Until fairly recently, choosing a standard laptop with integrated graphics for college might have been a reasonable decision. But times are changing.
The exceptional power of specialized processing cores for AI and ray tracing on modern GPUs is transforming how we play games, and GPUs have become essential tools for STEM students learning 3D design, modeling, simulation, and artificial intelligence. This revolution is something you don’t want to miss out on.
If you buy something else now, you’ll have to replace it in a few years’ time to keep up with the latest games and demanding STEM apps used in upper level courses. It’s an expensive mistake.
NVIDIA GeForce RTX 30 Series laptops are perfect for college in so many ways. With these computers you get a luxuriously slim and lightweight device with good battery life that delivers performance for STEM software, games and creative apps – this RTX platform is in a completely different league to anything a standard laptop can offer.
Incredible tech for gaming
GeForce RTX GPUs with specialized processing cores for ray tracing and AI are revolutionizing the graphics in games in remarkable ways. Ray tracing is a method of creating astonishingly realistic lighting effects by reproducing the path that light rays would take if the 3D environment of the game were built in real life.
Producing ray-traced effects in real time used to be something of a holy grail thought to be decades away from reality, but NVIDIA has made it possible today. With an RTX graphics card you can enjoy beautiful, ray-traced graphics with a level of realism well beyond what an average laptop can produce.
And the AI-powered features are arguably even more spectacular. Through NVIDIA’s DLSS (Deep Learning Super Sampling), graphics are rendered quickly at low resolution and then upscaled at the end of the process using the AI-specialized Tensor Cores on the RTX graphics card.
The resulting images are similar to or even better than native resolution, and rendered with only a fraction of the pixels—so you can crank up the frame rate. Rendering at low resolution gives you the performance headroom to maximize ray-tracing settings as well for sharp, ultra-realistic visuals.
RTX laptops also include NVIDIA Reflex, a technology that increases responsiveness and dramatically reduces system latency. A few milliseconds makes all the difference in competitive gaming, and NVIDIA Reflex gives you a clear advantage.
GPU acceleration for dozens of top STEM apps
But it’s not just about gaming; the power of RTX graphics cards is just as transformative for technical software used in engineering, data science, computer science, economics and many other subjects. The performance increases in STEM workloads means finishing coursework faster, the ability to take on more interesting and challenging projects, and not having to rely on school computer labs or servers.
Instead of getting stuck waiting in line at the computer lab, with an RTX laptop you’ll have an optimized workflow wherever you go. On top of that, RTX laptops are ideal for remote learning and lab group collaboration thanks to NVIDIA Broadcast, which uses AI-powered technology to essentially turn any room into a home studio.
Broadcast isolates your speech and eliminates background noise, room echo and other distortion to improve the quality of your video calls and livestreams. It can even do background replacement to hide a messy room, so you can work with your lab group from any location.
An RTX laptop is your perfect portable companion for studying, gaming and creating—and there are some great deals around now. Here are some of the best ones:
Razer Blade 15
With its superb, ultra-thin design and luxurious, anodized-aluminum finish, the Razer Blade 15 is a top specification machine that’s known as one of the best gaming laptops. With an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU and an Intel 11th Gen 8-Core i7 CPU, it boasts a 15.6-inch display that’s available with a super-fast 360Hz refresh rate at Full HD for serious gaming and smooth video editing.
Dell G15 Ryzen edition gaming laptop
Well regarded as one of the best budget gaming laptops out there, the Dell G15 is a fantastic performer for the price that will give you a great experience with most AAA titles. You get a GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU, an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 8GB memory, and a 512GB solid state hard drive, as well as a 15.6-inch, 120Hz screen.
Acer Predator Helios 300
The Acer Predator Helios 300 is another budget option with mid-range specifications that gets you a lot of power for your money. It has a 15.6-inch Full HD display with a fast 144Hz refresh rate, which is unusually good for a laptop at this price point. It comes with a GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU an 8-core 11th Generation Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB DDR4 memory, and a 512GB solid state drive. This system is less than an inch thick and weighs just over 5lbs.
Lenovo IdeaPad Gaming 3
Lenovo’s budget gaming laptop is ideal for powering your studies and handles most AAA titles at good frame rates. It has a sleek, low-key design, and it has a GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU, an AMD Ryzen 7 3.2GHz processor, 16GB DDR5 RAM, a 512GB solid state drive and a 15.6-inch, Full HD display with 120Hz refresh rate. The IdeaPad is just over 1 inch thick and weighs 5.09 lbs.
Acer Nitro 5
The Acer Nitro 5 is one of the most affordable gaming laptops on the market. At 0.94 inches thick and 4.85lbs, it’s one of the more portable options and also has a great battery life. There’s a GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU, an 11th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 15.6-inch widescreen display with 1920 x 1080 resolution and 144Hz refresh rate, 8GB DDR4 3200MHz memory and a 512GB solid state drive.
MSI Katana GF66
You can expect top-notch performance from the Katana GF66 on account of its GeForce RTX 3060 Laptop GPU, 14-core Intel Core i7 12th Gen 1.7GHz processor, 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM and 1TB solid state drive. The cooling setup has dedicated thermal solutions for the graphics card and the processor to keep the temperature down when the chips are working their hardest. This laptop is less than an inch thick and just under 5lbs.
Dell XPS 17
With its beautiful sleek design and top-tier build quality, this high-end Dell is a joy to use and will handle any task you care to throw at it with ease. The screen is a 17-inch, 1920 x 1200 display with 16:10 aspect ratio and four-sided InfinityEdge ultra-thin bevels. You get a GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU, a 4.6GHz Intel Core i7 processor, 16 GB DDR4 memory, and a 1TB solid state drive, and the chassis is just 0.71 inches thick.
Dell Alienware M15 R6
The Alienware M15 R6 is another premium machine that delivers exceptional power for gaming, STEM software and creative applications. The 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 display has an ultrafast refresh rate of 360Hz, which makes motion extra smooth and realistic. The system has an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3070 Laptop GPU and an Intel Core i7 processor and, with 32GB 3200MHz DDR4 RAM and a 1TB solid state drive.
Lenovo Legion 5
With its GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU and 8-core AMD Ryzen 7 5800H processor, the Lenovo Legion 5 is a mid-level gaming laptop that offers great performance and value for money. There’s a 15.6-inch 1920 x 1080 resolution screen, 8GB 3200 MHz DDR4 memory and a 512GB solid state drive.
MSI Katana GF76
One of only a couple of laptops on this list with a larger screen, the MSI Katana GF76 has a 17.3-inch Full HD display with fast 144Hz refresh rate and slim bevels. Overall this is another smart budget option that’s a great price for what you get: a GeForce RTX 3050 Laptop GPU and Intel Core i7 12th Gen 12700H 1.7GHz processor, 16GB DDR4-3200 RAM and a 512GB solid state drive.
