Nvidia Max-Q gives you high-powered PC gaming in a MacBook Air body
Hey, guess what? Gaming laptops don't have to weigh more than a newborn child anymore.
Nvidia's new "Max-Q" approach to design allows hardware manufacturers to cram the power of a GTX 1080 into a shell as thin as 18mm. That's roughly where Apple's MacBook Air is at these days, though a 1080-powered Max-Q will still be a hefty piece of tech, at around five pounds.
To be clear: this isn't new hardware. Rather, it's a new way of building a laptop, provided the manufacturer is using Nvidia technology. Max-Q laptops will start to surface worldwide on June 27, and the ROG Zephyrus, from ASUS, will be one of the first.
There's already a small market for gaming-friendly ultraportable laptops, but options are few. There's not much to be found after the Razer Blade and Gigabyte Aero 14 -- and both carry a high price.
While any laptop fitted with a GTX 1080 -- currently one of Nvidia's top GPUs, priced at more than $500 -- isn't going to be dirt-cheap, a general slimming down of gaming laptops is a good thing for consumers. You can bet Nvidia competitor AMD is working on its own version of Max-Q.
The only manufacturer to get a shout-out in Nvidia's announcement is ASUS, but you can bet we'll be seeing more Max-Q laptops announced in the weeks leading up to June 27.
Topics Gaming
Adam Rosenberg is a Senior Games Reporter for Mashable, where he plays all the games. Every single one. From AAA blockbusters to indie darlings to mobile favorites and browser-based oddities, he consumes as much as he can, whenever he can.Adam brings more than a decade of experience working in the space to the Mashable Games team. He previously headed up all games coverage at Digital Trends, and prior to that was a long-time, full-time freelancer, writing for a diverse lineup of outlets that includes Rolling Stone, MTV, G4, Joystiq, IGN, Official Xbox Magazine, EGM, 1UP, UGO and others.Born and raised in the beautiful suburbs of New York, Adam has spent his life in and around the city. He's a New York University graduate with a double major in Journalism and Cinema Studios. He's also a certified audio engineer. Currently, Adam resides in Crown Heights with his dog and his partner's two cats. He's a lover of fine food, adorable animals, video games, all things geeky and shiny gadgets.
