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Aorus announces world’s 1st gaming laptop with a per-key backlit keyboard

Auros has unveiled its full range of new Skylake-powered gaming laptops that amongst other things including the X5 v5, the first laptop with a completely customisable per-key backlit keyboard.

The feature will allow users to set custom key-lighting layouts for different games and apps or just simply allow for funky looking patterns to be made – illuminated clan logos anyone?

The 15.6 machine also packs dual Nvidia GTX 965M graphics cards, an Intel Core i7 processor and Nvidia G-Sync display technology into its 22.9mm frame. Alternatively the X55 v5 swaps those dual 965M for a single 980M and a 4K resolution display.

Related: Gigabyte Aorus X5 review

Both machines also pack in DDR4 memory, an M.2 PCIe Gen3 x4 SSD, HDMI 2.0, and USB 3.1 Type-C. Plus there’s a couple of proprietary Aorus features in the shape of Aorus Audio and the Live Stream Engine.

The former amounts to a set of software audio profiles tailored to different types of games and music while the latter is a dedicated hardware video decoder to make streaming games less strenuous on the rest of your system.

If black isn’t your thing Aorus is also offering a limited edition camouflage variant of the X5, which has a rather fetching grey and black camo pattern.

If you’re after something a little larger Aorus is offering the X7 Pro v5. This time you get dual GTX 970M graphics cards – a much more powerful solution than the GTX 965M – and a display that again features G-Sync. The 17.3in panel also uses IPS technology for good viewing angles and colours, though there’s no mention of what resolution it uses. It’s all packed into a chassis that weighs 3kg and is 23.9mm thick..

Aorus hasn’t yet announced pricing or exact release dates but we expect them to arrive soon.

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