Perfection is defined as the action or process of improving something until it is faultless. But we know that without faults, there can be no personality. That’s where the Gigabyte Aero 15-X9 comes in. A powerful GPU, equipped with an AI that ensures the components, including the powerful GPU, is working at optimal performance levels. The question is, however, did Gigabyte manage to achieve what they set out to do? Specifications Display - 15.6-inch 1080p 144Hz CPU - Intel Core i7-8750H Graphics - Nvidia GeForce RTX 2070 Max-Q (8GB GDDR6) Memory - Samsung 16 GB DDR4-2666 Storage - Intel 760P 1 TB M.2 PCIe-NVMe SSD Killer Wireless - AC 1550, Bluetooth 5.0 + LE HDMI - USB Port - 2x USB 3.1 Gen 1 Type-A USB - 3.1 Gen 2 Type-A Thunderbolt 3 USB 3.1 Type-C Two 2-watt speakers 720p Webcam Battery - 94 Wh Power Adapter - 230 W Operating System - Windows 10 Pro Weight - 4.7 pounds (2.1 kg) Price - estimated R37 000+ retail price The Aero 15 is mind-bogglingly slim, especially knowing that it houses an RTX 2070 Max Q within. The sleek black aluminium separates the Aero from its predecessors, and while it has matured in design, there are still aspects that are reminiscent of the original Aero. The Gigabyte logo lights up just enough to let others know that this is a premium product, while the arrow shape on the lid gives the all-black design some flare. Inside, the top and side bezels are quite thin, and a thick bottom bezel with the Aero logo, which looks even bigger because Gigabyte has decided to place the webcam at a very obscure angle. The deck is all metal, with the keyboard housing the much needed RGB accents. For owners of the previous Aero, the notebook has gained some weight since last year’s model. However, this is still insanely thin for something packed to the brim with high-end parts. The RTX 2070 Max-Q clocks in at 8GB GDDR6 memory. Compared to last year’s Aero, this is already a massive step up from the 1070 Max-Q. Needless to say, this encouraged some 4K benchmarking, but we found that the Aero 15 can get quite hot and decided against it. As with all RTX-based systems, I immediately ran Battlefield V to see how the 2070 Max-Q could handle ray tracing. With the game clocked at a high preset and DXR on high at 1920 x 1080, the game ran between 44 and 60 frames per second with the occasional stuttering, but the ray tracing reflections definitely worked, like a town showing on the ice in “Wolf and Dog”. When I dropped the ray tracing settings down to medium (but left everything else on high), it stayed closer to a reliable 60 fps without any hiccups or stuttering. The Aero 15 uses an AI program, Azure AI, Gaming+, and Professional+, to connect to either Microsoft’s Azure cloud or Gigabyte Control Center to adjust performance and fan speed. This is the first time that the Azure AI programme has been implemented in commercial gaming notebooks, in a bid to increase the vary the performance of the notebook without the user needing to manually change a single setting. However, the AI doesn’t do very much, barely making any difference within the laptop itself, so it could use some tweaking for optimal changes. You can manually change the settings on the Control Center on your own (although, the Aero didn’t come with it preloaded which is rather odd). The tool only shows in a widget that disappears into the tray. There aren’t a tonne of instructions, and frankly, I don’t expect many users to discern what it even does without having to read Gigabyte’s instructions. Even then, the software just isn’t great. It’s colour-coded but doesn’t explain why. Every time you bring it up from the tray, you’re forced to see a promotional video (though you can exit out of it). But the worst part is that it doesn’t seem to do very much. Perhaps I just couldn’t get it to work, but I found ignoring it proved to be the best course of action. With an Intel Core i7-8750H CPU, 16 GB of RAM, and a 1 TB Intel M.2 PCIe SSD, our configuration of the Aero 15 X9 is a strong productivity machine. You’ll have no issue using it for web browsing or content consumption. The battery takes a hit due to the high-end parts demanding a lot from the 94Wh battery. That being said, it faired a lot better than expected. Dropping the settings to accommodate the circumstances, you can get upward of 4 hours before needing to plug back in. The keyboard does well to make use of the space available. It does take a while to accommodate the way it feels and is spaced, but it’s a lot better than I thought it would be. Generally, when a notebook shrinks in size, the keyboard takes the biggest hit. From gaming to typing, I encountered little to no issues in regards to the size and feel of the keyboard. There’s a small sticker below the display that reminds you that the 15.6-inch, 1080p display is Pantone-calibrated for colour. This certification means that colours are actually implemented based on serial numbers to achieve accuracy, leading to a more vivid colour palette, and it makes sense because the screen is beautiful. I loaded a Mortal Kombat 11 wallpaper and the blacks were truly black, with the other colours popping beautifully. Text feels sharp and video-playback is done justice by the brightness and colour saturation of the display. Audio isn’t going to blow you away, but it will do just perfectly when you don’t have access to a pair of headphones. Bass is not in the foreground, with mids taking the centre stage. They aren’t particularly loud, but it will be fine in a room where you call the police on anyone who makes a sound. The Aero 15-X9 gets on the hot side. Unfortunately, this is the trade-off when it comes to smaller notebooks. However, this doesn’t make the Aero unusable, though, you do worry about the components within. While it may not get blisteringly hot, you may want to be careful with this on your lap during productivity sessions. Of course, the notebook gets significantly hotter when gaming. The keyboard starts to warm up to a noticeable level, with the main exhausts almost too hot to touch. A simple fix for this is a raise in the notebooks level, which will give you better performance as well, as the fans are able to blow the hot air out more effectively. While I have managed to forgive everything else the Aero 15-X9 doesn’t do right, the webcam is absolutely horrendous. I don’t use webcams often, however, the Aero’s 720p webcam does a great job of showcasing your nostrils to the innocent viewer on the other end of the video call. Just pretend it doesn’t exist. The Gigabyte Aero 15-X9 is by no means the perfect notebook, but it's filled to the brim with personality. It is almost as if the Aero and I have grown a partnership during my testing. From its sleek design to the high-end horsepower, you get the feeling that it is trying its hardest. Yes, it does heat up a little too much. Yes, the battery life isn’t the longest lasting in its price range. But its giving you everything it has got - all the time. That’s what truly matters. If it weren’t for the hefty price tag, I would recommend this notebook without a doubt.

Over ten years ago, I probably would've told you that the idea of creating a cinematic universe based on a 10-year plan of superhero films would be absolutely silly. At the time, superhero films had only just found their footing with Sam Raimi's Spider-Man trilogy (ignoring the third film), as well as Christopher Nolan's genre-breaking take on Batman, stealing the spotlight. However, it was also easy to dismiss the superhero genre as a miss more than hit. Despite the efforts of Raimi and Nolan (as well as Bryan Singer to an extent with the X-Men), the bad apples stood out in a basket with only a few (juicy) ripe ones. In 2008, the superhero film changed forever - not just with the release of arguably the greatest comic book film ever made, The Dark Knight, but another unassuming superhero film that put that one bloke from Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang in an iron suit. Fast-forward over ten years later, and the Marvel Cinematic Universe is on top of the world. With over 21 films spanning a decade, the MCU proved to be a smash hit on an extremely risky roll of the dice that any skeptic would've chewed up and spit out before its conception (I being one of them). I will admit that the MCU has proven me wrong. Make no mistake, among those 21 films, I do tend to like some more than others, and there's a few bad apples too in this pile. Looking at the bigger picture, though, the MCU has accomplished an era-defining feat - something that the skeptical teenage me all those years ago would've never imagined happening in his wildest dreams. Love it or hate it, the MCU has created a cultural phenomenon that must be applauded. It successfully brought geek culture to the forefront of the entertainment industry. Gone were the days of basement-dwelling stereotypes perpetuated by the media who were anti-social introverts, obsessed with comic books and everything related to it. That barrier was broken by making Marvel's line of superhero tales a mainstream powerhouse - so much so, that it's hard to walk a thousand miles without finding someone who hasn't heard of Tony Stark or The Avengers. Marvel Studios and Disney surely couldn't have foreseen that we'd be at this point in time, where Avengers: Endgame is predicted to be the biggest movie of the year - and maybe of the decade. This kind of financial success for a comic book movie was a dime a dozen in the past, but with each new Marvel film, it's almost guaranteed to earn big bucks back. It had a few rocky patches here and there (anyone remember The Incredible Hulk?), but for the most part, this kind of consistent success in an interconnected series of films is mindblowing - and in many ways, revolutionary - for cinema. When I was in the fourth or fifth grade, I remembered having quite a lengthy conversation with my friend about the possibility of seeing an Iron Man movie, and then escalating that notion to seeing The Avengers on the big screen some day. I remembered even laughing at the idea that we'd ever see the Infinity Gauntlet story in a movie (at least not in our lifetime); yet here we are, 21 films in and on the cusp of a major turning point in the Marvel Cinematic storyline that culminated, in many ways, in the famous Infinity saga comics. It's actually unreal to think that superhero films would have this much of an impact on the landscape of cinema and blockbusters. What started off as a risky gamble in the end credits scene for Iron Man, which famously introduced Samuel L. Jackson's Nick Fury as the man putting together The Avengers, the MCU has evolved since then to reach every corner of pop culture fandom. Comic books and superheroes have shied away from being a niche form of entertainment for a small group of people, and has now adapted to expand in the mainstream conscience. 15 years ago, very few people knew of Iron Man, but now, everyone knows. I'm personally all for comics and superheroes being more widely recognized as a worthy form of art and pure entertainment, but I'd be lying if I said that the MCU didn't play an incredibly important part in its popularity growth. It still shows no signs of slowing down, which is fantastic - because that snobby teenager in me would still cry at the idea of seeing Galactus and Silver Surfer (done right) on the big screen some day.

Last E3 at the EA press conference, you would have heard gasps of excitement almost immediately followed by groans of disappointment when this trailer played. Instead of resurrecting Command & Conquer as it should be, an RTS on PC, EA instead opted to develop a mobile game with simplified mechanics. Ah, the horror of it all, the filthy casuals had come for the series that popularised RTS’, the nerve! Command & Conquer After the success of Dune II, Westwood studios decided to branch off from licensed properties and develop their own property that would include a multi-player element. What they came up with was an age-old tale if two sides warring over resources – a mysterious mineral by the name of Tiberium instead of oil. On the side of “good” was the Global Defense Initiative - think NATO just a lot more proactive. And on the side of “evil” looking to use Tiberium for nefarious ends was the Brotherhood of Nod and their memorable leader Kane. The game featured the now familiar RTS mechanics of resource gathering and base building with the added power management mechanic. In between all this you had to build an army, but not just any army - one balanced between cheap, yet quickly recruited soldiers to more expensive and longer to build tanks. Balancing the army was the key to victory against both the AI in campaign and skirmish mode (and your friends at LANs). Prioritising and understanding the in-game economy and when to build certain buildings and add-ons while researching new tech is the key to ensuring that you can build that balanced army. That army is then key to marching across the map towards your opponent’s base so that you could crush them. Of course, they are doing the same so the game is basically an accelerated cold war as you rush to build your armies and arsenal before unleashing hell on the world. Another innovative feature, one that became popular with the move from magnetic storage to CD-Rom was the completely cheesy, but oh so appropriate Full Motion Video cutscenes. This game featured acting was suitably dinner theatre and melodramatic with Kane played by Joseph David Kucan, the series lead video director. The game was a massive success and after its release in 1995, the expansion Covert Operations was released in 1996. While not as successful as the main game, the combination of both guaranteed a sequel. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Sun In 1999, the sequel was released, taking place thirty years after the first game. The game moved away from the more realistic Cold War and resource rush storyline of the first towards harder sci-fi as Tiberium is now a plague as it spreads across the planet, basically colonising the earth as it overwrites and takes over the Earth’s ecological systems. The game was an evolution of the RTS mechanics introduced in the first game, with a similar tech tree and build order. Just like the first, you controlled either NOD or GDI in the never-ending war to control Tiberium and the fate of the world. What the game did introduce was a new engine that simulated a 3D environment via different terrain elevations. Making a return was the multi-player mode, giving players a continuing way to work out their differences with their friends without resorting to fist fights. Having said that, I’m pretty certain that arguments over cheating, sneakily checking out screens (a proto form of screen sniping), and just basically being a terrible winner (and sore loser) resulted in more broken friendships than simple fist fights ever did. Once again, the game featured FMV cut scenes, but with a bigger budget came some recognisable talent. Most recognisable is venerable star and voice of Darth Vader, James Earl Jones. Second to him was Michael Biehn, famous for his role as Kyle Rees from Terminator and Corporal Hicks in Aliens. Like the first game, this one also received an expansion – Firestorm. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Wars Almost a decade after the release of Tiberian Sun, Westwood, now owned by EA (BOO! HISS!) released the third game. Set seventeen years later, it followed the blueprint set by the wildly successful Starcraft and introduced a third playable faction called the Scrin. Covering thirty-eight missions (seventeen each for GDI and NOD and four for the Scrin) the game offered days of play as you once again gathered Tiberium to build a base and army to attack and defeat your opponents. The Scrin were an ineffable alien race, immune to the Tiberium radiation, but in typical rock/paper/scissors mechanics they were weak to anti-Tiberium weapons developed by both the GDI and NOD. Once again, the GDI were the slower, but more powerful army and NOD the faster, more agile guerrilla army. The game catered for all playstyles, leading to some epic late night battles at LANs. The FMV cut scenes returned, but this time with some Hollywood talent. Grace Park and Tricia Helfer from Battlestar Galactica had roles and genre favourite actor Michael Ironside had a starring role. The acting was still cheesy and over the top, but it had a higher production value and better script. The expansion Kane’s Wrath mysteriously and without explanation removed the Scrin, a not unpopular decision amongst fans, yet a curious one as the new faction could’ve been special and did add a new dimension to the never-ending battles across the radiation scarred earth. Command & Conquer: Tiberian Twilight The final game in the Tiberium series was released in 2010, as the big budget RTS’ popularity was in the wane. The game, like the one before, looked to its competitors for inspiration, this time Warhammer: Dawn of War. Instead of resource gathering and base building, the payer now controlled his army and was tasked with capturing control nodes on the map. This type of game encouraged fast movement and aggressive tactics as you had to capture more nodes than your opponent to win. This was too much of a change for most fans who did not enjoy the altercations. The only reason to play was to watch the end to the Kane saga and witness the final battles between the GDI and NOD as the earth is slowly consumed by Tiberium. Personally, the changes to the mechanics did not interest me, as I am a very defensive player, preferring to build a nigh impenetrable base with a huge army behind that that will eventually sweep all before them. Unlike the prior entries in the series, the game did not warrant a sequel, both from a story perspective and a financial success one. Command & Conquer – The Honorable Mentions With the success of the first game, Westwood decided to create a sequel that eventually was retconned into a more comedic spin-off. Red Alert was set in an alternate earth where Stalin’s Soviet Union decides to continue expanding beyond Eastern Europe and that a Cold War is not in their interest. Waging war on the Allies, the Soviets marched across Europe hoping to bring the glory of communism to all. This game spawned the excellent sequels Red Alert 2 and Red Alert 3, with the latter once again featuring the manic Tim Curry as one of the leading actors. In the rush to diversify, EA released a FPS Renegade in 2002. Set in the Tiberium series, it was a fun, if unremarkable shooter allowing you to get up close and personal with the units and tanks that you used to control from afar in the RTS games. Following the close of the Kane Saga, EA tried to create a third series with Generals in 2003. Going back to the original’s more realistic setting, this game featured a conflict between the USA, China and a new terrorist organisation called the Global Liberation Army. The game followed the same RTS pattern as the other games but tended to a more realistic view of the units and world. While Rivals is C&C in name only to many fans, EA has won some acclaim by deciding to remaster the first game, now officially known as Tiberian Dawn and Red Alert. Not only that, but they have hired Petroglyph Studios to do the remaster, home to many of the former Westwood Studios developers. The games will come with all their expansions, but a release date is a long way off as development has yet to even start.

We’re back with a few more comics that you absolutely must read. Please?! Anyway, this week we are diving back into the “mainstream”, but with a twist. All New Wolverine Writer: Tom Taylor Pencils: David Lopez et al (seriously there were way too many artists on this book!) Publisher: Marvel Comics Number of issues: 35 Wolverine is the best there is at what he does and what he does ain’t nice. At least that’s what he’s always thought. He’s kinda ignoring old Sabretooth and later he realises that his son Daken may be just a little bit nastier than him. Then of course there’s X-23, the female Logan clone made to be the world’s best and likely prettiest assassin. I think that the comic is stretching the definition of clone a little, but I’m just an accountant so will leave those debates to the biologists amongst you. All New Wolverine picks up after the events of the Death of Wolverine arc. To honour her father, Logan did help Laura, that’s X-23’s “real” name, escape her captors and ended up adopting her. Laura takes on the mantle of the Wolverine and tries to atone for past sins as an indiscriminate assassin by being the hero. Since Laura is trying to make a life for herself, she of course needs a supporting cast. The cast is quite small, consisting of her little sister, another clone, but this time she's called Gabby, and their pet Wolverine, Jonathan. The first arc has Laura confronting what seem like homicidal, yet less advanced clones of herself. Like her, they were bred as assassins and soldiers by Alchemax. These clones have limited life spans to keep costs down i.e. they are cheaper as they are disposable just like Blade Runner’s replicants. Laura enters the fray at first to stop their homicidal rampages but realises that they are just like her and need help. The story moves at a fair pace as Laura races to save her sisters from their shortened lifespan, a fun and tragic cameo by the Wasp and a journey into one of the clone’s bodies is the highlight here. Along the way, she tries and succeeds in convincing these clones that murder is not the answer. Disfigurement and maiming though are all good. The third arc is not as satisfying but features a team up with Iron Heart and later the Guardians of the Galaxy. The Iron Heart part of the story does feature a redemption arc of sorts for Laura, Daken and Old Man Logan as well as a sweet and somewhat disturbing friendship between the tween Gabby and Deadpool. Seriously, there is something just not quite right with that girl. Taylor’s writing does a good job of defining Laura in the context of her past as an assassin and her attempts at redemption, the end to Laura dealing with her nemesis Kimura is both satisfying while revealing that Laura still has a nasty streak to her. One of the best arcs is the Orphans of X arc. Victims of Wolverine, his fellow Weapon X team members and the various progeny hunt down the offenders and using the Muramasa blade, at least the remnants thereof, seek to end the menace, as they see it, of the “Wolverines”. This is one of the few comics that have focused on the collateral damage wrought by our heroes and the lives they destroy while going about being the “best there is at what they do”. The art though is all over the place depending on the arc and penciller. The David Lopez issues are great, dynamic and interesting. But the issues with fill in or replacement artists looks rushed and unpolished at times. This is unfortunate as it is jarring when the art changes. Despite this the book is a good read and a relatively self-contained one with few crossovers to bigger events, but even then they are localised to these characters and their world. Hellblazer Writer: Jamie Delano Pencils: John Ridgeway Publisher: Vertigo Comics Number of issues: 300 (but I am only going to talk about the first ten or so) John Constantine is a b*stard. He is cynical, selfish and almost completely amoral. However, he does try to do the right thing... when it suits him. Debuting in Swamp Thing during Alan Moore’s seminal run, Constantine would go on to star in his own book. Initially written by Jamie Delano, the book was a masterpiece of late ‘80s comic horror. Definitely not Comics Code Authority approved, the book was a tale of one man’s attempts to navigate the supernatural world while trying to profit off of it. Below the surface the book was a careful commentary on Thatherite Britain, see issue 3, couched as a horror comic full of magic, demons and stupid skin heads. The first two issues start with a horrible demon possessing people and forcing them to gorge on anything to satiate a never-ending hunger until the host dies due to over eating. Constantine is introduced as a down on his luck chancer drawn into this demon hunt by an old friend. This old friend is a junkie, who we later learn has a very good John Constantine related reason for trying to forget his worries via heroin. The story is disturbing, horrifying and ultimately the perfect introduction to who John is as he does what has to be done, but ends up making a sacrifice that tells you all you need to know who the man is in order to lock away the demon. Like I said he is a b*stard, but a b*stard that you want on your side when things go pear shaped. The next eight or so issues deal with the so-called Damnation Army storyline. While not connected to each other directly, as in part 1 to 8 of a single story, there is a recurrent sub-plot that once again shows John to be a complete and utter b*stard with a loose moral compass. This arc sees John get involved with a psychic named Zed who is hiding a past and a pretty big secret. In dealing with the Damnation Army, John makes a deal with a demon, fights a skinhead monstrosity that is resolved via good old football tribalism and hooliganism, and stops quite likely what could be the apocalypse. In so doing, he defiles someone with a greater prophesised destiny and causes the mass death of a cult. In between, John helps Swamp Thing and his girlfriend Abby Arkane in a way that only he can that is both sweet and oh so dirty. The storyline ends with the ominous warning to “Remember Newcastle”, leading John to confront his past and realise that his deals with the devil have been manipulations from day one. The artstyle is extremely stylistic at times, not the hyper realistic and posed art of super hero books. The art evokes the decay and degradation of a Britain convulsing under Thatcher’s hyper capitalist and conservative policies. This is the London before the boom of Blair’s New Labour, with the mines forcibly been shut and before finance and technology took over the London economy. It can sometimes be difficult to follow the panels, but this encourages you to take your time with each issue, once you “unlearn” what you know about reading comics you will find much to enjoy in each panel. If you like the current version of John on Legends of Tomorrow, read these comics to see just why I don’t like that version. In fact, the Keanu Reeves film is truer to the character and the horror comics than that version ever will be (ed - And it's a damn good movie to boot). Just don’t get confused by the DC Comics books that were launched in 2011, that is a sanitised version that DC created as they wanted John in the mainline DC universe interacting with the spandex crowd.