In recent years, laptop prices have been rising, especially for high-performance gaming models. Therefore, it is very rare to find options below NT$30,000 in the new machine market, which makes many gamers with limited budgets reluctant to buy. However, the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 launched by GIGABYTE Technology this year offers an entry-level combination of the 13th generation Intel Core i5-13420H processor and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 6GB graphics card, plus 16GB of memory and a 512GB M.2 PCIe Gen4 SSD hard drive, as well as a 16-inch FHD+ 165Hz 180-degree flat display. While maintaining practical hardware specifications, the price has been reduced to an affordable NT$28,900. Even though it is affordable, it has also been equipped with GIGABYTE’s “GiMATE” AI software for this year’s high-end new machines, thereby improving the user experience with a more intuitive interface.
The GIGABYTE Gaming entry-level gaming series newly launched by GIGABYTE in 2025 is characterized by its thin, light, long-lasting performance and 180-degree flat screen. In addition to the A16, there is also the A16 PRO that debuted at Computex last week and the large-size A18. The entire series can be equipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards, but judging from GIGABYTE’s stocking speed, it should not be available in the short term and the pricing is yet to be announced. The GIGABYTE Gaming A16 is divided into three models: CVH, DMH and CMH. The first two models are equipped with RTX 5060 and RTX 5070 independent graphics cards respectively, and the CMH tested in this article uses the RTX 4050 configuration. So, let’s take a look at this entry-level gaming laptop that costs less than 30,000 yuan and see what the actual experience is like!
After all, it is an entry-level product. The GIGABYTE Gaming A16 (CMH model omitted below) can only be described as “low-key”. It packs a 16-inch screen into a 15-inch body. The steel gray body has a sandblasted texture. The mirrored GIGABYTE brand logo in the center of the top cover is engraved with a circuit-like process. Since it is not an AORUS series, there are no Eagle God-related design elements. Thanks to the hinge feature, the screen can be used 180 degrees flat. JB thinks this feature is not so necessary for gamers. Instead, he hopes that the durability of the hinge can be improved (I used this hinge more than a decade ago and it got loose, so I am not very confident ). The tail of the laptop has an inward bevel design to prevent the case from looking too moldy. The air outlets on both sides are not large…
I/O on the left side of the laptop
In terms of I/O, the left side of the body is equipped with a DC-IN round charging port, an RJ45 Ethernet jack, an HDMI 2.1 terminal, a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A and a USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C port (supporting DisplayPort 1.4 and PD 3.0); the right side of the body is equipped with a 3.5mm composite audio jack and two USB Type-A, one of which is the former specification and the other is the older USB 2.0. It seems to be suitable for entry-level use, but it still lacks support for Thunderbolt4.
GIGABYTE Gaming A16 is equipped with a 16-inch, 16:10 IPS-level screen. Due to its entry-level positioning, the resolution is only FHD+ (1920 x 1200) and the brightness is a low 300 nits. The colors seem a bit dim when playing games, but the refresh rate is 165Hz, which is enough for players who value smoothness. However, there is no eye protection certification or Dolby Vision. WhistleThis machine is different from the GIGABYTE G6 KF 2024 I tested last year. The four borders are obviously narrower, making the visual presentation more immersive. The video camera on the upper edge of the screen has only HD 720p resolution, which is a pity that it has not been upgraded to the mainstream 1080p.
Personally, I am quite accepting of the FHD+ resolution. The biggest regret of the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 screen is the color gamut. This specification is not listed on the official website. Through the “DisplayCAL” software, it can be found that it only covers 57.5% sRGB, 40% Adobe RGB and 41% DCI-P3 color gamuts, which is only 41~42% of the NTSC standard. In short, it is a low color gamut panel. As for the brightness, it is measured at 349.24cd/m2. I also attached a picture of the game “Doom: Dark Age”. Whether it is the gun on the right or the ground in the center, it is so dark that the details cannot be seen. It is not recommended to play games with darker screens.
The laptop’s C-piece is equipped with a standard-size keyboard without independent number keys, the arrow keys are half-size, and in addition to the Copilot key of the new generation laptop, there is also an exclusive GiMATE key in the upper right corner. Pressing it can open the “GiMATE” application and communicate with its built-in AI assistant through voice or text, and then set the hardware or usage scenario. As for the polygonal power button, it is independent of the keyboard and set on the upper edge of the C-piece. In terms of other designs, the right palm rest can see the “XVI” (Roman numerals 16) oblique laser engraving, and the touchpad has an interface composed of a blue crosshairs and four aiming lines, which complement the sci-fi atmosphere of this gaming laptop.
GIGABYTE Gaming A16 uses GIGABYTE’s newly released “Golden Curve Keyboard” this year. In addition to introducing the optimized stress curve and satisfying the golden sweet spot of feedback force, its keycap area has also increased by 106%. The 0.15mm curve on the top also helps to reduce the pressure of finger touches. Coupled with the 1.7mm key travel, it brings a comfortable typing feel and silent operation below 30dB. Although its touchpad does not follow the full-plate design in recent years, its size is not small and supports gesture operation. In actual use, it is not as good as the affordable gaming laptops in the past few years. The pressure sensitivity quality is quite good!
That is to say, the Gaming A15 CMH experienced in this article uses a water blue monochrome backlight. If it is a CVH or DMH model equipped with the RTX 50 series, there will be a single-zone RGB backlight with customizable colors. sorryHowever, this monochrome backlight can only be turned on and off, and the backlight brightness cannot be adjusted…
The laptop’s bottom cover demonstrates the power of gaming machines with its distinctive mecha style and large-area air intake and heat dissipation. In the center, you can see the oblique laser engraving of the GIGABYTE GAMING brand text, matched with straight lines, rows of holes, oblique lines, and aqua blue rubber feet at the upper right corner and bottom edge of the bottom cover. Visually, it has a different look than the plain top cover. If you want to remove the bottom cover, upgrade or clean the hardware, you need to unscrew the 11 screws on the four sides to achieve this.
(Click to see the full image)
GIGABYTE Gaming A16 is equipped with GIGABYTE’s WINDFORCE cooling technology, with dual fans and 3D VortX three-dimensional air duct design. The latter provides faster and more efficient airflow exchange through double-sided air intake and four-way air outlet. The ice-sensing control area of the WASD keys allows players to operate on a lower temperature keyboard. Although less than 30,000 yuan can only buy 16GB memory and 512GB SSD specifications, GIGABYTE still reserves enough upgrade space for players. The machine is equipped with two sets of M.2 PCIe Gen4x4 SSD solid-state hard drive slots (the empty slot is on the right side of the lithium battery), which can be expanded up to 4TB, and the memory is two sets of SO-DIMM slots, which can be upgraded to 64GB. As for the wireless communication chip model, it is Intel AX211NGW, which supports Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2 specifications.
GIGABYTE Gaming A16 comes with a 150W AC adapter, made by FSP. When I put the adapter and the charging cable on a digital scale, it weighed 465g. The 16-inch gaming laptop itself weighs 2.205Kg, which is about average among products of the same size. If you carry the laptop and charging accessories with you, you will need to carry 2.67Kg, which I think is still an acceptable weight.
Even entry-level models bid farewell to the past “GCC” central control application in 2025 and replaced it with the new AI-driven “GiMATE”, which brings an intuitive and easy-to-use experience through the G-Cell system that integrates multiple AI functions. Pressing the GiMATE key can also be used through voice or text dialogue, allowing this AI assistant based on the large language model (LLM) to adjust the laptop settings and usage mode for you, but to be honest, its response speed is not fast and it doesn’t save much time. The homepage of “GiMATE” can monitor the CPU, GPU, and RAM in real time, and you can switch between 5 modes at the top, including balance, gaming, creation, power saving, and online meetings. “System Settings” can set the charging limit, including 100% long-term mode, 80% maintenance mode, and 60% optimized life mode. Dolby Atmos and NVIDIA Control Panel applications can also be turned on here.
The “Personal Situation Mode” is mainly divided into three major sections: performance, power, and auxiliary tools. The performance setting is the fan mode, which is optimized through AI. Although you can view the fan curve, you cannot customize it. sorryAI Power Gear can set the overall system performance, independent graphics card, and Microsoft power mode. When it is powered off, it will automatically ask you whether you want to turn off the independent graphics card. As for the auxiliary tools, they cover NVIDIA BROADCAST (including AI conference background blur, AI pupil focus), AI Voice, and AI Audio. The latter can automatically calibrate the sound according to the material of the plane on which the laptop is placed, so that you can have a consistent sound experience whether you put it on the table, on a cushion, or on a laptop stand, and say goodbye to muffled sound.
Because this one uses an RTX 4050 laptop graphics card, it does not support the “GiMATE Creator” AI image generation application, so you naturally cannot see it in the “GiMATE” application center, but if it is a model equipped with an RTX 50 series laptop graphics card, you can use this built-in software to play AI image creation~
GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH Key Specs:
Operating System: Windows 11 Home Edition
Processor: 13th Generation Intel Core i5-13420H
Graphics: NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM
Storage: 512GB M.2 NVMe PCIe Gen4x4 SSD (dual slots, expandable up to 4TB)
Memory: 16GB DDR5-5200MHz (dual SO-DIMM slots, expandable up to 64GB)
Display: 16-inch IPS-level panel (FHD+ 1920 x 1200 resolution / 160Hz refresh rate / 300 nits brightness)
I/O Ports:
2x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-A
1x USB 2.0 Type-A
1x USB 3.2 Gen1 Type-C (supports DisplayPort 1.4 and PD 3.0)
1x HDMI 2.1
1x RJ45 Ethernet port
1x 3.5mm audio jack
1x DC IN power input port
Communication: Wi-Fi 6E / Bluetooth 5.2
Battery: 99Wh rechargeable lithium battery
Size: 358.3 x 262.5 x 19.45~22.99mm
Weight: 2.2Kg
Price: 28,900 yuan (Core i7-13620H version is not sold in Taiwan)
Performance Test
On GIGABYTE’s official website, GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH offers two 13th-generation Intel Core processors, Core i7-13620H and Core i5-13420H. However, in order to maintain the price advantage, Taiwan only sells the latter.sorryAs of 2025, the 13th-generation Intel Core processor (i.e. Raptor Lake) is already the “previous generation” product, and there is also Meteor Lake stuck in the middle. In order to compete at a low price, this strategy is understandable. The 13th-generation Intel Core i5-13420H uses an 8-core 12-thread architecture, with 12MB of Intel Smart Cache cache memory, a maximum clock speed of 4.6GHz, and a processor base power of 45W.
I connected the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH to a power source and started a CPU performance test in gaming mode with the “full speed” fan mode. First, in
the CPU-Z
test software, the single-thread performance test result of the 13th-generation Intel Core i5-13420H was
648.3
points, and the multi-thread performance test result was
4609.9 points.
The multi-core and single-core performance of
CINEBENCH 2024 were
613 points and
95
points respectively, with an MP Ratio of 6.46x, while
the multi-core and single-core performance test results of
CINEBENCH R23 were
10772 points and
1547 points, with an MP Ratio of 6.96x. The multi-core performance of
CINEBENCH R20 was
4271 points. As for the
X264 FHD Benchmark
software for viewing audio and video conversion performance
, this entry-level gaming laptop finally ran at
60.4fps .
In terms of laptop productivity, the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH scored 6720 points in the PCMark 10 Office productivity test . In terms of detailed scores, basic operations scored 9248 points, productivity scored 9095 points, and digital content creation scored 9792 points, beating 78% of the tested devices. Its performance is not as good as the average for gaming laptops in 2023.
In terms of creative performance, the V-Ray 6 rendering plug-in was used to run CPU rendering, and finally 9160 vsamples were obtained. Then, GPU RTX was used as the rendering engine, and 2660 vpaths were obtained. When GPU CUDA was used as the rendering engine, it was 1774 vpaths, which was only slightly better than the internal graphics laptop. Then, the benchmark performance test of the 3D creation software Blender 4.2.0 was taken. The CPU rendering obtained 133.36 points, ranking in the top 79% of the tested devices. The RTX 4050 was used for rendering, and 2627.38 points were obtained, ranking in the top 19%. Judging from the combination of Intel Core i5-13420H and NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050, this gaming laptop may not be very suitable for image creation tasks that require heavy 3D rendering.
GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH is only equipped with entry-level 16GB DDR5 memory. In AIDA64’s memory and cache memory test, the main memory read/write/copy speeds are 37025 , 35477 , and 33843 MB/s, respectively, with a latency of 94.6ns . The L3 cache memory performance is 298.42 / 189.07 / 243.88 GB/s (read/write/copy), with a latency of 89.4ns . The overall read and write performance is relatively ordinary.
In terms of storage, GIGABYTE Gaming A14 CMH has a built-in 1TB M.2 NVMe PCIe 4.0×4 SSD solid state drive, which is made by Kingston. In CrystalDiskMark ‘s sequential read and write performance test, it achieved a hard disk read and write speed of 4761.61 / 2045.49 MB/s, and in TxBench ‘s sequential Max QD32 performance test, it achieved a hard disk read and write speed of 4777.715 / 3420.861 MB/s. The hard disk read and write speed of AS SSD Benchmark was 3981.69 / 3077.77 MB/s, with an average read and write time of 0.091ms and 0.032ms, and a performance score of 5841 points. Overall, it is an entry-level performance as the positioning of the machine. sorryAfter using it for a week, I feel that the laptop is significantly slower in game loading or hard disk writing than the laptops tested recently…
As mentioned above, the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH tested this time is equipped with NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4060 laptop graphics card, which is the previous generation Ada Lovelace GPU The most entry-level product in the architecture, it is equipped with 6GB GDDR6 VRAM, 2560 CUDA cores, 20 third-generation ray tracing cores, 80 fourth-generation Tensor cores, 80 TMUs and 32 ROPs respectively, with a theoretical performance of 9 TFLOPS. Of course, NVIDIA DLSS deep learning ultra-high sampling technology is the previous generation DLSS 3 version, which supports frame generation but does not have the latest generation of MFG multi-frame generation function.
Entering the graphics performance test, we first see the three test modes of 3DMark Fire Strike based on DirectX 11 API . GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH ran out of 19584 / 9457 / 4656 points in turn, and in the two test modes of 3DMark Time Spy based on DirectX 12 API , it achieved 8333 points and 3871 points. The 3DMark Port Royal test that verifies ray tracing performance finally got 4022 points. After all, the machine uses RTX 4050 laptop graphics card, and there is no need to compare it with NVIDIA Blackwell (RTX 50 series). Even in the previous generation, the performance is the most entry-level level…only slightly better than the internal display device.
Although the protagonist of this article, which is equipped with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4050 entry-level laptop graphics card, only supports DLSS 3 deep learning ultra-high sampling, rather than the latest DLSS 4 with MFG multi-frame generation, there is still a certain performance gap when this function is turned on and off. Through the NVIDIA DLSS feature test mode (since there is no FHD+ resolution option, QHD is used for testing, with the “Balanced” upscaling mode), it can be seen that the average frame rate was 18.49 fps before DLSS was enabled, and it increased to 82.44fps after DLSS frame generation was enabled , which is 4.458 times the original. As for the actual effect, I will explain it to you in the later game test section.
The game performance simulation test is ” Final Fantasy XV Benchmark “. At a near-native 1920 x 1080 resolution and “high” graphics quality, the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH scored 7957 points and a “high” performance rating, indicating that this multiplayer online game can be played smoothly.
Please refer to the bar chart above for the game performance test that everyone is most concerned about. This time, 9 games including works that support DLSS were tested for the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH. The bar chart shows the performance at 1920 x 1200 resolution and the highest graphics quality. Ray tracing will be turned on. Among them, the most performance-intensive one is “Black Myth: Wukong” (the graphics quality I used here is the highest, not the film level). The average frame rate before DLSS frame generation is not enabled is 38fps, and it will be increased to a smoother 61fps after enabling it.
Next is Doom: Dark Age, which was released earlier this month. The average frame rates before and after DLSS frame generation were 48.26fps and 62.95fps, respectively, which are quite smooth. The biggest difference before and after DLSS was CD Projekt RED’s The Rebel 2077, which had only 58.49fps before DLSS was enabled and soared to 135.15fps after enabling it, which is 2.31 times the original! As for Far Cry 6 and Shadow of the Tomb Raider, which do not have DLSS support, the test results were all above 83fps.
Then I saw this year’s most discussed game “Monster Hunter Wilds”. Because the graphics quality was switched to “Ultra-High”, a warning window popped up that VRAM was insufficient and abnormalities might occur. At the same time, it was found that the VRAM usage reached 7.35GB/5.78GB, so JB used medium graphics quality for testing (its VRAM usage dropped to 4.26GB). Without enabling DLSS frame generation, the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH ran at an average frame rate of 55.5fps. At this time, the game screen could feel a little jagged, and the quality was obviously far from fine. sorryThen DLSS frame generation was enabled, and the frame rate increased to 96.08fps, so there was no problem in playing smoothly.
Here we will take the competitive FPS game Rainbow Six: Siege as an example. At native resolution and the highest graphics settings, the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH finally ran an average frame rate of 207fps. Even at the lowest frame rate of 159fps, the display performance is more than enough for this entry-level gaming laptop. From the result screen, we can see that when running the benchmark performance test, the CPU load is 49%, the GPU load is 96%, and the VRAM and RAM loads are 51% and 33% respectively.
Heat dissipation performance test:
In terms of heat dissipation performance testing, JB also used CINEBENCH R20 and FurMark, two burn-in software, for testing. When in standby mode, the CPU temperature was observed to be 39 degrees and the highest was 50 degrees through the HWMonitor monitoring software . The power consumption was 10.05W. At this time, the body temperature was measured through the FLIR thermal sensing camera. It can be found that the average temperature of the laptop in standby mode is 29.8 degrees. The hottest point reached 38.1 degrees, which is near the direction keys, corresponding to the position of the SSD inside the laptop. The second highest point is on the left side of the space bar, and the palm rest is only 28.4 degrees.
When running FurMark GPU stress test and CINEBENCH R20 CPU rendering at the same time, the CPU temperature of GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH rose to 60 degrees and reached a maximum of 61 degrees , which is the lowest among the models tested by JB recently. After five rounds of testing, CINEBENCH R20 scored 1906 points, which is about 55.3% lower than the normal test. According to the images of FLIR thermal camera, the average temperature of the laptop body was 32.4 degrees during the test, and the highest temperature was transferred to the heat dissipation holes at the rear of the laptop, reaching 45.7 degrees. The direction keys with the highest temperature in standby mode rose slightly to 38.6 degrees. From the heat map, it can be found that the ice-feeling control area just above the dual fans is obviously lower in temperature, only 31.9 degrees for the WASD keys, and the palm rest temperature has not changed significantly. During the burn-in test, the noise level of the fan in full speed mode was measured with a decibel meter and the result was 60dB . This may require noise-canceling headphones to isolate the noise level.
GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH has a built-in 76Wh rechargeable lithium battery. I also verified its battery life through PCMark 10 Modern Office battery life test . I switched the laptop to balanced mode, turned off the independent graphics card, keyboard backlight, Bluetooth transmission and positioning functions, only kept the Wi-Fi connection and adjusted the screen brightness to 40%. As a result, it took a total of 5 hours and 54 minutes from 97% battery at the beginning of the test to 3% battery when it was automatically turned off. The performance is average. After all, the 13th generation Core processor has no power saving advantage compared to the current mainstream Lunar Lake, which is a pity for its thin and portable body. As for the charging performance, it only takes 47 minutes to charge from 15% to 100% through a 150W AC adapter, which is a very outstanding performance like the AERO X16 I tested earlier.
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Test Summary
GIGABYTE’s new GIGABYTE Gaming A series entry-level gaming laptops launched in 2025 have a significant evolution in design compared to the previous G6 and G5 models. They are no longer full of molds and the overall style is more neat. The thin body, narrow-frame screen and 180-degree flat opening design can all make people feel the care of this entry-level gaming model, and also make it have a certain visual competitiveness among products of the same price. Of course, in order to keep the price within 30,000 yuan, some specifications still need to be compromised, such as the low screen color gamut, only equipped with HD 720p video camera, lack of Windows Hello facial recognition login, and USB 2.0 is also slightly outdated (?). The I/O configuration of GIGABYTE Gaming A16 is quite complete, and the battery life performance is surprising. It can last for nearly 6 hours without turning off the independent graphics card. Compared with last year’s GIGABYTE G6 KF 2024, which was only 2.5 hours, it can be said to be a significant improvement and closer to the needs of daily use.
In terms of performance, the RTX 4050 laptop graphics card can generally run games smoothly at FHD+ resolution and high graphics quality. If it is paired with DLSS 3 frame generation, the performance is more stable. The heat dissipation and noise control of the laptop are also above the standard. Under normal use, the body does not feel noticeably hot, and the fan sound is not very disturbing as long as it is not in full speed mode. However, the panel with a low color gamut is still the biggest shortcoming of this entry-level gaming laptop. sorryIn addition, the pre-loaded 16GB memory and 512GB SSD solid-state hard drive have some impact on the speed of game startup, scene loading or reading and writing. If there is room for upgrade in the future, it is recommended to prioritize the expansion of the SSD, which may improve the situation. For this kind of entry-level gaming laptop, JB always recommends choosing a model with 100% sRGB color gamut and 1TB SSD as much as possible, which will provide a better overall user experience. However, if your budget is really tight and you want to find a balance between price and performance, then the GIGABYTE Gaming A16 CMH shared in this article is still a practical choice for “saving money and still being able to play.”