Nvidia RTX 4080 for gaming laptops has leaked again, and it's looking pretty mid
The RTX 4080 may flounder on laptops, too
➡️ The Shortcut Skinny: New gaming laptops
🔌RTX 4080 for laptop has leaked again
😴 About 25% more powerful than the RTX 3070 mobile
🧂🧂🧂 Take leaked benchmarks with a grain of salt
🤔 Will there be a mobile RTX 4090?
The Nvidia RTX 4080 launched about a month ago, to some middling reviews (mine included), but we’re expecting the GPU to make its way to the best gaming laptops soon – likely at CES 2023 next month.
I’ve reported on the rumors around these mobile graphics cards before, but another leaked benchmark has appeared via @Benchleaks on Twitter, showing the RTX 4080 beating the RTX 3070 by around 25%.
Anyone would expect the RTX 4080 to beat the RTX 3070, though, as it’s a more expensive part. What about the best GPU for gaming laptops, the RTX 3080 Ti? It seems like the upcoming GPU for laptops may make even less of a generational improvement than its desktop counterpart – which is saying something.
However, it’s best to take these early leaked benchmarks with a grain of salt, as Nvidia hasn’t even acknowledged that the mobile RTX 4080 even exists. Who knows, Nvidia may launch a higher-tier GPU at the beginning of the mobile Ada Lovelace generation. Team Green did launch an RTX 3080 Ti for laptops, after all.
Hidden values
Now that Nvidia has went two generations in a row with the xx90 tier of graphics cards as the real flagship, we could see the company launch an RTX 4090 for gaming laptops. The idea kind of seemed absurd last generation, but now that Nvidia has dropped all pretense of its xx90 GPU being the Titan replacement, it could happen.
Obviously this is all speculation, but that would make gaming laptops strapped with the top-end GPU suck as much power as the best gaming PCs – at least Nvidia severely cuts down the RTX 4090 from its desktop version. That’s something the company is known for doing with its mobile parts anyways.
With how powerful the RTX 4090 is, Nvidia’s graphics card lineup is in a really weird spot. The RTX 4090 is essentially what the RTX 4080 should have been, and the RTX 4080 is a glorified RTX 4070 – and both have seen extreme price increases.
While may be disappointing, it does make me wonder what the mid-generation refreshes are going to bring to the table. After all, the RTX 3080 Ti launched around a year after the RTX 3080 and basically made the RTX 3090 all but obsolete. I’d love to see Nvidia do the same for its RTX 4080 – both for laptops and desktop.
Either way, gaming laptops are only going to be getting more powerful over the next year, let’s just hope they don’t get even more expensive too.