Gaming laptops that actually last? Nvidia's new cards promise a lot

Anyone who's owned or tested out a gaming laptop in recent years (or, frankly, ever) will have had a similar experience at some point – you mostly use your machine plugged in, but occasionally you remember that it's technically portable and try to have a gaming session relying on battery power.

Half an hour later you're on power saver mode with single digits left on your battery counter, scrambling to plug it back in. Poor portable battery life has been a bugbear for ages, but Nvidia's latest lineup of GeForce RTX graphics cards might be making a big change on this front.

It's just unveiled the 50 series at CES, comprised of the top-end 5090, powerful 5080, and more mid-range 5070, with each one offering huge performance gains compared to the 40 series equivalent. They each have laptop versions, too, which have already been announced as being included in new models by the likes of Razer, HP and others. These should start to hit the market in March.

The big headline from Nvidia's lengthy presentation and blog post, although it's not exactly been given top billing, is that some new tech and better efficiency means huge gains in battery life, of around 40% compared to the 40 series. Normally these improvements come in much lower than that, but getting nearly another half of your battery life while playing is pretty massive.

The cards are also as slim as ever, which explains how the big laptop makers are managing to deploy them in some bafflingly attractive designs, including options that look almost as stealthy as a standard MacBook Pro. The days when all the best gaming laptops were giant beasts look like a bygone era now.

On the desktop side, we know that the most affordable new card, the RTX 5070, will come in at just $549 (with international pricing still TBC), which is making waves. For laptops things are a little less clear, since each laptop-maker is the one that will set the overall price – but the direction of travel appears to be toward more affordable options.

Basically, later in 2025 might be a really terrific time to buy a new gaming laptop, with slim and powerful options fresh on the market and the hottest tech under their hoods. If you're building a new gaming PC, the 5070 might be a no-brainer if you can get your hands on one but don't discount the new wave of laptops that's about to hit.