Display, Keyboard and Trackpad

The Gigabyte P34W v5 I reviewed is equipped with a 14.0-inch IPS LCD with a resolution of 2560 x 1440, which provides a adept balance between pixel density (210 ppi) and gaming functioning. We're not looking at a super high resolution 4K display, just text and games even so await great at this resolution and display size, and Windows x's display scaling allows you to effectively enlarge app elements (commonly) without introducing blurriness; I fix information technology to 150% for a good balance between existent estate and size.

The display isn't particularly bright, at a maximum of 290 nits, and a contrast ratio of 910:1 is beneath boilerplate. This tin make the P34W v5 somewhat difficult to view in places with strong overhead lighting, although the viewing angles from this IPS panel are excellent and you'll exist able to wait at this display with very little shift in colour or effulgence from nearly any bending.

I was surprised by the accuracy of the P34W v5. Saturation accuracy is great in general, with most colors falling in an ideal range, except greens which are slightly undersaturated. Greyscale accuracy and results from our custom test were also pretty good (all with dE3000 levels below iii.iv), and a white level of 6458K gives the screen a natural white experience.

Unfortunately, one of the features we're starting to see in many gaming laptops is non present in the P34W v5: a variable refresh display. The 1440p display in this laptop is fixed at a refresh of 60 Hz, whereas if it were G-Sync compatible, it would be able to vary with the output of the GPU, providing a smoother gaming experience at frame rates below sixty FPS.

Adding in a Chiliad-Sync display would inevitably add a premium to the price of the P34, just considering the summit-terminate model is equipped with a 1440p display, information technology would be worth it as many games are playable at maximum settings in the sub-60 FPS zone. Having decent color reproduction and great viewing angles is nice, but the P34 would really stand out with a G-Sync display.

The keyboard included with the P34W v5 is passable. In that location'due south adequate spacing between the keys, and aside from the half-height arrow keys, the positioning and size of of import keys is great. Even so, the keyboard feels very mushy to type on, despite decent travel distance, which leads to mediocre tactile feedback whether you lot're gaming or typing up documents.

Of more pocket-size issues, I don't like how arrangement functions such every bit increasing/decreasing the brightness and volume are linked to the Fn central, requiring ii buttons to exist pressed to change these settings. I don't use F-keys very ofttimes, so I'd rather these were a secondary function and the system settings fabricated the primary function. Either that, or I'd similar to see a fashion to alter this from within a software utility. Also, I'1000 not sure why this laptop has an squirt central when there is no optical drive included.

The trackpad included with the P34 is complete garbage. Because Gigabyte opted for ELAN hardware, this didn't surprise me in the slightest. The trackpad is non very responsive, gestures (especially two-finger scrolling) don't piece of work reliably, and for some reason the scrolling direction was ready by default to a non-standard contrary configuration. The physical mouse buttons are reasonably clicky, just borer on the trackpad to click isn't a responsive experience.

This isn't the offset laptop that I've used with an ELAN trackpad, and mostly they are extremely unimpressive. While using this trackpad is far from a good experience, yous wouldn't want to game on even the best laptop trackpad, so I'd be advising people to use an external mouse anyway.