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The Aorus X7 Pro is so much lighter and thinner than other 17-inch and up gaming machines we've tested, that it almost seems like it was fashioned out of a futuristic lightweight alloy. Weighing in at 6.6 pounds, the X7 Pro is substantially easier to tote around than the 8-pound MSI GT72 Dominator and the immense, 12.07-pound Alienware 18.
Aorus' machine is also easier to slip into a bag, thanks to its smaller 16.85 x 12.01 x 0.9-inch (W x D x H) dimensions. For the GT72 Dominator and Alienware 18, you'll need to purchase a new oversized bag as each notebook measures 19.6 x 11.5 x 1.9 inches and 17.97 x 12.90 x 2.26 inches, respectively.
Here is the Aorus X7 Pro configuration given to TechRadar for this review:
Spec Sheet
- CPU: 2.5GHz Intel Core i7-4870HQ (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.7GHz with Turbo Boost)
- Graphics: 2 x Nvidia GTX 970M SLI GDDR5 (6GB GDDR5 VRAM); Intel Iris Pro Graphics 5200
- RAM: 8GB DDR3L (1866MHz)
- Screen: 17.3-inch, 1,920 x 1,080 Wide Viewing Angle LCD
- Storage: 512GB mSATA SSD
- Ports: 3 x USB 3.0, 2 x USB 2.0, HDMI, mini-Display port, Surround port, D-sub, RJ45, SD card reader, microphone jack, headphone jack
- Connectivity: Wireless LAN: 802.11ac + Bluetooth 4.0
- Camera: 1MP HD camera
- Weight: 6.6 pounds
- Size: 16.85 x 12 x 0.9 inches (W x D x H)
The Aorus X7 Pro only comes in one configuration for $2,599 or £2099 (about AU$3,320), but it offers plenty of power for that price. Every unit includes what you see above, except the configuration normally has 16GB of RAM and an additional 1TB hard drive for storage. However, for our review, Gigabyte sent us a slightly different configuration, with only 8GB of memory and storage that lacks a 1TB HDD.
For nearly the same price, you could pick up a MSI GT72 Dominator Pro, rocking an Intel Core i7 4710HQ processor and Nvidia's GeForce GTX 980M for $2,549 (£1,836, AU$3,299). Although the MSI machine only has one GPU, this rig has more memory both for the system and GPU at its disposal, but half the amount of SSD storage.
The Alienware 18 is the priciest machine at $2,649 (about £1,739, AU$2,348), but it stands as the X7 Pro's direct SLI rival. The 18.4-inch laptop comes running two AMD Radeon R9 M290X GPUs, which makes it an even more direct competitor to the Aorus's Nvidia graphics. Unfortunately, the Alienware 18 comes a little light on memory, with only 8GB onboard and a 1TB hard disk drive by default. Users who want the extra speed of an SSD will have to fork over an additional $300.
