Gigabyte P35X v5
A delicate balancing act between performance, features, noise, and heat
FOR YEARS, the gaming notebook arena was dominated by large and bulky systems that performed well, but were an albatross around your neck when you had to lug them about. Razer’s Blade line changed that, packing gaming hardware into a very sexy chassis. Now Gigabyte has upped the ante by including a GTX 980M instead of the slightly less potent GTX 970M.
The result is almost a gaming laptop rather than a gaming notebook, though you probably don’t want to game with it on your lap. All that performance in a 21mm thick chassis that weighs just over 5lb means it can get toasty under load—we measured surface hot spots in excess of 60oC while gaming, though mostly at the back-middle (near the power button), where you’re not as likely to come into direct contact. The added size compared to last month’s P34W v5 also allowed it to pass torture testing, albeit at a very audible 47dB.
If that were the only thing going on, the P35X would be a good option, but Gigabyte includes plenty of other high-end features. The display is a 4K IPS panel, and while that’s too much for the GPU at high/ultra settings, on a 15.6-inch display, there’s no arguing it looks crisp. There’s also a 256GB SM951 NVMe drive, a 1TB hard drive, and a 75.8Wh battery. Oh, and for all you holdouts who like physical media, they’ve even stuffed in a swappable storage bay; our unit had a Blu-ray combo drive, but it can be used for another 2.5-inch HDD/SSD.
BEAST OR BEAUTY? When it comes to performance, the P35X v5 doesn’t disappoint—from storage tests to CPU performance to gaming, it handles everything as well as you would expect. The GTX 980M is about 20 percent faster than a GTX 970M, and battery life remains a respectable four hours, beating the recent MSI GE62 and Asus G752VT by well over 50 percent in our rundown testing. And how about that modern SSD? It’s typically two-to-three times the performance of a SATA drive, reaching 2,254/1,249MB/s in sequential transfers.
So far, there’s not a single compromise made with the P35X v5, but we haven’t covered some of the more subjective areas. In terms of styling, the P35X is either a welcome break from the garish gaming notebooks, or it’s rather drablooking. Compared to the Razer Blade 14, it’s nowhere near as sexy, and the casing is mostly plastic instead of machined aluminum. Keyboard backlighting is white LED only, and the keyboard itself is a little softer than we like. The touchpad is somewhat lacking, too, with integrated buttons that don’t always respond well to clicks. Also, that 4K display isn’t G-Sync enabled, so while, in theory, you can play some games at 4K (typically at lower quality settings), in practice you’ll mostly end up running them at 1080p.
None of these are major issues, though, and as an entire package, the P35X v5 is well rounded. The price is competitive, too, and the feature set is excellent—it’s amazing to see a thin chassis with all this performance that still elects to include a swappable drive bay. Some of these compromises are a forced choice, as well: You can’t have G-Sync with Optimus, so you either get G-Sync or improved battery life. And that’s what it boils down to: choice. We like the P35X v5, and for some users, it’s going to be a better gaming laptop than a bigger option from Asus or MSI. Others will want the sex appeal of the Razer Blade. But if you’re looking for something with a bit more performance without added weight, the P35X is impressive.