Continually improving thermal performance from laptops’ CPU and GPU chips means that they can get thinner, and you can do more interesting things with less internal space. AORUS has applied its unique, space-age design language to a 15-inch chassis, and has shoe-horned not one but two mid-range Nvidia graphics chips into the new X5.
The X5 is a 15-inch notebook, joining the equally fancy 13-inch X3 Plus and 17-inch X7 Pro — both of which we’ve reviewed and loved here at Giz. It’s closer to the X7 Pro than the X3, which has a similar dual-graphics setup. The X5’s body is 22.9mm thick, and the laptop weighs in at just under 2.5kg — both of which slide it neatly into the properly-portable-laptop category.
Said graphics cards are Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 965Ms — a slightly lower-grunt version of the GTX 970M, apparently, but with two inside the X5 you won’t exactly be wanting for outright gaming power; AORUS claims the X5’s dual chipsets are around 15 per cent more powerful than a single top of the line GTX 980M. The AORUS X5 probably won’t be able to play games at its native resolution, though, since its 15.6-inch LCD is a 4K IGZO panel — we’re talking 3840×2160 pixels here, people. You’ll be able to get hold of the X5 for $2299-plus when it launches in a few months.
AORUS parent company Gigabytye has taken the same opportunity to show off new laptops at CES 2015, with a 14-, 15.6- and 17.3-inch variant all on show — that’s the P34W with a GeForce GTX 970M, P35X with GTX 980M and P37X with GTX 980M respectively. The P37X is the world’s lightest 17.3-inch gaming laptop, and has internal space for four storage drives — that’s dual SSDs and dual hard drives simultaneously. These new notebooks start around the US$1499 point, but should reach north of $2300 once specced out.
Taiwan’s most innovative notebook maker has also given its X3 Plus a slight warm-over, with the addition of the current-gen GTX 970M graphics chip to the existing specs list. $2199-plus for this one, out this month. [AORUS]