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Updated January 10, 2024·
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H offers superior performance with a better processor and graphics card, more storage and memory, and a larger screen that has a higher refresh rate, making it ideal for intensive gaming, 3D rendering, and engineering tasks. However, it is more expensive, heavier, and has a shorter battery life compared to the MSI GF65 Thin. On the other hand, the MSI GF65 Thin is more portable, less costly, and has a longer battery life but offers lower performance due to its modest processor and graphics card, making it more suited for general use and gaming at lower settings. 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 Aorus 17H
- Good for general use
- Very good for engineering and design
- Very good for gaming and AI
- Good for software development
- Very good for content creation
- Very good overall display quality
- Good overall build quality
- Good battery life
- Very good speakers
- Very good keyboard
Advantages of the MSI GF65 Thin
- Good portability
Key differences
General Use
7.9
6.5
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
351.0 nits
DISPLAY BRIGHTNESS
262.0 nits
6.0 Hours
BATTERY LIFE
4.5 Hours
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
5.9/10
PORTABILITY SCORE
7.3/10
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H is good for general use, while the MSI GF65 Thin is only fair.
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.
Gaming and AI
8.7
6.8
9.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
6.1/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
360Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
Yes
SUPPORTS DLSS
Yes
Yes
MUX SWITCH / ADVANCED OPTIMUS
No
6.5/10
FAN NOISE SCORE
6.5/10
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H is very good for gaming and AI, while the MSI GF65 Thin 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
8.6
6.7
9.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
4.6/10
9.6/10
OVERALL GPU SCORE
6.1/10
16.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H is very good for engineering and design, while the MSI GF65 Thin is only fair.
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.
Content Creation
8.0
6.8
9.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
4.6/10
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
16.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H is very good for content creation, while the MSI GF65 Thin is only fair.
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
7.5
6.3
9.0/10
OVERALL CPU SCORE
4.6/10
16.0 GB
RAM
8.0 GB
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
8.0/10
KEYBOARD QUALITY SCORE
7.0/10
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H is good for software development, while the MSI GF65 Thin is only fair.
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.
Screen Quality
8.3
6.8
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
1920 x 1080
RESOLUTION
1920 x 1080
IPS
DISPLAY TECHNOLOGY
IPS
360Hz
REFRESH RATE
144Hz
351.0 nits
BRIGHTNESS
262.0 nits
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H has a better screen than the MSI GF65 Thin for general use, gaming and AI, engineering and design, software development, and content creation.
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H offers a display with high resolution and brightness, making it an excellent choice for general use where reading text and viewing images are clear and vivid. For engineering and design, this laptop provides wide color gamuts ensuring precise color representation necessary for professional creative work. However, its lower refresh rate limits the smoothness required for gaming and 3D applications, which benefits significantly from higher refresh rates to render fast-moving visuals without blur. Conversely, the MSI GF65 Thin, with fair screen quality, provides an adequate display for users with less demanding visual needs but falls short for gaming and intensive design tasks due to the same limitations of refresh rate and less robust color accuracy.
Battery
6.0 Hours
4.5 Hours
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H has 6 hours of battery life. The MSI GF65 Thin has 4.5 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
Poor
Good
17.3in
SIZE
15.6in
5.9 lbs
WEIGHT
4.1 lbs
1.1in
THICKNESS
0.8in
The MSI GF65 Thin has good portability, while the Gigabyte Aorus 17H has poor portability.
The most portable laptops are small, thin, and light.
Build Quality
7.4
6.7
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H has good build quality, while the MSI GF65 Thin has only fair build quality.
PerfectRec’s Build Quality Score incorporates case materials, display and keyboard flex, hinge quality, and overall reliability.
Cost
$2,000
$1,100
$500
$1,000
$1,500
$2,000
$2,500
$3,000
The Gigabyte Aorus 17H has a price of $2,000 and the MSI GF65 Thin costs $1,100.
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How the Gigabyte Aorus 17H and the MSI GF65 Thin compare to other laptops
Spec Comparison
 |  | |
| Gigabyte Aorus 17H | MSI GF65 Thin |
GENERAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Price | |||
$2,000 | $1,100 | ||
Release Date | |||
Release Date | January 1, 2023 | January 1, 2021 | |
Overall Dimensions | |||
Overall Dimensions | 15.7'' x 10.2'' x 1.18'' | 14.1'' x 10'' x 0.85'' | |
Weight | |||
Weight | 5.95 lbs | 4.1 lbs | |
Width | |||
Width | 15.7" | 14.13" | |
Depth | |||
Depth | 10.16" | 9.99" | |
INTERNAL | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Processor | |||
Processor | Intel i7-13700H | Intel i5-10500H | |
RAM | |||
RAM | 16 GB | 8 GB | |
DDR Memory Version | |||
DDR Memory Version | 5 | 4 | |
RAM Slots | |||
RAM Slots | 2 | 2 | |
Storage | |||
Storage | 1024 GB | 512 GB | |
BATTERY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Battery Life | |||
Battery Life | 6 Hours | 4.5 Hours | |
Battery Capacity | |||
Battery Capacity | 99 Wh | 51 Wh | |
SCREEN | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Diagonal Size | |||
Diagonal Size | 17.3" | 15.6" | |
Display Technology | |||
Display Technology | IPS | IPS | |
Resolution | |||
Resolution | 1920 x 1080 | 1920 x 1080 | |
Refresh Rate | |||
Refresh Rate | 360Hz | 144Hz | |
Display Brightness | |||
Display Brightness | 351 nits | 262 nits | |
RELIABILITY, APPEARANCE & ACOUSTICS | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Build Quality Score | |||
Build Quality Score | 7.4/10 | 6.8/10 | |
Portability Score | |||
Portability Score | 5.9/10 | 7.4/10 | |
Gaming Laptop Appearance | |||
Gaming Laptop Appearance | Yes | Yes | |
Premium Business Laptop | |||
Premium Business Laptop | No | No | |
Fan Noise Score | |||
Fan Noise Score | 6.5/10 | 6.5/10 | |
HARDWARE FEATURES | |||
|---|---|---|---|
Keyboard Quality Score | |||
Keyboard Quality Score | 8/10 | 7/10 | |
Speaker Quality Score | |||
Speaker Quality Score | 8/10 | 6.8/10 | |
Webcam | |||
Webcam | 720p | 720p | |
Fingerprint Reader | |||
Fingerprint Reader | No | No | |
Backlit Keyboard | |||
Backlit Keyboard | Yes | Yes | |
Number Pad | |||
Number Pad | Yes | No | |
CONNECTIVITY | |||
|---|---|---|---|
USB Type-A | |||
USB Type-A | 2 | 2 | |
USB-C ports | |||
USB-C ports | 1 | 2 | |
USB-C Charging | |||
USB-C Charging | Yes | No | |
Display Outputs | |||
Display Outputs | 3 | 1 | |
Thunderbolt Version | |||
Thunderbolt Version | 4 | N/A | |
Shopping
Gigabyte Aorus 17H
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Dig into reviews and images
eTeknix
Peter Donnell | February 2023
"Overall though, it’s *lots of swearing* fast, seriously. For work, rendering, gaming, it doesn’t matter, this is a true weapon of performance that’s going to run rings around most high-end desktop systems. If you absolutely have to game at ultra-high refresh rates on the go (but within thinking distance of a plug socket), this is the ticket. I can’t see such an extreme being that appealing to everyone, but if you take your gaming seriously, or even professionally, there’s nothing else out there that comes close that you can still fit in your backpack and travel with."
MSI GF65 Thin
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Dig into reviews and images
NotebookCheck
Allen Ngo | March 2021
"The MSI GF65 Thin offers a GeForce RTX 3060 on a budget. The MSI GF65 is a relatively inexpensive RTX 3060 laptop and, perhaps not coincidentally, it also comes with a slower-than-average RTX 3060 GPU. Other laptops we've tested thus far with the same GPU are about 10 to 15 percent faster. CPU performance is also slightly slower than average unless if users decide to enable Cooler Boost mode. Colors, black-white response times, Thunderbolt, and DisplayPort are either average or completely omitted. Gamers who want to maximize performance-per-dollar without sacrificing RAM or SSD upgradeability will find the lightweight MSI GF65 attractive."
Get a great deal on the Gigabyte Aorus 17H or the MSI GF65 Thin
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.
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