600Hz gaming laptops are the future – here's how
How fast is too fast for a gaming laptop?
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: Fast gaming laptops
📺A 600Hz refresh rate gaming laptop displayed at a Chinese trade show
🌡️This would require a very fast gaming laptop
🤔We don’t know when or if this tech will come to an actual laptop
📅Maybe we’ll see something like it at CES 2023
The best gaming laptops already have ludicrously fast displays, but Chinese company BOE has debuted a 600Hz refresh rate display for a laptop.
The laptop display was premiered at the 2022 World Display Industry conference, along with a wide range of displays from the manufacturer, according to Chinese industry news outlet ITHome. The only image we have of the laptop sporting this super fast display, however, is a blurry photo of the device running DOTA 2. It’s unfortunate but it does show what a display like this would be meant for.
It’s not clear if or when this display will make its way to a laptop here in the US, but with CES just around the corner, it’s not completely unbelievable that something like this will appear. Plus, there are plenty of laptops like the Asus ROG Strix Scar 15 that have 300Hz refresh rates. So it’s not too far of a reach to see a laptop like this make its way to market.
It just might take a couple years.
But do we even need a gaming laptop this fast?
I totally get the argument that even the best laptops are just fine with a 60Hz refresh rate, but there’s definitely an appeal to a display this fast. And, well, it’s right in the blurry demo image: esports. People who play a ton of games like Dota 2 or Overwatch want the highest possible frame rate.
The argument against this kind of thing is usually like “I can’t tell the difference above 60 fps”, but let me put it to you like this: It’s not about what your eye notices when you’re watching the screen, it’s about response times.
In a fast-paced game, you can only react as quickly as the game is animated. So, if you’re in a competitive match, and someone sees you move before you can see them move, then they have a competitive advantage over you.
I still remember back at CES 2020 when Nvidia had a demo room full of high-refresh monitors to demonstrate this. They had me watch someone play a game and I totally didn’t notice a difference between 120Hz and 240Hz. But then they had me play a little headshot aiming test in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. I did way better on the high-refresh display.
Now, that’s not exactly a scientific breakdown of high-refresh displays, but at least from my personal experience, I can attest that it does make a difference in competitive games. And I can promise that esports fanatics are going to want a piece of a 600Hz display. Although, you’d need one of the best GPUs to hit that high framerate, and it’s debatable whether or not a gaming laptop can make the cut.
Then again, we’ll likely be getting Nvidia RTX 4080 laptops soon, so who knows? I’m definitely excited to see what happens.