Gigabyte G6X (2024) review

Gigabyte's G5 (2023) is our favourite budget gaming laptop, so when this Gigabyte G6X 9KG 2024 model arrived at my office, I was really looking forward to testing it out. It has a similar same price as the G5 did when it first launched but the hardware inside has been given a bunch of updates to modernise it.

However, it's not quite a fair comparison, as the G5's true successor is really the Gigabyte G6. So what exactly are we getting with the added X? Put simply, more CPU cores, more power for the GPU, and more battery capacity. We all like getting more for our money.

The 9KG variant under review sports an Intel Core i7 13650HX processor, which has six P-cores and eight E-cores, for a total of 20 threads. That's more than enough for gaming—perhaps too much, as it has a maximum power limit of 155 W. Gigabyte has paired the CPU with a 105 W GeForce RTX 4060 and it's the most powerful version of that chip we've tested so far.

CPU: Intel Core i7 13650HX
GPU: Nvidia RTX 4060
Memory: 32GB DDR5-4800
Storage: 1TB NVMe SSD
Screen size: 16-inch IPS
Resolution: 1920 x 1200
Refresh rate: 165 Hz
Battery: 73 Whr
Dimensions: 36.1 x 25.9 x 2.51~2.89 cm
Weight: 2.5 kg (5.67 lbs)
Price: $1,350 | £1,198 (16GB)

Rounding off the rest of the basic specs are 32GB of dual-channel DDR5-4800 RAM and 1TB of Gigabyte's own PCIe 4.0 NVMe storage. It seems that the UK is only getting 16GB, which is why the price in Blighty is a touch lower, but it's way better than the 8GB nonsense you used to get not that long ago.

Those specs are all pretty decent and I'm glad Gigabyte wasn't tempted to try and jam more powerful stuff in there. That said, the combined maximum powers of the CPU and GPU come to 260 W—that's a lot of heat for a relatively slim laptop to shift, so you probably guess what that means.

I'll come to that in a moment but for now, let's talk about the screen. It's a full 16 inches in size, with a 16:10 aspect ratio, 1920x1200 pixels, and a refresh rate of 165 Hz.

My immediate impressions of the