With the look of a more premium gaming laptop, Gigabyte's Aorus 15 BMF slides in at a lower price than you might expect. It starts at $999.99 (as tested), and Gigabyte puts up quite an attractive offer for the money. This budget model's 1080p, 15.6-inch display won't win any awards, of course, but its internals don\u2019t disappoint, coming out ahead of some of its equally affordable competitors. While it generally outpaces the new MSI Cyborg 15 at the same price (and some forthcoming cheap gaming laptops that we're in the process of testing), some laptops with last year\u2019s most-comparable components refuse to give in. Still, for bringing such a premium experience and the latest PC gaming tech to budget-strapped gamers, we give this year's Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF our current Editors' Choice award for budget gaming laptops.<\/p>\n
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A Slick Aorus Design on a Budget<\/h2>\n
Gigabyte's Aorus 15 BMF is effectively a sub-configuration within the Aorus 15 line. While it shares much of the same chassis and hardware design, it gets its own set of component options and is built exclusively around an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 graphics processor.<\/p>\n
The model sent for testing is Gigabyte's base configuration, starting at $999.99, which includes an Intel Core i5-13500H processor, 8GB of memory, 512GB of storage, and a 15.6-inch 1080p display running at a 144Hz refresh rate. You can opt for a better CPU (an Intel Core i7-13700H) in higher-end models, and the display comes in three other flavors: two more 1080p options (with 240Hz or 360Hz refresh rates) and a 1440p option with a 165Hz refresh rate. Those three alternative screens are also rated to cover a significantly higher color gamut than the base model\u2019s display. Regardless of configuration, the panel measures 15.6 inches on the diagonal and has a 16:9 aspect ratio.<\/p>\n
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\n(Credit: Molly Flores)<\/small>\n<\/p>\n
While the internals are subdued in this BMF variant, the Aorus 15 BMF benefits from its Gigabyte DNA, providing a substantially better build than you\u2019d usually find on a $999 gaming laptop. The Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF has a metal display lid and base, though the keyboard deck is plastic. The display panel flexes quite a bit despite its construction, but the base feels about as sturdy as they come. You'll find some minor depression under pressure near the spacebar, but that\u2019s about it.<\/p>\n
The Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF measures in at just 0.82 inch closed, so it\u2019s still on the thin side for a gaming laptop. It\u2019s no lightweight, but it's not quite painfully weighty at 5.25 pounds. The 14.2 inches of width and 10.7 inches of depth\u2014a symptom of the display bezels and protruding rear end\u2014do, however, make it a little unwieldy for slipping into a backpack that might otherwise accommodate a 15-inch laptop.<\/p>\n
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\n(Credit: Molly Flores)<\/small>\n<\/p>\n
Gigabyte's Aorus logo appears in blackout matte, and diagonal accent lines dominate the design, some for style and some for the exhaust grilles across the base. It makes the Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF something of a gaming laptop incognito, with subdued branding. The mirror-finished Aorus logo on the back cover is a bit of a tell for those in the know, as is the three-zone RGB lighting for the keyboard, but it could just as easily have been a general (if a little sleek) desktop replacement to the outside observer. Perhaps the biggest tell is the RGB light bar that lines the bottom edge of the lid.<\/p>\n
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\n(Credit: Molly Flores)<\/small>\n<\/p>\n
This laptop's keyboard isn\u2019t perfect, but it leans on the side of being rather pleasant to use. With fairly stable keycaps, the keys have 1.7mm of travel that makes them feel snappy for typing. Despite being a 15.6-inch laptop, you'll find no number pad here. Gigabyte includes a nifty column at the right side with Home, End, Page Up, and Page Down keys, which can be handy for navigation and text editing. <\/p>\n
Where Gigabyte goes wrong is in its arrow keys. A full-size set is included, but rather than shifting them down like Lenovo does on its Legion laptops (brilliant move), Gigabyte shrinks the right shift key. On just about every laptop I\u2019ve used that does this, it results in frequent errors that see me move up a line while typing instead of capitalizing a word.<\/p>\n
The touchpad provides a sizable surface that\u2019s glassy and smooth. It also has some more of the diagonal line work cutting across it for a flashy accent.<\/p>\n
A 1080p webcam provides a bit of extra detail and clarity compared with the 720p webcams found on most laptops, save those that make the extra effort to include the upgrade. The performance isn\u2019t incredible, with even fairly bright settings looking a bit dim, but it\u2019s still leagues better than the bog-standard webcams out there. It also supports Windows Hello facial recognition, which works simply and promptly.<\/p>\n
As for audio, you'll find a pair of 2-watt (W) speakers residing on the underside of the laptop near the front corners. That's an interesting, questionable design choice, especially when the laptop has so much bare space on the keyboard deck that had the potential to house up-firing speakers.<\/p>\n
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\n(Credit: Molly Flores)<\/small>\n<\/p>\n
Regardless, borrowing design cues from more expensive siblings continues to benefit the Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF, this time with port selection. It\u2019s loaded up with USB, containing three USB 3.2 Gen 2 ports (two Type-A, one Type-C) on the right side, one USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 port on the left side, and a Thunderbolt 4 port with Power Delivery along the rear edge. <\/p>\n
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\n(Credit: Molly Flores)<\/small>\n<\/p>\n
That rear edge also includes a full-size HDMI 2.1 port, a mini DisplayPort 1.4 connection, an Ethernet jack, and a DC power input. The system also includes a 3.5mm headset jack on the left side. The only thing it seems to lack is an SD card slot, which is a miss on Gigabyte\u2019s part for a laptop that has some prosumer pretensions with a \u201cCreator Mode\u201d in its settings. Meanwhile, the wireless connectivity available is the latest available: Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2.<\/p>\n
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\n(Credit: Molly Flores)<\/small>\n<\/p>\n\n
Using the Gigabyte Aorus 15 BMF: How It Feels<\/h2>\n