You see, it comes down to 2 phrases: worth gouging. Some issues appear to persist within the provide chain that’s resulting in some surprising price will increase — as much as $500 has been added to the value of RTX 4080 laptops.
Let’s check out what is occurring, and check out to determine why.
The RTX 4080 laptop computer conspiracy
So let me break down what occurred. I posted my evaluate of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (spoiler alert: I actually prefer it), at a time when the value was acknowledged throughout quite a few retailers at $2,899. This price fashioned the crux of what I used to be speaking about — costly, however nonetheless higher worth for cash when it comes to price-to-performance.
Smash reduce to a couple days later, and that exact same laptop computer jumped to $3,399, which threw my whole ratio into disarray. What the hell occurred between then and now for it to occur!? Now I’ve received to recalculate the ratio. Let’s convey up the numbers once more.
| 3DMark Benchmark | Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 | Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Fireplace Strike | 31761 | 33138 |
| Time Spy | 16976 | 18327 |
| Fireplace Strike Extremely | 11142 | 12655 |
| Time Spy Excessive | 8842 | 9513 |
| Port Royal (Ray Tracing) | 11359 | 12345 |
Beforehand, after we took the Fireplace Strike outcomes, the Strix Scar 16 stood at 9 cents per efficiency level. Now, that has gone as much as 11 cents per level — the very same because the RTX 4090-armed Asus ROG Strix Scar 18.
However after all, this is only one aspect of the story. Let’s look past these and get into some precise video games.
| Gaming benchmark | Decision | Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 | Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grand Theft Auto V | 1080p | 147.3 FPS | 152.4 FPS |
| Row 1 – Cell 0 | QHD+ | 112.5 FPS | 132.1 FPS |
| DiRT 5 | 1080p | 111.4 FPS | 179 FPS |
| Row 3 – Cell 0 | QHD+ | 86 FPS | 146.7 FPS |
| Shadow of the Tomb Raider | 1080p | 181 FPS | 180.7 FPS |
| Row 5 – Cell 0 | QHD+ | 143 FPS | 124 FPS |
Beforehand, taking GTA V, the Scar 16 provides you $25.76 per body per second. Now with an elevated worth, you’re $30.21 per body — greater than the Strix Scar 18’s 4090 ($28).
We’ve reached out to Asus for remark, nevertheless it’s clearly not simply Asus. Different RTX 4080 laptops have suffered the identical destiny too. For instance, the Razer Blade 16 is about at $3,599 on the firm’s web site (opens in new tab), however transfer over to Amazon and the value goes as much as $3,799 (opens in new tab).
Right here’s our principle…
Whereas we watch for Asus to reply (an replace might be made to this piece when the corporate does), I put this conundrum to the remainder of my group. The final consensus is obvious: provide chain points proceed to persist.
After all, we live in a post-pandemic world (although it’s best to proceed to take acceptable motion to guard your self), however the tales of stocking issues are nonetheless current throughout the entire business.
The very same occurred to RTX 30 Collection laptops and desktop GPUs — as soon as corporations realized they couldn’t sustain with demand, and that customers have been determined to get their arms on them, the price of them began to skyrocket. And we’re seeing quite a lot of the identical telltale indicators right here.
Outlook
With all of this in thoughts, one factor is obvious. Now just isn’t the time to purchase an RTX 40 Collection gaming laptop computer. Whether or not it’s the probably provide chain points or one thing completely different, worth gouging continues to be as current because it was at the start of the RTX 30 Collection period.
You’ll be higher off ready some time for inventory to normalize and costs to come back again down, as a result of in the mean time, you’re not getting worth for cash. Within the meantime, we’re conserving our finger on the heart beat with our finest gaming laptop computer offers record, so control that for financial savings worthy of your funding.
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