1600 OLED show. The Aorus’s panel isn’t fairly as correct because the Blade’s — with barely decrease coloration replica — but it surely’s simply as brilliant and about as pleasing to the attention in common use. It’s obtained punchy colours that aren’t oversaturated, and its 2.5K decision and most 240Hz refresh fee allow video games, web sites, and movies to look sharp and easy.

Against this, the plastic display screen bezel is a bit ugly, and the Aorus Grasp as a complete isn’t a lot of a looker. Its plasticky construct feels dated and a little bit low-rentcheap in comparison with the extra grown-up-looking Lenovo Legion Professional 7i or the all-out RGB bombast of Asus’ ROG Strix Scar, with its wraparound mild bar and animated LED matrix on the lid. The lid of the Aorus opens simply with one hand, however the display screen can wobble. And the diagonal-line designs in its vents and branding throughout its trackpad look tacky. It has “Workforce up. Combat on” written on the lid for some purpose, and it even tasks the Aorus wordmark beneath the rear exhaust followers, which is as gauche right here as it’s on the doors of luxury cars.

Whereas I’ll poke enjoyable on the Aorus’ tryhard design, Gigabyte will get credit score for specializing in what counts: the display screen, GPU, CPU, ports, and even user-upgradeable RAM and storage. The keyboard and trackpad are stable, with good tactile suggestions. The keyboard has a 1.7mm key journey and the trackpad, whereas a little bit loud, simply clicks even close to its prime hinge.

The 1080p webcam, built-in mics, and audio system aren’t something particular, however you’ll get via video calls trying and sounding fantastic in most lighting. The audio system sound decently full for music, however dialog is flat. It may be barely tough to obviously hear spoken traces in video games in opposition to loud music and sound results, particularly because you’ll even be competing with the Aorus’ followers.

Fan noise is my largest hangup with the laptop computer. In graphically intensive video games like Monster Hunter Wilds or Lushfoil Photography Sim it’s loud and aggravating sufficient that you end up cranking the sport quantity or reaching for a pair of headphones.

My spouse is used to listening to the followers of gaming laptops in our shared house workplace, however at one level the Aorus made her flip to me and say, “What the hell is happening over there?”

I used to be enjoying The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion Remastered on a 4K exterior monitor, and the followers have been audible even within the subsequent room, particularly throughout preliminary shader compiling. At peak rpm, they sound like somebody operating a small vacuum cleaner throughout the room. The followers on the Razer Blade 16 and ROG Strix Scar 16 are noticeably quieter and fewer annoying.

And in contrast to Razer Synapse or Asus Armoury Crate, Gigabyte’s GiMate software program doesn’t allow you to tweak the fan curves, solely select between 4 presets. Switching the laptop computer from sport mode to balanced, and the followers from efficiency to regular can minimize the noise a bit with minimal sacrifice to framerates. Although, even on this mode, the followers can nonetheless go loud when vital. And turbo mode is solely for masochists; it pegs the followers at one hundred pc the entire time.

GiMate’s different options are sparse, restricted in scope, and worse than native options inside Home windows 11 and Nvidia’s GPU settings. Its working modes are simply shortcuts to Home windows energy settings. In some instances, GiMate merely opens Microsoft Copilot or Nvidia’s Management Panel and Broadcast App. However its interactions with different apps get even weirder whenever you unplug the charger and GiMate prompts you to modify to built-in graphics and kill apps it says are utilizing the discrete GPU. This MUX swap performance is already dealt with by Nvidia’s Advanced Optimus, so I’m unsure why Gigabyte brute forces it this fashion.

The GiMate AI chatbot, one other misfire, allegedly helps you optimize your laptop computer. I requested it to inform me the distinction between Recreation Mode and Balanced, and it simply enabled Recreation Mode. You may ask it to do fundamentals like toggle Wi-Fi on or off, but it surely takes for much longer than doing it your self. That might be helpful for somebody unfamiliar with computer systems, however this can be a gaming machine.

Dangerous software program and noisy followers apart, the Aorus Grasp 16 is usually an excellent performer. Its 24-core Intel Core Extremely 9 275HX CPU, RTX 5080 GPU, and 32GB of RAM simply deal with multitasking throughout numerous productiveness apps, although it might probably’t final greater than six hours on cost, even utilizing energy saving mode. It did okay with some hefty picture modifying, however on two events on battery energy Lightroom Basic slowed to the purpose the place I needed to shut and restart it — not perfect when you want to edit shortly.

In gaming efficiency, the Aorus Grasp is true consistent with an Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 utilizing the identical CPU and GPU for $200 extra. The Aorus Grasp is often on par or a body or two higher in 4K and a couple of.5K benchmark exams of Black Fantasy: Wukong and Cyberpunk 2077. And just like the Asus, that places the Gigabyte inside attain of the flagship RTX 5090 within the $4,500 Razer Blade 16. In our exams, the 5090 bested it by a median of simply 3.5 fps with out body era, and by as much as 10 fps with body era. These are fairly minimal variations, making the cell 5080 a significantly better worth — not less than, in comparison with the Blade 16’s power-limited 5090. We haven’t but examined a laptop computer with an uncapped 5090.

I averaged 143 fps in Oblivion Remastered on a 4K show with excessive settings and body era turned on within the sport’s prologue. Turning off body gen dropped it to a median of 99 fps. Once I switched to extremely settings within the open world I noticed a median of fifty fps with out body gen and 77 with. The one factor I couldn’t flip off was the incessant fan noise.

For those who all the time play with headphones on, you’ll be able to mitigate the Gigabyte’s largest challenge. However whereas the Aorus Grasp 16 is without doubt one of the most cost-effective 5080 laptops, there are many fascinating opponents for just a bit extra. The Asus ROG Strix Scar 16, for instance, appears to be like cooler and has quieter followers; the HP Omen Max and Lenovo Legion Pro 7i each have OLED screens just like the Gigabyte. I feel I nonetheless choose the Gigabyte’s OLED to the Asus’ Mini LED, however I have to spend extra time with the Asus earlier than making that decision. I’ll even be testing the Lenovo and HP; their OLED screens may make them nearer opponents to the Gigabyte.

There’s quite a bit to love within the Aorus Grasp 16, but it surely’s not as simple to like. Its highly effective {hardware} and good OLED show are a deal with to sport on, however the lackluster GiMate software program, fundamental construct high quality, and at occasions maddening fan noise seems like somebody knocking the ice cream cone out of your hand proper after you get it.

Images by Antonio G. Di Benedetto / The Verge