If given a choice between more pixels or faster refreshes, most gamers will always go for a refresh rate. This is how we ended up with 1080p gaming laptops offering ridiculous 360Hz displays.
But at CES 2021, you may not have to make that choice anymore. The next generation of graphics for Nvidia laptops has officially arrived - the RTX 30 series, and we're already seeing laptop makers exploring new territory they can explore with so much power under the hood.
We're on the verge of a resolution revolution, and we're about to make laptop gaming so much more awesome.
More pixels or faster images?
When the RTX 20 series launched for gaming laptops at CES 2019, dozens of gaming laptops were updated with displays with 144Hz refresh rates. At the time, the idea that laptops could play modern 3D games at over 60 fps (frames per second) seemed too good to be true. If you lowered the graphics settings, you might even get closer to using the full 144Hz range.
In the years since, we've seen that number of refresh rates get higher and higher. First, he jumped up to 240Hz. Then to 300Hz. This year we're even seeing gaming laptops with panels up to 360Hz. It's outrageous, of course. The difference between a 360 Hz display and a 300 Hz display is almost indistinguishable.
But who can blame them? Gaming laptops were desperate to provide new experiences for gamers, but going beyond 1080p just wasn't possible yet. Sure, brands like Razer or ROG offered 4K models of their laptops, but they were never suitable for gaming as they had never had more than a 60Hz refresh rate. This meant that even when you wanted to lower the resolution to 1080p to play a game, you were still stuck at 60Hz.
However, thanks to the RTX 30 series, we are starting to see signs of change. Just today, Razer announced that its popular Blade 15 gaming laptop will now be available in a QHD (1440p) variant with a 240Hz refresh rate. It's amazing. Razer still offers its 1080p 360Hz model, of course. But then again, you probably won't see the difference between playing a 240 fps and a 360 fps game.
Asus and Lenovo are both following a similar path with their gaming laptop entries this year. The 16-inch Legion 7 has a 1440p display with a 165Hz refresh rate, just like the Asus ROG Strix SCAR.
But, of course, 4K will always be the holy grail of gaming. Don't worry, we're pushing the boundaries there too. Asus has announced the latest version of its ROG Zephyrus Duo 15 SE, now powered by both an Nvidia RTX 3080 and AMD's latest Ryzen 9 5900HX processor. With these combined forces, Asus dared to include a 120Hz screen on its 4K panel. That's right - 4K games at well over 100 fps.
I'll still have to test these new graphics myself to see if Nvidia delivers on its promises, but if we listen to the design choices made by laptop makers, we might finally be on our way to 1080p farewell for good.
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https://www.digitaltrends.com/computing/high-resolution-gaming-on-laptop-has-arrived-ces-2021/