Laptops With Nvidia's New RTX GPUs Revealed; Claim To Double PS4 Pro's Power

During Nvidia's CES 2019 live press conference, the company announced a wave of gaming laptops that will feature its latest GPUs, the GeForce RTX 20-series. These laptops will have mobile versions of the RTX 2060, RTX 2070, and RTX 2080 depending on the model, and will come from major manufacturers like Samsung, Acer, Asus, Razer, and more. Over 40 different models will be available on January 29.

This is the first batch of laptops that feature RTX GPUs, a new generation of video cards that debuted with high-end desktop versions back in September last year with the RTX 2080 and RTX 2080 Ti. According to Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, some of these laptops will be "twice as powerful as the PS4 Pro" and, specifically, an RTX 2060-powered laptop will be 1.6 times as powerful as a PS4 Pro. Compared to desktop GPUs, that same RTX 2060 laptop is said to outperform a desktop GTX 1070.

Of the 40 laptops coming soon, 17 of them will feature the low-profile power-efficient Max-Q design. Max-Q was introduced last generation as a way to pack high-end GPUs into ultra-thin laptops with little compromise in terms of overall performance.

Not only do the RTX video cards offer better overall performance from the previous GTX 10-series generation, they're also capable of real-time ray tracing and DLSS. The RTX GPU architecture features RT Cores that specifically take care of ray tracing as to not impact overall performance. As a result, there are a few more active parts in these GPUs so temperatures and power consumption remain a key question.

In the same presentation, Nvidia introduced a new mid-range video to the line up with the RTX 2060; it's said to perform on par with or better than the GTX 1070 Ti, and between 1.4 and 1.9 times better than the GTX 1060. It'll launch on January 15 with prices starting at $350.

Desktop GPUs buyers will also get a free game (or two). Those who purchase the RTX 2060 or RTX 2070 can choose between Battlefield V and the upcoming game Anthem for free. If you buy the RTX 2080 or RTX 2080 Ti, you'll get both games bundled.

For more coverage around the event, you can also check out CNET's CES 2019 hub.