Nvidia’s rumored RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti laptop GPUs, the mobile versions of the graphics cards already out there for desktops, have been spotted in two Intel Alder Lake-powered Gigabyte notebooks which are purportedly due to be revealed at CES 2022.
This was picked up by VideoCardz, which has dug up a good dollop of details on the specs of the Gigabyte Aorus 17 gaming laptop, and the creatives-targeted Aero 17 (plus Aero 16) for 2022. Sprinkle with the usual caveats, of course, but there are multiple pics of the laptops in question to back this up.
Indeed, VideoCardz reckons there will be up to five new laptops from Gigabyte in total, so possibly another couple on top of the models seen here. All will have Alder Lake 12th-gen CPUs and could run with RTX 30 Series Ti spins.
Starting with the Gigabyte Aorus 17, this will in theory offer the RTX 3080 Ti across various different configurations, some of which will use DDR4 system RAM, and others DDR5 (expect to pay a premium for the latter memory, naturally).
The 3080 Ti will be employed in both these versions, though the DDR4 laptops will use (up to) the Intel Core i7-12700H processor, whereas the boat will be pushed out further with (up to) the Core i9-12900HK in the DDR5 laptop. Furthermore, the 3080 Ti could be configured with a 105W to 130W TGP, depending on the exact model of Aorus 17 with DDR5 (cranking up the wattage means better performance, but also requires better thermals and cooling).
Apparently the Aorus 17 further offers an up to 4K resolution Mini-LED IPS panel with a refresh rate of 120Hz, and that’ll be a certified DisplayHDR 1000 screen (in other words, it’ll be impressively bright and make HDR pop more).
With the incoming Gigabyte Aero models, these will supposedly be the Aero 16, which is of course a 16-inch laptop that replaces the previous 15-inch model, alongside a refresh of the existing Aero 17.
The new Aero 16 is thought to have an AMOLED screen from Samsung with up to 3,840 x 2,600 resolution (DisplayHDR 500), or alternatively a Mini-LED with a resolution of 2,560 x 1,600 (DisplayHDR 1000 like the Aorus above, but with a faster 165Hz refresh rate in this case). Gigabyte has apparently done away with the chunky bottom bezel, too, which will help with a slicker and more premium look.
For the core spec, again these Aero laptops will have Alder Lake processors – up to Core i9-12900HK – and the RTX 3080 Ti or the 3070 Ti. However, these GPUs won’t be Max-Q (less powerful, more energy-efficient and thermal-friendly) versions, but the full-fat solutions – albeit limited to 105W (compared to the Aorus which, as noted above, can be pushed to 130W in certain models).
Analysis: Mounting evidence is a good sign we’ll see these new Nvidia GPUs at CES
VideoCardz dives into quite some specifics here, and as mentioned we need to remain suitably skeptical, although there are certainly reasons to believe that this will happen beyond the cluster of authentic-looking images of these Gigabyte laptops provided by the tech site.
It’s strongly rumored that Intel will be revealing Alder Lake mobile chips at CES 2022, and indeed we recently saw almost the entire range of 12th-gen laptop silicon get detailed in an extensive leak.
It’s also already a strong prospect that Nvidia will reveal the RTX 3080 Ti and 3070 Ti, with rumors about these mobile GPUs floating around for quite some time. Remember, the 3070 Ti has already been spotted in an Acer laptop leak, and the 3080 Ti again very recently appeared in a spilled benchmark.
In short, the rumor mill is already pretty rife with chatter about Alder Lake and these Nvidia mobile GPUs, so it’d hardly be a surprise to see them at CES 2022. In fact, we’d be more surprised if we didn’t see them at this point, in all honesty – although we should never get too carried away with speculation, of course.
As for the actual rumored Gigabyte laptops themselves, VideoCardz makes some interesting additional observations about the Aero 15. Namely that the webcam has been shifted from the bottom to top bezel – to the relief of many, no doubt, who hate a ‘nosecam’ – but the privacy cover has been removed (so get your masking tape out). Also, the fingerprint reader which was built into the trackpad has been dropped (possibly because Gigabyte has gone the Windows Hello route instead for security).
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