Aorus 15 BSF (2023): The less expensive of the powerful laptops

It took longer than I planned, but we finally got our hands on an Aorus gaming laptop. Specifically, the 15-inch model set for 2023 with a Raptor Lake Core i7 processor and an Ada Lovelace RTX 4070 graphics card. This configuration may impress with a rather attractive price. But then again, in the fierce competition from ROG, MSI and Legion models, the Aorus 15 BSF won’t have it so easy.

Evaluation

The Aorus 15 2023 BSF is a somewhat unconventional gaming laptop in the sense that it almost doesn’t resemble a gaming laptop. Standard black body with classic bezels around the display, only a slight backlight under the display, which you can even turn off. There’s simply nothing to suggest that this is a gaming laptop, that is unless you recognize the Aorus logo on the display lid. For someone, this can be a big advantage, especially in a work environment where one has to present themselves in a certain way at least a little bit and with a splashy RGB carousel like regular gaming laptops, you probably wouldn’t fit in very well at a work meeting. The Aorus 15 is thus a grey mouse that hides its performance behind a very unassuming appearance.

Perhaps the most interesting aspect of the laptop is its pricing policy, where for around 1800 EUR including tax you get a new Core i7 combined with an RTX 4070, which is higher-end mainstream. Between the 3–4 thousand euro gaming laptops we’ve been testing lately, this is a nice diversification. Compared to similarly equipped competitors, the Aorus is also a few hundred euros cheaper, which will definitely please younger people and students who don’t have deep pockets, but still want the most powerful hardware they can afford.

The 165Hz QHD display stood up very well in the accuracy tests, so it won’t be a problem to use the laptop for graphics work either, it’s just a shame about the lower brightness. In renders, the new i7 is also 55% faster compared to the older AERO 15 from the same manufacturer, but as a mainstream piece it won’t be able to match the HX models. In GPU tests, the benefit is seen especially in DLSS, raster performance over the RTX 3070 in AERO is higher sometimes only in units of percent, in tens (percent) rather exceptionally.

But the most important thing is the gaming tests, and here the Aorus matched last year’s Raider GE77 with an objectively faster processor, which we saw in the renders, and beat it on more than one occasion. That’s really commendable considering the price difference between the two at launch. The over 6.5-hour battery life and fast charging also deserve praise. A nice addition is also the possibility of charging via the USB-C connector, which is also not yet commonplace.

I was also pleased with the Full HD camera with biometric security, which is still rather an exception in gaming laptops, and the port selection is also nothing to scoff at, although the SD card reader would be useful for creatives. The keyboard and touchpad didn’t really impress with anything. Average to weaker is also the utility app, and the six performance modes are unnecessary according to the test results, only three would be completely sufficient, as the measured differences are minimal.

To sum up, I definitely welcome the arrival of Aorus models on our market, although they have been available in Europe for a long time, there has been no direct distribution here. This has finally changed and the Aorus 15 may win over mainly price-oriented customers thanks to its good price/performance ratio.

English translation and edit by Jozef Dudáš

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