The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 (2025) is a Windows gaming laptop. Equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and a 240Hz QHD+ OLED panel, this high-end 16-inch model is configurable with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti, 5080, or 5090 Laptop GPU. Memory and storage configurations max out at 32GB and 2TB, respectively. Ports include two USB-A, two USB-C (1x Thunderbolt 4, 1x Thunderbolt 5), an HDMI 2.1, a Gigabit Ethernet, a MicroSD card reader, and a 3.5 mm headphone jack.
See our unit's specifications and the available configuration options in the Differences Between Variants section.
Our Verdict
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is mediocre for general productivity. It has more than enough processing power to handle productivity tasks or even photo and video editing. However, the battery life is bad, and the laptop's bulky design means it isn't well-suited for on-the-go use. On the plus side, you get a large 16-inch display that's good for multitasking, a comfortable keyboard, a responsive touchpad, and tons of ports for peripherals and external displays.
Large, sharp display for multitasking.
Comfortable keyboard, responsive touchpad.
Intel CPU and NVIDIA discrete GPU can handle demanding workloads.
Wide port selection.
Bulky and heavy.
Short battery life.
Webcam image looks soft and noisy.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is good for media consumption. Its 16-inch OLED display looks sharp and colorful, producing deep, inky blacks, which makes it amazing for dark room and HDR viewing. The speakers get very loud, but they sound hollow with almost no bass, and they also get muddy at higher volume levels. Unfortunately, this laptop isn't very portable due to its bulky and heavy design. Its battery life is decent, though, lasting around six hours of local video playback.
Sharp, colorful OLED display with fast response time.
OLED display produces deep blacks for better dark room and HDR viewing.
Speakers get very loud.
Battery lasts nearly six hours of local video playback.
Bulky and heavy.
Speakers sound hollow, with almost no bass.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is a great gaming laptop. Equipped with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX and NVIDIA 50-series GPUs, up to an RTX 5090, this laptop delivers smooth gameplay in demanding AAA titles at 1080p, 1440p, or even 4k. You also get an amazing visual experience, as the laptop sports a fast 240Hz OLED display that produces clear images with minimal ghosting. There's Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity onboard and a Gigabit Ethernet port, ensuring a stable internet connection with low latency when gaming online. RAM and storage are user-upgradeable, so you can upgrade or add more later. The laptop doesn't get overly hot under load, but the fans are extremely loud.
Pushes high, consistent frame rates in demanding games.
240Hz OLED display with fast response time.
G-SYNC support to reduce screen tearing.
Wide port selection.
User-replaceable RAM and storage.
Loud fans.
While the Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is great for workstation use, despite not being specifically designed for it. You get plenty of ports for peripherals and external displays, including two Thunderbolt 4s, an HDMI 2.1, and a Gigabit Ethernet. Thermal throttling is minimal under load, but unfortunately, the fans get extremely loud.
Intel CPU and NVIDIA discrete GPU can handle demanding workloads.
Wide port selection.
User-replaceable RAM and storage.
Loud fans.
Changelog
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Updated Nov 18, 2025:
Added mention of the Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025) as an alternative with a larger display in the Screen Specs section.
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Updated Oct 30, 2025:
We've updated text throughout the review after converting to Test Bench 0.9.
- Updated Oct 30, 2025: We've updated the review to Test Bench 0.9, which adds several test boxes in the performance section, including CPU/RAM Performance, Low Tier Graphics, High Tier Graphics, Professional 3D (GPU accelerated), CPU-Intensive Game Performance, GPU-Intensive Game Performance, and Ray Tracing Performance. See the 0.9 changelog here.
- Updated Aug 12, 2025: Review published.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 (model AM6H) with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX CPU, an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU, 32GB of RAM, and 1TB of storage. The GPU, memory, and storage are configurable; the available options are below.
SCREEN
- 16 inch OLED 2560 x 1600 240Hz (500 cd/m², 100% DCI P3, VESA DisplayHDR True Black 500, G-SYNC)
CPU
- Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX (24 cores/24 threads, up to 5.4 GHz, 36MB cache)
GPU
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU 12GB GDDR7 (140W TGP /w Dynamic Boost)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU 16GB GDDR7 (175W TGP /w Dynamic Boost)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU 24GB GDDR7 (175W TGP /w Dynamic Boost)
MEMORY
- 16GB DDR5 5600MHz
- 32GB DDR5 5600MHz
STORAGE
- 1TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD
- 2TB M.2 2280 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSD
COLOR
- Dark Tide
Popular Laptop Comparisons
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is an excellent gaming laptop, delivering a similar gaming experience as other laptops in its class, like the HP OMEN MAX 16 (2025). However, it falls a bit short in two areas: build quality and battery life. Its plastic chassis, while sturdy, feels somewhat cheap compared to the likes of the OMEN MAX 16, and its short battery life in light uses makes it less ideal for productivity use, and consequently, less versatile.
For more options, check out our recommendations for the best gaming laptops, the best budget and cheap gaming laptops, and the best laptops for college.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 (2025) and the HP OMEN MAX 16 (2025) are both excellent gaming laptops that deliver a similar gaming experience. The HP is a little better overall; it has a sturdier, more premium build, as well as a longer battery life. It also has multiple display options, including two IPS panels, which might be better options if you're worried about OLED flicker causing eye strain. The HP's keyboard is harder to get used to, though, as its zero-lattice design can cause more typos and accidental triggers.
Although there's a lot of overlap, the Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 (2025) and the ASUS ROG Zephyrus G16 (2024) GU605 are quite different. The former is a rather bulky gaming laptop designed to give you the best possible gaming experience, while the latter is more of a hybrid device intended for gaming and content creation, sporting a sleeker, thinner design. The Gigabyte is the one to get if you only care about performance, but if you plan on doing other things with the laptop besides gaming, then the ASUS might be a better choice, as it'll provide a better user experience overall.
The Razer Blade 18 (2024) is a better device overall when you consider the build quality and the overall user experience. Performance will depend on which configuration you get; the main thing to know is that the Razer uses NVIDIA 40-series GPUs, while the Gigabyte uses newer 50-series GPUs. Other than a minor performance boost over the 40-series, the only new feature exclusive to the 50-series GPUs is Multi-Frame Generation, so the decision comes down to whether or not you care about this new feature.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 (2025) and the ASUS ROG Strix G16 (2024) are both excellent gaming laptops. However, the Gigabyte uses NVIDIA 50-series GPUs, while the ASUS uses the older 40-series GPUs. The performance difference between the two GPU generations is relatively small; the main difference is that the 50-series GPUs support Multi-Frame Generation. In terms of the overall user experience, know that the Gigabyte has an OLED display, while the ASUS is only available with IPS displays, so if you want deep blacks for a better dark room or HDR viewing experience, the Gigabyte would be a better choice.
Test Results
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is only available in the Dark Tide colorway. See the bottom of the laptop for more details.
The build quality is decent. Though mostly plastic, the chassis feels pretty sturdy, exhibiting only a small amount of flex on the lid and almost none on the keyboard deck. The display is slightly warped, which you can see in the reflections photo, but this is unlikely to be an issue in terms of durability. Unfortunately, the finish picks up a lot of fingerprints, and scratches appear after only a few days of regular use.
The hinges are outstanding. They feel smooth when opening and closing the lid, and they're stable, exhibiting little to no wobble when typing heavily or tapping the display.
To access the internals, you must remove 12 Torx screws and use a prying tool to release the bottom panel's clips. Be careful when removing the panel, as there's a ribbon cable connected to it. The screws are of different sizes, so it's best to keep them organized to facilitate reassembly. Both storage slots support M.2 2280 NVMe SSDs; the left one (empty slot in the photo) supports PCIe Gen 5 SSDs, while the right one supports PCIe Gen 4x4 SSDs. The wireless adapter is below the right SSD.
An online user manual is available, but it doesn't contain any information about maintenance or component replacement/upgrade.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is only available with a QHD+ OLED display. The panel looks very sharp and provides plenty of screen real estate, making it well-suited for immersive gaming and split-screen multitasking. Check out the Dell Alienware 18 Area-51 (2025) if you want a similar laptop with an even bigger screen.
This OLED display has a fast response time, resulting in a clear image with almost no blur trail behind fast-moving objects.
The contrast is effectively infinite since OLED panels can turn off individual pixels to produce perfect blacks.
The display gets bright enough for use in most indoor settings, but visibility may still be an issue in well-lit or sunny environments due to the panel's glossy coating, which struggles with direct light sources. The max HDR brightness exceeds the advertised 500 cd/m² (in smaller windows, not full-screen); however, it's slightly different depending on the GPU used, as the panel reaches 598 cd/m² while using the integrated GPU, and 542 cd/m² while using the dedicated NVIDIA GPU. Using the dedicated GPU also affects the minimum brightness, pushing it up to 47 cd/m² in SDR and 18 cd/m² in HDR. These differences could be a bug; we'll update the review if anything changes.
The display's glossy finish primarily struggles with bright light sources, like a lamp or open window during the day. These reflections are visible even with the screen at full brightness.
The OLED display's accuracy is excellent out of the box. Most white balance and color inaccuracies are minor and hard to spot. The color temperature is a tad on the warmer side, giving the image a slight reddish tint. The average gamma isn't bad; bright scenes are a little too bright, while dark scenes are too dark, crushing blacks.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16's OLED display has an excellent color gamut, with full coverage of the commonly used sRGB color space. Gigabyte advertises this display as a P3 panel, meaning it has full coverage of the DCI P3 color space. However, we only measured 91.25% (uv). This is likely a bug, as we encountered some software instability when switching between the integrated graphics and the discrete GPU. These software issues, which also affect the screen's brightness (as detailed in the Brightness section), persist even after the most recent firmware update. We'll update the review if anything changes.
The display flickers, but because the flicker frequency is extremely high, it's unlikely to be an issue for most people.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 has a great keyboard. Its layout feels spacious and is relatively easy to get used to. A tad more spacing between the navigation keys on the right and the rest of the keys would have been preferable, as it would make it easier to locate the arrow keys without having to look at the keyboard. The keys have a good amount of travel, are easy to actuate, and provide satisfying tactile feedback. There are three RGB backlight zones; you can customize the colors and effects via the pre-installed GiMate software.
The touchpad is excellent. It could be a tad bigger given the amount of space available on the deck, but it's large enough to use comfortably. It tracks all movements and gestures well across its entire surface, and there are no issues with palm rejection or actions like dragging and dropping.
The Gigabyte AORUS Master 16 has bottom-firing speakers that get very loud. However, they sound hollow with almost no bass and get muddy at higher volume levels. Switching from the default Balanced profile to the Detailed profile in the Dolby Access app improves clarity slightly, but not enough to make much difference in the overall listening experience.
The webcam is mediocre. The image looks soft and noisy, with unnatural colors and tint. Voices sound quiet and a little boomy over the microphone, but on the upside, there's little to no background noise.
The port selection is outstanding. Both USB-A ports support USB 3.2 Gen 2 data transfer speeds of up to 10Gbps. Although both USB-Cs support Power Delivery 3.0 and USB4, they have different Thunderbolt and DisplayPort specifications, as the left one supports Thunderbolt 5 and DisplayPort 2.1, while the right one supports Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort 1.4.
The wireless adapter is an Intel Wi-Fi 7 BE200.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is only available with an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX, a high-performance CPU from the Arrow Lake family designed for gaming, workstation, and content creation laptops. It has 8 performance and 16 efficiency cores, a 13 TOPS (Trillions of Operations Per Second) neural processing unit (NPU), as well as dedicated H.264, HEVC, and AV1 encoders and decoders.
See more information about the Core Ultra 9 275HX on Intel's spec sheet.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 is available with the following GPUs:
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti Laptop GPU 12GB GDDR7 (140W TGP /w Dynamic Boost)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 Laptop GPU 16GB GDDR7 (175W TGP /w Dynamic Boost)
- NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU 24GB GDDR7 (175W TGP /w Dynamic Boost)
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50-series Laptop GPUs are largely an incremental upgrade to the 40-series GPUs, delivering only a minor improvement in raw performance. Other than quality improvements to existing features like Super Resolution (upscaling) and Ray Reconstruction, the only new feature exclusive to the 50-series is Multi-Frame Generation (MFG). MFG allows the GPU to generate up to three frames per rendered frame (up from one on the 40-series GPUs). That said, MFG is still in its early days at the time of writing. It often causes visual artifacts, especially in challenging scenes with heavy, more unpredictable movements, and it can cause noticeably higher latency.
All three GPUs can handle games at 1440p; the choice ultimately comes down to what kind of performance (in terms of graphical fidelity and frame rate) you expect and your budget.
See more information about the RTX 50-series GPUs on NVIDIA's product page.
You can configure this laptop with 16GB or 32GB of RAM. The memory is user-upgradeable up to 64GB.
You can get this laptop with 1TB or 2TB of storage. The storage drive is user-replaceable. There are two M.2 2280 SSD slots: one is PCIe Gen 5 and the other is PCIe Gen 4x4.
The NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5080 isn't currently supported by Cinebench 2024.
Models with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5070 Ti will likely have a slightly longer battery life.
The keyboard gets quite warm under load, but it isn't hot enough to cause major discomfort. The bottom of the laptop is much cooler at 40.4 °C (104.72 °F), so you shouldn't have any problems using the device on your lap. Unfortunately, the fans are extremely loud.
The posted results are measurements taken in the Best Performance (in Windows settings) mode, with Game Mode and Turbo Fan enabled in Gigabyte's GiMate software. You can turn down these settings if you prefer a cooler or quieter experience; just know you'll lose some performance.
The Gigabyte AORUS MASTER 16 has many pre-installed applications; see this video for the full list.