Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang claimed that laptops are fast becoming the primary weapon of choice for gamers at CES 2019.
During Nvidia’s press event, where the new GeForce RTX 2060 desktop graphics card was unveiled, Huang said that the number of people buying laptop primarily for playing games is “quite extraordinary”.
While but he didn’t refer to any sales numbers, Huang gave this growth in interest for the reason why Nvidia’s worked with laptop manufacturers to bring 40 new gaming laptops featuring RTX 20 Series cards to market. All of them will be going on sale by the end of January, with 17 of these following the slim and lightweight Max-Q design.
“We’re announcing 40 notebooks for RTX,” said CEO Jensen Huang at Nvidia’s press event.
“The cheapest RTX laptops. 40 new models, the largest number of models we’ve ever experienced… RTX notebooks are now available from every single OEM in the world. 40 new models, with 100 different configurations…”
“Laptops are the fastest growing gaming platform and just getting started. The world’s top OEMs are using Turing to bring next-generation console performance to thin, sleek laptops that gamers can take anywhere. Hundreds of millions of people worldwide – an entire generation – are growing up gaming. I can’t wait for them to experience this new wave of laptops.”
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A full list of devices has not yet been released, but Huang told the press that the MSi G565 Stealth and Acer Predator Triton 500 would feature RTX 2080 Max-Q GPUs.
Separately, Manuel Linning, PR director for Acer in EMEA, told Trusted Reviews that the huge Acer Predator Triton 900 that the world first saw at IFA 2018 will be going on sale soon, and this too will feature an RTX 2080.
In order to qualify for Max-Q design status, a laptop needs to be less than 18mm thick and weigh less than 2.1kg, and the hulking metal Triton 900, with its unibody metal hinge and extravagant cooling system, is obviously far too big for that.
Huang added that laptops are becoming the fastest growing gaming platform, saying that the very thin MSi G565 Stealth offered “twice the performance” of a PS4 Pro, suggesting that he sees laptops cannibalising console sales.
Then again, 40 RTX laptops going on sale means that real-time ray tracing – a fancy new feature which allows for more realistic lighting and reflection effects – will soon be available to more than just the top 1% of the PC Master Race who can afford to splash out on the likes of the RTX 2080 Ti.
But with just a handful of games making use of ray tracing at the moment, it could be a while before mainstream gamers see the light.
Will you pick up a gaming laptop instead of a new custom rig or a PlayStation 5? Let us know on Twitter @TrustedReviews.
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
