Gigabyte Adds OLED, 9th Gen Intel to AI Aero Laptop Line
AI never looked better. Today Gigabyte revealed a laptop boasting a 15-inch, 4K resolution OLED screen. The Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED will join the small club of OLED laptops when it comes out in June. Additionally, in August, the vendor will release its first Aero laptop with a 17-inch screen, the Aero 17.
Gigabyte Aero 15 OLED and Aero 17 Specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Aero 15 OLED | Aero 17 | |
| CPU | Intel Core i9-9980HK or Intel Core i7-9750H | Up to 9th Gen Intel Core i9 H-series | |
| Display | 15-inch OLED, 4K resolution | 17.3-inches LCD, up to 4K resolution | Row 2 - Cell 3 |
| Graphics | Nvidia GeForce GTX 1660 Ti | Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q | Row 3 - Cell 3 |
| RAM | Up to 64GB Samsung DDR4-2666 | Up to 64GB Samsung DDR4-2666 | Row 4 - Cell 3 |
| Storage | Up to 2TB Intel 760p SSD (2x M.2 SSD slots) | Up to 2TB Intel 760p SSD (2x M.2 SSD slots) | Row 5 - Cell 3 |
| Wireless | Killer Ethernet E2600;Killer Wi-Fi 6 | Killer Ethernet E2600:Killer Wi-FI 6;Bluetooth 5.0 | Row 6 - Cell 3 |
| Ports | 3x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type-A)1x Thunderbolt 3HDMI 2.0DisplayPort 1.43.5mm jackSD card readerDC-in jackRJ-45 | 3x USB 3.1 Gen 1 (Type-A)1x Thunderbolt 3HDMI 2.0DisplayPort 1.43.5mm jackSD card readerDC-in jackRJ-45 | Row 7 - Cell 3 |
| Battery | 94.24Wh | 94.24Wh | Row 8 - Cell 3 |
| Dimensions (WxDxH) | 14 x 9.8 x 0.8 inches / 356 x 250 x 20mm | 14 x 9.8 x 08 inches / 356 x 250 x 20mm | Row 9 - Cell 3 |
| Weight | 4.2 pounds / 2.1kg | 4.2 pounds / 2.1kg | Row 10 - Cell 3 |
| Price | $1,899-$3,999 | TBD | Row 11 - Cell 3 |
OLED Screen
With OLED, every subpixel shines its own light as opposed to using one unified backlight like LCD panels (found in pretty much every modern laptops). Blacks are truer and deeper, resulting in strong contrast, arguably the most important factor in image quality.
Image Credit: Gigabyte
The Aero 15 OLED boasts Pantone-brand, “color correction-certified” AMOLED screens made by Samsung. For those wondering, AMOLED, with the A representing its active matrix, is basically a type of OLED with an extra layer of TFTs (thin film transistors) for faster pixel activation.
The AERO 15 OLED’s screen is targeted at users for whom color really matters so it supports 100% of the DCI-P3 color gamut. HDR content should appear vivid with quality in the top 15% of PC displays and up to 400 nits brightness, as per the DisplayHDR 400 certification.
Gigabyte claims each individual Aero 15 OLED laptop will be inspected and calibrated to meet all these specs.
Other OLED Laptops
In the U.S. you’d be hard-pressed to find a laptop sporting OLED. There’s the Samsung Galaxy Book 2 2-in-1 and Alienware m15 gaming laptop, but neither have a 9th Gen Intel CPU. We recently reviewed the Alienware m15, and boy did it impress, covering 265% of the sRGB gamut and hitting an average 376 nits brightness.
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About That AI
Like some previous Aero laptops, the Aero 15 OLED and Aero 17 will have Microsoft Azure AI, which lets the laptop to tweak its hardware settings based on the application currently in use.
We reviewed the Gigabyte Aero 15 X9 earlier this year, and the AI, which connected to your choice of either Microsoft Azure cloud or Gigabyte’s servers to tweak performance and fan speeds, showed minimal performance gains. Any improvements weren’t greater than those you’d experience from running the same benchmark multiple times. That laptop targets gamers and these new machines are for professional creators; however, Gigabyte doesn’t seem to have improved its AI over the Aero 15 X9, so we’re not expecting it to wow.
The Aero 15 OLED should be available for pre-order on Amazon tomorrow. Pricing and availability for the Aero 17 has not yet been revealed.
Scharon Harding has over a decade of experience reporting on technology with a special affinity for gaming peripherals (especially monitors), laptops, and virtual reality. Previously, she covered business technology, including hardware, software, cyber security, cloud, and other IT happenings, at Channelnomics, with bylines at CRN UK.