Gigabyte Aero 14 review: the best 14-inch OLED laptop screen around
Gigabyte Aerop 14: Two Minute Review
The Aero 14 has long been the most work-focused offering from Taiwanese PC component and gaming laptop manufacturer Gigabyte, but while this business Ultrabook is thin and light, it’s got plenty to offer under the hood.
The 14-inch 3K OLED display is one of the brightest screens we’ve seen on a laptop, OLED or otherwise, so it’s no surprise that it’s capable of extreme vibrancy and contrast. Add to this a pro video color gamut with precise color accuracy and it’s more than capable of handling creative workloads.
The 14-core Intel 13th generation CPU and Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU combine to provide more than enough grunt for more demanding creative workflows. If you need a lot of RAM you might need to look elsewhere since the 16GB of DDR5 is non-upgradable, but for most this should be enough and is balanced well with the rest of the machine’s capabilities.
The physical design is great, with a lot of attention to detail in the CNC unibody chassis and port selection. I also liked Gigabyte’s Control Center software which offers the unique benefit of a driver update centre that helps you keep on top of software updates outside of Windows 11’s remit.
Unfortunately, the CPU is around 20 percent behind 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 task. This poor battery life makes it a harder sell as a portable creative device and so while it’s one of the thinnest and lightest creative workstations around, it’s really only suitable for those that have access to power where they work.
Gigabyte Aero 14: Price and availability
$1599 / £2,384 / AU$2,999
Available now
Available in the US and AU, limited availability in the UK
While the US is clearly Gigabyte’s preferred market selling the Aero 14 OLED for just $1599, the UK and Australia get hit with a massive tax with the device going for £2,384 and AU$2,999, respectively.
It’s pretty disappointing to see such wild differences in price across markets so keep in mind that the scores are reflected for the US market only, with about a half mark deduction required for Australia and a 'don’t bother' ticket for the one place I could see it available in the UK.
Price score: 3.5 / 5
Gigabyte Aero 14: Specs
There is only one version of the Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED (2023) available globally. It can be differentiated from its predecessor by the 13th generation Intel Core processor.
You can see the specs for the available model below.
Gigabyte Aero 14: Design
Amazing OLED screen
Tough aluminum chassis
Good port selection
It’s been a minute since we last covered an Aero from Gigabyte and it seems the range that was once defined by its pops of orange and green on the cover has matured into a sleek silver workhorse that won’t rock the boat in an office setting.
Still, it’s nice to see that the company is forging its own path in laptop design with unique little details, including an HDMI port at the rear of the device that looks like the exhaust of a sports car and a fast-looking set of thermal vents.
The laptop is covered in a CNC milled aluminum chassis that offers a lot of strength for its thin and light design. We would’ve probably preferred a slightly more subdued silver coloring over the gaudy platinum on offer, but it’s still an elegant overall finish.
The most striking design feature is undoubtedly the screen. The device has been fitted with an OLED panel that offers Vesa HDR 600 True Black certification, making it the brightest of its kind that I’ve seen. The Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M1) offers 1000nit peak brightness and the new M2 powered Pros feature an impressive 1600nit peak brightness, but they are not OLED panels which makes it difficult to make a direct comparison.
Nevertheless, the smooth 90Hz display on the Aero 14 OLED offers a sharp 2880 by 1800 pixel resolution and a full DCI-P3 colour gamut commonly used in professional video production, which pushes this bright OLED into being an exceptionally vibrant screen that is perfectly suited to creative work.
You'd be forgiven for thinking the Aero 14 only packs 'modern' ports, with its array of three Thunderbolt / USB-C ports, one microSD card reader and one headphone jack on the sides, but it also sneaks in a legacy USB-A port on the back next to the HDMI, which is bound to come in handy.
Gigabyte Aero 14: Performance
Decent CPU performance
Solid GPU performance
Gigabyte Aero 14: Benchmarks
Here's how the Gigabyte Aero 14 performed in our suite of benchmark tests:
3DMark: Port Royal: 3,579; Time Spy Extreme: 3,054; Time Spy: 6,696; Port Royal: 4,834
GeekBench 5: 1,669 (single-core); 12,375 (multi-core)
Cinebench R23 Multi-core: 12,239 points
Cyberpunk 2077 (1080p, Ultra): 70.92 fps;
RDR2 (1080p, Ultra): 66.35 fps;
Crystal DiskMark 8 (Read/ Write): 6,965/5005 MB/s
PCMark 10 (Home Test): 6,696 points
Battery Life (TechRadar movie test): 4 hours, 45 minutes
There’s a few different ways to look at performance of the Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED device, but the most straightforward is that it's got a powerful CPU and GPU that combine to mean you'll breeze through demanding creative workloads.
When you look at it against the competition, it’s hard not to compare it to the MacBook Pro 14, especially in Australia where they’re priced very similarly. The Intel Core i7-3700H is about 20 percent behind the Apple M2 Pro or Max processors in comparable CPU tasks. The Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 is however capable of keeping up with graphical performance from the top MacBook Pro processor.
Anyone hoping to play games after their creative work can expect 60 frames-per-second and above on modern titles at 1080p Ultra settings. You can even utilise the slightly higher 90Hz refresh rate for smoother visuals on less demanding titles.
Gigabyte Aero 14: Battery life
3h38min work lifespan
4h45min movie playback
Even if Gigabyte went with a processor like the AMD Ryzen 9 7940HS, it wouldn’t have been able to achieve battery life like what you get on the Apple MacBook Pro devices without sacrificing performance further, so it can only take so much responsibility for the disappointing battery life. That said, it could have easily added another half a pound (200g) to the battery to take the edge off the 3 hours and 38 minutes it’ll last during standard work benchmarking.
This equates to just 4 hours and 45 minutes in movie playback, which is more than enough to watch a movie and is even ok for a gaming laptop, but it’s around half to a third of what you’ll get from Apple silicon.
Should you buy the Gigabyte Aero 14 OLED?
Buy it if...
You need a powerful Windows laptop
The sleek, portable design is one of the lightest available and the discrete graphics card makes it capable of more demanding workloads .
Don't buy it if...
You need something that runs on battery
The Aero 14 is realistically only going to last a few hours at most if you’re working with the graphics card running, so if you need to work away from power this probably isn’t the laptop for you.
Gigabyte Aero 14: Also consider
How I tested the Gigabyte Aero 14
I tested it using both benchmark tests and video game benchmarks
I stress-tested the battery using the TechRadar movie test
I ran the Gigabyte Aero 14 through our standard suite of benchmarks to get a feel for the laptop's peak performance and to see how it compares with the best on the market.
In addition to our standard suite of testing, I also tested the device using it for a day of work to see how it fares when typing, web browsing, working and for light photo and video editing tasks.
The screen was analysed using TechRadar's standard movie test and was compared against other screens running standard web browsing and movie editing software.
The battery life was benchmarked with two tests to simulate different battery life scenarios.
First reviewed August 2023
