Review: Updated: Aorus X5S v5

Introduction and design

The Aorus X5S v5 should have no business being this powerful while being so light and thin. At just 22.9mm, or under an inch thick, the updated notebook has an Nvidia GTX 980M graphics card hiding within its aluminum chassis, along with a 256GB solid-state drive (SSD) and a 1TB hard disk drive (HDD).

There's no question it's a hardcore gaming machine, either. The Aorus X5S v5 has a ton of gaming-specific features beyond its powerful graphics capabilities and 15.6-inch 4K screen. On the far right of the full-sized keyboard are five programmable macro keys. There's even the option to add a dedicated hardware encoder, which relieves the strain of live streaming and recording gameplay from the CPU.

As far as its contemporaries, the Aorus X5S v5 is on par with the Gigabyte P35X regarding the total package. For the most part, the P35X is evenly matched. In fact, they're almost identical, with the big exception being battery life. The 15-inch Aorus falls short of the monster that is the Acer Predator 15 in terms of pure performance, but has a 4K-resolution screen where the latter tops out at 1080p.

Unmistakably a gamer's laptop

High-performance laptops seem to be following the design examples set forth by high-performance automobiles, and the X5S v5 is no exception. Its smooth lines give way to sharp points and angular vents that would look like right at home on a Lamborghini.

The black aluminum body is interrupted by several exhaust ports, which helps facilitate the necessary heavy cooling. The side vents also continue the super-car feel, and the vents in the rear leave no question that there's a lot going on under the hood.

The lid comes to a slight point at its peak, with a small raised line running about an eighth of the way down. The Aorus logo, a hawkish sigil that would be right at home on war machines in a futuristic anime, lights up when the laptop is on and pluses when charging. When not powered up, however, the laptop logo is just as visible, thanks to being silver and a polished finish that reflects light like a mirror.

The full-size keyboard has low, high and off backlighting settings. Programmable macro keys run in a vertical line to the left of the keyboard, with the top key highlighted in one of five colors, depending on which of the three sets of macros are in use.

The keys themselves have a scissor-type mechanism with a nanometer-too-little travel to feel tactile/clicky. They're also pretty close together, to save space for the extra row of macro keys. Between the lack of satisfying travel and the tightness of the keys, I find my fingers tripping up more than usual when typing.

Around the matte-finish screen is a substantial bezel. The sides and bottom of the screen are half an inch or so from the edge of the lid, while the lip up on top is a bit smaller.

Just above the keyboard's number pad is the Aorus logo, which also acts as a light up power button. The touch pad also has a version of the Eagle insignia in low-contrast grey against the rest of the laptop's black aluminum.

The black interior is fairly smudge resistant, but keep a microfiber cloth on hand to keep your laptop free from finger- and hand-prints. The review version I tested came with a microfiber cloth included, which is a welcome touch.

Overall, this notebook looks 100% the part of a performance gaming laptop, and Aorus wants you to let everyone around you know it. There is no mistaking this laptop for a business class or casual machine – only gamers need apply.

One of these things is not like the other

One jarring experience with the Aorus X5S v5 is using its proprietary software. The macros, performance gauges and command and control software all have a common theme that looks absolutely out of place among the smooth, clean lines of Windows 10.

Instead of trying to match the overall feel of the OS, Aorus' software tries to match itself to the design of the laptop itself. The result is an unattractive user interface (UI) that sticks out and ends up looking cheap despite its usefulness.

Specifications and performance

This is by no means the lightest computer out there, but for what's inside, the Aorus X5S v5 is lighter than you might think. I was surprised when I first pulled it out of the box.

At 2.5kg, or 5.5 pounds, it's a full pound heavier than the Razer Blade 2015, but still feels lighter than it should. It's impressive given all the hardware tucked inside. And 15-inch rig is just under an inch thick when closed, coming it at 0.9 inches, or 22.9mm.

The Acer Predator 15 is 45% heavier, at 7.5 pounds (3.4kg), while the Gigabyte P35X v5 comes in just a tiny bit lighter at 5.29 pounds. I never feel that the weight is an issue when carrying the Aorus X5S v5 from seat to desk, or vice versa. But the fairly bulky power brick adds significant strain on my shoulder when transporting the unit via laptop bag.

At 390 x 272 x 22.9mm, or 15.35 x 10.72 x 0.9 inches, the 15-inch Aorus is just a bit larger than the P35X, but significantly smaller than the tank-like Acer Predator, which has similar depth and width, but is a full 1.5 inches thick.

Spec sheet

The specs on the updated Aorus X5S v5 provided for testing are as follows:

• CPU: 2.7GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ (quad-core, 6MB cache, up to 3.5GHz with Turbo Boost)
• Graphics: Nvidia GeForce GTX 980M (8GB GDDR5 VRAM)
• Memory: 16GB DDR4 (2,133 MHz)
• Screen: 15.6-inch, 3,840 x 2,160 IPS wide angle view display
• Storage: 265GB SSD (M.2), 1TB HDD (7,200 rpm)
• Connectivity: Killer LAN, Intel AC 7265 802.11ac Wireless
• Camera: HD Webcam
• Weight: 5.51 pound, 2.5kg
• Size: 15.35 x 10.72 x 0.9 inches, 390 x 272 x 22.9 mm (W x D x H)

As tested, the X5S v5 costs $2,299 (about ₤1,610, AU$3,068). There are three slots for SSDs up to 512GB each, meaning you have the option of maxing out your flash storage at over 1.5TB – and that's in addition to the 1TB HDD.

The option to expand flash storage to such huge capacities is great news for anyone who wants to store their programs and applications on an SSD. Programs like Adobe Photoshop and Lightroom get a huge performance boost when booting from a solid state drive. Games also see shorter loading times running on an flash storage, and with 60GB-plus being the standard size for modern triple-A games, all that potential wiggle room future-proofs the X5S v5.

When it comes to resolution, the X5S v5 and the P35X are in a dead-heat, with both beating out the Predator's standard 1920 x 1080. If you have the bandwidth, I highly recommend checking out YouTube's 4K offerings. You've never seen such compelling blades of grass in your life. The super bright colors on the X5S v5, coupled with the crispness of UHD, make b-roll footage something you'll actively watch.

I find myself watching, and then rewatching, wildlife videos on YouTube, simply because they looked so amazing. The screen is also bright enough that I was able to use it in direct sunlight, and there's a light sensor above the screen that automatically adjusts brightness based on the ambient lighting.

The X5S v5 can also hook up to an external monitor for full 4K output through its HDMI 2.0 port.

Performance

The Aorus X5S v5 doesn't just borrow its styling cues from modern super cars. When it comes to performance, half the fun is pushing the machine to its limits. I had zero issue editing photos in Lightroom or watching UHD content on YouTube.

When it came to gaming, I found myself gleefully exploring Grand Theft Auto V again in spite of the fact I've played the game on Xbox 360, PlayStation 4, and my own personal PC. At GeForce Experience's optimized settings, it looks absolutely gorgeous.

With 8GB of VRAM on hand, there's plenty of room to turn up the settings, and just for fun I put everything on its maximum. At 4K, Grand Theft Auto V is jaw-droppingly gorgeous. However, as detailed as everything is, frame rate dropped to around 8 fps. It was laughable how badly it ran, but hey, it still looked fantastic.

I also took the opportunity to play Street Fighter V, in Ultra HD with all the settings maxed out. Street Fighter V runs beautifully, with a fast, smooth frame rate and bright, lovely color rendering on the X5S v5's screen.

Plugging in my fight stick brought to my attention one minor annoyance, however: the left side of the computer has no standard USB connections. You can either plug into the solitary connection on the back, or one of the two on the right.

All that horsepower comes with more than just a monetary price, however. Fan noise is definitely a problem. The computer has to work hard to pull all that heat away from the processors, and once the graphical intensity ramps up, so does the fan noise.

There are different, pre-programmed fan modes in the Command & Control software bundled in with the computer, but turning the fans to "quiet" produces a noticeable hit to performance, thanks to thermal throttling.

Benchmarks

Here's how the Aorus X5S v5 handled our benchmarks:

• 3DMark: Cloud Gate: 18,801; Sky Diver: 20,676; Fire Strike: 8,172
• Cinebench CPU: 676 points; Graphics: 97 fps
• GeekBench: 3805 (single-core); 13472 (multi-core)
• PCMark 8 (Home Test): 2,858 points
• PCMark 8 Battery Life: 2 hours and 23 minutes
• Middle Earth: SoM (1080p, Ultra): 66 fps; (1080p, Low): 117 fps
• Grand Theft Auto V (1080p, Ultra): 28 fps; (1080p, Low): 133 fps

The X5S v5 is neck and neck with the Gigabyte P35X v5, but falls way short of the beastly Acer Predator 15. The previous Aorus X5 had a pair of GeForce 965M cards, while the updated version has a single 980M, the same chip inside the P35X and the Predator, but with twice as much VRAM as Acer's laptop.

All 3 computers have the same processor and the same GPU, but it seems the real bottleneck is RAM. I couldn't have imagined we'd live in a time where 16GB of RAM was on the low-end of things, but the 100 to 300 point lead the Predator has in multiple benchmark tests with its 32GB of RAM is pretty hard to ignore.

Even with 8GB of video RAM on tap, the Aorus fails to reach the numbers put on the boards by the Predator 15. The X5S v5 has 4 slots, expandable to 64GB, so there's room for plenty more memory.

Sure, it's "portable"

Battery life for the Aorus X5S v5 is marginally better, but it still borders on the unacceptable. The PCMark 8 battery test results came in at 2 hours and 23 minutes – seven minutes longer than its predecessor. In our battery test, running Guardians of the Galaxy on a continuous loop in VLC at 50% screen brightness, I was able to eke out just over 3 hours 45 minutes. Decent enough if you plan on watching movies, but not much else.

You'll get better battery life out of the Gigabyte P35X (3 hours and 31 minutes) and the massive Predator 15 (3 hours and 17 minutes), both of which outlasted the Aorus X5S v5 in the PCMark 8 test.

While battery life is slightly improved in the updated version, it still fails to break 3 hours in the PCMark test. The need to be close to an outlet at all times severely limits the portability of the X5S v5, and isn't portability the entire point of having a laptop in the first place?

Verdict

I'm going to have serious problems going back to sub-UHD after experiencing the Aorus X5S v5. It does everything a gaming laptop should do, and it does it extremely well. The laptop presents itself as a machine for gamers by virtue of its angular design and its plentiful vents. The look is more an asterisk than an exclamation point, and Gigabyte did well by wrapping the X5S v5 in a skin in which it clearly belongs.

While the high-powered graphics capabilities, phenomenal screen, and onboard streaming card make this a fantastic fit for high-powered gamers, its incessant fan noise and utterly awful battery life keeps the Aorus X5S v5 from truly reaching greatness. It performs almost identical with the P35X, and is nowhere near as bulky as the Predator. Beyond gaming performance, anyone who works with graphics and processing heavy applications would do well to add the Aorus X5S v5 to their fleet.

We liked

Everything looks beautiful on the Aorus X5S v5 screen. Photos are rendered in vivid color and clarity, and Ultra HD video runs smoothly and without issue. Older games can be pushed to their highest settings, and modern games run well and look beautiful when optimized with Nvidia's GeForce software.

The optional streaming hardware allowed me to play Super Meat Boy on my Twitch channel at a solid 720p, 60 fps, and the programmable macros were perfect for quick and effortless multi-button inputs. It's also a worthy status symbol: every single one of my friends wanted to see it in action.

We disliked

If you want to push the laptop at all, you're going to end up making a whole bunch of noise. The fans run hard and they run loud. Eliminating the fan noise through software is possible, but greatly diminishes the performance that makes the X5S v5 so appealing.

The roughly 2-hour battery life is fine when you consider everything the this machine is doing. But as anyone who's lost themselves in an open world game can tell you, two hours can come and go in what feels like the blink of an eye.

Final verdict

The Aorus X5S v5 is an excellent machine that offers tons of gamer-specific features beyond just its pretty screen and processing power. The bright, colorful display is adequately powered, and it handles productivity applications as easily as gaming. Part of the fun for me was seeing just how great my older games looked with their settings and resolution turned to the max.

In benchmarking, it's evenly matched with the Gigabyte P35X in every area except battery life. It falls short of the glory that is the Acer Predator 15, but makes up for it with a gorgeous, 4K screen. The Killer LAN, 802.11ac Wi-Fi, optional on-board video encoder for streaming or recording, and the comfortable amount of available storage makes the X5S v5 a serious contender for any power gamer out there looking for a beastly machine to impress their friends.

When it comes to its peers, the Aorus X5S v5 falls just short of both the P35X and Predator 15. It's a great looking laptop with plenty of power, and with a few upgrades to RAM and internal storage, it would be the top-dog. As is, however, the battery life holds it back from greatness. While a full 4K display is certainly sharper, I would have preferred the old UHD screen if it meant an upgraded battery.

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