GeForce RTX 50 Gaming Laptops Might Not Fully Embrace New AMD And Intel CPUs

Gaming laptops have become highly competent machines that can compete with some high-end desktops. Thanks to GPUs such as NVIDIA's flagship (for a little while longer) mobile GeForce RTX 4090, performance can be reasonably close to desktop GeForce RTX 4070 Ti levels. As such, with the release of the soon-to-be-announced GeForce RTX 50 series, laptop variants are not far behind. 

According to Golden Pig Upgrade, a source for rumors, slightly older mobile CPUs may stick around in these powerful laptops. This would include the Intel 14th Gen Core HX and AMD Zen 4, both currently available already on the latest laptops. With flat performance gains in both productivity and gaming, even the latest Intel Core Ultra 9 285K desktop chip has mixed results. 

It seems to be a tough epoch for CPUs in general, with progress not going nearly as rapid as it once did. Laptops are an even murkier area, since thermal and design constraints typically abound. 

The big question will be if gamers will mind pairing the latest NVIDIA GeForce RTX 50 mobile GPUs with what may not be the latest in CPU technology. As we saw with the desktop GeForce RTX 4090, even resolutions of 4K started to show signs of CPU bottlenecks when that much performance was on the table. While a mobile GeForce RTX 5090 GPU will be much slower than the desktop version, it still stands to face some CPU bottleneck issues. 

In laptops, much of the performance woes with CPUs come down to power limits and thermals. Enclosing hardware in such a small form factor has its drawbacks for ultimate performance, especially when it comes to a powerful GPU. Intel's Core Ultra 9 285K desktop chip is mostly interesting due to its lower power draw, even if its performance gains are lackluster. These lower power numbers mean better thermals, something that could be very effective in a gaming laptop. 

The laptops that do not focus as much on high-end gamers and enthusiasts do offer newer CPUs, but at less gaming performance. With the advent of AI and NPUs within CPUs, the question also remains in what direction technology will go for gaming laptops. Being a more specialized market, it also has a fairly wide reach with productivity users adopting the typically more powerful gaming machines for their workflow. 

While we may not see new chips right away with the latest GeForce RTX 50 series laptops, they will eventually come. With lower TDP power numbers, it only makes sense that thermal improvements come to where it is needed most: gaming laptops.