Gaming A16 Gaming Laptop - 165Hz 1920x1200 WUXGA - NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 - Intel i7-13620H - 1TB SSD with 16GB DDR5 RAM - Windows 11 Home AD Gaming A16 CWHI3US894SH

My purchase included the NVidia RTX 5070 and 32GB RAM options.Before purchasing this laptop, I spent a few hours researching the laptop's performance on several well-known technical review websites. I also watched a few side-by-side comparison video's on YouTube. I strongly recommend you do the same before buying.My primary reason for purchase was to upgrade from my 12 year old Windows 7 PC. My secondary reason was to be able to have the ability to play older games (3+ years) on high settings, along with some newer games on low-mid settings. Most of my gameplay is on consoles, so I did not need a top-tier gaming PC. If you are a die-hard PC gamer who wants to play the latest AAA titles on high graphical settings, you'll need to spend a lot more money on a different setup.This laptop booted very fast into Windows 11. From an engineer's point of view, Windows 11 is probably a huge change from Windows 10, but from a layman's point of view, there isn't a huge difference. So, if you are used to Windows 10, this should be a fairly easy transition. After 2 months of use, I have not had any Windows-related crashes, so the hardware and OS seem to get along okay.Gigabyte A16 motherboards do have an additional, empty SSD expansion slot. Knowing that my Steam gaming library would probably fill the default 1TB SSD hard drive quickly, I purchased a separate 2TB PCIe Gen4 NVMe M.2 SSD from Amazon. It was easy to physically install. I then used Windows Disk Management to initialize, partition, and format the drive. Total process only took 30 minutes. ***IMPORTANT - On a Gigabyte Gaming A16 CWH motherboard: Unlike the default SSD which is horizontally mounted above the battery, the expansion slot is positioned on the opposite side of the board, vertically mounted, at the right side of the battery.*** If you are not comfortable with laptop upgrades, I strongly recommend you do research OR ask an expert for help.All of my non-gaming applications run fine, no issues. The only taxing game I've played on this laptop is Cyberpunk 2077 Ultimate Edition. I run it in 1900x1080 resolution, with most Cyberpunk graphical settings on Ultra, including Ray Tracing. With DLSS Frame Generation set to 4X, I get an average 165 FPS. Very crisp, clear, and smooth gaming experience. However, with Cyberpunk's "Path Tracing" turned on, the FPS drops to 30. This exposes the Nvidia RTX 5070's lack of raw power compared to the NVidia 90 series GPUs.UPDATE - the above experience is correct, until I started the Cyberpunk Phantom Liberty expansion, which released about 2 years ago. CDPR really pushed the envelope on visual detail in “Dogtown”. I had to reduce Ray Traced Lighting detail to Medium AND turn Off all Ray Traced Shadow effects to maintain the high framerate. The game still looks great, but this showcases another drawback to the Nvidia 70 series GPUs.***IMPORTANT - When taxed, the GPU Fan is loud and NEEDS PROPER VENTILATION. Make sure you have it on a hard, flat surface. Better yet, place it on a grated laptop stand that provides lots of room for airflow.***The laptop's display is great for what I use it for. I have no complaints. it is bright, clear, and the ability to position the display at 180 degrees is a plus.The onboard speaker is average for a laptop. I've played music on it and the clarity is decent, but like many laptops, not very loud. If you want high volume, you will have to use an external audio accessory (headphones, headset, external speaker, etc.)The battery life is good. After 2 months: During normal use (no gaming), the laptop defaults to the onboard Intel UHD GPU, which allows for approximate 5-7 hours of use at 100% battery power. When using software that engages the NVidia RTX GPU (gaming, etc.), the battery power consumption greatly increases. In summary, if you are gaming with the NVidia GPU, you will need to leave the laptop plugged in.After 2 months of consistent use, my only complaint is the "GiMATE" onboard, proprietary Gigabyte system maintenance software. Every time I unplugged the battery charger, it asks a series of questions, while recommending disengaging the NVidia GPU to save battery power. I gave in one day and clicked yes, assuming the change would be temporary. NOPE! It fully disabled the NVidia GPU to the point where Windows 11 hid it in the device manager. Rebooting the laptop wouldn't undo this change. Eventually, I had to uninstall the NVidia drivers, unhide and remove the disabled NVidia display adapter from Windows Device Manager, then do a hard shutdown and bootup of Windows. Windows finally "found" the GPU and I had to reload the NVidia drivers to get it functional again. At the end of that 4 hours of frustration, I UNINSTALLED GiMATE permanently. I will track and upgrade hardware drivers and firmware manually rather than go through that nightmare again. *THIS* is the only reason I will not reward this product with 5 stars.In summary, this A16 laptop with the RTX 5070 and 32GB options was a great choice for my budget/midgrade gaming needs. With the exception of the GiMATE software debacle, my experience has been seamless, enjoyable, and fulfilling. The value was well worth the money spent.

Here's an honest review highlighting what I think most of y'all will want to know!24 hour ownership and here's what I've found.This laptop is surprisingly powerful! i7 13620h paired with 32gb Ram and a 5070 GPU. This is running BF6 at 90FPS consistently with the graphics maxed out and runs Star Citizen at 70FPS with the settings at max. I have very minimal stuttering moments with this laptop under heavy load and have no major complaints for the playability and function.Audio quality is laptop grade. This is not going to "WOW" you in anyway. If you're an audiophile looking for soundwave bliss, laptops aren't for you. The speakers are downward facing toward the front corners of the laptop and are plenty loud enough with smooth quality.The display is a respectable 16" (that's measured diagonally) and is very responsive. I haven't dabbled aggressively into advertisement creation or video editing yet but it seems to be quite clear with no visible deficits.Battery life is accurate to the advertisement and seems to have some protective features you can use in the GiMate software.Boot times are generally quick and I don't have too much more to say about that.The keys feel great to type on, they're not loud at all and the trackpad is accurate and responsive. I wish the track didn't travel downward so much when firm clicking but it does work very well.The hinges feel sturdy and smooth, and the screen does open to 180 degrees with minimal effort.Now, for the yellow and red flags.First, the Gigabyte Pre-installed GiMate software is a little unnecessarily flashy and doesn't offer much customization control, which on a gaming laptop is disappointing to say the least. I mean you cannot use the software to control fan speed curve, OC frequency, etc. etc. It has some pre-programed settings for performance or balance or eco modes but does not give the user the ability to fine tune these settings.The software also has AI built into it which chews up Ram. I've discovered it running idle, not open or being utilized and it's taken up as much as 2.5gb of my available ram. There is also no setting I can find to disable just the AI and if you delete the AI file the entire program will no longer run. Huge thumbs down if you want to use it but want to save RAM.The RGB portion of the program is not bad, but needs work. It does not cooperate with windows very well at times and while changing colors or patterns I've noticed some strobing effect while it is sorting itself out.The keyboard portion of the laptop just feels a bit lacking. The speakers don't face up, there's a large amount of flat, black, unused space around the keyboard edge and it just feels like they could have done a little more to spice it up or give the user some quality of life features here.When under heavy load the fans will kick on to keep temps under control, and they ramp up to full speed which produces a fair bit of noise. It works though! This unit has not broken 71 degrees (Celsius) even under heavy usage.Lastly, the charging cable is a straight plug, meaning there is no bend to it like many other laptop charging cables out there. This means that when plugged in you have a cord sticking straight out the left side of the laptop and taking up space on the desk around the computer. One thing I've always appreciated about 90 degree plugs is the ability to run that straight back the desk and neatly out of the way.All in all, this laptop is flat out incredible for its price point and features. The power packed in this unit competes with my $2000 desktop build. It starts up quickly and quietly, it's efficient and runs my games very well. I couldn't complain about it because, well, I bought a laptop to play games and build digital content. It does both very well!If you're looking for a laptop that can give you a quality gaming experience and doesn't break the bank, look no further. This one is a keeper!