Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review 2024: powerful laptop

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Gigabyte, a Taiwanese company that makes PC parts and gaming laptops, has been making the Aero 14 for a long time. This business Ultrabook is thin and light, but it has a lot to give under the hood. The 14-inch 3K OLED display is one of the brightest screens we’ve seen on a laptop, OLED or not, so it’s no wonder that it can show colors with a lot of vibrancy and contrast. Add to this a pro video color gamut with exact color accuracy, and it’s more than ready to handle creative work.

The 14-core Intel 13th generation CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU work together to give more demanding creative processes more than enough power. If you need more RAM than the 16GB of DDR5, you may need to look elsewhere, but for most people, this should be enough and works well with the rest of the machine’s features. The look is great, and the CNC unibody frame and choice of ports show a lot of attention to detail.

I also liked Gigabyte’s Control Center software, which has a driver update center that makes it easy to keep up with software changes that aren’t covered by Windows 11. Unfortunately, the CPU is about 20% slower than Apple’s M2 Pro or Max processors, and the 90W maximum power draw drains the 63Wh battery in 4 to 5 hours, depending on the job. It’s harder to sell as a portable creative device because the battery life is so short.

Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED Specifications

A gorgeous OLED display can be found on the Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED, which is a powerful and portable laptop computer. It is an excellent choice for professionals and other people who need a laptop that can perform well under pressure, such as designers and musicians. On the other hand, it is pricey and does not have support for Thunderbolt 4 or a webcam.

Feature	Details
Price	Starts at ₹ 225,039 in India
Processor	Up to 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13900H
Graphics	Up to NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050
Display	14-inch OLED display with 2.8K QHD+ resolution and 90Hz refresh rate
RAM	Up to 32GB DDR5
Storage	Up to 2TB PCIe Gen4 SSD
Battery	63Wh
Operating System	Windows 11 Home
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Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review: Design and Build Quality

It would appear that Gigabyte did not hold back in any way while developing the Aero 14 OLED. A CNC aluminum chassis ensures that this product does not contain any plastic and does not suffer from a lack of strength. This laptop has a very substantial feel to it. Gigabyte goes so far as to apply a specialized anodization process that creates a shimmering look on the product. It does appear to emanate hints of rainbow hues when illuminated directly, with the colors appearing to change based on the angle from which one views it.

The word “AERO” has been laser-cut into the backing of the lid, and this text is passively illuminated in white by the display. This is yet another indicator that the laptop in question is of a very good quality. The bright appearance of the Aero 14 OLED, notably its white keyboard, helps it look less pedestrian than the typical ultrabook or workstation. This is especially true when viewed as a whole. It is a breath of fresh air and steers clear of any divisive characteristics. The dimensions of the Aero 14 OLED are 12.3 by 8.7 by 0.67 inches (WDH), and it weighs 3.28 pounds.

In comparison, the dimensions of the Lenovo Slim Pro 7 are 12.81 by 8.92 by 0.61 inches, and it weighs 3.5 pounds. The Apple MacBook Pro 14, which measures 12.31 by 8.71 by 0.61 inches and weighs 3.5 pounds, is almost the same size as the MacBook Air, but it is significantly heavier. Both of these laptops are slightly thicker than the Aero 14 OLED, but the difference is less than a tenth of an inch. Display does not tilt back any more than what is seen in our images, which is around 45 degrees past vertical. This is one aspect of this design that I find to be unsatisfactory.

Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review: Display

The Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED features an OLED display that is 14 inches in size and has a resolution of 2880 by 1800. Its refresh rate of 90 Hz is significantly greater than the standard 60 Hz, which results in fluid motion that appears to be more fluid. This display resolution offers more information than Full High Definition (1920 x 1080) and decreases the need for vertical scrolling because to its 16:10 aspect ratio, which has seen a significant rise in popularity in 2016. This laptop from Gigabyte does not support Ultra High Definition (3840 x 2400), although the practicality of an even higher resolution on a screen of 14 inches is up for debate.

The picture quality of OLED screens is typically exceptional, and that is undeniably the case here. Because of the amazing brightness, contrast, and color of the Aero 14 OLED display, everything has such a vibrant look that I found myself constantly going through my SLR photo collection. OLED technology makes anything brilliant explode off the screen, which was a tremendous delight during the lightsaber and space fights in Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker. Video looks just as amazing.

The deep black levels (OLED displays literally shut off individual pixels that appear black) transform darker scenes, as well. Blade Runner 2049 and Arrival were two movies that I admittedly watched all the way through, despite just planning to watch for a few minutes at a time.The color spectrum of the screen on the Aero 14 OLED was absolutely unrivaled by any other laptop; its 160.3% of DCI-P3 was nearly double what was produced by any of the other laptops. (The Samsung Galaxy Book 3 Ultra came in as a close second with 86.2% of the total color.

Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review: Keyboard and Touchpad

The Gigabyte Aero 14 BMF has an excellent illuminated keyboard, and the keys have a travel distance of 1.7 mm. This is not always the case, particularly in a laptop that has such a low profile. When paired with substantial haptic feedback, this creates a productive and enjoyable working environment. If only the keys on the keyboard stood out a little bit more, it would be perfect.

Another one of the problematic aspects of the illumination on the keyboard is the brightness setting. A slight coil whining will be audible if this is not adjusted to its maximum brightness setting. The touchpad on the Gigabyte Aero 14 is 12.1 by 7.8 centimeters, which is a comfortable size. It is positioned so that it takes up the middle of the case, leaving room for the bottom of the hand.

The frosted glass that makes up the touchpad should ensure that its smooth surface is durable for an extended period of time. Depending on your point of view, the letters ARO are either quite obvious or not very obvious at all.

Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review: Performance

The performance of the Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED gadget can be analyzed in a few different ways; nevertheless, the simplest explanation is that it possesses a potent central processing unit (CPU) as well as a graphics processing unit (GPU), which, when combined, ensure that you will glide through difficult creative jobs.

It is difficult not to compare it to the MacBook Pro 14 when you look at it in comparison to the other products on the market, especially in Australia where their prices are extremely comparable to one another. When performing tasks that are comparable to those performed by the Apple M2 Pro or Max processors, the Intel Core i7-3700H falls approximately 20 percent short. However, the Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 is able to match or even exceed the graphical performance of the most powerful processor available for the MacBook Pro.

Anyone who hopes to play games after their creative work should expect to see at least 60 frames per second on recent titles when the Ultra settings are used and the resolution is 1080p. You could even choose the slightly higher 90Hz refresh rate for games that require less processing power in order to have smoother images.

Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review: Ports

The Gigabyte laptop with the tiny form factor has a number of ports distributed across all three sides. On the rear of the device, in addition to HDMI and USB Type-A connectors, there are also USB Type-C ports on the left and right sides. However, if you look more closely, you will notice that the USB-C connector on the left is branded DCIN. This indicates that the port does not support Thunderbolt or DisplayPort and that it may only be used for power and USB connections.

You were unable to plug in a docking station since, in addition to the power charger, you were also using the laptop. Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort are both supported by the USB-C ports located on the right, but USB Power Delivery is not. Since the docking station and the portable display both require their own power supply.

Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review: Battery Life

Even if Gigabyte had chosen a processor similar to the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS, it still would not have been able to reach the same level of battery life as the Apple MacBook Pro devices without losing even more performance; therefore, it can only accept limited responsibility for the unsatisfactory level of battery life. Having said that, it would not have been difficult to add another half pound (200 grams) to the battery in order to smooth out the rough edges of the 3 hours and 38 minutes that it will last while being benchmarked for standard work.

This amounts to just 4 hours and 45 minutes in movie playback, which is more than enough to watch a movie and is even good for a gaming laptop, but it is about half to a third of what you’ll get from Apple silicon. In other words, if you want to watch a movie, you’ll have plenty of time.

Final Words

The Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED works very well. It’s small and light for an ultrabook, especially one with an Intel Core H-class processor and dedicated graphics, and its aluminum body looks and feels very well made. The OLED screen also impressed us.

Other parts, on the other hand, might need to be rethought. For a laptop this size, the Aero 14 OLED has a very short battery life. In our tests, the performance was good, but Gigabyte limits this laptop’s potential by only giving it 16GB of RAM, which may not be enough for some creative apps.

At this price level, alternatives seem to be priced either higher or lower than the Aero 14 OLED. The Lenovo Slim Pro 7 costs a few hundred dollars less at $1,199, but it is much less powerful and has RAM that is locked down.

Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED review: The good and The bad

The 14-inch chassis houses a powerful Intel Core H-class processor and an Nvidia RTX 4050 graphics card with creative app drivers.