X5 MD Is Aorus’ Slimmest Gaming Laptop Yet

Gigabyte's Aorus is known for its super-thin gaming notebooks, but with Nvidia's Max-Q design approach, it's managed to streamline its newest notebook, the X5 MD, even further. The company announced the laptop at Computex in Taipei.

It’s just 0.9 inches thick but still uses an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1080 (8GB) GPU, an overclockable Intel Core i7-7820HK CPU, and up to 64GB of DDR4-2400 RAM. For storage, there's an M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 SSD (2,000 MBps), and it has a Thunderbolt 3 port. It’s scheduled for release in Q4 of this year.

The screen looked like a stunner when we saw it in person. That’s because Aorus partnered with X-Rite Pantone to calibrate the 15.6-inch, 4K IPS display. On top of that, it supports G-Sync to prevent screen tearing during gameplay.

Not to be outdone by the display, the keyboard is also super colorful. The RGB backlit keyboard can be customized on a key-by-key basis with Aorus’ Fusion software.

Nvidia’s Max-Q design standard prioritizes a thin chassis and is designed for cooling and power efficiency ensure that it stays quiet while gaming. Although we didn’t get to play any games on it, it did have noticeably large vents on the back. In fact, Aorus is promising 10 stages of fan control.

The company hasn’t announced a price for the laptop, but we expect it to be quite expensive. Another Max-Q laptop, the Asus ROG Zephyrus, will start at $2,300.

Seth Colaner contributed to this report.