Gamers have a (not entirely undeserved) reputation for liking lots of bling on their systems, but what if you have—gasp—more conservative preferences? The Gigabyte P37X v6 (starts at $2,299; $2,499 as tested) is a gaming laptop that doesn't skimp on the hard-core components, which means you'll be able to play all the newest and most demanding titles on the market (whether in 4K or via a VR headset), but that also doesn't much bother with flash and flair. If you can get along without that, the P37X v6 is a credible candidate. If you can't, well, you have plenty of options from other vendors to choose from.

Design and Features

The P37X v6 eschews ostentation in favor of maintaining a sense of mystery. Instead of being loaded down with all sorts of fancy lighting and ornamentation, from the outside, it's unfettered black aluminum, the only interruption being the reflective Gigabyte logo in the center of the lid. Open the lid and the color scheme continues: Aside from the white labels on the keys and the white backlighting between them, it's all black, all the time, from the bezel around the 17.3-inch 4K IPS screen (there's the expected webcam on top) on down to the keyboard deck, where you'll find the (somewhat loose and finicky) silver Power button dead center.

The chiclet-style keys, by the way, are comfortable to type on, with a solid amount of travel. There's a 10-key number pad on the right, which directly abuts the letter section with no space in between, though these keys are all of the same size and quality as the main set. On the left are macro keys and a button that lets you switch between five separate profiles, for a total of 25 macro possibilities. (All of this is configurable in the Gigabyte Macro Hub software.) There are, however, no dedicated media keys; you'll need to use the Fn key (located between the left Ctrl and Windows keys) in conjunction with the F1-F12 keys to change screen brightness, adjust volume, and so on. The touchpad itself is fine, but the integrated buttons (which are set off only with a subtle textured coating) are on the stiff side.

On the left side of the laptop are a Kensington lock slot, an Ethernet port, two USB 3.0 ports, and the headphone and microphone jacks. On the right are the power port, two USB ports (a third USB 3.0, with charging capability, and one USB-C), and three video outputs: full-size HDMI, Mini DisplayPort, and, of all things, VGA. Embedded in the front edge is a tray-style DVD±RW drive and, to its right, a switch that locks it. That's a good thing to have, as, at least on our review unit, the drive's eject button stuck out enough for us to hit accidentally more than once. (The drive is removable, and the P37X v6 comes with a dummy insert if you want to go that route; this will save you a bit of weight.) The two 1.5-watt speakers, also positioned on the underside of the front edge, produce decent sound with acceptable (if unexceptional) bass; they never get particularly loud, though, and there's a touch of distortion at maximum volume.

Although the P37X v6 is a serious gaming laptop with the kind of higher-end hardware you'd expect (a 2.6GHz Intel Core i7-6700HQ CPU, 16GB of RAM, an Nvidia GeForce GTX 1070 video card, lots of speedy storage by way of a 512GB M.2 SSD for programs and a 1TB 7,200rpm hard drive for data, and 802.11ac Wi-Fi and Bluetooth 4.1 for establishing wireless connections), it's not as unwieldy as many of its competitors. It measures a relatively slim 0.89 by 16.4 by 11.3 inches (HWD) and weighs a sensible-for-the-category 6.51 pounds (with the optical drive installed), though the hefty power brick and its cables increase the total weight to 8.33 pounds.

There's not much in the way of bloatware on the P37X v6, though there is the Gigabyte Smart Manager utility, which provides an easy way to change many key settings (including the volume and the brightness of the keyboard backlight). An interesting option here is the Smart Color applet, which lets you adjust the display's color temperature and even activate a "blue-light killer" Gigabyte claims will make the laptop less likely to cause restlessness if you use it right before bed. Exactly how well this works, I can't say (I'm not a terrific sleeper, I must admit), but it gives visuals a jaundice hue you probably won't want to look at for many other reasons.

The P37X v6 is covered by a two-year warranty.

Performance

When you're buying a laptop like the P37X v6, only one thing really matters in terms of performance: gaming. The good news is it falls in line with the previous model we've tested with the GTX 1070 video card, the MSI GT62VR Dominator Pro-005 . But that machine's larger amount memory (32GB) likely contributed to its somewhat stronger results.

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In our lower-resolution Cloud Gate test, the Gigabyte pulled a score of 20,215 to the MSI's 25,278; we saw a similar difference in Fire Strike Extreme, with results of 7,366 versus 7,093. This carried over to our gaming tests, too, with the P37X v6's lower-resolution Heaven results (147 frames per second, or fps) falling just short of the GT62VR's (173fps), though the laptop did slightly better when we increased the resolution and the detail settings (96fps versus the MSI's 95fps). Valley was comparable: 95fps for the MSI versus 85fps for the Gigabyte on the lower resolution, and 89fps for MSI versus 83fps for the Gigabyte when we notched things up.

The Acer Predator 17X (GX-791-758V) ($1,999.99 at Amazon Canada) and the Lenovo Ideapad Y900-17 ($1,099.99 at Lenovo) surpassed the Gigabyte here and there, due to their use of a marginally faster processor and higher-end last-generation video hardware, but faltered at the higher resolutions for which the 1070 card was designed. And you can make a sizable performance jump by moving to an even more expensive machine like the Asus ROG G752VS-XB78K Overclocked Edition . But for the price, the P37X v6 is a more-than-capable gaming laptop, and it even proved quite handy at 4K gaming when tasked with running the same high-setting Heaven and Valley benchmark tests at 3,840 by 2,160: Its results of 26.4fps (for the former) and 30.8fps (for the latter) show that you don't have to worry, but as those are right at our playability threshold, you probably don't want to get too crazy with the detail settings.

General-purpose performance on the Gigabyte was good, too: It took a mere 1 minute, 13 seconds, to finish encoding a video in HandBrake; and 3:32 to apply all of the filters in our Photoshop test. Its score on the CineBench rendering test (676) was likewise respectable. Note that the MSI edged out the Gigabyte in the first two tests (if not the third one) thanks to its additional memory, as well as on our PCMark 8 Work Conventional test (3,355 versus 2,783), though that's at least partially because of the P37X v6's 4K screen.

One area where that display did not have a detrimental effect: battery life. The 75.81Wh battery in the P37x v6 helped it last a full 5 hours, 5 minutes, on our rundown test; the MSI could only manage 3:55, and the closest competitor among equivalent similar laptops we've tested was the Ideapad Y900-17 (which lasted 4:50). True, battery life is never going to reach MacBook Air levels on a gaming laptop, but being able to spend another hour or so off-plug is always nice.

Conclusions

Whether the Gigabyte P37x v6 is right for you depends on what type of gamer you are. If you can live without external bells and whistles, if you crave a 4K display, and if you like the idea of above-average portability and battery life, it's a fine way to go. But if raw performance is more your thing, and you want to save money and get a snazzier design as part of the bargain, the MSI GT62VR Dominator Pro-005 earns its Editors' Choice status, and also gives you more memory (if less storage) while costing $500 less. Wherever you fall on this spectrum, though, either laptop is a strong pick that will ensure you're gaming happily for years to come.

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