For a balance of performance and portability with a high-quality OLED display suited for creative work and entertainment, the Gigabyte Aero 5 is a strong choice. It offers a powerful Nvidia RTX 3070 Ti GPU and a high-resolution 4K screen, making it excellent for gaming, 3D rendering, and machine learning tasks. However, it's larger and heavier, with a shorter battery life compared to the Surface Laptop.
On the other hand, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is ideal for general business use with its sleek design, excellent keyboard, and long battery life. It's more portable, has a touchscreen with a unique 3:2 aspect ratio that's great for productivity, and runs Windows 11 Pro, which is beneficial for professional environments. While it has a capable Intel Arc GPU, it won't match the Aero 5's performance for intensive graphics tasks.
Consider the Aero 5 if you prioritize performance and display quality for media-intensive tasks and are okay with a bulkier device and shorter battery life. Choose the Surface Laptop 6 for its portability, business-oriented features, and all-day battery life, accepting that it's less powerful for demanding graphics work. 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 for engineering and design
Good for gaming and AI
Very good for content creation
Very good overall display quality
Very good keyboard
Advantages of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5"
Very good portability
Very good speakers
Key differences
Gaming and AI
7.9/10
6.6/10
8.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
No
No
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
7.0/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
8.0/10
The Gigabyte Aero 5 is good for gaming and AI, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is only fair.
PerfectRec’s Gaming and AI Score strongly emphasizes graphics processing capability, while also taking into account other factors that impact suitability for gaming and AI work.
Engineering and Design
8.7/10
7.7/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
8.3/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
4.2/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
The Gigabyte Aero 5 is very good for engineering and design, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is good.
PerfectRec’s Engineering and Design Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for graphic design and 3D rendering work.
Screen Quality
8.6/10
7.8/10
15.6in
SIZE
13.5in
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
60Hz
REFRESH RATE
120Hz
446.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
400.0 nits
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has a better screen than the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" for general use, engineering and design, and content creation.
PerfectRec’s screen quality scores take into account various important factors that are relevant for different use cases.
Battery
7.0 Hours
9.0 Hours
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has 7 hours of battery life. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has 9 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
Very Good
15.6in
SIZE
13.5in
5.0 lbs
WEIGHT
3.0 lbs
1.0in
THICKNESS
0.6in
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" has very good portability, while the Gigabyte Aero 5 has only fair portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
The Gigabyte Aero 5 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" are both good for general use.
PerfectRec’s General Use Score takes into account the many different features of the laptop that make it more or less suitable for general productivity, web browsing, streaming, video calls, and running a wide variety of apps and programs.
Content Creation
8.2/10
7.7/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
OLED
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
Although they have very similar scores, PerfectRec considers Gigabyte Aero 5 to be very good for content creation, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" is good.
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
7.7/10
9.1/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
8.5/10
16.0 GB
RAM
16.0 GB
3840 x 2160
RESOLUTION
2256 x 1504
8.5/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Gigabyte Aero 5 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" are both good for software development.
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.
Build Quality
7.8/10
7.4/10
The Gigabyte Aero 5 and Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" both have good build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$1,250
$1,200
$600
$800
$1,000
$1,200
$1,400
$1,600
$1,800
$2,000
The Gigabyte Aero 5 has a price of $1,250 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" costs $1,200.
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We’re constantly working to improve.
How the Gigabyte Aero 5 and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5" 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."
Get a great deal on the Gigabyte Aero 5 or the Microsoft Surface Laptop 6 13.5"
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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