Review (with Video) – Gigabyte P25W – 15.6″ Gaming Notebook with Cheapest GTX770M

Getting here, this very famous brand in the component world looks more and more serious about getting into the Mobile Gaming market. In Indonesia, the Gigabyte notebook brand is not as popular as MSI with its G-Series, let alone ASUS with its ROG series. But not all new traders can be taken lightly, as evidenced by the initial breakthrough through the P34G and P35K, Gigabyte was able to steal the attention of many Pemmz colleagues. This time, Pemmz will review one of Gigabyte’s newest series, the P25W which has more “manly” specifications.

Gigabyte P25W

The unit that we are reviewing is not the SKU that will be circulated, the term “sample”. But because the CPU and GPU specifications are estimated to be exactly the same as those that will be circulating here, with changes only in terms of storage, RAM and OS, this sample unit is considered to represent the average P25W performance even though it has different SKUs.

For the sales package, Pemmz also guarantees it is exactly the same. As seen in the image above, starting from the packaging box, thick and safety Styrofoam, unit and Windows manual book, DVD driver and utility, 5700mAh battery pack (non bubble wrap) and 120 Watt Power Adapter. Oops, 120 Watts to power a GTX770M? We’ll see if this capacity is sufficient or not.

Design

Design 1

Remember the Gigabyte P2542 that pemmz reviewed earlier? Now, it is estimated that the P25W design departs from the P2542 series. Especially the barebones design and Lid LCD panels. Given the specifications of the GPU GTX770M it carries, the thickness of the barebones P25W which does not increase at all deserves a thumbs up. What is immediately implied, must be how the heat dissipation ability of a gaming notebook that has a “cheesy” colored LCD cover is.

In terms of design, the points that have changed compared to its older brother P2542 are the Keyboard and Touchpad. The keyboard on the P25W has been added backlit similar to the P35K. As for the Touchpad, the surface is no longer textured but replaced with a dove type. Although physically this is a downgrade, but in terms of use, the new touchpad is more responsive. Plus the pointer speed that can be set dpi through Gigabyte Tools.

Connectivity

For this point there is also no change, the use of the same barebones seems to make the P25W have the same amount and type of connectivity. PemmZHolics can see the description in the previous P2542 review.

Display Panel

P25W LCD

From the outside, the Gigabyte P25W seems to use the same LCD panel as the P2542. namely the 15.6″ Anti-Glare type panel with Full HD 1920 x 1080p resolution.

The difference is, for the P25W, one hole is added which looks like a light sensor to support the automatic brightness feature

The maximum distance the LCD panel is open.

Extra Features

The most different from the Smart Manager version on the P25W compared to the P34G and P35K versions is the addition of Touchpad DPI control options like DPI switches on gaming mice. Very helpful for those of you who often rely on the touchpad when working on graphic design applications. The second is the windows key lock, this is also often encountered on gaming keyboards whose purpose is to eliminate the possibility of the windows key being depressed and the system returning to the home screen.

Shutdown Menu — Additional features that help users who are not familiar with Windows 8.

Smart Switch also offers a default screen favorite option. So for those of you who don’t like being thrown into metro style, you can change to aero style every time windows starts. Good Features.

Upgrade Options

Initially the Pemmz team thought, the P25W offered an upgrade option to the GPU, in fact, the Geforce GTX770M on the Gigabyte P25W was “soldered” directly on the motherboard. This case is similar to the ASUS ROG G750JX. With the GPU upgrade option locked, which can automatically be maximized only on the CPU, RAM, Storage and ODD side. Wireless module is also included, it’s just that this point is rarely touched.

Two pieces of RAM are installed on the P25W which we review this time, one 8GB and one extra 4GB that must be replaced if the user wants to upgrade to a capacity of 16GB. So it’s best to upgrade at the beginning of the purchase to minimize the cost of upgrading in the future. Including if you want a RAID configuration for the system partition by adding an m-SATA SSD.

Upgrade Options — 1. Two RAM slots up to 16GB
2. Two m-SATA slots with excellent positioning efficiency.
3. HDD Protection is very good
4. Blower type fan, more quiet
5. GTX770M “Onboard”

The upgrade option on the Gigabyte P25W is more like the Xenom Siren SR13 that we reviewed recently. Why does the pemmz team say similar? Just look at the 2 m-SATA slots in the unit we reviewed, only one has been used, there is still one more slot for an m-SATA SSD that can be configured in RAID. Likewise on the RAM side, the Gigabyte P25W can accommodate two SoDimm DDR3 8GB pc 1600, the total RAM that can be maximized is 16GB. A 2.5″ SATA slot is installed by default with a 1TB HDD which is still possible to expand up to 2TB.

Performance

Storage

Storage bench

The ability of an SSD made by Lite-On is considered very good for the size of an m-SATA. The read speed is able to beat a 2.5″ SATA II SSD which averages 300Mbps of performance. But a little disappointed with the performance of the second disk, namely WDC which is allocated as a data partition. In addition to its slightly below standard performance, there is often a “crack” sound which indicates a problem with the HDD plate.

Battery

Battery Bench

For a notebook with a GTX770M GPU, the battery quality that the P25W carries is very good. This is shown from the results of testing with Battery Eat pro where when compared to the Alienware 17 2021 edition, the performance of the Gigabyte P25W battery is about 30% superior.

Temp

temp 3

Judging from the monitor’s temperature for about 20 minutes of “torture”, the circulation in the barebones P25W is quite good, it’s just that the temperature increase is still relatively fast, indicating that the quality of the heatsink and thermal paste needs to be upgraded. Another added value is that the Heatsink Fan unit on the P25W has implemented a Blower model that has a “half-size” tight blade, this greatly affects the noise emitted, much quieter compared to notebooks that still use conventional fans. .

Conclusion

With a GTX770M and the default 128GB m-SATA SSD option, the $1,882 price tag is worth it. If you don’t talk about brand, pemmZHolics can save around US$ 700 compared to Alienware 17 2021 ed or save ASUS ROG G750JX. In fact, the price offered by the P25W can threaten the MSI GT60 and Xenom Phoenix PX15 CTO. Although the latter two types have super capabilities that the P25W does not have, the Upgradeable GPU card (MXM).

So, for those of you who are looking for a high-end 15.6″ notebook solution and don’t plan on upgrading your GPU in the future, the Gigabyte P25W is the best and affordable option. With the offer of 12GB RAM, 128GB SSD and original Windows 8, the price is really MURAAHH . .

120 Watt adapter but still able to provide output up to 142 Watt.

Looks like gigabytes will have to revise the Adapter capacity for P25W. The reason is, the consumption of a GTX770M cannot be handled by a 120 Watt Adapter even though this Adapter made by Delta Elektronik is able to provide an output of up to 142 Watts. If it is continued, it is feared that the life of the adapter will decrease because the adapter is like in forsir, this may be what causes a hissing sound from the adapter. Or it could be the other way around, the GTX770M’s performance is not optimal due to lack of power.

Pros: