Gigabyte P35K v3 review

Gigabyte has always impressed me with its thin and capable gaming laptops, like the Gigabyte P35W v2. Now, with the P35K v3, the Taiwanese company has knocked the ball out of the park once again. This machine is thinner, more powerful and longer lasting than most 15-inch machines already on the market. But the best part? Buying this latest machine won't break the bank.

We liked

For $1,499 (about £973, AU$1913), the Gigabyte P35K v3 offers plenty of performance. Thanks to Nvidia's beefier, entry-level GTX 965M GPU, gamers can expect to play most games on medium to high settings at a playable 45-to-60 fps range. I was even able to play Far Cry 4 on Ultra without having to worry about the game slowing to a frame-skipping crawl.

Thanks to decent surround sound speakers and an excellent screen, you can also skip on having to buy an additional monitor and headset. After all, a completely self-contained gaming device is really the point of buying such a product in the first place.

We disliked

The Gigabyte P35K v3 really could use an injection of style. The notebook has a very utilitarian and solid build to it, but an otherwise utterly boring aesthetic to it.

Of course, this is a purely personal quibble with the machine. Regardless, there are some major design flaws Gigabyte should address, namely the large bezel around the screen.

Final verdict

The Gigabyte P35K v3 is a nearly perfect machine through and through. It's amazingly thin for a 15.6-inch gaming laptop that offers great performance and decent battery life. Compared to competing models in this affordable space, Gigabyte easily outpaces the Asus ROG GL551 and Acer Aspire V15 Nitro.

Users looking for even greater performance for a slightly higher premium should look to the Digital Storm Triton. While this machine can push out more frames per second, it has its fair share of issues, including inadequate heat dissipation, a washed out screen and some tinny speakers.

With the P35K, you won't run into any of these issues. Through a gorgeous IPS screen and surround sound technology, the P35K v3 is one of the better mobile PC gaming mobile PC gaming machines - no matter what the numbers say.