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 value will increase — as much as $500 has been added to the worth of RTX 4080 laptops.
Let’s check out what is occurring, and take a look at to determine why.
The RTX 4080 laptop computer conspiracy
So let me break down what occurred. I posted my evaluation of the Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 (spoiler alert: I actually prefer it), at a time when the worth was said throughout quite a few retailers at $2,899. This value shaped 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 lower 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 carry up the numbers once more.
| 3DMark Benchmark | Asus ROG Strix Scar 16 | Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 |
|---|---|---|
| Hearth Strike | 31761 | 33138 |
| Time Spy | 16976 | 18327 |
| Hearth Strike Extremely | 11142 | 12655 |
| Time Spy Excessive | 8842 | 9513 |
| Port Royal (Ray Tracing) | 11359 | 12345 |
Beforehand, once we took the Hearth 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 facet 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 taking a look at $30.21 per body — greater than the Strix Scar 18’s 4090 ($28).
We’ve reached out to Asus for remark, but it surely’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 worth goes as much as $3,799 (opens in new tab).
Right here’s our principle…
Whereas we look ahead to Asus to reply (an replace can be made to this piece when the corporate does), I put this conundrum to the remainder of my workforce. The final consensus is obvious: provide chain points proceed to persist.
In fact, we live in a post-pandemic world (although it is best to proceed to take acceptable motion to guard your self), however the tales of stocking issues are nonetheless current throughout the entire trade.
The very same occurred to RTX 30 Sequence laptops and desktop GPUs — as soon as firms realized they couldn’t sustain with demand, and that customers had been determined to get their arms on them, the price of them began to skyrocket. And we’re seeing lots of the identical telltale indicators right here.
Outlook
With all of this in thoughts, one factor is obvious. Now isn’t the time to purchase an RTX 40 Sequence gaming laptop computer. Whether or not it’s the seemingly provide chain points or one thing totally different, worth gouging continues to be as current because it was originally of the RTX 30 Sequence period.
You may be higher off ready some time for inventory to normalize and costs to come back again down, as a result of for the time being, you’re not getting worth for cash. Within the meantime, we’re protecting our finger on the heart beat with our greatest gaming laptop computer offers checklist, so control that for financial savings worthy of your funding.
