The consumer electronics industry is getting new life from an old product: laptops. Although the changes are evolutionary rather than revolutionary, they’re substantial enough to make the laptop sector more competitive with the desktop PC sector of the market.
This is especially significant as global PC sales tumbled 19.5% in the third quarter of 2022 — the largest decline since consulting firm Gartner began tracking sales in the mid-1990s. When you consider supply-chain issues, global economic crises and the crypto craze that took desktop graphic card prices sky-high last year, this is hardly surprising. In 2022, this lack of demand created a vacuum, and laptops are about to fill it. But these machines will need powerful CPUs and GPUs, and earlier this month at the Consumer Electronics Show (CES), consumers got a good look at what’s coming. Nvidia
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AMD
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and Intel
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each showcased their own powerful mobile technology. Nvidia’s RTX 4000 mobile GPUs offer a more varied selection than the desktop versions. Intel’s Core i9-13980HX is the first 24-core laptop CPU that can be overclocked to 5.6GHz. Meanwhile, AMD’s Ryzen 7000 mobile processors focus on high-end performance while keeping low power consumption. Nvidia’s RTX 4000 mobile GPUs with DLSS 3 upscaling technology aim to make affordable and mid-range gaming laptops handle even the most graphically demanding games. Intel’s Core i9-13980HX also has the potential to narrow the performance gap between laptops and high-end desktop PCs. AMD’s Ryzen 7000 mobile processors with integrated RDNA 3 graphics could also create a generation of affordable laptops capable of running more PC games without a discrete GPU, which would help keep prices down and prolong battery life. While many of the laptops on display were simply updated versions of their predecessors, these stood out: Acer
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Predator Helios 16 and 18 are excellent options for gamers looking for a balance of power and portability. Both models are equipped with Nvidia GeForce RTX 40-series GPUs, 13th-generation Intel i7 or i9 CPUs, and boast high-resolution screens with a maximum refresh rate of 240Hz. They also come equipped with ample storage and memory, which makes them ideal for running today’s latest and greatest games. Alienware m18 is a cutting-edge gaming laptop that is pushing the boundaries of possible in terms of screen size. It offers opti …