Nvidia RTX Expands to New Creative Laptops and Software

Nvidia announced 10 new RTX Studio laptops from Dell, HP, Lenovo and Boxx today at the SIGGRAPH 2019 computer graphics and immersive tech conference today. The company also highlighted seven new pieces of creative software with Nvidia RTX support. 

RTX Studio devices "meet the hardware and software requirements needed to receive the new RTX Studio badge," Nvidia said, "allowing creators to easily identify the right systems to power their creative workflows." Receiving that badge requires a given product to combine "RTX GPUs with the NVIDIA Studio Stack of specialized SDKs and dedicated Studio Drivers" that are meant to improve performance in popular creative apps.

The 10 devices Nvidia announced today bring the number of RTX Studio laptops to 27. Counting some of the devices separately feels a bit like stacking the deck--several of the laptops are differentiated primarily by their display size--but that's not a particularly uncommon practice. Continued support for the admittedly niche product category from some of the world's largest PC manufacturers bodes well for the RTX Studio line no matter how we tally.

Here's what Nvidia said about the new RTX Studio laptops:

• Lenovo Legion Y740 Laptop Studio Edition: RTX 2080 GPUs within 17- and 15-inch laptops, available later this fall.
• Lenovo ThinkPad P53 and P73: Up to Nvidia Quadro RTX 5000 GPUs within 17- and 15-inch systems. The ThinkPad P53 is available now. The ThinkPad P73 will be available starting August.
• Dell Precision 7540 and Dell Precision 7740: Up to Quadro RTX 5000 GPU. Available today.
• HP ZBook 15 and 17: Quadro RTX GPUs, with the 17-inch model configurable with up to a Quadro RTX 5000.
• BOXX GoBOXX SLM: Quadro RTX 3000 GPU in the 15-inch system and either Quadro RTX 4000 or 3000 in the 17-inch system.

RTX Creative Software

Nvidia also announced new creative apps from ISVs that support RTX: Adobe Substance Painter, Autodesk Flame, Blender Cycles, Dimension 5 D5 Fusion, Daz 3D Daz Studio, Foundry MODO and Luxion KeyShot.

That brings the number of creative apps taking advatange of RTX technology to 40. Some use RTX to improve performance, others have enabled real-time ray tracing and still others are introducing new features based on artificial intelligence. The list of developers reads like a who's-who of the creative industry, with everyone from Adobe and Blackmagic to Pixar and Siemens at least dabbling with RTX technology in their apps.

Support for Nvidia RTX is only expected to grow from here. "Every major 3D design application in the world has committed to supporting RTX by year’s end," Nvidia said in its announcement. "The entire gaming industry is on board with a robust ecosystem that includes support in industry-standard APIs, such as DirectX 12 and Vulkan, as well leading game engines like Unity and Unreal Engine." Not bad for technology introduced just one year ago.