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It's a case of get what you're given when it comes to the P57X, which exists in a single configuration. Thankfully it's a well-balanced one, engineered to provide an optimal gaming experience rather than one that's going to let you watch 4K movies or get through a ton of work when you're not fragging hapless opponents online.
The bad news is that you'll have to pay through the nose for the privilege. Found for £1,900 (around $2,532 or $3,509) online, it's comparable to what you would previously have paid for a gaming laptop with two GTX 980M or 970M GPUs configured in SLI - such as the Aorus X7 Pro Sync.
Given the choice, a single card solution tends to be preferable; and considering the GTX 1070 is practically a desktop part with vastly superior architecture compared to the Maxwell M-suffixed solutions of old, the P57X represents a huge generational leap in power. It's not cheap, but you can expect this setup to play the latest games at high frame rates for a good few years.
The Gigabyte P57v6's spec sheet makes for impressive reading. Our review sample came with an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor clocked at 2.6GHz backed up by 16GB of RAM. Storage is split between a 256GB SSD that Windows is stored on, and a 1TB spinning hard disk for installing your ample-sized Steam collection.
Spec sheet
Here is the Gigabyte P57Xv6 configuration sent to TechRadar for review:
- CPU: 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ (Quad core, 6M cache, up to 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
- Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 (8GB GDDR5 memory)
- RAM: 16GB (DDR4, 2133MHz)
- Screen: 17.3-inch Full HD (1,920 x 1,080) IPS Anti-Glare Display LCD
- Storage: 256GB SSD, 1TB HDD (7,200RPM)
- Ports:1 x USB 3.0 (Type-A), USB 3.1 (Type-C), HDMI 2.0, D-Sub, RJ45, Mic-in, Earphone-out, SD Card Reader, DC-in Jack
- Connectivity: Ethernet, Wireless LAN 802.11ac a/g/b/n. Bluetooth
- Camera: HD Camera
- Weight: 3kg (6.6 pounds)
- Dimensions: 421 x 290 x 28.6 (W x D x H)
In terms of ports, the left-hand edge has an Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, an SDcard slot and microphone and headphone ports. On the right there's HDMI, USB-C, USB-A, a VGA connection and the power port. The P57X's power brick isn't far off the size of an actual brick and isn't the most fun to lug around.
Performance
Slightly positioned to the left, the trackpad is a decent size and allows for smooth navigation of the desktop and in games. It's not as precise as the one on Dell's slimmed down XPS 15, but we imagine most of you will be hooking up a gaming mouse anyway.
Gigabyte has opted for a standard 1080p panel for the P57X. It's an interesting choice, particularly as many of its rivals have opted for 2K, 3K and Ultra HD displays to take advantage of the power of GTX 10-series GPUs.
It's undoubtedly a decision that helps keep cost down, and one that leaves you with a gaming laptop that can chew through pretty much any game at the screen's native resolution maxed out while hitting the golden 60 fps mark. But more on that in the next section.
if you're interested in using the ample horsepower under the hood to run games at higher resolutions, the P57X's USB-C and HDMI (2.0) ports mean you can easily hook up an external monitor to do so.
Benchmarks
Here's how the Gigabyte P57X performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
- 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 22,656; Sky Diver: 26,398 ; Fire Strike: 13,063
- Cinebench CPU: 680 points; Graphics: 105.41 fps
- GeekBench: 3,791 (single-core); 13,524 (multi-core)
- PCMark 8 (Home Test): 4,088 points
- PCMark 8 (Battery): 2 hours 56 minutes
- Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 4 hours and 47 minutes
- GTA V: (1080p, Ultra): 53.48 fps; (1080p, Low): 136.14 fps
- The Division: (1080p, Ultra): 76.5 ; (1080p, Low): 155.9 fps
- Steam VR Bench: Ready
Before Pascal laptops came along, the only way to get hold of desktop-class power in a notebook was to splash out on one loaded with a GTX 980. Nvidia has positioned the GTX 1070 as that card's successor, which is backed up by the benchmark scores produces. The P57X reached an impressive 13,063 points in 3DMark's Fire Strike test, outpacing the 980-powered Asus ROG GX700's 9,824 points.
Gigabyte's machine is much more capable at 1080p, managing to almost hit 60 fps in GTA V with every setting maxed out - no mean fit and a struggle for even the beefiest graphics cards. The P57X managed 53.48 fps, versus 21 fps scored by the GX700.
The good news is that anything capable of chewing through GTA V's punching benchmark can run anything at 1080p. We ran through bouts of The Division, Doom and Fallout 4, with each and every game managing to hit well above the 60 fps mark without breaking a sweat. Some games, such as Rise of the Tomb Raider, even peaked in the early hundreds.
That headroom at 1080p means that there's enough power to game fluidly at 1440p, with Doom hovering between 50 - 65 fps on Ultra settings using the Vulcan graphics API and V-Sync set to Adaptive. The FPS counter's stats diminish further with the resolution upped to 4K. Ultra HD gaming is certainly possible, but expect frames counted to lie closer to the mid-40s rather than the 50s in demanding titles.
