Gigabyte preparing a 2022 laptop design refresh
We received two photos sets featuring the upcoming Alder Lake-based laptops from Gigabyte.
The Taiwanese company is now expected to launch as many as five new laptops designs, featuring Intel’s brand new 12th Gen Core CPUs and NVIDIA’s latest RTX 30 Ti Laptop GPUs. We have pictures of two of those upcoming laptops, namely AORUS 17 E-Series (12th Gen) and AERO 17 (a successor to the Tiger Lake AERO 17 series).
AORUS 17 2022
It should be noted that the AORUS lineup will be divided into DDR4 and DDR5 models. The DDR4 based laptops will offer up to Intel Core i7-12700H CPU and up to RTX 3080 Ti GPU, whereas the DDR5 version will feature up to Core i9-12900HK and RTX 3080 Ti with 105-130W TGP (depends on the model).
What should also be noted is that this laptop will feature up to a 4K (3840×2160) mini-LED IPS panel with up to 120 Hz. It is definitely a high-end screen as it received DisplayHDR1000 certification (so peak brightness over 1000 nits). We do not have information on the 17G (mechanical keyboard) and 17X (flagship with Max-P graphics) models yet.
AERO 17/16 2022
There is a significant upgrade coming to the AERO series. The 15-inch version will be replaced with a 16-inch model. Obviously, the display panel is the biggest upgrade here, Gigabyte finally got rid of the enormous bottom bezel which certainly did not look great. The AMOLED panel is manufactured by Samsung and offers up to 3840×2600 resolution, (DisplayHDR500, 100% DCI-P3). There is also a version with 2560×1600 Mini-LED (DisplayHDR 1000, 100 DCI-P3, and 165Hz refresh rate).
In terms of specs, the new AERO will feature up to Core i9-12900HK CPU and RTX 3080 Ti/3070Ti GPU, both limited to 105W (AERO series usually had Max-Q graphics).
Gigabyte AERO 16 2022
Pictured below is the 17-inch version which should look more or less the same as 16-inch. At this moment we cannot confirm the specs of the 17-inch display panel.
Gigabyte AERO 17 2022
AERO 2021 vs AERO 2022
Having own an AERO 15 XD OLED laptop I can immediately tell you that the biggest issue with this laptop has not been resolved, which is the power connector on the right side (if you are using a mouse a lot then you probably know how annoying this can be). On a plus side, a camera that was mounted on the bottom bezel will now be located on the top of the screen, but it does not have a privacy filter like the old version.
There is no sign of the fingerprint sensor on the touchpad either, but it is possible that the camera array has Windows Hello support, which would obviously be an upgrade.
The AERO 15 series are known for terrible WiFi reception because the antennas were misaligned behind a metal display lid (it’s a major design flaw). It is hard to tell from the photos if the lid is still metal or rather some kind of plastic. However, as weird as it may sound, a plastic lid would actually be an upgrade.
Both Gigabyte laptops are now set to be announced on January 4th. We are yet to confirm the exact launch date.
