GIGABYTE Sabre 15 and 17 Gaming Laptops: Affordable Portable Gaming
by Joe Shields on June 6, 2018 1:00 PM EST- Posted in
- Laptops
- Gigabyte
- Trade Shows
- Core 8th Gen
- Computex 2018
Typically when you think of GIGABYTE/AORUS, you think of laptops like the Aero 15X or X9. Beautiful, powerful laptops with budget-breaking prices. However, GIGABYTE is now trying to spread the PC gaming love to more people with its two newest gaming laptops, the Sabre 15 and Sabre 17. Starting at $1,299, these affordable notebooks will be launching just around the time you're sending the kiddies back to school.
Design
Although they're GIGABYTE-branded, both Sabres look more like AORUS laptops, the company's enthusiast brand. Both notebooks have that sleek black, soft-touch chassis accented with a shiny silver GIGABYTE emblem at the top of the lid. The interior is also made with a black soft-touch finish and houses a backlit, island-style keyboard with 1920 x 1080 displays.
The laptops are loaded with ports, especially the Sabre 17. Although it was plugged into several things at the GIGABYTE booth, I saw a mini DisplayPort, HDMI, and several USB Type-C ports. That means this system is ready and able to support a VR headset like the HTC Vive, Vive Pro, and Oculus Rift or several monitors with a few cables.
GIGABYTE didn't divulge dimensions for either laptop, but the company is known for making some of the slimmest laptops on the market. So you shouldn't be surprised if you get some incredibly thin-and-light measurements.
Keyboard
You're not going to get a mechanical keyboard in a gaming laptop for $1,299, but GIGABYTE also isn't going to shortchange you just because you're on a limited budget. Both Sabres will feature a customizable keyboard with 16.7 million color options with 2 millimeters of key travel. That's well above our 1.5mm minimum threshold. The keys are comfortable and very bouncy.
Specs
For so-called budget systems, the Sabres are pretty stacked with an 8th-Gen Intel Core i7-8750H processor, up to 32GB of RAM, a Nvidia GeForce GTX 1050 GPU with 4GB of VRAM and a dual storage system capable of supporting up to 3 TB worth of PCIe SSDs. The 1050 GPU pretty much limits you to gaming on mid-level settings, but it should still net you some respectable frame rates depending on the title.
Outlook
Although $1,299 isn't what I'd call a budget system, the Sabres are downright bargains considering how expensive GIGABYTE and AORUS systems typically are. For the price, you can get a 15 or a 17-inch gaming laptop that can deliver relatively solid frames as well as multitask with the best of them and a great keyboard. If you're on a fixed budget, you might want to check out the Sabre come fall.
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Sherri L. Smith Contributed to this article.
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Tewt - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - link
"Although $1,299 isn't what I'd call a budget system."I'm glad you pointed that out but it is even worse when it is only a 1050. I consider $1300 range at least a 1060 6GB. I don't even see G-sync display offered. You can get Dell 15in with a 1050 under $900 easy. No, there is nothing budget about this considering the components. A nice design and RGB keyboard don't make up the difference.
I'm looking at an Acer Predator on Newegg right now that is 15in, 7th gen i7 7700, 1070 8Gb, 16ram, 256 solid state/1Tb mechanical for a little over $1400. You are not even in the ballpark, Gigabyte.
Tewt - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - link
oh and the Acer does have a g-sync display too.GTRagnarok - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - link
Horribly pricedThe_Assimilator - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - link
Thirteen hundred dollars and a GTX 1050? GTFO Gigabyte, everyone else has GTX 1060 6GB or better at that price point... try ditching some of the useless "features" like RGB keyboard so you can get to a price point that will actually allow you to sell some units.Xex360 - Wednesday, June 6, 2018 - link
They are budget compared to overpriced laptops.Spunjji - Thursday, June 7, 2018 - link
The specs are budget, but the price, not so muchPeachNCream - Thursday, June 7, 2018 - link
It's almost like the companies selling overpriced hardware believe that screaming something is "budget" loudly enough will cause potential buyers to ignore the absurd price and feel like they're getting a good deal.Aaron Few - Monday, May 2, 2022 - link
An interesting laptop, I agreed with my son that if he graduates with honors, then I will buy him one.Isaac McLean - Monday, May 2, 2022 - link
I'm interested in this laptop. I cannot call it budget, especially if you are looking for a computer for a student. For this money, you can find a laptop with better parameters or with similar ones but at a cheaper price. But reliability is also important, I studied the information https://uk.edubirdie.com/lab-report-writing and came to the conclusion that there are practically no problems with this GIGABYTE model, and as a student I just need a powerful and reliable laptop .Theatchere - Friday, June 17, 2022 - link
Thanks