If you prioritize a high-quality display for creative work like video editing and photography, the Gigabyte Aero 5 with its OLED screen offers excellent color accuracy and contrast. Conversely, if you prefer high performance for gaming with fast screen refresh rates, the MSI Raider GE66's IPS display is better suited. The MSI also has more RAM, which can handle more demanding tasks and multitasking with ease, but the Gigabyte might be a more cost-effective choice. Both laptops are similar in terms of portability and battery life, but the Gigabyte might be slightly less expensive for a similar level of performance, though with half the RAM of the MSI. 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
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has no clear advantages over the MSI Raider GE66.
Advantages of the MSI Raider GE66
Very good for general use
Very good for gaming and AI
Very good for software development
Very good overall build quality
Good speakers
Excellent keyboard
Key differences
Gaming and AI
7.9/10
8.5/10
8.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.8/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
Yes
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.2/10
The MSI Raider GE66 is very good for gaming and AI, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 is good.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 excels in gaming and 3D with its high-resolution OLED screen that offers vivid colors and deep blacks, complemented by a very capable Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU, though the refresh rate is lower which may affect fast-paced action scenes. On the other hand, the MSI Raider GE66 boasts the same powerful GPU, but pairs it with a screen that has a much higher refresh rate for smoother visuals in gaming, at the expense of a lower resolution screen compared to the Aero 5.
Screen Quality
8.6/10
8.4/10
15.6in
SIZE
15.6in
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
240Hz
446.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
300.0 nits
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has a better screen than the MSI Raider GE66 for general use, and engineering and design, while the MSI Raider GE66 has a better screen for gaming and AI, and content creation.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 offers a high-resolution display with vibrant colors and superior brightness, making it suitable for general use and detail-oriented tasks like engineering and design, where color accuracy is crucial. MSI Raider GE66 also provides a clear and bright display with good color reproduction; however, it's not as specialized as the Aero 5 in meeting the color precision required for professional design tasks. Both laptops lack high refresh rates, making them less optimal for 3D and gaming experiences where smoother motion and rapid visual updates are key.
Build Quality
7.8/10
8.5/10
The MSI Raider GE66 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
$2,499
$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 MSI Raider GE66 costs $2,499.
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers MSI Raider GE66 to be very good for general use, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 is good.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 offers an excellent OLED screen with high resolution and color coverage, which benefits general use where vivid display quality matters, but it compromises on portability with a lower score compared to the MSI Raider GE66. The MSI Raider GE66, while also featuring high-quality display and powerful internals similar to the Aero 5, outperforms in portability and provides double the RAM for multitasking, making it very good for a range of general use scenarios.
Engineering and Design
8.7/10
8.9/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
8.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
8.8/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
The MSI Raider GE66 and Gigabyte Aero 5 are both very good for engineering and design.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 features an excellent OLED screen providing vibrant colors and deep contrast, combined with powerful components like an Intel i7 processor, substantial RAM, and a high-end Nvidia RTX GPU, making it well-suited for design tasks where visual fidelity is paramount.
Content Creation
8.2/10
8.3/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The MSI Raider GE66 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
8.0/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
9.1/10
16.0 GB
RAM
32.0 GB
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2560 x 1440
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
9.0/10
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers MSI Raider GE66 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.
Battery
7.0 Hours
6.0 Hours
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has 7 hours of battery life. The MSI Raider GE66 has 6 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
Fair
15.6in
SIZE
15.6in
5.0 lbs
WEIGHT
5.2 lbs
1.0in
THICKNESS
0.9in
The MSI Raider GE66 and Gigabyte Aero 5 both have only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Give feedback
We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Gigabyte Aero 5 and the MSI Raider GE66 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 MSI Raider GE66 12UHS notebook passes with flying colors. The GE66 is a high-end notebook with strong performance. The keyboard and trackpad are still very good and score well with precise inputs as well as high build quality. Thanks to a new liquid metal cooling solution, the Intel Core i9 12900HK brings a performance increase of around 50 percent over the predecessor's Intel Core i9 10980HK. The installed graphics card in our device delivers up to 30 percent higher frame rates than the RTX 2070 Super in the MSI GE66 10SFS."
Get a great deal on the Gigabyte Aero 5 or the MSI Raider GE66
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 MSI
MSI, also known as Micro-Star International, is a Taiwanese technology corporation. MSI is known for their wide range of gaming devices. Their series include the entry-level Cyborg/Thin and Sword/Katana series, the mid-range Bravo/Delta and Crosshair/Pulse series, and their high-end Vector, Raider, Stealth, and Titan GT series. At every performance level, MSI offers a variety of devices with varying balances between performance, battery life, weight, and price, making them a solid option to consider at every price point.
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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