It's a new Nvidia GPU generation, which means new Nvidia GPU tech, and for gamers, this one is worth sitting up and taking notice.

We hear a lot about Nvidia's DLSS updates whenever a new generation is introduced, and while Nvidia's new multi-frame generation has taken up a lot of space in the Blackwell discussion, DLSS 4's biggest update may be its transformer upscaling model, rather than the AI-powered frame generation smoothing.

On June 5, the Nvidia transformer model left beta, so Nvidia RTX laptop and desktop GPU owners can take advantage of the latest tech without needing to opt in.

But what is the transformer model, and why should you use it?

What is Nvidia's new Transformer Model

Nvidia announced the new DLSS 4 transformer model at CES 2025 in January with the official unveiling of the RTX 50-series. The transformer model replaces the current DLSS convolutional neural network model for clearer graphics upscaling.

This not only provides faster framerates, but also improves image quality when using Nvidia's Deep Learning Super Sampling, which should alleviate some issues with visual degradation associated with DLSS upscaling.

Nvidia has been working on the Transformer Model since 2022 and released the model in beta for early adopters in January 2025. The transformer model uses a "vision transformer" to evaluate the relative importance of each pixel across the entire frame, over multiple frames. This employs double the parameters of the old neural network to generate pixels with better stability, reduced ghosting, higher detail, and smoother edges.

Don't care about the technical details? What it boils down to is that upscaled frames and generated frames in DLSS 4 with the transformer model should be clearer and smoother than ever.

How much better is the Transformer Model?

As a former lab nerd and hardware enthusiast, I will take any excuse to do some hands-on testing.

So I broke out the Razer Blade 16 (2025) and kicked up a few of my favorite test games, Cyberpunk 2077, Monster Hunter Wilds, and Final Fantasy XIV: Dawntrail to see how the games handled the different DLSS models.

Both Cyberpunk and Monster Hunter are rather notorious for being difficult benchmarks. Cyberpunk 2077 is already DLSS 4 enabled, while Monster Hunter Wilds is only rocking DLSS 3.7 by default. Meanwhile, Final Fantasy XIV is notorious for performing worse with DLSS enabled.

To ensure the new transformer model doesn't slow down framerates during the upscaled image process, we reran the benchmarks to assess its impact on benchmark scores. In most cases, the transformer model performed comparably to the old convolutional neural network model, within 3-5 fps.

The DLSS transformer model isn't just RTX 50-series exclusive

I tested the transformer model on an RTX 5090 laptop in order to see how it handles with the new multi-frame generation software which is 50-series exclusive, however, the transformer model is available on all Nvidia RTX GPUs from the RTX 20-series up to the RTX 50-series.

To enable the transformer model, simply install the latest Nvidia drivers.

And if your game of choice doesn't offer DLSS 4 as an option, you can force the game to use DLSS 4 by using the Nvidia app. Just go to Graphics, select your game, and select the transformer model in "DLSS Override Model Presets."

The transformer model alone isn't going to drastically improve your GPU performance any more than the convolutional neural network in DLSS 3 did, but it will make games look far better, which is nothing to sneeze at. Particularly if you're trying to hold out for another GPU generation before upgrading your desktop or laptop.

If you have an RTX 50-series laptop or are planning to get one from among the best gaming laptops, you can get all the benefits of prettier frames and multiframe generation for even smoother gaming experiences.

Truly, there's no reason NOT to opt for the transformer model if you own an Nvidia RTX GPU.

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Randy Pitchford doesn’t mince his words. When asked on social media about the rumored $80 price tag for Borderlands 4, the founder of software firm Gearbox replied, “If you’re a real fan, you’ll find a way to make it happen.”

He even compared it to buying an $80 Sega Genesis cartridge in 1991 while working minimum wage.

The backlash was immediate and loud.

Gamers, developers, journalists — all pointed to the same problem: It’s not just about the number, it’s about the mindset. Pitchford’s “real fan” remark felt like a guilt trip disguised as nostalgia.

In a year where AAA games launch half-finished, GPUs cost more than rent, and “early access” is code for “paid beta,” telling players to “find a way” sounds less like passion and more like pressure. And yet, inconveniently, he’s not entirely wrong. Below is his original comment:

He later apologized:

Games cost more to produce, but that’s not on players

There’s no way to hide the fact that blockbuster games are getting absurdly expensive to make. Grand Theft Auto VI has reportedly cost Rockstar over $1 billion in development costs so far, which, if true, would make it the most expensive video game of all time.

Meanwhile, Star Citizen has raised more than $800 million via crowdfunding, and it’s still technically in alpha after over a decade of development.

The thing is that games aren’t just games anymore: They’re digital mega productions, cinematic in scale, with orchestras, voice talent, facial capture, handcrafted worlds, and real-time lighting engines. They take several years to complete, even as development teams have ballooned into the thousands.

So, it seems inevitable that prices were always going to increase. The $60 standard held for nearly two decades. But if we’re moving to $70 or $80 (and increasingly, we are), then players deserve more than “scope.” They deserve finished products, stable performance, accessible gameplay, and not broken launches or monetization rabbit holes.

What higher prices get you now

Let’s be real about what $70-$80 often buys these days. It’s not a guaranteed polished experience. It’s an access ticket to a staggered content rollout.

Redfall launched at $70 with frame rate caps and AI so bad it became a meme. Suicide Squad: Kill the Justice League also launched at $70, along with lukewarm reviews and a delay in its promised seasonal content. Call of Duty: Modern Warfare III was criticized for feeling like an expansion pack at a full premium price.

And in too many cases, you’re also paying for the privilege of not getting the full game. DLC plans are announced before the base game even hits shelves. Battle passes are layered on top. Day-one patches are expected, not the exception.

The shifting hardware ceiling

Eighty dollars is just the beginning. In some cases, you can’t even play the game well unless you’ve dropped another $500-$1,000 on hardware, as minimum system requirements inch closer to high-end specs.

Recent and upcoming titles like Starfield, Alan Wake II, and Cyberpunk 2077’s Phantom Liberty DLC recommend an RTX 3070 or higher for stable 1080p performance. Some Unreal Engine 5 games, like IO Interactive’s upcoming Project Fantasy, may require an RTX 4070 to play comfortably.

That’s not “minimum viable hardware” anymore. It’s serious gear. And it’s not just PC gamers feeling the pinch.

Laptop users are getting boxed out, too. New performance leaks from Nvidia show the company is testing 120W APUs designed to match RTX 4070 performance in thin laptops, but those rigs won’t be cheap, and they aren’t here yet. Until then, playing new releases at acceptable frame rates on anything under $1,500 is a roll of the dice.

This is leaving players behind — those who aren’t hardcore hobbyists, the folks who maybe game a few hours a week after work or school, the ones still running a GTX 1660 Ti because that used to be enough.

Charles, one of our readers, tells Laptop Mag this in an email:

“Now, years later, I am reading the minimum specs of the still not finished game [and it needs] a 4060 at least.”

Charles contacted me in response to our recent article on Star Citizen, adding that while he could have gotten into Star Citizen years ago when it was “cheaper to enter,” he’s glad that he didn’t, because it would have cost him thousands more in hardware upkeep just to play without lag. Charles certainly won't be alone in that regard.

Right message, wrong tone, worse timing

If the $80 game becomes the norm — and all signs are pointing that way — publishers need to recognize what that means. Not everyone can keep up. And that’s not on them.

Pitchford might have been trying to be nostalgic. He may even believe that “real fans” support what they love. But he glossed over the economic reality of gaming in 2025: Rising living costs, wage stagnation, and tech that’s evolving faster than consumers can follow.

Pitchford’s “real fans” comment implies that anyone not willing to stretch their finances to play Borderlands 4 isn’t a true believer. But what he misses, and what publishers often ignore, is that fandom isn’t tied to income. People can love a franchise and still not be able to afford the hardware jump, the deluxe edition, the season pass, and the extra cosmetics.

Yes, games are more expensive to make. And yes, price increases were probably inevitable.

But if $80 is going to be the new baseline, then that price should come with guarantees, not gambles. That means no broken launches, no missing features, no predatory monetization models. It means optimization that respects mid-range hardware, not just $2,000 rigs.

“Real fans will find a way”? Maybe. But they shouldn’t have to fight for it.

They already bought the game. They shouldn’t also have to buy the patch notes, the DLC roadmap, and a whole new GPU just to enjoy it.

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Nvidia's GeForce RTX 5060 family is here and finally on shelves — technically.

This budget-friendly Nvidia GPU comes in two variations: a higher-powered version with 16GB of GDDR7 VRAM and a more wallet-friendly variation with 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM. The RTX 5060 Ti 16GB retails for $429 while the 8GB model will set you back $379.

The entry-level RTX 5060 will launch next month and comes with 8GB of DDR7 VRAM for a price of just $299.

While the price and specs of the RTX 5060 family are certainly compelling, how has the 5060 Ti held up in reviewers' hands?

Reviews roundup

So far, reviews of the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB have landed squarely in the 4-star range, offering decent gen-on-gen uplifts compared to the RTX 4060 Ti, but question how good of a bargain the 16GB model is.

As Engadget's Devindra Hardawar states, "NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5060 Ti aims at a very niche group of gamers." Because of the 5060 Ti's price-point, it exists in that middle ground between "budget" and "mid-range" which can often be a no-man's land.

But the 5060 Ti does make a case for itself. Hardawar awarded the 5060 Ti 16 GB a score of 85/100, reasoning, "In terms of raw rendering power, it's a minor upgrade over the previous RTX 4060 Ti. But thanks to the power of DLSS 4 AI upscaling, as well as 4X frame generation (the ability to create three interpolated frames for every one that's rendered), the RTX 5060 Ti can reach surprisingly high fps scores in 1080p and even 1440p."

Tom's Hardware's Jarred Walton gave the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB a 4 out of 5 stars, reporting that the "Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti 16GB delivers 15% more performance than its 4060 Ti 16GB predecessor, at a theoretically lower price and with a lot more memory bandwidth. It's a good choice, assuming you can find it at a reasonable price."

However, Walton does caution that retail pricing and GPU availability will be critical considerations, as "Nvidia's MSRPs have looked good, but outside of a few RTX 5070 cards (which are out of stock for the time being), almost nothing has actually sold at MSRP."

PCGamer's Jacob Ridley awarded the 5060 Ti an 81/100, thanks to its GDDR7 VRAM, lower MSRP than the previous generation, cool running temps, and 20% gen uplift for just 20 additional watts of power.

Ridley recommends the 5060 Ti as a solid choice for those on 30-series cards and older, arguing "You can probably live without the extra 20% and Multi Frame Generation if you're already rocking an RTX 40-series graphics card. However, as someone on an older card, the RTX 5060 Ti offers a great upgrade path, providing it's something close to MSRP."

Jason England of Tom's Guide gifted a 4/5 star rating to the 5060 Ti, as the card is "a real statement piece for DLSS 4 — showcasing huge framerates in plenty of top games at an impressive cost. It’s not worth it for 40-series owners, given the small gains in raw rendering and content creation performance. But if you’re on older cards or looking to get into PC gaming for the first time, this is a great start."

Phil Hayton of GamesRadar also stuck with the 4-star review rating, as "The Nvidia GeForce RTX 5060 Ti offers up great 1440p abilities for under $450 and can pull off 4K tricks with DLSS 4 enabled.

In an ideal world, this card would serve as a nice option for players tempted to make the jump from older 60-class GPUs, but since there’s no Founder’s Edition, the 16GB model is at risk of losing its value incentive due to higher third-party pricing and the potential impact of US tariffs."

Is it worth your time and money?

As many of the RTX 5060 Ti reviews point out, Nvidia's 5060 family of graphics cards aren't getting a Founder's Edition run, so the likelihood of finding a 5060 Ti at it's $379 (8GB) or $429 (16GB) MSRP is low.

In fact, a quick check of PC component retailers like Microcenter and Newegg shows steep markups on both the RTX 5060 Ti 8GB and 16GB models, ranging from $419 for the 8GB model up to $604 for the 16GB model.

Add in the volatility of the U.S. tech tariffs and GPU scarcity with Nvidia's 50-series GPUs, the 5060 Ti could see even greater price hikes than what's already on the market.

Based on the lack of reviews for the 8GB variant of the RTX 5060 Ti, it appears Nvidia may not be confident in the performance of the lower-tier card.

So, if you were looking at the 8GB model, it may make more sense to wait for the May launch of the RTX 5060. Alternatively, you could spend a bit more and opt for the 16GB version of the 5060 Ti at $489 and spend just a bit more for a 5070 at $549.

While the RTX 5070 isn't the perfect GPU, it may be a better option than the RTX 5060 Ti for someone upgrading from a 20 or 30-series GPU.

Assuming you can get it at MSRP and not for a higher price. Otherwise, it seems the RTX 5060 Ti 16GB is currently the best option for solid performance at an affordable price point.

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We’ve all been talked at before. All sorts of colorful information is pointed directly at us, sometimes with the energy of a hairdryer. That’s sort of how gaming monitors have been.

With their incredible pixel density, high refresh rate, brilliant color, and eye-squinting brightness, these big rectangles are a one-way communication cannon.

After experiencing Samsung’s new Odyssey 3D monitor, I realized it gaming monitors don't have to be this way. What's on your monitor can feel more like an immersive, visual conversation — and not a blaring, optical broadcast.

The 27” Samsung Odyssey 3D monitor offers three-dimensional experiences that floored me when I went hands-on with it earlier this month. The images from video games or 2D movies floated off the screen and into my world — no 3D glasses required.

Two stereo cameras with lenticular lenses are embedded in the top bezel of the monitor to do the eye tracking, and the images pop off your screen. That’s the short version.

See also: Get $300 in Samsung credit when you pre-order any of these Samsung Odyssey 4K gaming monitors

The slightly longer version is that the cameras that were tracking my eyes sent those images into an Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU, which was connected to a Maingear gaming rig with 32GB of RAM and an AMD Ryzen 7 7800X3D processor.

And those 3D visuals only come to life if you have the Samsung Reality Hub app running.

In sum, this powerful experience is still at the high end for gaming monitors. While the minimum GPU required to operate the Odyssey 3D monitor is the now affordable Nvidia RTX 3080, which was launched in September of 2020, nothing about this brilliant bit of future tech says "budget." (But that's never been the point with brilliant bits of future tech.)

What's the future of 3D monitors?

A company official tells us that Samsung's 3D monitor is easy to be in awe of, and the company is optimistic about its future and 3D tech more generally.

"Samsung is bullish about the future of 3D monitor technology, as our studies have shown that more gamers are expecting the next generation of games to be more immersive and realistic," David You, Head of Product Marketing, Monitors, Samsung Electronics America, tells Laptop Mag.

"To capitalize on this growing demand, we are developing partnerships with key gaming studios such as Nexon and Round8 to offer our consumers 3D gaming experiences for top gaming titles such as Khazan and Lies of P and are working closely with other gaming studios to launch dozens of more titles by the end of this year.

"Samsung’s Odyssey 3D Monitor can also convert non-DRM protected video (YouTube) from 2D to 3D, expanding the use case for 3D monitor technology beyond just games."

Two ways this 3D monitor feels different than the 3D you're used to

The result of the Odyssey 3D monitor, though, is stunning. The 3D monitor concept isn’t new, nor is Samsung the first to bring this technology to market. But in isolation, the way the screen can suck you in will have you in awe.

If you grew up going to 3D movies — whether it was seeing Michael Jackson in Captain EO at Epcot or watching a swarm of bees fly off the screen in Jackass 3D — there are two main differences I noticed in experiencing the Odyssey 3D monitor:

1. You aren’t wearing glasses. Particularly if you already wear glasses like me, this is tremendous.

2. You are in control. You can rewind to move your avatar in a game, and even to dial down the 3D or crank it up. 3D can be a bit unnerving. Being able twiddle the knobs helps.

As for performance, a Samsung rep tells Laptop Mag that the Odyssey 3D won't set records.

“It will never be the fastest monitor in our lineup. It’s not for everybody, but it’s a unique piece that’s cutting edge for people who want future technology.”

At launch, Samsung says the Odyssey 3D monitor supports the games listed below — many of which are slow-burning, deeply immersive, and artful.

If you try to play Cyberpunk 2077 on the Odyssey 3D and expect similar performance as you might get on the also-new, souped-up, 240Hz Samsung 27" Odyssey OLED G8, don't say we didn't warn you.

• The First Berserker: Khazan ★
• Lies of P
• Stray
• Dragonball Z:kakarot
• Little Nightmares II
• F.I.S.T
• SpongeBob SquarePants: The Cosmic Shake
• Wigmund
• Grand Theft Auto III – The Definitive Edition
• Grand Theft Auto: Vice City – The Definitive Edition
• Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas – The Definitive Edition
• Disney Epic Mickey Rebrushed
• The Smurfs - Dreams
• PALWORLD

Samsung’s not alone in the 3D monitor market. Lenovo also offers a 27-inch 3D monitor — its ThinkVision display — that also uses cameras for eye-tracking, but a 3D engine embedded in the monitor makes it a bit more versatile for different computers.

That also means that 3D gaming on the ThinkVision — marketed to professionals and designers — may be difficult, if not impossible.

For example, the ThinkVision display has a 60Hz max refresh rate, while the Odyssey 3D monitor maxes out at 165Hz.

The talk isn't cheap

While this monitor offers an immersive experience that feels like a visual conversation, it turns out this kind of talk isn't cheap.

While there are a slew of discounts and add-ons that bring down the final cost significantly, the preorder price as of Wednesday, April 16, is $1,999.

What else did Samsung release?

In addition to the Odyssey 3D monitor, Samsung also released two other monitors.

There is the 27” Odyssey OLED G81SF gaming monitor, an update to the previous generation with an OLED screen and a 240Hz refresh rate. Samsung claims it's the "industry's first" 4K OLED gaming monitor.

The monitor features 166 PPI (pixels per inch) across its 27-inch size. Pair that PPI with a 4K UHD display, and you have specs that result in an incredible gaming experience.

The glare-reduction technology is also quite noticeable with the matte appearance we've come to expect. But in my viewing, this didn't seem to reduce to vivid colors of Cyberpunk 2077, and the OLED screen made it easy to spot the finest differences between black and very black in the dark corners of the game.

It starts at $1,299, and Samsung is offering a $300 credit as of this writing.

Samsung also released the 49" Odyssey G91F, a curved ultra-wide monitor that offers a split-screen feature for side-by-side gaming. It's a lower-priced option than the other 49" Odyssey monitors — it starts at $999, and you get a $300 Samsung credit.

When you compare this new 49" monitor to its higher-end sibling, the Odyssey OLED G9 Gaming Monitor G93SC, it's easy to understand the price difference. This new 49" monster doesn't have an OLED panel, and its 144Hz refresh rate isn't close to the 240Hz refresh rate. That said, an ultra-wide Samsung monitor for $999 — whether you're a gamer or not — is nothing to be sniffed at.

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Nvidia is on a course to build AI supercomputers entirely in the U.S. for the first time.

The company announced on Tuesday that it has already acquired a million square feet of manufacturing space in Phoenix, Arizona for TSMC to develop new Blackwell chips.

If you’re unfamiliar with Blackwell, that’s Nvidia’s latest GPU architecture, which you’ll find in the latest RTX 50-series.

Why is Nvidia making this move? Well, the company didn’t really need to say it, but the timing is conspicuous as it coincides with chaotic import tariffs that are unsettling the U.S. economy.

And I do mean chaotic. President Trump recently threatened new tariffs on smartphones just days after exempting them.

So, what does Nvidia's commitment mean for consumers? That's another question entirely.

Nvidia is moving to the U.S. So what?

What does Nvidia moving to the U.S. mean for you? Well, we don’t actually know.

Nvidia Blackwell chips are already in production in Phoenix, and the company is building two supercomputer plants in Texas, with help from Foxconn (Houston) and Wistron (Dallas). Nvidia intends on increasing production in the next 12 to 15 months, with plans to invest up to $500 billion in AI infrastructure overall through its partners, TSMC, Foxconn, Wistron, Amkor, and SPIL.

Founder and CEO of Nvidia Jensen Huang stated, “Adding American manufacturing helps us better meet the incredible and growing demand for AI chips and supercomputers, strengthens our supply chain and boosts our resiliency.”

On an economic level, Nvidia claims that this move will “create hundreds of thousands of jobs in the coming decades and drive trillions of dollars in economic security.”

It’s hard to speculate at this stage, but I hope that this brings down the cost and increases the availability of future GPUs — and maybe this’ll improve how AI functions on future Blackwell chips.

At the very least, Nvidia is confident in its ability to hit its 12-15-month timeline using — you guessed it — AI.

According to Nvidia, the company will use its own “AI, robotics, and digital twin technologies to design and operate the facilities.”

Specifically, Nvidia says it's utilizing Nvidia Omniverse, an AI platform that simulates industrial and robotic use cases, for its twin factories.

Meanwhile, Nvidia says it will use GROOT, a platform built on Omniverse for developing general-purpose robots to actually do the manufacturing at its plant.

I’m no expert, but if Nvidia's new factory is fully automated, it might not create as many jobs as it's suggested.

According to the World Economic Forum's 2025 Future of Jobs Report, AI is expected to create 11 million jobs while simultaneously displacing 9 million others. Meanwhile, robotics features a net decline of 5 million jobs.

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To upgrade your GPU or not to upgrade your GPU, that is the question.

Do you hold on to Nvidia's Ampere generation, or embrace the frame-gen future and upgrade to Blackwell?

Nvidia's RTX 50-series graphics cards launched in January with the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. The high-end GPUs were followed by the more mid-range RTX 5070 and 5070 TI. And the laptop variants of the new Blackwell GPUs are expected to launch later this month.

While Nvidia has not officially confirmed the existence of the lower-end RTX 50-series cards, based on previous graphics card launches, observers expect an RTX 5050, 5060, and possibly a 5060 TI to follow.

On Monday, a new leak revealed the RTX 5050, 5060, and 5060 TI specs. If these figures are similar to those of the launch GPUs, I might have to turn in my RTX 30-series card for a new-generation upgrade.

RTX 5050, 5060, 5060 TI leaked specs

X user @kopite7kimi and VideoCardz may have leaked the second half of Nvidia's new RTX 50-series generation. Thanks to those leaks, we now have specs for what could be the RTX 5050, 5060, and 5060 TI.

If these leaked specs are accurate, then the entire RTX 50-series Blackwell generation will offer a GPU for most budget brackets, with solid specs to match.

While the RTX 5070 still has a higher TGP and thus a bit more graphics headroom, the leaked 16GB VRAM version of the RTX 5060 TI may make it a more attractive option.

The increased VRAM on the rumored 5060 TI with a lower TGP could make it a competitor with the base RTX 5070 while saving some money on your power bill.

However, we'll have to wait for some benchmarks to know for sure. There is also a pretty solid CUDA core difference between the two GPUs, after all.

Is it worth upgrading this gen?

I had originally gone into the new Nvidia RTX 50-series "Blackwell" generation expecting to upgrade my GPU in another generation or two. My gaming rig still uses an RTX 3080, and I've not hit many snags, even when playing demanding games like Monster Hunter: Wilds on high settings and high resolutions.

After all, we still haven't completely surpassed the power of Nvidia's older GPU architecture. The RTX 50 series is probably more powerful than you'll ever need for gaming.

However, my 30-series GPU is unlikely to benefit from DLSS 4, one of the main upgrades to the RTX 50-series.

While the RTX 5060 TI isn't going to be the 4K gaming card, I don't spend much time using my RTX 3080 for 4K gaming. The 1440p or 1800p sweet spots generally offer a better balance of great visuals and smooth frame rates. This makes downgrading my GPU to an RTX 5070TI or 5060 TI a more reasonable purchase than opting for the RTX 5080.

And considering the silicon tariffs that are expected to hit this year, upgrading my GPU sooner rather than later will be the smarter financial choice.

While the RTX 5050, 5060, and 5060 TI remain rumors for now, it is expected that Nvidia will announce the rest of the RTX 50-series during Computex in Taipei at the end of May.

But since the RTX 5060 TI still doesn't officially exist, I'll be holding off on my final decision for now. However, I do have a few months to think it over, and AMD's new Radeon 9070 XT is making a solid case for switching to Team Red for this year's GPU upgrades.

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Nvidia's RTX 50-series has been launching throughout the start of 2025, and while hopes were high for a phenomenal generation of powerful GPUs, it's not looking too hot thus far.

In January, we covered how RTX 5080 reviews could be bad news for gaming laptops, as many critics cited a disappointing performance jump when compared to its predecessor. And when the community started to realize that Nvidia's RTX 50-series was cutting support for 32-bit CUDA, ensuring some classic games may run worse on RTX 50-series, hope continued to fade.

Capping things off (at least for now), disappointing results are stemming from my most highly anticipated card of the series: the GeForce RTX 5070. Reviews went live on Tuesday and the verdict is rather upsetting — revealing a largely mediocre launch with performance gains that reportedly don't even qualify as such.

Nvidia has seemed to fumble the launch of the RTX 50-series, so the question is: Has Nvidia gotten off to a slow start, or has this entire generation of GPUs gone to waste?

Nvidia RTX 5070 reviews round-up: What's being said?

The vast majority of RTX 5070 reviews aren't hot. IGN's Jacqueline Thomas writes that the RTX 50-series cards have "failed to deliver the kind of generational leaps you would expect after two years," continuing, "The RTX 5070 is the worst example of this yet."

As many publications are reporting, the issue lies with the RTX 5070's performance, which appears far too similar to its predecessor, the RTX 4070 Super. IGN reports a four percent improvement in performance for the RTX 5070 when compared to the RTX 4070 Super. Arstechnica reports that it's around five or six percent, while TechRadar claims the difference is even less.

PCWorld gave the RTX 5070 2.5 stars out of 5, claiming it offers "a bare minimum performance upgrade over its predecessor." In some of the website's tests, the RTX 4070 Super even surpassed the RTX 5070 in performance. Call of Duty: Black Ops 6 saw the 5070 achieve 149 frames per second at 1440p, while the 4070 Super only managed to hit 157 fps.

When looking at the power of the RTX 5070 directly, it ultimately fails to improve significantly enough between generations. But surely there's something that the GPU is bringing to offset this disaster?

The answer is DLSS 4 Multi Frame Generation, which Nvidia claims: "generates up to three additional frames per traditionally rendered frame." This is why the company claimed RTX 5070 could channel the performance of an RTX 4090 when announcing the cards at CES 2025.

Critics are high on DLSS 4, but its application on the RTX 5070 is mixed. Arstechnica shows that in a game like Cyberpunk 2077, because the base framerate is already on the lower side, "user input will feel sluggish, and visual artifacts are plainly visible when objects are in motion."

PCWorld, on the other hand, calls DLSS 4's Multi Frame Generation "transformative," further claiming "It can make even a clunky game like Star Wars Outlaws feel as sublime as the legendary Doom (2016)."

DLSS 4 seems to be the key to what makes Nvidia's 50-series a worthwhile generational leap, but is it enough to justify the high price point? There might be another reason why the Nvidia RTX 50-series is the way it is.

The Nvidia RTX 50-series might not be a waste

While it's clear performance isn't the RTX 50-series' strong suit, Nvidia has notably reduced the price point on the most important cards in the series. The RTX 5070 is $549, versus the RTX 4070's launch price of $599. And the RTX 5080's MSRP of $999 is a good bit less than the 4080's original cost of $1,199.

Essentially, rather than treating the RTX 50-series as an all-around leap in graphical performance, the company has seemingly opted for a smaller boost in power in favor of a focus on DLSS 4 while also reducing the price of GPUs.

But is that enough to convince buyers? Considering Nvidia's GPUs have seen massive increases in cost between the 30-series and 40-series, with the RTX 3080 launching at $699 and the 4080 launching at $1,199, we're still far from the glory days of when GPUs didn't cost a fortune. And with the threat of Trump's tariffs looming over the horizon, the lesser cost might be temporary.

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Nvidia's RTX 50-series graphics cards have many excited, but there's also intense scrutiny of its high price point and disappointing generational leap in power.

We previously covered how RTX 5080 reviews were less than excellent, with many critics seeing marginal increases in performance when compared to 40-series GPUs. At the very least, the RTX 5080's MSRP of $999 is more affordable than the 4080's launch price of $1,199, but it's clear that this generation isn't off to the hottest start.

RTX 50-series GPUs also began to suffer from melting power cables. Plain and simply, Nvidia is finding itself under some criticism of late — which isn't much of a surprise, as this happens every time a new generation of GPUs launch. However, the list of reasons to avoid an RTX 50-series GPU seems to be growing.

Nvidia published a forum back in January (via Tom's Hardware) detailing its support plan for 32-bit CUDA (Compute Unified Device Architecture) and the news is dire: "CUDA Driver will not support 32-bit CUDA applications on GeForce RTX 50 series (Blackwell) and newer architectures."

By extension, Nvidia PhysX is not supported in 32-bit executables if you're using an RTX 50-series GPU, meaning the beloved physics engine will no longer function optimally when playing older titles. Here's why you should care if you don't already.

The Nvidia RTX 50-series is understandably disappointing some

Nvidia PhysX is a physics engine initially developed in the early 2000s by NovodeX AG before Ageia acquired the technology and started developing dedicated PhysX cards. When the company was acquired by Nvidia, the PhysX engine was developed to work on GeForce GPUs with CUDA.

It's an admittedly old technology, and PhysX doesn't see much use in modern games — likely why Nvidia has discontinued 32-bit CUDA support on modern GPUs. However, the result is that old-school gamers will no longer be able to enjoy this complex physics engine on a pretty large selection of titles launched between the late 2000s and mid-2010s.

One example of Nvidia PhysX features in the above trailer for Batman: Arkham Asylum, where we can see explosions causing a chain reaction of tiles to fling into the air, Batman launching an opponent into a table before it breaks into pieces, and even something as simple as the swaying of fabric.

PCGamingWiki features a full list of titles that it believes feature PhysX support with only 32-bit Windows executables. The full list is 211 games long, but here are some highlights:

• Alice: Madness Returns
• Alpha Protocol
• Assassin's Creed IV: Black Flag
• Batman: Arkham Asylum / City / Origins
• BioShock Infinite
• Borderlands / Borderlands 2 / Borderlands: The Pre-Sequel
• DmC: Devil May Cry
• Dragon Age: Origins / Dragon Age: II
• Enslaved: Odyssey to the West
• Gears of War
• Mafia II
• The Mass Effect trilogy
• Metro 2033 / Metro: Last Light
• Mirror's Edge
• Payday 2
• South Park: The Stick of Truth
• Spec Ops: The Line
• Trine / Trine 2
• Warhammer: End Times - Vermintide
• XCOM: Enemy Unknown

Lack of PhsyX support doesn't mean you cannot play these games. It simply means the simulated physics in certain titles will not function optimally, as it often means the CPU will have to do the hard work.

As you could probably expect, this won't impact those who don't particularly care about older titles, and modern gamers won't even notice the slightest difference. But it's important to keep in mind that Nvidia's latest GPUs no longer support this technology on older games that utilize 32-bit CUDA.

64-bit games that use PhysX, like Batman: Arkham Knight, will still function on Nvidia RTX 50-series GPUs. It's simply the older titles that are being left out in the dust.

More from Laptop Mag

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• Here's how much an RTX 50-series gaming laptop could set you back
• Laptops and gaming hardware may be up to 40% more expensive under Trump's new tariffs

Nvidia's RTX 50-series GPUs came out in January, and it takes a lot of luck or a lot of money to get one as they're flying off shelves.

Those who have been able to take one home and install it in their PCs might be able to push the graphical limits of their machine, but one person found an issue with the cable connecting his power supply to his Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition.

Another similar incident has been reported involving another Nvidia RTX 50-series card. This time it was the lesser-powered RTX 5080.

A user on Reddit posted about the incident on Wednesday saying the 12VHPWR cable from his PSU to his GPU did melt but only on the power supply side, which is different than the previous incident as that affected both side.

Is this an Nvidia problem?

Even though both incidents involve an Nvidia RTX 50-series card, two incidents also involve an Asus Loki SFX-L 1000W ATX 3.0 Power Supply, as detailed in the Reddit thread tracking these incidents. Both users provided pictures of their hardware to confirm the issues, however, it remains unclear what is actually at fault.

The Reddit user who initially reported his cable melting told Laptop Mag that Asus, Nvidia, and the maker of the cable, ModDiy, have gotten in contact with him and offered RMAs on the hardware.

As for the Reddit user from the second incident, they posted a comment on Friday confirming that Asus refunded their money and replaced their power supply with a Corsair RM 1000 x 2024 version ATX 3.1.

Asus and Nvidia were contacted about the two incidents, but both companies didn't immediately respond to an email for comment.

Is this the RTX 4090 all over again?

When the RTX 4090 released back in 2022, gamers were also having issues with melted cables.

The YouTube channel Gamers Nexus investigated the issue. What they found was that a combination of user error and minor manufacturing defects combined to create the issue causing the cable to melt.

Nvidia did honor warranty replacements for the RTX 4090, and it appears the company is doing the same for the RTX 50-series.

In the coming weeks, many PC gamers will be closely watching for any further issues with the Nvidia RTX 50-series cards. More retailers will likely restock the RTX 50-series cards, which means more gamers will install the GPUs into their computers. So if there is a manufacture defect, it will become more apparent.

Also next week, Nvidia will release its RTX 5070 Ti, which has less power and costs less than the RTX 5090 and RTX 5080. Since this budget-friendly GPU consumes less power than the higher-end models, similar melting cable issues are unlikely. Still, this possible problem will only become clear after more gamers install the GPUs.

The excitement surrounding Nvidia's RTX 50-series graphics cards has been growing with every passing month, but with early reviews dropping for the RTX 5080, many publications have been disappointed by its performance.

Nvidia's RTX 5080 and 5090 GPUs were officially launched on Thursday following their reveals during the January CES 2025 event. Reviews are looking mixed at the moment, highlighting only a marginal increase in graphics performance between generations. Considering these GPUs will soon be launching mobile versions for gaming laptops, we can't help but worry if the hype was all for nothing.

At the very least, the price drop between RTX 40 and RTX 50 generations might explain the GPU's lesser performance. However, given our current environment where laptops and gaming hardware may be up to 40% more expensive under Trump's new tariffs, you might still want to invest as soon as possible.

Nvidia GeForce RTX 5080 GPU faces disappointing reviews

Not every review of the RTX 5080 is one of disappointment, but a good few publications have expressed a similar sentiment in their analysis of the hardware.

Jacqueline Thomas of IGN claims in her review of the RTX 5080 that the weak boost in performance in both the 5080 and 5090 yields "one of the least substantial graphics generations in years." She also later claims that "it's not quite the performance uplift that hardcore enthusiasts who upgrade every generation are going to want to see." IGN's 4K tests show an 11% performance improvement from the RTX 4080 and only an 8% improvement in performance over the RTX 4080 Super.

Tom Warren of the Verge says "Nvidia's new RTX 5080 graphics card isn't as exciting as I was hoping it would be," while Jarred Walton of Tom's Hardware writes "It's not that the 5080 is bad, but it's underwhelming. It's not even able to match the previous generation 4090 in most tasks."

The negative impressions don't end, whether it's Dave James of PC Gamer calling the 5080 a "strangely unexciting graphics card" or Brad Chacos and Adam Patrick Murray Of PC World writing that it "delivers disappointing performance gains," many reviewers aren't particularly impressed.

Positive reviews mostly highlight the GPU's DLSS 4 capabilities and its value due to its price decrease between generations. After all, the RTX 5080 costs $999, while the RTX 4080 launched at $1,199. However, the RTX 3080 was significantly cheaper than both, with a launch price of $699.

John Loeffler of TechRadar writes that its price point and solid performance "makes the RTX 5080 a great value proposition for those looking to buy a premium 4K graphics card, as its price-to-performance ratio is very strong."

With an onslaught of mixed impressions of disappointed critics highlighting the GPU's lackluster leap in performance, what does this mean for gaming laptops? Can we expect it to occupy a similar space, mostly focusing on DLSS 4 with only marginal graphical improvements, but boasting better value?

It's a little more difficult to discern with a gaming laptop, as you're paying for the whole package rather than just a GPU. But if the RTX 5080 mobile GPUs only offer as small a boost in graphics performance as its desktop GPUs do, it would be great if it resulted in a less expensive package overall.

However, that might not even matter in the near future if Trump's tariffs go through.

Disappointing or not, it's probably best to invest as soon as possible

Reports from Ctee (via Wccftech) late last year suggested that Nvidia and AMD rushed the launch of their next-generation GPUs in an attempt to trump Trump's upcoming tariffs. After all, according to the CTA (Consumer Technology Association), prices of laptops could go up by as much as 46%, while video game consoles could rise by 40%.

All of this places Nvidia's RTX 5080 GPU as more focused on cost efficiency in perspective, as that might not matter very much if it ends up becoming significantly more expensive as a result of the tariffs.

It might be unnecessary to invest in a new GPU now if you're sporting a 40-series, especially since the RTX 5080 isn't much of an improvement. However, if you do need an upgrade, do it as soon as you can and don't hesitate.

Considering how intense the rumors of the impending RTX 50-series shortage are getting, alongside the prospect that future GPUs could get significantly more expensive, this new wave of GPU launches might very well be the last time you will find a reasonably priced graphics card.

The upcoming 50-series laptops will launch in March, and we hope it can beat the tariffs. If so, those in need of a new gaming laptop will want to jump on it as soon as possible.

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Nvidia’s new RTX 50-series GPUs are making waves across the gaming world, but what’s more interesting than their power are their features, specifically DLSS 4.

The company is making some bold promises about how much DLSS 4 — the fourth generation of Nvidia’s deep learning super sampling technology — can use AI to increase performance and enhance visuals seemingly instantly.

There’s some magic behind the scenes that goes beyond it’s powerful — to paraphrase marketing language we often hear about such tech. But if you’ve read any fantasy novel, you know that magic comes at a cost (or it should, and if it doesn’t, that’s bad writing).

So what’s the cost of having DLSS 4 casting its spells? I chatted with an Nvidia rep and the Studio Director of Black State to get some answers. Let’s dive in.

The impact on art design

My first worry was about art style and art design. Nvidia shared images that showcased how DLSS 4 completely transforms scenes, objects, and character models. Some transformations are so dramatic that the art of the game itself feels different. I’m thinking of the light bulbs in Black State and the hair in Indiana Jones and The Great Circle pictured above.

I asked an Nvidia spokesperson about what DLSS 4’s impact will have on the art design, both retroactively and in games currently in development. “Developers continue to have full control, as DLSS requires game integration,” the rep tells Laptop Mag. This includes when DLSS is added retroactively. DLSS is trained from synthetic data to accurately reconstruct the final image based on the ground truth image of the game as envisioned by the developers.”

In other words, the implementation of DLSS 4 is in the hands of the developers, so whatever you see when DLSS 4 is enabled is, technically, how the game was intended to look. One of the examples that the Nvidia spokesperson pointed toward was Ray Reconstruction, which makes lighting more stable. An image of Cyberpunk 2077 showcased how an in-game advertisement was perfectly reflected in a puddle on the ground (compared with it off, which showed a muddier version).

However, this means developers are also responsible for how the game presents itself when DLSS 4 is disabled. With features like RTX Hair, Ray Reconstruction, Multi Frame Generation, and more, I hope developers take care to ensure gamers who don’t own the latest tech can still experience the game with the same impact.

That’s exactly what devs are doing, according to Ömer Faruk Güngör, Studio Director of Motion Blur, the developer of Black State.

“We constantly monitor everything we add to [Black State] to ensure it provides the best visual quality and performance for all configurations, not just the latest ones,” tells Laptop Mag.

Güngör went on to say that there will be differences when DLSS 4 is on or off, but Motion Blur is “building the game considering both options should look stunning and be well-optimized.”

But if games are being built with DLSS 4 in mind, especially considering Multi Frame Generation, does that encourage developers to slack off when considering the native art? I mean, why optimize your title when AI can do it for you? Well, in the case of Black State, Motion Blur is “optimizing the [game] as if native resolutions are the only options available.”

As far as the balance of art design and technology, Motion Blur is “working meticulously to provide an incredible experience for all gamers.”

This is the ideal response when new technology arises. AI can be a useful tool, but not at the expense of jobs and originality.

The impact on performance

Outside of the core changes to the art, Nvidia boasts that the performance DLSS 4 will bring is better, better, and better. The Nvidia representative I spoke with said, “DLSS provides higher frame rates, lower latency, and better image quality than native.”

They went on to say that, “For developers, the extra performance headroom from DLSS can mean achieving higher-quality visuals with more detailed textures, more realistic lighting, and more geometry, without compromising on performance.”

Let’s get real: We are in a technological age where bigger isn’t always better. In terms of raw performance, higher fps means it’s better, yes. But DLSS 4 introduces Multi Frame Generation, which produces AI-generated images to increase the number of frames on screen. There are 2x, 3x, 4x modes. What that indicates is how many AI-generated frames are in between true frames. At Frame-Gen 2x, there’s one AI-generated frame for every true frame. For Frame-Gen 3x, it’s two, and for Frame-Gen 4x, it’s three. The generated frames are informed by the previous true frame and the following true frame. Then the AI fills in the gaps. However, that kind of processing is sure to affect the quality, latency, and fluidity of the game, right?

I followed up with Nvidia about the impact of AI processing on gaming quality but haven’t heard back just yet. When I do, I’ll update this article.

Update (1/29/2025) — The Nvidia spokesperson writes that, "DLSS 4 includes Reflex Low Latency technology, which is used by over 100+ esports games and delivers max responsiveness." They also shared a video from Robeytech where they talk about the latency, and how they didn't notice any delay. However, Robeytech also admits that they need more games to test outside of Marvel Rivals.

With regard to image artifacts, Nvidia writes that, "In cases where there is an artifact, we identify and retrain the model, which is then updated to end users through NVIDIA app." So in theory, the more you play, the less artifacts you'll see.

Despite that, Digital Foundry got an early access look at an RTX 5080 GPU running with Super Resolution and Multi Frame Generation in Cyberpunk 2077. What we saw was a massive increase in frames. They could not provide real numbers, but the percentages jumped from 100% (off) > 563% (2x) > 749% (3x) > 956% (4x).

But what about latency? Well, that’s complicated. We didn’t get to see it when it was off, but a trip through the Night Market revealed the times for Frame-Gen 2x (50.97ms), 3x (55.50ms), and 4x (57.30ms). Given the increase in frames, that trade-off doesn’t seem bad at all. However, that’s what we see on a compressed YouTube video. We actually won’t know what the trade-off feels like until we’re playing these games on our own monitors.

Now, the biggest catch here is the visual artifacts. As we all know, AI generation isn’t perfect. To showcase how the GPU handles 120 fps, Digital Foundry had to slow the video speed to 50% (because YouTube caps at 60 fps). That means the visual artifacts you see in the video will look worse than actually playing the game (probably).

Some people might not be bothered by it, but you can’t deny that when the camera passes by neon signs or trees, aspects of it look like pixelated garbage. That may seem harsh, but that’s just what visual artifacts are.

The question is, are developers keeping these issues in mind when creating new games? According to Güngör, “As a tech-oriented studio focused on delivering the best quality visuals with the best performance, we closely monitor the impact of every addition to the game in terms of milliseconds. With the introduction of DLSS 4, we have more room for enhancing quality.”

Güngör goes on to say that Motion Blur has considered upscaling technology from day one, and it is “prioritizing technological advantages for all gamers to ensure the best possible performance.”

However, it isn’t always in the developer's hands. One interesting feature that comes with DLSS 4 is DLSS Override. This can override games integrated with legacy DLSS models in favor of DLSS 4. I have some serious concerns about this, as this definitely falls out of the “developers have full control” category. We won’t be able to see the impact of this until we test it, but you cannot deny that the game will be presented in a way outside of the developer’s intention, even if it looks better.

What’s next

While we haven’t gotten a close look at DLSS 4 yet, developers are working hard to improve it alongside Nvidia.

Güngör states, “The DLSS technology is evolving into something better every day. We are working with the Nvidia team closely not just implementing it but also giving feedback for making it better.”

I can talk about the potential good and bad all day, but right now, it’s all wait and see. We’ll start seeing RTX 50-series gaming laptops launch in March and April, so keep an eye out for our reviews and best gaming laptops page for these new devices to fill in the slots.

It's finally time for us to find out if the Nvidia "Blackwell" GPU hype is real.

Nvidia launched the newest generation of gaming graphics cards, codenamed "Blackwell" after mathematician David Harold Blackwell, at CES 2025 in Las Vegas last week. Nvidia has made plenty of claims about the "Blackwell" 50-series GPUs when it comes to power and performance, not the least of which is the argument that the RTX 5070 can get similar performance to the RTX 4090.

Between the impressive gaming claims and the fact that the Nvidia GeForce RTX 50-series GPUs are built for AI and gaming workloads, we can't help but ask: is "Blackwell" worth the investment?

Nvidia RTX 5090 gaming performance

During the Nvidia Editor's Day at CES, the company gave attendees an early look at the architecture changes, AI optimizations, and performance expectations of the RTX 50-series GPUs.

When it comes to pure gaming power, the RTX 5090 flagship GPU still can't quite gaming at 4K on Max graphics presets. On Star Wars: Outlaws, Cyberpunk 2077, Black Myth: Wukong, and Alan Wake 2 the 5090 still can't break that 60 fps (frames per second) gaming threshold for playability. Granted, you can get away with playing these games at 30 fps, but in any game with gunfights, you'll want to opt for higher framerates whenever possible.

That's where DLSS 4 comes in. With the latest iteration of Nvidia's frame generation technology, you'll be able to game in 4K with frame rates over 200 fps. Of course, you're relying on software performance to generate all of those additional frames rather than pure silicon, and not all games offer DLSS 4 support.

You can also lose visual fidelity with frame-gen software like DLSS, as it upscales a lower-resolution image using AI. So you're playing the game at a lower resolution like 1440p, but the GPU's AI pipeline makes it appear like you're playing in 4K. For that reason, plenty of gamers won't use frame-generation software like Nvidia's DLSS, AMD's Fluid Motion Frames, or Intel's XeSS.

In fact, the 5090 is only about 10% better than the RTX 4090 when it comes to pure silicon performance.

While this information is technically about the RTX 5090 desktop GPU, it is still relevant for gamers on the laptop side, because it helps explain why you don't see gaming laptops with 4K displays anymore. We're still too far off the mark for 4K gaming to be viable.

Nvidia RTX 5080 Laptop GPU performance

Nvidia did also share information about the performance expectations of the RTX 5080 Laptop GPU which will have 16GB of VRAM onboard.

As you'll notice from the chart, with RT and DLSS 4 enabled, the RTX 5080 can offer almost twice the gaming performance of the RTX 4080. But on gaming titles and workloads that don't offer DLSS 4 and RT, the performance of the 5080 is just 10-30% better than the RTX 4080.

Nvidia has also leveraged the AI features of it's new GPUs for better power efficiency on gaming, offering up to 40% longer gaming sessions on battery power, and up to 30% longer web and video surfing on battery with the optimized BatteryBoost system.

The new battery AI can save power during low scene motion, marginal pixel changes, and minimal player interaction scenarios. It can also optimize your display refresh rate and offer faster PCIe, SSD, memory, and IO power states to get you the most battery out of your system as possible.

Laptops with the new RTX 50-series cards will be available starting in March.

Nvidia RTX 50-series gaming AI

Nvidia's "Blackwell" GPUs are built for AI. The cards have an AI controller that can help with frame generation, which makes DLSS 4 smoother than previous iterations. The GPUs are also built with both gaming and AI workload pipelines.

While most gamers probably don't want to use their GPU for generative AI tasks most of the time, Nvidia is dedicated to bringing AI to the gaming sphere with additional advancements in gaming AI.

Nvidia showcased AI for gaming with new integrations of InWorld's Ace platform. We've seen Nvidia Ace used for controlling NPC dialogue in various tech demos before, but at CES 2025 the company showcased multiple additional iterations of the AI software.

Nvidia was demoing Ace as an AI companion in your Player Unkown's Battle Grounds matches as the PUBG Ally. While the PUBG Ally can join your matches, it doesn't function as an AIM-bot and play for you, but it is a virtual companion that can offer advice and give you gameplay tips on the fly. However, because PUGB Ally exists in the game with you as a digital avatar, it does still feel like a cheat because you can use the PUBG Ally to pick up items and hand them to you, which can give you advantages over other players.

The PUBG Ally iteration of Nvidia Ace is not expected to ship as an official part of PUBG, as it runs entirely on the client side.

Nvidia was also demoing Ace as a streaming companion as part of a collaboration with StreamLabs, giving you an assistant for your livestream that can control your camera, put together highlights, and adjust your stream feeds. The Ace Streaming Companion does not have an expected launch window, but the Streamlabs Intelligent Streaming Assistant will be coming soon.

Nvidia is bringing Ace to the game inZOI, allowing you to have better control of your Smart Zois. This will run on the client side but is expected to be a featured part of inZOI when it launches on March 28, 2025. Lastly, Nvidia is using Ace to create AI raid bosses for Mir5, which will alternate strategies to provide additional challenges to players.

Because raids aren't difficult enough without AI.

Outlook

The RTX 50-series GPUs are built for AI, and also for gaming. But if you're a pure hardware performance gamer who wants to play games at max settings natively at 4K, the RTX 50-series is something of a disappointment.

While you can game in 4K at lower graphics presets, or with better optimized titles, the RTX 5090 is still not capable of making 4K gaming viable for the competitive player. Additionally, because these cards are as well designed for AI as they are for gaming, the prices of the RTX 50-series are incredibly high. The cards also require a large amount of power and thermal management, which doesn't say great things for your electric bill.

The RTX 50-series does have at least 10% pure silicon performance upgrades generation to generation, which is nothing to sneeze at. However, if you were hoping for this latest generation of Nvidia GPUs to suddenly make 4K gaming competitive, make 8K single-player gaming a possibility, or lower the cost of gaming with a discrete GPU, the results fall flat.

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Black Friday, and the Cyber Monday that follows, make for a fantastic time to invest in a gaming laptop. The deals applied to gaming laptops during this Thanksgiving period can stretch a budget to all-new heights and make previously out-of-the-question purchases feel like a real no-brainer.

This year's Black Friday sales are no different, and if you're scouting for a new gaming laptop look no further than this ripe-for-the-picking selection of RTX 4070-equipped machines we've hand-picked on your behalf.

Nvidia's RTX 40-series GPU are powerful components that keep the gaming laptop market in the race when it comes to dazzling visuals, advanced ray-tracing, and high-fidelity graphics. Not to mention the performance and quality-boosting DLSS3 rendering they can perform.

My top pick is the HP Omen 16, now only $1099 at Micro Center. Not only will it save you $630 off of its regular retail price, but it's also packing a powerful RTX 4070 GPU, a 14th Gen Intel Core i7 CPU, and 32GB of RAM.

However, my preference might not align with your own, and there are plenty of options below to choose from. Let's dive in!

Today's best Black Friday deals on RTX 4070 gaming laptops

We got our first whiff of Nvidia’s RTX 50-series GPUs and it didn’t smell as fresh as we would have liked. According to some sources, Nvidia's desktop GPUs will be significantly more expensive than the previous generation. However, opposing sources claim the opposite. So where does that leave you?

If you’re shopping for a gaming rig, you’ll soon realize that even the best cheap gaming laptops creep over the $1,000 mark. The market is getting so pricey that we had to bump our category cap to include gaming laptops under $1,200.

Whether or not the RTX 50-series GPUs see a significant price increase, you should still wait to buy a gaming laptop until Nvidia's latest chips launch. Why? Because you won’t be buying an RTX 50-series gaming laptop. You’ll buy an RTX 40-series gaming laptop.

Confused? Let me explain.

The RTX 50-series’ rumored price

Let’s look at what’s been said about the RTX 50-series.

YouTube channel Moore’s Law is Dead (an oft-reliable source of upcoming information surrounding computing hardware) shared a slide with price points for the RTX 5070 ($599 - $699), RTX 5080 ($1,199 - $1,499), and RTX 5090 ($1,999 - $2,499). However, industry insider kopite7kimi claims these prices are “totally fake” and that they “don’t believe there will be a significant price increase for the RTX 5090.”

Overall, it may be good news for those who want the latest and greatest tech. Of course, desktop GPU prices don't tell us how they’ll impact mobile GPUs and the price of gaming laptops as a whole. After all, 2025 gaming laptops will work with a swathe of new tech outside of the GPU that may affect the price.

Why wait?

Despite the inflated market, I can still find some gaming laptops under $1,000 with an RTX 4070 GPU. However, those gaming laptops are marketed as budget solutions. But what will happen when the new kid is on the block? People soon forget about the last generation because they have a shiny new toy in front of them. Don’t be one of those people.

There are incredibly powerful and premium gaming laptops with RTX 40-series GPUs that may see severe discounts when the RTX 50-series launches. That’s when you should pounce. For context, RTX 30-series gaming laptops are dirt cheap right now.

The Lenovo LOQ 15 with RTX 3050 is only $549 at Best Buy. Now, that is a budget laptop, but there are premium options too. The MSI Vector GP66 with RTX 3070 Ti is $1,299 on NewEgg (dropping 42% from $2,249).

While you wait, here are some gaming laptops you should keep an eye out for.

What to keep an eye out for

Companies will inevitably launch updated models of the following laptops, so it’s likely we’ll see them drop down in price, especially if the company is not manufacturing the laptop anymore.

One gaming laptop you should keep an eye out for is the Asus TUF Gaming A14 (2024). It’s a mid-range notebook with an AMD Ryzen 7 8845HS CPU, RTX 4060 GPU, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 14-inch, 2560 x 1600, 165Hz display. We complemented its long battery life and exceptionally light design. Right now it costs $1,399, which is a decent price, but it can always get lower.

The Lenovo Legion 7i Gen 9 is a step up from that, featuring an Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, RTX 4070 GPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz display. It features a truly stunning display and remarkably cool thermals, which is rare.

It costs $1,999, edging the line between mid-range and premium. I’d like to imagine that it could drop somewhere around $1,500 — that would be the ideal purchasing price for this laptop.

Think about the MSI Vector 16 HX A14VHG. In the aforementioned examples of 30-series discounts, an MSI Vector model was on that list, so I'd take it as a good sign that the Vector 16 HX may get a similar treatment. It offers an Intel Core i9-14900HX CPU, RTX 4080 GPU, 32GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD, and a 16-inch, 2560 x 1600, 240Hz display.

We loved this gaming laptop because of its gorgeous display, decent battery life, and incredible performance. It was also a bit surprising to see that it was priced at $2,699. It’s not cheap, but we’ve seen similar gaming notebooks go over $3,000. Considering the previous Vector dropped nearly $1,000 off its price, getting this for around $1,699 would be an absolute steal.

Outlook

Don’t go above and beyond to buy an RTX 50-series gaming laptop. Bide your time and you’ll be able to score a premium gaming laptop with an RTX 40-series GPU for a much more affordable price.

No matter how much more powerful the RTX 50-series GPUs are, the RTX 40-series holds its own in the AAA gaming space, with laptops like the MSI Vector 16 scoring 111 frames per second on the Far Cry 6 benchmark (Ultra, 1080p).

So, if you’re buying on a budget, wait.

Good news for all of the data wizards and content creator types. HP and Nvidia are joining forces to give your workstations, a major power-up for all things AI, especially a little thing you may have heard of "generative AI.” 

Jensen Huang earlier today joined HP CEO Enrique Lores in a fireside chat at HP Amplify where they unveiled full-stack AI PCs to power generative AI development.

As anyone who works with a lot of heavy data sets can tell you, these beasts from Digital Monster Island can be resource-consuming and weigh down even the most potent PC. This is where the partnership between HP and Nvidia will come in handy to not only help you push the mountains of data more quickly but also help creatives with their generative creations. 

AI PC to AI workstations: What to expect

• Faster Data Handling: HP workstations will be equipped with special software from Nvidia (CUDA-X libraries) that can dramatically speed up how your machine processes information. This includes things like tables, text, images, and videos.
• Massive Speed Boost for Pandas Users: If you use a program called "Pandas" to analyze data, you're in for a treat. The new software can make it up to 110 times faster, allowing you to crunch data in minutes instead of hours!
• No Code Changes Needed: That's right, you won't need to learn a whole new system to benefit from this upgrade. The software is designed to work seamlessly with your existing tools.
• More Powerful Workstations: HP will be offering workstations with the latest Nvidia graphics cards (GPUs) that have a ton of memory (48GB per card!) to handle even the biggest AI projects.

Outlook

Overall, this collaboration between HP and Nvidia is a big win for data scientists and anyone working with AI. It will allow them to work faster and tackle even more complex tasks in a shorter amount of time than ever before.

The new software is expected to be available on HP workstations with Nvidia RTX GPUs later this month, with even more options coming later this year.

As a big workstation user, I'm personally very excited by this news. And not just because I get to take full advantage of the capabilities of these devices when we review the mobile ZBook workstations and Studio laptops in the future, and share the results with you all. 

The best tech deals and sales to shop this weekend kick off the month of March with impressive savings. For bargain shoppers, it's an opportunity to snag huge discounts on laptops & peripherals, tablets, smartphones, headphones, phones, wearables and more. 

Best Buy's 3-day sale runs through Sunday, Mar. 3 offers deals on Apple's stylish MacBooks — starting from just $749. Right now, you can get the fantastic 15-inch MacBook Air with 1TB SSD and 16GB RAM for $1,499 ($400 off). Plus, save up to $150 on select iPads with prices starting from just $249.

If you want to refresh your tech for the spring or treat someone on a special occasion, there are plenty of deals up for grabs. Shop my favorite weekend deals below. 

Best tech deals this weekend — Quick links

• Amazon Weekend Deals: up to 50% off Amazon Alexa-enabled devices
• Best Buy Weekend Deals: up to $400 off MacBooks, up to $150 off iPads
• Target Weekend Deals: up to $100 off Apple, 40% off headphones & more
• Walmart Weekend Deals: up to 50% off laptops, tablets, wearables & more 

Best tech deals this weekend 

Nvidia RTX Remix is now in open beta (via TechRadar), so modders can bring full ray tracing, DLSS, and Reflex features to older titles. RTX Remix also comes with modern physically-based rendering assets and generative AI texture tools. Essentially allowing the mod community to create their own remasters of existing games.

RTX Remix is built on the Nvidia Omniverse platform, designed to remaster DirectX 8 and 9 titles. The toolkit is made of two major components: a runtime to capture game scenes alongside an application to create lights and add remastered assets.

While the open beta for RTX Remix has just launched, Nvidia and a select set of modders have been using the tools to create the Portal with RTX remaster and Portal: Prelude RTX. Nvidia also created some remaster mods for The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind and Mount & Blade in order to show off the technology for the original announcement in 2022. Most recently, Orbifold Studios has started working with the mod community to develop Half-Life 2 RTX: An RTX Remix Project.

How does it work?

RTX Remix is a mod platform that simplifies the process of creating a graphic update mod for an older game. It is designed for use by experienced modders, but Remix does make it simple enough that you don't need to be a software developer in order to use it.

RTX Remix runtime scans the game as its being played while the asset toolkit allows for offline asset editing. The runtime has two different components, the Remix Bridge and Renderer. The Bridge sits alongside the original game file and allows the original graphics engine to operate in 64-bit, and then sends that information along to the Remix Renderer. The Renderer is a graphics engine that allows for modders to implement updated assets as well as ray tracing and DLSS features.

When replaying the game after adding the Remix Mod files, the runtime Bridge and Renderer work together to swap out assets and change the game in real time.

Nvidia has specifically targeted Direct X 8 and 9 games, so Remix won't work well with newer titles running DX 10 or newer. It is a fixed function pipeline, so offlabel use isn't recommended. 

In order to work with Remix you'll need to download Nvidia Omniverse first, log in with your Nvidia account, and then install Remix from the Omniverse Exchange.

Is it worth it?

Graphic overhaul mods are some of the most popular on Nexus Mods. Gamers love to relive classic games, but as technology advances those games start showing their age. Some become almost unrecongizable as modern tech helps illustrate exactly where the original dev team had to cut corners to make the game work in the first place, so an update to the graphics can help smooth those edges back out again.

However, Morrowind in particular is an interesting example for Nvidia as the Elder Scrolls mod community has been porting that game into newer Elder Scrolls engines since the launch of Oblivion. Both for updated graphics but also to overhaul the game's laughably terrible combat system. You can go play Skywind – a full recreation of The Elder Scrolls III: Morrowind built on the Skyrim Special Edition engine – right now if you like.

But RTX Remix isn't a full engine update. It remaps the game, adjusts asset textures, and adds Nvidia's technological advancements. But ultimately the games rebuilt in Remix are still using their original physics engine with the Remix Renderer allowing for an update to the graphics engine. However, Remix won't be fixing Morrowind's janky combat the way the Skywind project does. So there are some limitations with the technology.

Despite those limitations, however, RTX Remix can be used for some incredible community projects. Nvidia showcased the Half-Life 2 RTX project at CES, which showcased the graphic overhaul work done on the game as well as the ability to drop in custom assets and customize the game to your own vision.

Like with any graphic update mod, there is always the risk of losing some of the original magic of the game in the process of making everything look shinier. But plenty of classic games do deserve the chance to get a snazzy new facelift and this isn't a problem unique to RTX Remix. As with any modding tool, the power is in the hands of the users.

Today is the last day to take advantage of Amazon Prime Day deals; we have a great one for you. This HP Omen Transcend 16-inch gaming laptop comes with a 13th Gen Intel Core i7-13700HX CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512Gb GB of storage, and potent Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 GPU with 8GB of VRam to make sure you can take on any game imaginable. 

This HP Omen comes with a 16-inch WQXGA (2560 x 1600) 240Hz refresh rate display, so you will enjoy the buttery smooth image and video rendering while gaming. However, this is a bundle, so you also get this snazzy HyperX Cloud II Core Wireless Gaming headset with a built-in microphone. 

If you're looking to take your gaming to the next level, this HP Omen Transcend is an excellent choice, and you can save $200 on it right now at Amazon. 

During Amazon Prime Day deals, this potent MSI Thin GF63 gaming laptop is a solid choice at an affordable price as far as gaming laptops go. The GF63 has a potent 12th Gen Intel Core i7-12650H CPU, 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 GPU for under $1,000. 

You rarely see a laptop with an Nvidia 4000 series GPU for under $1,000 so this is a good deal. You can snag this potent 15.6 inch, 144Hz display gaming laptop right now at Amazon for just $859.99 during the Prime Day deal. 

An Nvidia RTX 4090 mobile GPU has been spotted in an alleged upcoming HP Omen 17 gaming laptop, and it comes packed with a 13th Gen Intel i7 CPU. Next-gen gaming laptops appear to be coming our way soon.

Spotted by leaker momomo_us on Twitter via VideoCardz (thanks, TechRadar), HP is tipped to bring six configurations of its HP Omen 17 featuring Nvidia's GeForce RTX 40 Series mobile GPUs. This includes an RTX 4060 with 8GB of VRAM, RTX 4070 with 8GB VRAM, RTX 4080 with 12GB VRAM, and RTX 4090 with 16GB of VRAM. 

What's more, each configuration of the 17-inch gaming laptop also features a 13th Gen Intel CPU. The Raptor Lake mobile CPU is expected to arrive on next-gen laptops in 2023, with the leaked HP Omen 17 packing an Intel Core i7-13700HX processor.

While the leak is one of the first signs of the CPUs and GPUs we can expect in 2023's lineup of gaming laptops, the product listings come from an unknown retailer. Nvidia's 40 Series mobile GPUs and Intel's 13th Gen CPUs have yet to be officially announced, so take this in with a pinch of salt.

As for the rest of the specs, the HP Omen 17 is expected to come equipped with a 17.3-inch FHD (1920 x 1080) or QHD (2560 x 1440) display, up to 32GB of RAM, and up to 1TB SSD. We also see the price of each configuration, which is in Romanian Lei. According to the listing, prices start from 10,298 Lei (around $2,229 /£1,799) for the RTX 4060 model and 18,881 Lei (around $4,088/£3,298) for the RTX 4090 model. If the listings are anything to go by, next-gen laptops are looking particularly pricey. 

RTX 40 Series mobile GPUs coming to laptops

Nvidia already unveiled its next set of GeForce RTX 40 Series GPUs for desktops, but its next-gen graphics processors for gaming laptops have yet to be announced. That said, given CES 2023 is approaching and the company announced its RTX 30 Series GPUs at the start of this year, it's likely we'll see a new slate of gaming laptops boasting Nvidia's next-gen mobile GPUs.

We've heard Nvidia's take on what the future of laptops looks like, with the company stating that it will "keep producing world-class leading discrete GPUs." If the leaked listing is to be believed, then we can expect RTX 4060 through to RTX 4090 GPUs to come to gaming laptops in 2023. There have been rumors of RTX 4050 graphics cards coming to laptops, too, but the most interesting inclusion is RTX 4090, seeing how gaming laptops didn't come equipped with an RTX 3090 GPU.

While we can expect next-gen GPUs to boost frame rates and overall performance, we still don't really know how well they will perform. We're sure to hear more during CES 2023, but in the meantime, check out the best gaming laptops on the market right now (RTX 30 series laptops still shine). 

Nvidia is on fire. No, not because its RTX 4090 GPUs are reportedly so ridiculously powerful that it melts power supplies. It’s because nearly everything — from laptops and PCs to mobile devices — with an “Nvidia GeForce RTX” sticker slapped on it is a hot commodity. And this roaring flame in the need for the latest in graphical fidelity has been ablaze since the creation of the first GPU.

Does this really come as a surprise? Hardly. Nvidia brought about the first GPU in history back in 1999, lighting the match for what is now the largest GPU manufacturer in the world. It’s staggering what a tech giant can achieve in the booming era of technology, too. For instance, the very first GPU, the Nvidia GeForce 256 SDR, was built on a 220nm process, used a 32MB SDR memory interface, and boasted a GPU clock speed of 120MHz. At the time, you could imagine being that kid on the block with the swish PC rig.

Now, with the company’s “beyond fast” RTX 4090, you’re getting a GPU based on a 4nm process, 24GB of GDDR6X memory, and clock speeds reaching 2,235MHz. Oh, and 128 raytracing acceleration cores, 512 tensor cores to improve machine learning applications speeds, and a flurry of features thanks to Nvidia’s new Ada Lovelace architecture. Needless to say, Nvidia’s first GPU wasn’t a one-hit wonder; it planted the seeds for gamers to reap the rewards for decades to come. Our list of best gaming laptops is a case and point. 

So, how does a GPU-first company grow from here? With competitors Intel and AMD gaining new ground in the GPU department, with the advantage of boasting their own CPUs, will the fire start to die out? As part of Laptop Live, Laptop Mag’s week-long celebration of all things tech, we talk to Nvidia about what it thinks the future of laptops looks like, the limitations of its next-gen GPUs, and how it can still find a place in an ever-growing market for graphics. 

Developing a mobile future

It’s one thing to build a graphics card for a desktop, but it’s a different kettle of fish to develop a discrete GPU for a laptop. But Nvidia has proven itself to soar in this area, with last year’s RTX 30 Series GPUs delivering second-gen RTX architecture in the form of Ampere for a new wave of games with ray tracing, Nvidia DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling) to unlock greater frame rates without sacrificing image quality, and Max-Q Technologies so all these features can actually fit in a sleek laptop.

So, when asked what the future of laptops looks like to Nvidia, the company made it clear that all it really needs to do is build on its already successful foundation:

“I think Nvidia laptops will need to continue to have discrete graphics and enable discrete graphics to be both performant and power efficient while also working closely with the CPU and other components to maximize performance and battery life, something I think they've been successfully doing for years,” the Nvidia spokesperson said.

“I think AI's role in PCs will become more relevant, and incorporating that into the complete system will be critical.” And Nvidia is already breaking new ground in new-gen AI with the introduction of DLSS 3 in its RTX 40 Series GPUs. As the company puts it, the new fourth-gen Tensor Cores and Optical Flow Accelerator allow for even higher frame rates with crisper image quality — and that’s all powered by AI. 

The new DLSS “samples multiple lower resolution images and uses motion data and feedback from prior frames to reconstruct native quality images.” In layman's terms, this equates to a 400% performance boost in games like Cyberpunk 2077 using the new “RT Overdrive Mode,” albeit with help from an Intel i9-12900K CPU and 32GB of RAM.

That’s a lot of horsepower. With this in mind, are there any limitations the future of Nvidia GPUs will struggle with? Well, not when it comes to its own products. “I think Nvidia's biggest challenge in the future will be getting squeezed between AMD and Intel's strategies of optimizing for their own GPU and CPU architectures. Nvidia simply doesn't have that, and I think the best way for Nvidia to ensure it doesn't get cut out of the equation is to keep producing world-class leading discrete GPUs.” 

Branching out

It’s clear Nvidia dominates the GPU consumer market, but, as the company notes, its rivals like AMD and Intel have other products they can rely on — most notably CPUs. Sure, Nvidia graphics cards are the go-to for gamers (at least, this writer is convinced), but what other areas can Nvidia branch out to? As it turns out, quite a few.

“We've seen Nvidia have mixed success in platforms outside of its current platforms, but honestly, I think Nvidia is fairly comfortable where it is today in the consumer segments,” Nvidia states. ”I think the real expansion at Nvidia is happening in robotics, AI, data centers, High Performance Computing (HPC), and other enterprise use cases for AI/GPUs like Omniverse.” 

That last one is especially interesting. With the Metaverse taking off, now more than ever with the announcement of the Meta Quest Pro and PSVR 2, the Nvidia Omniverse platform is giving artists and developers the tools to create “large-scale virtual worlds faster than ever.”

How good will these look? Considering the platform is based on Universal Scene Description (USD), an open-source 3D scene description and file format developed by none other than Pixar, it’s safe to say Nvidia will do wonders for developers in the virtual world. Oh, and it even adds Nvidia’s famed ray-tracing tech to make those environments pop.

However, despite venturing out to other avenues like virtual reality and even robotics, Nvidia is still keeping an eye on what it does best. With Intel Arc Alchemist breaking into the scene this year, with reports claiming they are equal to its own RTX 3060 GPU at its best, the competition is ramping up. When asked if this was a good starting point for Intel, Nvidia had this to say:

“Yes, especially since most of Nvidia's new lineup starts at the very high end of the market, leaving the mainstream available for competition, especially considering Intel's pricing.”

To me, that sounds like Nvidia doesn’t have much to worry about. High-end GPUs in both laptops and PC from the manufacturer, from RTX 3070 to an RTX 3090 Ti, come at a price. But it’s a price gamers and content creators are willing to pay to get the best out of their systems. Nvidia is still at the top of its game, and whether or not it pulls off the same success it saw in GPUs on other platforms, it’s clear the company’s foundation for all things GPUs is secure — all it needs to do is build on from what it does best.  

Today, Nvidia launched its April Studio Driver update with optimizations for most of the popular 3D apps such as Unreal Engine 5, Cinema4D, and Chaos Vantage. Plus, support for the new Nvidia Ominiverse connector from Blender and Redshift.

I recently got a chance to sit and chat with Nvidia's team as they demonstrated many of the new optimizations and capabilities. I was blown away not just by how realistic everything was rendered or the perfect lighting and shadows, but also by how blazing fast everything was rendering. Nvidia also enhanced the speed and capability of the team workflows, making it a fantastic and clean work environment for a host of digital artists to collaborate within.

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This latest Studio Driver adds support for many creative applications like Unreal Engine 5's Lumen, which is a fully dynamic global illumination system for both hardware and software ray tracing. The update also improves RTX accelerated ray tracing and DLSS in the UE5 viewport for real-time visuals, which is important when creating.

Not only will users experience beautifully rendered ray-tracing graphics but also higher frame rates from creation to the final product. Thanks to Nvidia Reflex in UE5, users gaming with RTX GPUs will experience new levels of low latency. After seeing it live, I'm excited to see its potential. 

When combined with some of the latest workstations from partners like Lenovo, Asus, and MSI, creators will have many options to take advantage of the new Studio Driver to create their digital masterpieces. With Nvidia real-time denoisers providing real-time performance levels not seen before that allow for improved efficiency in the art pipeline, RTX global illumination, and light mapping, the possibilities for users are endless.

I could go on and on, which I did when talking with Nvidia's team, but you can see what the new Studio Driver is capable of by checking out some recent work by Andrew Averkin, who is a Ukraine-based 3D artist who specializes in creating photorealistic 3D scenes.

He created multiple pieces of art using the Nvidia Omniverse Create app, Autodesk 3ds Max, which was accelerated by the Nvidia RTX A6000 GPU, and the work speaks for itself. I shared the work with my 12-year-old daughter and she stared silently for over 30 minutes. We then spent a while watching videos on Nvidia's Omniverse YouTube channel, which I highly recommend.

Honor announced a new line of feature-rich MagicBook laptops to usher in its new era of premium notebooks and lightweight 16-inch laptops that pack a punch. Better yet, prices for each laptop kick off from an equivalent of under $1,000.

The global technology brand unveiled its high-end flagship Honor MagicBook V 14, along with two updates to its MagicBook 16 series. The former aims to set a "new benchmark for the premium notebook," and will be among the first laptops to come packed with Windows 11. For fans of 144Hz displays, AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors, and RTX 30 Series GPUs, read on. 

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Honor MagicBook V 14

The Honor MagicBook V 14 is gearing up to be the brand's premium notebook and is available to pre-order in China today. The laptop will be priced from 6,199 RMB ($960 / £702). While the laptop is currently available in China, it's likely to be available in other countries, including the UK. 

Along with being pre-installed with Windows 11, the MagicBook V 14 boasts a number of impressive features. Under the hood, expect an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-11390H processor, dedicated Nvidia GeForce MX450 graphics card, up to 16GB of RAM, and 512GB PCIe SSD for storage. It will also feature a new dual heat pipe arrangement and dual fan layout to keep the laptop nice and cool.

The MagicBook V 14 also boasts a 14.2-inch (2520 x 1680) LTPS touch display with a 90.5% screen-to-body ratio and a 90Hz refresh rate. Honor claims the laptop weighs a light 1.48 kilograms  (3.2 pounds) and is just 14.5mm thin. As icing on the cake, it also comes in three colors: Blue Hour, Space Gray, and Mystic Silver. 

Interestingly, the notebook also boasts a 5-megapixel dual-camera system for video calls and conferencing. Honor doesn't specify the resolution it streams in, but we're hoping it's a laptop webcam that sets a new standard. 

Honor MagicBook 16 and 16 Pro 

Honor's new addition of 16-inch laptops comes in the form of the MagicBook 16 and MagicBook 16 Pro. Both laptops are available to pre-order in China and are priced from 6,499 RMB ($1,006 / £736) for the Pro, and 4,999 RMB ($774 / £566). Again, we're likely to see these laptops available in other countries, including the UK.

In terms of specs, expect them to be equipped with a 16.1-inch 144Hz LCD display, AMD Ryzen 5000 series processors, and up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 30 Series GPU. Plus, expect up to 16GB of DDR4 dual-channel memory and 512GB PCIe NVMe SSD for storage.

A Ryzen 5 5600H CPU and a Ryzen 7 5800H CPU are available, along with a GTX 1650 GPU or an RTX 3050 GPU. As for the chassis, the MagicBook 16 and 16 Pro will follow the same design as previous models, with a metallic body and narrow bezels.  

Considering their price, an impressive range of specs, and similarity to some of the best laptops on the market from Apple's MacBook models to the Dell XPS 15, we hope to get our hands on each of these laptops if they make their way overseas. 

If I had to dream up the ultimate gaming laptop, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 G733 would be the closest manifestation of what my wild, gamer-centric imagination would create. A 17.3-inch display with a 360Hz refresh rate that shows off the might of an Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU made more powerful by an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX processor — that’s exactly what I’d conjure up. Asus’ latest 17-inch beast turns these dreams into reality and materializes even more exciting and unexpected qualities.

With its dream-like features, from the laptop’s dazzling RGB light show and commendable optical-mechanical keyboard switches, the Strix Scar 17 comes with a price tag that makes it a fantasy purchase for most. For those willing to empty their pockets, you’ll be treated to one of the best gaming laptops on the market. One, however, without a webcam and poor battery life. Despite that, it's one of the best VR-ready laptops around.

Asus pulls out all the stops to deliver a laptop any avid gamer would want to call their own, but is it worth the price of admission? Let's find out. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 price and configurations 

With the power it packs, it’s hardly shocking that the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 I reviewed costs $3,000 / £2,499. The laptop is fitted with a 3.3-GHz AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU, Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 16GB of VRAM, 32GB of RAM (dual 16GB DDR4 RAM), dual 1TB PCI m.2 SSDs in RAID 0 configuration, and a 17.3-inch 1920 x 1080-pixel display with a 360Hz refresh rate. 

There are other configurations listed on Asus’ listing page for its ROG Strix Scar 17 G733, including a near-identical version of the laptop I received, except with a 2560 x 1440-pixel display with a 165Hz refresh rate. There are two more with the same WQHD display panel shown: one with an RTX 3070 and the other with an RTX 3060. These laptops, however, do not have a price tag. In terms of availability, the 1080p model appears to be the only accessible laptop.

A $3,000 price tag is steep, even when compared to the $2,500 Alienware m17 R4 that boasts similar specs. Thankfully, its price isn’t an exorbitant $3,600 like the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (2021). Whatever the case, it’s an investment that will have potential buyers double-checking the ROG Strix Scar 17’s worth, especially when you can nab an Asus ROG Zephyrus M16 for nearly half the price. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 design 

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 is unashamedly a gaming laptop, and it proudly wears its heart on its matte-black chassis. 

It looks like a premium gaming rig through and through, with its sleek black aluminium lid that is, to my gleeful surprise, fingerprint-proof. You’ll also find two of Asus’ signature design traits: a reflective ROG logo (that lights up in RGB) and a dot matrix pattern covering half of the lid. I’m a fan of the latter, as it perfectly aligns with the laptop’s customizable armor caps located on the hinge. It’s the little things.

Speaking of which, the swappable caps come in three designs included in the box: Spangle Silver, Rubber Grey, and Translucent Black. It’s a nice touch, and each brings a subtle element to the laptop’s swish design. I stuck with silver, just to add another layer of color.

Open the lid, and you’ll be greeted to a sizable display with thin bezels and a mesmerizing RGB-lit keyboard that spans the deck. A set of media keys can be found along the top of the deck, too. The laptop’s chassis generally sticks to its sleek soft-touch black paint, but Asus added a distinct transparent plastic that covers half of the keyboard deck. The way it transitions from black to see-through is seamless, and I love the industrial visual Asus is going for. If you’re a fan of the Nothing ear (1) earbuds or the old-school clear Nintendo Game Boy, you’ll be keen on the ROG Strix Scar 17.

The translucent design continues along the side of the laptop’s base, just above the RGB LED lightbar that wraps around the front side on the base. This strip makes me feel like the laptop could take off as customizable lighting effects (thanks to the Asus’ Aura Sync software) make the laptop beam with various hues or “beep” and “boop” like a UFO.

Measuring 15.5 x 11.1 x 0.9~1.1 inches and coming in at 6.1 pounds (Asus claims it’s 5.9 pounds), Asus’ 17-inch heavyweight is still considerably lighter than its competition. The Alienware m17 R4 (15.7 x 11.6 x 0.7~0.9 inches) weighs 6.6 pounds, while the Razer Blade Pro 17 (15.5 x 10.2 x 0.8 inches) weighs a similar 6.1 pounds. The Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (15.6 x 10.6 x 0.8 inches) weighs 5.5 pounds, making it one of the lightest laptops in its class by far. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 ports 

 The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 packs all the ports you’d need, with its shining star being a USB 3.2 Type-C port with DisplayPort 1.4 and USB Power Delivery. With one slot, you can connect to external monitors (with Nvidia G-Sync support) and charge the laptop without the 240W AC adapter — it’s perfect for powerful accessories such as docking stations. 

 This port is placed along the rear, along with one of the three USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, an HDMI 2.0 port that can connect to a 4K monitor or TV at up to 60Hz, a Gigabit Ethernet port, and a power input. Along the left side, you’ll find the other two USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 ports, and a 3.5mm audio jack. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 display 

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 introduced me to the realm of high refresh rates, and what a world it is. It was almost dizzying at first after shifting from a 60Hz refresh rate on my PS5 to the laptop’s blazing-fast 360Hz display. Hello, precision, it’s nice to meet you.

Nvidia’s G-Sync technology adds to the display's response time, as it synchronizes the screen’s refresh rate with the laptop’s graphics card. The 3-millisecond response time the panel boasts was built with high-level competitive gaming in mind, reducing motion blur so you can point-and-shoot with minimal delay. Trust me, playing on this display is wicked.

I was popping off zombie heads like no tomorrow in the Back 4 Blood beta, with smooth frame rates catching the hundreds of The Ridden running frantically at me. To put the display panel’s “tournament-level” refresh rate to the test, I booted up a round of Valorant. At first, the difference between a 144Hz refresh rate and 360Hz wasn’t immediately noticeable, but I undoubtedly had a more responsive experience. From moving enemies to moving the cursor to aim, it all felt buttery smooth.

The refresh rate is the ROG Strix Scar 17’s strong point, but the rest of my viewing experience was average. When watching James Gunn’s The Suicide Squad, it was awesome to see Polka-Dot Man fling a colorful array of deadly, erm, polka-dots. Although, I wouldn’t say the colors popped. For example, the stand-out light blue and pink colouring of Starro the Conqueror appeared dull when contrasted with the equally dull grey colours of ruined buildings. The good news is that the laptop’s brightness wasn’t a concern, and I comfortably watched shows in a well-lit room.

In our testing, our colorimeter registered the Strix Scar’s colour gamut at 77.3% of the DCI-P3 spectrum. That’s not terrible, seeing as the Alienware m17 R4 measured 80.6%, while the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR tested 76.9% and the Razer Blade 17 Pro got a score of 84.1%. Although, it's disappointingly lower than the 86.6% premium gaming laptop average.

The ROG Strix Scar 17 measured an average brightness at 261.2 nits, putting it far behind the competition. The m17 R4 (316 nits), Aero 17 HDR (468 nits), and Blade Pro 17 (304 nits) are leaps and bounds ahead, meaning Asus’ laptop is the weakest in terms of brightness. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 audio

I’m not one to let my laptop roar, as I often opt for a gaming headset to blast audio into my ears. It says a lot, then, that I found myself letting the Asus ROG Strix Scar sing more often than not.

That’s thanks to the laptop’s impressive audio setup. It boasts dual tweeters that fire audio from the laptop’s hinge, while dual “Smart Amp” woofers on its base bounce deep beats off whatever surface the laptop is placed on. I cranked up the volume when playing Royal Blood’s “Typhoon” and felt the full blast of drums and deep guitar riffs. Songs with heavy bass drowned out vocals, but not enough to where couldn’t sing along to each lyric. At lower volumes, audio can sound too quiet, especially with songs like “Keep It Together” by How To Destroy Angels, with its deep bassline and subtle vocals. Overall, I was impressed with the ROG Strix Scar 17’s audio quality.

Asus also added “Two-Way AI Noise Cancelation” which cancels out excess noise when chatting in multiplayer PC games or in conference calls. When testing this while playing the Back 4 Blood beta, I could clearly hear audio from other players telling me to stop my accidental friendly fire (apologies). Although, I didn’t find this too different from other gaming laptops I’ve used, and it doesn’t compare to voice chat using a gaming headset.  

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 keyboard and touchpad 

Alienware may have introduced Cherry MX mechanical key switches, but Asus’ responsive optical-mechanical keyboard is hot on its heels. 

I had a blast typing and gaming on the ROG Strix Scar 17’s comfortable keyboard. Each spring-loaded key switch delivered a subtle, yet pleasing click at the actuation point. With a 0.2 response time and a 1.9mm travel distance, I found the spaced-out keyboard comfortable and satisfying to use. I scored an average of 72 words per minute on the 10fastfingers typing test, which is above my usual 70 wpm.

As for the laptop’s 5.1 x 3.1-inch Precision touchpad, there was plenty of room to perform multi-finger actions, from zooming in and out to scrolling with ease. The pad felt responsive to the touch, and I was able to easily press down and double-tap with satisfying clicks. 

The per-key RGB lightning is the cherry on top, adding a mesmerizing splash of color. Through Asus’ exclusive Armoury Crate software, I changed the Aura Sync lighting effects at a click of a button. I stated it was a gamer’s dream laptop for a reason, and the RGB effects alone stand testament. The various effects include breathing, strobing, a twinkling starry night effect and rainbows. However, Asus goes the extra distance by adding a music effect that is visualized on keycaps, along with in-game lighting effects that reflect the action on screen with compatible PC games. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 gaming, graphics and VR

The ROG Strix Scar 17 is built for gaming. A glance at its Nvidia GeForce RTX 3080 GPU with 16GB of VRAM will tell you what kind of gaming experience you’re in for. A premium one, just to make things clear. 

I could finally see first-hand what all the fuss was about with Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition after turning it up to Ultra settings on the 1080p display with ray-tracing enabled. Paddling through the Volga river in the game’s first open-world section was a treat, with the moon’s reflection rippling across the river’s surface while the creepy Tsar Fish loomed underneath. It averaged around 78 frames per second on Ultra settings, and 67.8 fps with RTX On, which is damn smooth for a game of that caliber.

When we ran the Assassin’s Creed Odyssey benchmark, the ROG Strix Scar 17 scored 72 fps, far surpassing the 60-fps premium gaming laptop average. The Alienware m17 R4 (with an RTX 3080 GPU) took the lead by reaching 78 fps, while the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR (also with an RTX 3080 GPU) scored the same 72 fps. The Blade Pro 17 (with an RTX 2080 Super Max-Q GPU) topped out at 64 fps.

We also tested Assassin’s Creed Valhalla, which the ROG Strix Scar 17 ran at 71 fps. The m17 R4 (76 fps) won this round by a similar margin as it did on the Odyssey benchmark.  

On the Shadow of the Tomb Raider benchmark, the ROG Strix Scar 17 reached an impressive 92 fps, but couldn’t catch up to the m17 R4’s 103 fps. Still, it blazed past the 73 fps category average, along with the Blade Pro (75 fps) and the Aero 17 HDR (78 fps).

Running the Far Cry: New Dawn benchmark, the ROG Strix Scar 17 received a 90 fps average, which lagged behind the m17 R4’s 105 fps. It soared way past the 85-fps average, while the Blade Pro 17 managed to stay above at 87 fps. The Aero 17 HDR came second place though, with an impressive 101 fps. 

While running Red Dead Redemption 2, the ROG Strix Scar 17 scored 75 fps, which far surpasses the 61-fps average and the Aero 17 HDR (69 fps). Finally, in Borderlands 3, the Scar 17 pumped out 86 fps, which topped the Blade Pro 17’s 71 fps. However, it couldn’t keep up with the m17 R4 (102 fps) or the Aero 17 HDR (77 fps).

Is the ROG Strix Scar 17 VR-ready? We put it to the test by running VRMark Blue, and the laptop scored 3,263. This is well above the 2,619 average, but less than what the m17 R4 achieved (3,710). To put that into perspective, the high-specced Blade Pro 17 reached a low 2,734.  

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 performance

The Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 packs an AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU with dual 16GB DDR4 RAM and dual 1TB PCI m.2 SSDs in RAID 0 configuration. That’s one of the most sought-after laptop CPU specs for power users, delivering the peak of AMD processing power. In other words, it can do everything you need it to, including photo and video editing, gaming and multitasking. I could easily switch between hiding from the Children of the Forest in Metro Exodus PC Enhanced Edition and the 50 Google Chrome tabs I had open, which included YouTube videos detailing the best routes for protagonist Artyom to take. The Asus and its AMD chip went above and beyond what I threw at them. 

Asus’ 17-inch laptop also had a good showing during our synthetic tests, starting with Geekbench 5.3. The ROG Strix Scar 17 scored 8,231 on the overall performance test, beating the 7,333 premium laptop average. When compared to other laptops in its league, the Alienware m17 R4, powered by a 10th Gen Core i9-10980HK, scored 8,051. Fitted with an Intel Core i9-11980HK CPU, the Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR achieved an even greater 9,484, while a Razer Blade Pro 17 with an Intel Core i7-10875H netted 5,776.

On the Handbrake video transcoding test, the ROG Strix Scar 17 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 6 minutes and 11 seconds, blazing past the 8:24 average. The m17 R4 transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 6 minutes and 44 seconds, while the Aero 17 took just 5:59. The Blade Pro 17 fell below the average with a time of 9:33.

Finally, during our File Transfer test, the ROG Strix Scar 17’s formidable dual 1TB SSDs managed a transfer rate of 1,449 MBps when duplicating 25GB of multimedia content, which is well above the 876.7 MBps premium gaming laptop average. As for the m17 R4’s dual SSDs, Alienware’s laptop fell short with a transfer rate of 711.4 megabytes per second while the Blade Pro 17 (512GB PCIe m.2 SSD) did better with 925.1 MBps. However, the Aero 17 HDR (512GB System SDD 1TB storage SSD) delivered a blistering transfer rate of 1,729 MBps. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 battery life

Battery life is rarely a gaming laptop’s strong suit, especially if it’s trying to power demanding specs on a display with a speedy 360Hz refresh rate. Oh, and all the RGB LEDs lighting up the ROG Strix Scar 17 in a flurry of colors doesn’t help either.

In our Laptop Mag Battery Test, which consists of continuous web surfing over Wi-Fi at 150 nits of brightness, the ROG Strix Scar 17 lasted 3 hours and 44 minutes, which isn’t terrible when compared to its competition. The Alienware m17 R4 lasted only 2:50, which is well below the 4:29 premium gaming laptop average. The Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR scored a much higher 4:34 while the Razer Blade Pro 17 was the last laptop standing at 4:41.

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 heat

While the ROG Strix Scar 17 can run hot, I never felt temperatures affect my gaming sessions or become too uncomfortable that I needed to cool the laptop down by cranking up fan speeds. This is due to the four fan outlets that improve airflow, along with the CPU’s liquid metal thermal compound to transfer heat.

After gaming for 15 minutes, the underside reached 102 degrees Fahrenheit, which is well above our 95-degree comfort threshold. The center of the keyboard reached 105 degrees while the touchpad reached 86.5 degrees. Its hottest surface was 113 degrees, which was located on the base of the laptop opposite the power button. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 webcam

If you’re looking to jump on a quick video call for work or to catch up with friends and family over Zoom, you’ll be met by a disappointing “We can’t find your camera.”

The ROG Strix Scar 17 does not come with an integrated webcam — a common theme with Asus laptops. While it’s somewhat excusable on its incomparably priced Asus ROG Zephyrus G14, the exclusion of a webcam on a $3,000 laptop doesn’t add up. I get that Asus sacrificed a camera to make the most of its dashing display, but if the Alienware m17 R4 and Gigabyte Aero 17 HDR can find a way to fit a 720p webcam, then the ROG Strix Scar 17 should, too. The bad news is you’ll have to spend more on an external webcam. The good news? The very best webcams blow laptop webcams out of the water. 

Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 software and warranty 

The ROG Strix Scar 17 boasts Asus’ signature software: Armoury Crate. Within the app, you can configure performance, monitor the heat of your components, change fan speed, adjust display color, and customize the RGB lighting. There’s also the MyAsus app, which gives you access to your warranty information, updates for components and various battery options. 

The ROG Strix Scar 17 comes with a one-year limited warranty. See how Asus performed in our Tech Support Showdown and Best and Worst Brands ranking. 

Bottom line

With the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 in front of me, I now know my dream gaming laptop exists. It features all the bells and whistles any of the best gaming laptops strive for, from its Nvidia RTX 3080 GPU and AMD Ryzen 9 5900HX CPU to its 360Hz refresh rate display and clicky optical-mechanical keyboard. It’s the current pinnacle of gaming, so what more could you ask for?

Well, a more affordable price tag, for one. All that power comes at a price, but it should also come with a webcam and a brighter and more vivid display panel. Battery life could also see improvements, though this shouldn’t be an issue for those getting the ROG Strix Scar 17 as a desktop replacement.

While I may call Asus’ 17-inch beast my dream laptop, other options on the market surpass it in terms of gaming specs and price. The Alienware m17 R4 delivers higher performance in several demanding PC games, and there are more affordable models available at around $2,499 ($500 less than the Asus). Still, if you’re looking for a gaming laptop that never fails to impress, the Asus ROG Strix Scar 17 won’t disappoint.  

Gigabyte is adding a new external GPU to its line of Aorus Gaming Box eGPUs, offering Nvidia RTX 3080 Ti power to supercharge your laptop's graphics — all you need is a Thunderbolt 3 port.

The Aorus RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Box (model GV-N308TIXEB-12GD) aims to boost a laptop's GPU performance when playing high-demanding PC games or heavy-duty photo or video editing. What's more, the external GPU is equipped with a "Waterforce" all-in-one water cooling system to keep things frosty when overclocking. 

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The Aorus eGPU comes with a few notable perks. Laptops with Thunderbolt 3 connectivity can easily connect to the Gaming Box, and users will also get additional ports including three USB-A 3.0 ports, two HDMI outputs, and three DisplayPort, along with an Ethernet slot.

Even better, Gigabyte claims it supports Power Delivery to charge your laptop while plugged in thanks to an 80-Plus Gold 550W power supply. Not to be forgotten, it also boasts RGB Fusion 2.0 to sync color lighting with other Aorus laptops and devices.

As spotted by sister site Tom's Hardware, the Gaming Box isn't currently available and there is no release date or price shown on Gigabyte's listing. However, the eGPU is expected to the launching soon seeing as it's on the company's website.

Gigabyte already offers similar eGPU Gaming Box units, including an RTX 3080 model and a beasty RTX 3090 edition. The latter is priced around $2,000, while the RTX 3080 can be found for $1,200. The RTX 3080 Ti Gaming Box is expected to bridge the gap between these two, so expect prices to be around $1,500.

External GPUs can bring the power of desktop GPUs to your laptop, but can also be pricey. If you are after the best gaming laptops today, you'll find quite a few of them are already equipped with strong RTX 30 series performance. 

Cryptocurrency is enjoying another surge in value and general interest. People are now trying to find out how to buy Dogecoin and are searching for the best cryptocurrency exchanges to get in on the action, but this demand has also driven crypto mining hardware through the roof.

Nvidia RTX 30-series GPUs are some of the most impacted products resulting in considerable frustration for gamers as supplies were already limited. Well, it looks like Nvidia's latest releases may finally offer some relief for both sides (via AnandTech).

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Nvidia RTX 3060

Now diehard gamers may scoff at the RTX 3060, but it may offer the blueprint for a longer-term solution to this problem. The change that Nvidia is making isn't at the hardware level, but rather, to the software drivers. The rate at which the RTX 3060 will be able to mine cryptocurrency will be halved, dramatically changing the value proposition for crypto mining. 

It's too late for Nvidia to retroactively do this for the higher-end GPUs as miners would simply use the pre-existing drivers, but if this proves successful, it may be the solution for the next generation GPUs.

Nvidia CMP HX GPUs

The second part of the equation is the introduction of a new set of dedicated mining cards. The Nvidia CMP HX will be available in four different configurations ranging from 125W output to 320W.  These GPUs drop the video outputs at the silicon level as that isn't necessary for crypto mining. 

While you would assume these four GPUs would roughly map out to the 3060, 3070, 3080 and 3090, unfortunately, that doesn't seem to be the case. The top-end 90HX is much less efficient than either the 3090 or even the 3080. The other three models all come in below the previous generation RTX 2080 Ti, with only the 125W 30HX delivering slightly superior efficiency. 

The big question on these GPUs will be pricing. If they are drastically undercutting the cost of the traditional 30-series GPUs, the chips could be appealing to crypto miners. Nvidia hasn't given any pricing details yet. The announcement simply indicated that these GPUs will be available through Asus, Colorful, EVGA, Gigabyte, MSI, Palit, and PC Partner. 

LAS VEGAS - The reign of Nvidia RTX begins today. Nvidia CEO Jen-Hsun Huang announced that the company’s new RTX chips will be in over 40 laptops with 17 rocking Max-Q cards.

It’s not an unexpected announcement, as mobile gamers like myself have been chomping at the bit since the 20-series desktop cards launched last year.

During the press conference, Huang took time to extol the virtues of Max-Q, which has helped usher in the rise of thin-and-light gaming laptops. According to the CEO, a MSI GS65 Stealth outfitted with a RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU is faster than a last-gen 1080 desktop GPU. He also claimed that the slim system is twice as fast as a PlayStation 4 Pro with the ability to run Battlefield V with Nvidia’s Ray Tracing technology enable at 60 frames per second.

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A Gigabyte Aero laptop also made an on-stage appearance, outfitted with a RTX 2060 Max-Q GPU. Like the MSI, it’s also expected to be faster than a last-gen card –– this time the 1070 desktop GPU. There are also claims that it's 1.6 times faster than the PS4 Pro. The Gigabyte is expected to run Battlefield V at 60 frames per second with RTX enabled.

Both are lofty claims that we plan to put to the test as these laptops start to roll out during  2019.

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