Gigabyte A16 (2025) In-Depth Review: A Budget Surprise with Serious Flaws
Historically, entry-level gaming laptops from Gigabyte had only one stampede: low price, and often it came with significant compromises. Previous versions faced recipe thermals and design choices that were in doubt. With its arrival, the expectations were indifferent for the A16 2025. Well, this machine has surprised in a number of areas and indeed is a great leap in terms of design, cooling as well as feel. But low pricing always comes at a cost. Let us delve into exploring where the A16 finds its stride and where it falters.
Design and Build Quality
The A16 cuts off completely with its older siblings in terms of design. The chassis is an all-black plastic affair with a very subtle sparkle finish that gives it a very clean, modern, and understated look for a gaming laptop. The lid stealthy logo gives an attractive shine in rainbow colors as it catches light. At about 2.2kg(just under 5lb) and 22mm thick, it is even quite portable for a 16-inch machine.
For an entry budget laptop, build quality is good; however, the presence of most parts is certainly plastic. This means that some flex exists on the keyboard deck, which is more than the norm, especially when forced down on intentionally. The hinges seem thoroughly redesigned, with an effortless operation of a full 180-degree screen opening. Some flex exists at the lid level, and it wobbles slightly during typing, but it doesn't feel fragile.
Display: The Biggest Compromise
Displays are the areas where budget laptops usually cut corners, and A16 is a good example. It offers a display of 16 inches, 16:10 aspect ratio, available in two configurations. The tested base model has a resolution of 1920x1200. Brightness is decent (340-400 nits), while contrast is good; color accuracy and response time are its main downfalls.
Color Gamut
The base panel has very poor color coverage, around 65% sRGB. Therefore, it has no use for any color-sensitive creative work.
Response Time
Averaging over 20ms response time, it is just too slow for a 165Hz panel. This results in some ugly ghosting and motion blur in highly-paced games.
True, the display can still be used at a minor level for casual gaming, and once engrossed in a game, you might forget about its downsides-comparatively, a big step down from the competition. Higher-end configurations can have a better 2560x1600 display, although the GPU might struggle at that resolution.
Keyboard and Touchpad
Gigabyte has made welcome changes here. By removing the numpad, the keyboard is now centered, with larger keycaps and a comfortable 1.7mm of travel. It's a surprisingly pleasant typing experience. The base model features a single-color cyan backlight, while higher-tier models offer single-zone RGB.
The plastic touchpad also feels surprisingly nice. It's large, accurate, and smooth to navigate, though the click mechanism feels a bit cheap and loud.
Performance: A Tale of Two GPUs
Performance is a mixed bag and frankly a very strange bag. The A16 can be configured with different GPUs but that has revealed some bizarre inconsistencies from testing the RTX 4050 and RTX 5060 models.
CPU Performance and System Sluggishness
Both the models tested contain the Intel Core i7-13620H processor. Benchmark scores from Cinebench and Geekbench aren't too shabby, but a consistent anomaly was a bizarre sluggishness during everyday Windows tasks. The CPU would throttle for no apparent reason at times that severely hampered simple tasks like downloading games. Serious concern regarding this behavior may warrant a BIOS update down the line.
Maintaining acceptable performance under batteries presents a problem. The system is almost unusable during battery runs, thus making it incompatible for anything needing mobility.
Gaming and GPU Performance
Now it starts getting weird; with a lower power limit (max 85W), the RTX 5060 in the A16, expectedly, performs under the full-blown rivals. Yet, in testing, the RTX 5060 variant laid down one bizarre performance inconsistency after another, at times even scoring lower than the cheaper RTX 4050 model. The GPU simply wasn't being fully utilized in games. This seems to be a serious driver or BIOS issue, making the RTX 5060 configuration impossible to recommend at this time.
On the other hand, the RTX 4050 version performs as expected for its class and, at 1920x1200, offers a decent gaming experience, thereby putting itself as a good bargain option when put on sale.
Thermals, Fan Noise, and Battery Life
Gigabyte has come a long way with cooling. The A16 is performing very well thermally. The internal CPU and GPU temps are surprisingly low, with the CPU hardly breaching 70°C during ferocious gaming. The keyboard deck can get warm, especially around the spacebar, but the WASD keys feel nice and cool.
The loudness of the fans under load is to be expected from your average gaming laptop. But it is hardly unbearable. You can choose between different performance modes. In terms of performance, the "Creator" mode gives equal gaming performance to "Game" mode but with less fan noise and noticeably warmer keyboard.
Fantastic battery life from a 76Wh battery has translated into more than 8 hours in video playback tests. For a gaming laptop, this is excellent and adds to the portability cred (not if with a lot of heavy performance tasks).
Ports, Internals, and Upgradable Capabilities
Good selection of ports but terrible placement. Ports are placed too far in the front of the sides, leaving cables getting in the way for lefties in particular. The presence of a really outdated USB 2.0 port is disappointing in 2025.
Upgradability is the plus here. Inside, we found:
- Two user-accessible RAM slots (DDR5)
- Two M.2 SSD slots (PCIe Gen 4)
- Replaceable Wi-Fi 6E card
The main drawback is that the spare M.2 slot is less accommodating and will not accept higher-capacity double-sided drives.
Pros and Cons
pros:
- Excellent thermal management; cool-running.
- Good battery life for a gaming laptop.
- Lightweight and portable for a 16-inch model.
- Surprisingly good speakers at this price point.
- Comfortable keyboard and decent touchpad.
- Competitive upgradability options (RAM, SSD).
- Fantastic value (RTX 4050 model on sale).
cons:
- Sub-par base display (poor color, slow response).
- Major performance bugs on the RTX 5060.
- General sluggishness with the system under common use.
- Awkward forward placement of ports.
- Possesses an obsolete USB 2.0 port.
- Noticeable flex in all-plastic build.
- MUX switch through BIOS only.
Ratings
| Feature | Rating | Notes |
|---|---|---|
| Design & Build | Clean, modern look but the all-plastic build has some flex. Portable for its size. | |
| Performance (RTX 4050) | Good for its price point, but held back by CPU sluggishness bugs. | |
| Performance (RTX 5060) | Currently broken. Series of unresolved issues causing gross underperformance. | |
| Display | Bright display, but diminished by poor color and extremely slow response time. | |
| Thermals and Acoustics | High-end cooling keeps internal temperatures extremely low. Major win for Gigabyte. | |
| Battery Life | Excellent longevity for a gaming laptop. | |
| Overall (RTX 4050 Model) | A great value when on sale, assuming forgivable screen and bugs. | |
| Overall (RTX 5060 Model) | Promising hardware, crippled by optimization problems. |
Final Verdict
The Gigabyte A16 is very much a tale of contrasts. A highly thermally efficient laptop with a great battery life situated in a portable chassis with a horrible screen and strange performance bugs.
The specific recommendation here will be: If you find the RTX 4050 version on sale for under $800, it's a fantastic value for the money for those gamers on a budget willing to sacrifice some screen quality for portability and coolness in operation. For this price, the faults could be overlooked.
Anything above that is not worth it for any configuration, especially the wracked RTX 5060 model. There are just way too many alternatives above the $1,000 price point that offer a way better screen and reliable performance, including Gigabyte's own higher-end Aero X16.
