Nvidia Will Require Laptop Vendors to Provide RTX 30-series Specs

Image of a thin Nvidia-based gaming laptop.
(Image credit: Nvidia)

Nvidia will now require that companies selling laptops with the latest RTX 30-series graphics cards list total graphics power and clock speeds, the GPU maker told The Verge.

Previously, the company had told Tom's Hardware that "We strongly encourage OEMs" to list this data. Most companies, including Dell, Asus, MSI and more had not included them. 

The change should make it easier for people to know what type of performance to expect from a gaming laptop before buying or waiting on third-party reviews to confirm which version of the GPU is being used.

Gigabyte and Asus have begun adding the information. XMG and Schenker, sibling companies that sell primarily in Europe have been more specific since launch, including Max-Q status.

Max-Q  has been a tricky question since the RTX 30-series laptop launch. The branding hasn't gone away, but Nvidia has told Tom's Hardware that it "is a holistic set of platform technologies and design approach to building powerful and thin laptops," rather than an indicator of performance.  It is, however, still listed in the Nvidia Control Panel.

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Andrew E. Freedman
Senior Editor

Andrew E. Freedman is a senior editor at Tom's Hardware focusing on laptops, desktops and gaming. He also keeps up with the latest news. A lover of all things gaming and tech, his previous work has shown up in Tom's Guide, Laptop Mag, Kotaku, PCMag and Complex, among others. Follow him on Threads @FreedmanAE and BlueSky @andrewfreedman.net. You can send him tips on Signal: andrewfreedman.01