Aorus X3v5 Review

I’ve reviewed a few laptops recently, but honestly none of them have been presented as well as the Aorus X3. I opened the outer box and was surprised to find a really nice display box inside. Inside that box was not another box, but a laptop! I shouldn’t have been so surprised, but I kinda got my hopes up for a Russian Nesting Doll scenario.

The manual and worldwide warranty (and additional Australian warranty) were joined by an awesome little metal USB drive which houses the drivers and extra software. The laptop and charger cable were there too, obviously, and the first thing I noticed was that the charger block has a USB port in it -- which I took full advantage of by plugging my phone into.

The laptop feels nice and solid with a full-metal chassis. It has the power button on the side, a Mini DisplayPort, two USB 3 and one USB-C (3.1) port, an HDMI port, headphone and microphone jacks, and a memory card slot. The power socket and ethernet port are in the rear. It is an i7-6700HQ processor with 16GB RAM, and an NVIDIA GeForce GTX 970M. The 13.9in screen is capable of 3200x1800 resolution, which looks really nice despite the small display. I was surprised that it only comes with a 500GB SSD, however.

On the keyboard are five macro keys which can be set to do pretty much anything you like. They have five combinations depending on which profile you choose, and you set the functions in the Macro Engine software, which comes on the USB drive. You set it using the Macro Function Brick -- which is the button with a G on it above the five numbered G buttons. Honestly, they kinda get in the way whilst typing -- I hate having buttons next to the left Control and Shift keys.

But how does it play games, I hear you ask! It depends on the game. I tried out SUPERHOT on a few resolutions, and it looked fantastic. Until I finished the level, and the display driver crashed. I restarted the X3, and loaded the game up -- the same thing happened. I instantly restarted the game only to be greeted with a Windows 10 Blue Screen of Death…

I played Elite Dangerous: Horizons through my Steam Link, and it worked almost perfectly. However, playing it on the laptop itself also threw up errors before I could even get past the main menu. It’s a shame, because it’s my benchmark title...

This is a powerful little machine, and it may only be an issue with the unit I had on loan, but don’t get this if you’re hoping to game on it. It cools down really quickly, with powerful fans on the rear, but I didn’t get to play enough games to be able to recommend it.

Love these vents

The display is nice and clear, showing everything crisply from web pages to HD videos. The keyboard isn’t perfect mainly due to the location of the macro keys, which is a nuisance. As I mentioned, it is fast to cool down when it does heat up, and my lap didn’t get too hot whilst it was running warm.

If you only plan on light gaming, it’s great, but if you’re looking for something to handle some AAA titles, look elsewhere.