The Gigabyte Aero 5 is generally less expensive and may offer sufficient performance for general use and some gaming. However, if your work involves intensive gaming or specialized engineering tasks, and you are willing to invest more, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 offers superior capabilities but comes at a higher cost and heftier form factor. Give Feedback
this description is based on the product variant with some specs and product variant with some specs. At the time of writing, the variant with some specs cost some dollars and the variant with some specs cost some dollars.
Advantages of the Gigabyte Aero 5
Very good overall display quality
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
Very good for general use
Very good for software development
Very good overall build quality
Good portability
Very good speakers
Key differences
Screen Quality
8.6/10
7.9/10
15.6in
SIZE
14.4in
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
446.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
503.0 nits
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has a better screen than the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 for general use, and engineering and design, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has a better screen for content creation.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 offers a high-resolution display with excellent brightness and panel quality, making it ideal for general use and design applications where sharpness and clarity are crucial. For engineering and design tasks, it provides a wide range of colors, covering a large spectrum necessary for precise color work. However, for gaming and 3D applications, it falls short due to a lower refresh rate, which is essential for smooth motion and a responsive gaming experience.
Battery
7.0 Hours
8.0 Hours
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has 7 hours of battery life. The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has 8 hours of battery life.
Battery life estimate is based on a mix of common use patterns. More portable and higher performing laptops tend to have less battery life.
Portability
Fair
Good
15.6in
SIZE
14.4in
5.0 lbs
WEIGHT
4.4 lbs
1.0in
THICKNESS
0.8in
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has good portability, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.8/10
8.5/10
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 has very good build quality, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 has good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,250
$3,300
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
$3,500
$4,000
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has a price of $1,250 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 costs $3,300.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 to be very good for general use, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 is good.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 offers superior portability due to its lighter weight and slightly longer battery life compared to the Gigabyte Aero 5. However, the Aero 5 with its OLED screen provides exceptional screen quality, but the Surface Laptop Studio 2 compensates with a higher RAM configuration and a unique flexible hinge for varied use cases.
Gaming and AI
7.9/10
7.7/10
8.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.7/10
The Gigabyte Aero 5 and Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 are both good for gaming and AI.
The Gigabyte Aero 5, with its Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU and 60Hz OLED screen, is built for very good gaming and 3D performance, especially in vibrant detail on a large screen, although it's less portable due to its weight. In contrast, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 features a newer Nvidia RTX 4060 GPU and a higher 120Hz screen refresh rate on an IPS panel, contributing to smoother visuals in games and 3D applications, and is more portable but has a smaller screen size and resolution than the Aero 5.
Engineering and Design
8.7/10
8.7/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
8.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
7.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
The Gigabyte Aero 5 and Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 are both very good for engineering and design.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 features a robust CPU, ample RAM, and a high-quality dedicated GPU, with an OLED screen offering stellar color accuracy and contrast, making it a strong contender for engineering and design tasks that require visual precision and computational power. In contrast, the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 boasts a newer CPU with a significantly larger amount of RAM, a capable GPU for both performance and power efficiency, and a touchscreen with a unique aspect ratio, providing versatility in design work and a different approach to user interaction and portability.
Content Creation
8.2/10
8.4/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 and Gigabyte Aero 5 are both very good for content creation.
PerfectRec’s Content Creation Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for photo editing, video editing and other content creation tasks.
Software Development
7.9/10
8.2/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.0/10
16.0 GB
RAM
64.0 GB
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2400 x 1600
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
8.0/10
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 to be very good for software development, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 is good.
PerfectRec’s Software Development Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for software developers.
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How the Gigabyte Aero 5 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2 compare to other laptops
"It is unfortunate that the Gigabyte AERO notebook series have seem to lost its charm, as it’s not exactly any much different from the AORUS series now. Regardless, content creators and designers will certainly still appreciate the features on the AERO 5 XE4, which are fundamental to their work. This largely revolved around the notebook’s display, which is colour calibrated and validated, high resolution (4K) and with great AMOLED colour representation. Now that the AERO 5 XE4 has improved its performance with the latest CPU and GPU, the professionals can also appreciate the improved productivity from the notebook."
"The new Surface Laptop Studio with its foldable display is supposed to replace the old Surface Book and the overall impression is good after our review. The build quality and the materials are top-notch, the performance utilization of the two components is solid and the device does not show any major flaws in terms of display or speakers, either. The folding mechanism leaves a sold impression as well, but it remains to be seen how it will hold up over the years. The so-called presentation mode is also not ideal since it covers the whole keyboard."
Get a great deal on the Gigabyte Aero 5 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio 2
About Gigabyte
Gigabyte is a Taiwanese computer hardware manufacturer. While Gigabyte mainly focuses its business on desktop hardware, Gigabyte is known for its value-oriented G series laptops, thin and light Aero series, and performance-oriented Aorus series. Gigabyte laptops offer a strong value proposition to compete with mainstream alternatives.
About Microsoft
Microsoft is an American technology corporation. Microsoft is best known for their Windows operating system and Surface laptop series. The Surface Laptop is their standard notebook offering, while their Surface Go, Surface Pro, and Surface Studio are their 2-in-1/tablet offerings in order of increasing capability. Although Microsoft charges a premium price tag for their laptops, buyers can expect a well integrated and packaged device since Microsoft develops the Windows operating system.
This information was produced and vetted by the PerfectRec laptops team. We are a product research and recommendation organization that meticulously reviews and evaluates the latest laptop information and makes it digestible for you.
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Staff Expert & Software Engineer
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