GIGABYTE - GAMING A16 - 16" 165Hz 1920x1200 WUXGA Intel Core i7-13620H - 1TB SSD - 32GB DDR5 RAM - GeForce RTX 5060 - Black Steel

I’ve had this laptop for months now and I thought I’d finally give it a review. Overall for the price point the specs are pretty good, it gets the job done with most games and only begins to hiccup a bit on the extremely intensive games but it’s nothing bad, if you understand the specs then you know what you’re getting yourself into. The keyboard is nice and clicky and the trackpad is sturdy. I like that it has a lot of ports on the sides of the laptop, however I’d be remiss if I didn’t mention that I wish it had a little more. It charges extremely quickly so if it’s ever getting low as long as you have its charger, you should be good. The Gigabyte software is pretty flexible which I appreciate since I didn’t know much about this brand going into this laptop. The screen is nice and bright too. It has 32GB of RAM with I’m pretty sure 7-8GB of V-RAM so it can manage a lot of things at once, and it hasn't had an issue where it’s gotten completely full. The intel chip is also pretty decent, nothing all that noteworthy about it. The 5060 graphics card from NVIDIA is also quite solid and makes a lot of games look and run well if you tune things appropriately. The amount of storage is nice too given it’s 1TB. Alright time for the not so good stuff I’ve noticed: The laptop gets quite hot when running a lot of games. It isn’t anything too unmanageable and so far it hasn’t overheated but the body sometimes gets painfully hot when you touch the part near the bottom of the screen and the keyboard itself can get a bit warm. The fans can also get extremely loud when running intensive games so unless you're wearing headphones or something, you better crank up that volume to drown out the sound since it’s very noticeable and fairly annoying. The screen itself has got a lot of tiny little scratches on it and it’s really bugged me. It’s happened both times I’ve ordered this laptop since yes I had to send it back and get a replacement at first since I saw the scratches and I don’t know why. I don’t think it has to do with me but maybe the way I wiped the screen to clean it might’ve caused it, I don’t know exactly (I used a microfiber cloth so I don’t think it’s me?), just something to keep in mind. Maybe get a screen protector or something lol. While I did say the software of the computer is pretty flexible, the way it integrates with NIVIDIA and Windows is pretty tedious, sometimes the settings of each of them clash with each other and either makes things not save when I change something or it slows down my computer until I’m made sure everything is fully updated and stable. Sometimes just in general when I want to make a change to something software-wise it just doesn’t work at first or is buggy for a second. When I had to initially boot the computer up, I spent a couple hours getting Windows up to speed with updates and whatnot, it was pretty time-consuming. The built-in speakers of the laptop are just fine (like a 6/10), it isn’t anything bad but they aren’t all that remarkable, I’ve definitely heard better laptop speakers than this. The webcam quality is also just okay, nothing bad but nothing great either. And lastly what I want to mention in this section is the battery life: this laptop’s battery is kinda mid. I’ve already configured it in some ways so it lasts a bit longer but the battery drains fairly fast in my opinion when unplugged. If you’re not doing anything intensive then it does last a decent bit but the second it has to start chugging, the battery goes down faster. Now when it is plugged in, the battery really isn’t an issue at all but since this is a laptop I feel like the experience of using it unplugged should be smoother. Alright I know the cons section was way longer than the pros section but overall the laptop is good. It’s my first real powerful computer and I’ve been able to do a lot with it so far which I like. It obviously isn’t reinventing the wheel but if you’re looking for a good gaming laptop for its price, this one is something you could go for. Although I’d maybe wait till it’s on sale since that’s when I got it. And as a word of advice: if you’re contemplating whether to get a gaming desktop or a gaming laptop, ask yourself if you really care about the portability. For me personally I think portability is something I want as of this moment but I could definitely see a scenario where I’d get a desktop computer with similar specs to this. Getting a desktop would probably eliminate a bunch of my criticisms too like the screen, battery, and fan noise, but if you do want that ease of use then it works. You could even go with a dual set up where you have a super powerful gaming desktop and a not so powerful work related laptop, just food for thought. I do wonder how long this thing is gonna last me but for now it’s getting the job done and I’d recommend it to those who are fine giving it a go even with all that I said!

I got this for my wife, she has been enjoying the laptop thus far. We havent seen much issues with it. Its capable of doing photoshop and playing the games that she likes. There is one downside, but it may not affect other people. The laptops on board networking card appears to have issues connecting to a network that uses a cellular network. I have starlink and t mobile 5g home internet. The laptops onboard card works well with starlink, but refused to work on the 5g home internet. I believe maybe this could be something to do with ipv6 potentially. I did troubleshooting and narrowed it down to the onboard card because we were able to buy a netgear usb wifi, and it was able to access the network without issues on both networks. It was relatively easy to fix, not a super big deal especially since everything else is flawless. But i figured i would mention it.

I frankly don't know much about computers, laptops or specs, but after asking regarding specs... I was recommended this laptop thanks to an employee. I did not seek a laptop like this for the sole purpose of gaming, but it was definitely an option and while I do play only one videogame on the PC what I was looking forward too most with a laptop like this was whether or not it would be capable of handling Blender, Modeling, Photoshop, Photopea etc. And it does actually handle them just fine! In fact playing games videogames on the laptop feels great to do so too! So much so I can even enjoy writing again! So in general this laptop is just great. Alongside the cooling. I played for hours at a time and did not feel the laptop get hot. Though that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t consider getting a laptop cooler! Which I may for the future.

Introduction: The GIGABYTE A16 is first and foremost a gaming laptop packing a 13th Gen Intel i7-13620H, boasting 10 cores @ 4.9GHz. Just as impressive is its 2xSODIMM 32GB DDR5 RAM @ 5600MHz, but you’ll also find a modest GIGABYTE 1TB SSD. The battery is a nice 76Wh allowing for up to 14 hours of runtime. The display is a 16” 1920x1200 IPS panel @165Hz. Finally, to complement all this is NVIDIA’s RTX 5060 Mobile. Main Takeaways: Today’s gaming hardware manufacturers are driving improved battery life and heat reduction provided by lower TDPs for both CPU and GPU. And just for reference, an apples-to-apples performance comparison of the 5060 and 4070 laptop variants put them as very comparable, but giving the upper hand to the 5060 for more efficient power consumption. The A16 mainly suits casual gamers who want that power to do some gaming, but also be able to run productivity apps. Look and Feel: The GiGABYTE A16 is most definitely a gaming laptop. By the look and feel alone, it isn’t a laptop that you would normally carry around due to its heft, in my opinion. The base of the clamshell is about a half inch longer in the rear than the 16” screen itself; this is to allow more room for hardware and cooling. Also, once opened, you will find a very very large touchpad, which is both welcoming in terms of normal productivity as well as a very very large palm rest. The keyboard itself is also just as satisfying to type on. It’s definitely not mechanical, but it isn’t bad to type on either. Peripherals: HDMI2.1, USB-A Gen1, USB-C Gen1 with DP1.4 and PD 3.0, nice), Wi-Fi 6E Cooling: GIGABYTE calls its cooling design the “3D Vortx”. What that essentially means is that air enters from underneath the laptop using two fans and provides cooling to both the hardware as well as the keyboard itself, which is pretty cool. The idea here is to keep the touch areas cool so that you're comfortable while gaming. In my testing, the keys were warm to the touch, but nothing uncomfortable. As you get closer to the function keys, there is a drastic change in temperature, so the cooling design definitely is working here. Air is escalated through the sides and rear; I think I was more bothered about the exiting heat hitting my right hand while using the mouse. During gaming sessions, the fans remain relatively quiet. Performance: Honestly, a 16” WUXGA IPS display @ 165Hz being driven by a 5060 with 8GB VRAM is probably a sweet spot for gaming. The A16 is exactly this and from a gaming perspective it does not disappoint. NVIDIA’s DLSS 4 definitely does a lot of weightlifting here when it comes to driving FPS and maintaining quality. Just to cut to the chase, here are some games and benchmarks I ran: 3DMark Score - 9872, 61W CLK 2197MHz(GPU), 11001MHz(VRAM) Shadow of the Tomb Raider: 78FPS @ Ultra Settings CLK 2133MHz(GPU), 9001MHz(VRAM), 51W DLSS Quality Horizon Zero Dawn - 78FPS @ Ultra Settings CLK 2133MHz(GPU), 9001MHz(VRAM), 51W DLSS Quality Sound quality is decent for a laptop. It’s not tinny or flat. Drivers exit the body facing down and bounce off the surface to aid in giving you that full sound. Battery Longevity: The A16 comes with an Integrated GPU for non-gaming applications. This allows for battery conservation, keeping the 5060 asleep but ready when it needs to tag-team the iGPU out. This is pretty much a standard practice among laptops with two GPUs. When it detects it’s under battery use, the GPU will switch from discrete to integrated. The screen will also dim its brightness and reduce the refresh rate from 165Hz down to 60Hz. I tried gaming under these conditions…and obviously it was not good. Understandably so. Battery life is always subjective depending on what you’re doing, but I can say that this laptop does perform very well, going for at least 8-9 hours before I start to panic charge. This is a mixture of web browsing, productivity and streaming videos. Upgradeability: Opening the “case” requires removing 11 philip screws, then carefully prying off the bottom panel. It is a snap-on panel and will require a bit of force to remove, but once removed, accessibility to components are easy. There are two SODIMM slots for DDR5 RAM, both of which are occupied with 16GB. There are also two m.2 slots for NVMe, one of which is currently being used and an unused slot for additional drives. Finally, there is the battery itself that can be easily removed and replaced with the time comes. Portability: This isn’t the smallest of laptops, but I was able to take it with me on a personal trip. It had no problem fitting in my laptop backpack, which is able to fit up to a 15.6” laptop. It is close to 5lbs in weight, which in today’s standards is a bit much, but it didn’t bother me as I moved through the airport terminals and on and off the plane. Conclusion: The GIGABYTE GAMING A16 is a good hybrid between gaming and productivity. I do feel that due to its size, it may be one of those laptops that stays put and acts a carry-around-the-house kind of device as opposed to carry around everywhere like an ultra-lightweight or a tablet. It performs gaming pretty well and, when not gaming, provides a very usable keyboard and complementing touchpad for ease of use.

The computer itself is good, though I had some problems setting it up at first because certain driver and Windows updates weren’t downloading. I contacted Gigabyte support, but it took almost two weeks to get a response—fortunately, the issue ended up resolving itself. In the photo you will see the first laptop I got before the replacement. The delivery experience, however, was frustrating. The first laptop I received was completely broken. When I went back to Best Buy, they initially tried to say it was my fault and that they needed to decide whether or not to replace it, which I thought was unreasonable. After about an hour, they finally agreed to replace it, but I had to wait another week. Since I had already waited a week for the original order, it ended up taking about two weeks just to get a working computer.