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The Gigabyte Aero X16 is designed for people who need a beautiful laptop, and one that can be used for work and gaming during those lunch breaks. Gigabyte intentionally created its Aero line of laptops, including this 16-inch model, as one of the best laptops for photo editing, content creators, and creatives. However, these laptops have always been sold as gaming machines, all thanks to their gaming-level specs.
The latest in this line is the Aero X16 ( model 2WHA3USC64AH) that includes the latest AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor and Nvidia’s GeForce RTX 5070 graphics card – specs we’re seeing in some of the best gaming laptops, including the Lenovo Legion 5i and MSI Katana 15 HX. The new machine also upgrades its previous display by significantly reducing the bezel to make it fit a 16:10 aspect ratio.
The Aero X16’s intricate design, 165Hz WQXGA display, and powerful processing and graphics capabilities all demonstrate an intentional focus on quality and intended audience. There aren’t too many laptops that can match the Aero’s ability to handle both productivity and games at reasonable grunt, making it a great hybrid solution for anyone looking to game and work.
Gigabyte Aero X16 specs
- Processor: AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce RTX 5070
- Memory: 32GB RAM
- Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
- Display: 16-inch, 2560 x 16000, 165Hz, IPS
- Weight: 4.2 pounds
Design & Features
The Gigabyte Aero X16 sports an all-familiar design inspired by previous models, all-black entries from the company. The design is still muted, with a space gray chassis alongside a black keyboard and trackpad that blend well with the main color theme. The Gigabyte branding on the lid illuminates when the machine is powered, and matches the lighting behind the keyboard. At the top of the screen, there’s a webcam alongside mic inputs, and it fits into a groove on the keyboard deck that you use to open the lid.
The Aero X16 itself is pretty slim (0.79 inches) for a 16-inch laptop with a dedicated GPU. It weighs in at only 4.2 pounds.
The Aero X16 sports a 16-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) screen with a 165Hz refresh rate. We’ve seen newer flagships with up to 4K AMOLED or mini-LED screens, but this is still fine for enjoying games and editing content. Games like Shadow of the Tomb Raider look fantastic on this display, especially when utilizing the RTX 5070’s DLSS capabilities.
The Gigabyte Aero X16 has a full-size chiclet-style keyboard that’s a joy to type on thanks to its snappy feel and responsiveness. The turquoise backlighting on the keyboard is also easy on the eyes, which is good because it’s the only backlighting here. The touchpad is sizable and sleek to touch; you’ll be able to execute gestures in Windows 11 easily without any hiccups.
The port selection on this laptop is sparse: on the left side is a USB-C port that doubles as a DisplayPort, a USB 3.2, an HDMI 2.1, and an Ethernet port. The right side holds a USB 3.2 port, a USB 2.0 port, and an audio combo jack. The Type-C port also supports power delivery; much of the room where the Gugabyte might have used for connectivity is covered in vents.
Most gaming laptops nowadays come with plenty of ports, and other high-end machines like the 14 and 16-inch MacBook Pro have re-added these ports after people and others received a backlash for removing them – we just wish Gigabyte did the same in its newest models.
Gaming and Graphics Performance
Our review model of the Gigabyte Aero X16 is the 2WHA3USC64AH with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 processor, Nvidia GeForce RTX 570 graphics card, 32GB DDR5 RAM, and 1TB SSD storage. Although the Aero X16 is sold as a workstation laptop, we consider it a fit for gaming, based on its strong specs and the way it’s pitched into the market.
The Nvidia RTX 5070 is a giant leap above the RTX 4070 and 4070Ti, capable of great 1440p performance with some decent 4K there, too, particularly with the help of DLSS. It is a mobile graphics card in the Blackwell family, based on the GB206 chip featuring 4,608 shader/CUDA cores that are clocked at between 908-2520MHz depending on the model. The RTX 5070 uses 8GB GDDR7 with a 128-bit memory bus and features 36 RT-cores and 48 ROPS. This is enough resources to drive most modern titles at high settings.
In benchmark tests, the Gigabyte Aero X16 runs Civilization 7 (2025) at 105 fps, matching the screen’s 165Hz refresh rate, and all details maxed out at 2560 x 1440. It maintains the above 100 fps figure across all gaming scenarios while gaming online, even when a lot of action is taking place on the screen.
The Gigabyte Aero X16 is an impressive notebook for content creators and gamers who want to game in between breaks.
The Gigabyte Aero X16 is a nice-looking laptop that has a lot of muscle for work and play at a very reasonable price.
The same impressive performance is replicated in the Call of Duty Black Ops 6 benchmark tests, whereby the MSI B14WGK-016US maintains a lead over its closest rivals at 1080p Ultra with 98 fps, edging out the Gigabyte Gaming A16 (Core i7-13620H, GeForce RTX 5070), while the Asus ROG Strix G16 (Core Ultra 9 275Hx, GeForce RTX 5080) leads the pack with 153fps at 1080p.
Running Cyberpunk 2077 on Ultra graphics settings at 1080p results in an average frame rate of 74 frames per second (fps). Enabling ray tracing cuts the framerate in half, but 38 fps still isn’t bad considering the price. Using DLSS makes the frame rate jump to 108 fps without ray tracing and 78 fps with ray tracing enabled. Cyberpunk 2077 is a challenging game, so a card that runs above 60 fps simply highlights the potential it has on other modern titles.
When playing games with DLSS support, such as Shadow of the Tomb Raider, Red Dead Redemption 2, and Metro Exodus, quality mode upscaling can generally improve performance by 30-50 percent and even more, and the resulting image quality can compete well against native rendering. Where DLSS 3 Frame Generation is supported, frame rates sent to your display can be boosted by 50-100 percent, but it causes additional latency.
Gaming laptops tend to struggle with battery life, and the Aero X16 is no exception. It lasts slightly more than four hours, which isn’t terrible but still not enough to manage a full workday or a cross-country flight. In that case, you’ll want to pack the power brick.
Gigabyte Aero X16 Review: Bottom line
The Gigabyte Aero X16 is an excellent productivity laptop, but it’s an exceptionally great choice for a portable gaming machine. While designed for content creators and professional creatives, it outpaces most gaming laptops in work and game scenarios. As such, if you’re looking for something great on both fronts without being too expensive, the Aero X16 is a fine choice.
The limited number of ports is bothersome, both from a gaming and work perspective, but it’s not worse than bringing on dongles into the mix. For most day-to-day tasks, the available collection of USB-C, HDMI, and USB 3.2 ports is sufficient; we just wish it had more. Also, a bigger battery capacity would be much welcome.
The 16-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) screen with a 165Hz refresh rate is good; it handles colors well and covers a wider color gamut than competing laptops. What’s more, the display benefits from the higher 165Hz refresh rate, although it doesn’t match the 240Hz refresh rate on more high-end gaming laptops such as the Lenovo Legion Pro 7i with a 2.5K OLED display.
If you’re looking for a productivity notebook first and foremost that’s able to do 1440p gaming fluently, this is a contender. The 16-inch screen is beautiful and bright to use as a primary and only display, unlike some 13-inch laptops that leave you wanting more portable screen real estate. All told, the Gigabyte Aero X16 is a terrific value with decent performance, and proof that Gigabyte is finally walking in the right path towards making its Aero line the best.
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