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Even in the age of Pascal, gaming on the go at 1080p is getting a new lease of life. The Gigabyte P57X may not have 2K, 3K or even 4K display, but it leaves you safe in the knowledge that each and every game is going to run flawlessly at its native Full HD resolution. There's the nagging feeling, however, Gigabyte has played things a little too safe.
We liked
The P57X brings the power - oodles of it. There's a beautiful simplicity in whacking the graphics settings to Ultra without giving the frame rate a second thought; and watching the FPS counter in cutting-edge titles bounce between anything from 60 fps all the way up to 110 fps never became boring.
The unit's display might not pack in the pixels, but it's clear, bright and a great size for playing games and streaming 1080p video. Its mature, yet appealing design marks a refreshing change from the hyperactive norm, and despite having a large chassis the P57X is surprisingly light compared to rival 17-inch machines.
We disliked
If you're not too interested in hooking up the P57X to an external monitor, it's hard to ignore the fact that some of the horsepower you're paying for is going to waste. While we agree that 1080p remains a sensible choice for a gaming laptop, the P57X is crying out for a 120Hz panel to put those extra frames to good use. There are some minor gripes in other areas - its build quality feels a bit cheap in places, the power brick is ostentatiously large and, Gigabyte, is a DVD drive really necessary in 2016?
Final verdict
The Gigabyte P57Xv6 is a solid gaming machine that focuses on providing an exemplary experience at 1080p - and beyond if you have a high-resolution monitor. It sports a classy design that's eye-catching without being over-the-top, has a smooth grippable rounded chassis and isn't too heavy to realistically carry around everywhere. If you're not fussed about features such as an aluminum chassis or 4K (or indeed high refresh rate) display, the omission of these features helps the P57Xv6 achieve gaming performance that eclipses Maxwell-based machines that you could pick up for a similar price just a few months ago. Sure, it's expensive, but this is a portable machine that's destined to dine at the table of maxed-out 1080p gaming for some time to come.
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