Gigabyte P57W v6 Gaming Laptop Review

Synthetic And Productivity Benchmarks

We're comparing the Gigabyte P57W v6 to similar laptops in its class. For starters, our benchmark comparisons pit it against the recently reviewed MSI GE72VR Apache Pro-010. This laptop features an Intel Core i7-6700HQ processor, a 6GB GTX 1060 GPU, 12GB of DDR4-2133 memory, a 128GB M.2 SSD, and a 1TB HDD.

Additionally, we’re comparing the P57W v6 to the Asus Strix GL702VM-DB71, which is equipped with an i7-6700HQ CPU, a 6GB GTX 1060 GPU, 16GB of DDR4-2133 memory, and a 1TB HDD. The 17" Strix received our Editor Approved award because its performance almost matched that of the Asus Strix 15, but the poor display and thermal performance held it back.

Finally, the P57W v6 is going up against the Gigabyte P37X V6. The P37X is similar to the P57W in many ways, with its 17" display, an i7-6700HQ CPU, 16GB of DDR4 memory (albeit 2400MHz), and a 1TB HDD. The added bonuses are an 8GB GTX 1070 GPU, a larger 512GB M.2 SSD, and a 4K display. The P37X received top marks during display testing, so hopefully the P57W does too.

3DMark

3DMark scores are primarily determined by how powerful the system’s GPU is. The GTX 1060 does well in 3DMark, and our Gigabyte P57W v6 has ample performance in particular. Both the Asus Strix 17 and the MSI Apache Pro come close, but the only convincing defeat the P57W faces is against the P37X and its more powerful GTX 1070.

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Cinebench R15

The Cinebench tests are more CPU focused, so the GPU has less of an impact on the score. Since all three of the GTX 1060 laptops are equipped with an i7-6700HQ, we don't see much of a difference in the single and multi-core tests. A more powerful GPU does have a slight impact on the OpenGL shading score, putting the Gigabyte P37X ahead here.

CompuBench

CompuBench is more platform dependent, and grants a slight edge to systems with a strong GPU. Therefore, the P57W is outdone only by its fellow Gigabyte P37X, which scores about 21% and 28% higher in the Video Composition and Bitcoin Mining tests, respectively. The MSI Apache Pro is the only system the P57W beats outright.

IOMeter

To test read and write speeds, we run IOmeter from the system's primary drive. Since the Strix 17 only has a 7200RPM HDD, its scores are omitted from the charts. Our comparison only includes the Gigabyte P57W v6’s 256GB Plextor LiteOn CV3, the MSI Apache Pro’s 128GB Samsung SM951, and the P37X v6’s 512GB SM 951.

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The LiteON CV3 isn’t nearly as fast as either of the Samsung SM951s, which both have virtually equivalent random read and write speeds. In sequential speeds, the CV3 nearly catches up to the Apache Pro’s smaller SM951, but no cigar.

PCMark 8

We use PCMark to run Adobe Creative and Microsoft Office workloads, which provides scores based on a system’s home, office, and creative performance. All of the systems in question have an I7-6700HQ, so there's not much of a difference here -- the scale of the chart makes the differences look more pronounced than they really are.