First Tests! Is Nvidia's GeForce RTX 4070 the New Mainstream Laptop GPU to Beat?

pcmag.com:

Following their initial announcement at CES 2023, Nvidia’s RTX 40 Series GeForce graphics processors are rolling out in phases in gaming laptops. A few weeks back, we saw the rollout of the first laptops with the GeForce RTX 4080 and 4090. Today, the RTX 4050, 4060, and 4070 get their big unveil. We have the RTX 4070 in our hands inside the spanking-new Gigabyte Aero 16, and we've got the first tests that show what this new midrange GPU can do, following impressive results from the powerful laptop-grade GeForce RTX 4090.

While the GeForce RTX 4070 doesn’t sit at the top of Nvidia’s new stack like its 4090 sibling, it's arguably way more relevant. The GeForce RTX 4070 will appear in midrange gaming laptops that, while still on the pricier side, will be more affordable than the most expensive notebooks bearing the RTX 4090. These laptops will also likely be more portable than the top-end systems, making them overall more appealing and attainable to most buyers.

Gigabyte's new Aero 16 (starting at $2,099; $2,299 as tested) is one such gaming laptop, a relatively slim machine despite the power inside. It’s a 16-inch system aimed at creative professionals (in addition to gamers), another use case for which you’ll likely see the RTX 4070 deployed. We’ll follow up with a full review of the laptop itself soon, but first, we've got RTX 4070 performance numbers to look at in detail.

We reviewed an Aero 16 last year, packed with a 12th-Generation Intel processor and an Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti—a top-end laptop in every way. However, even at 16 inches, this laptop line is on the slim side (0.87 inch thick, tapering down to 0.7 inch), and it doesn’t go all-in on gaming power the way some of its competitors may.

Gigabyte equipped its 2023