The success of Valve's Steam Deck has started a wave of like-minded portable PC gaming devices, including the Lenovo Legion Go and Asus ROG Ally. And it looks like Nvidia wants a piece of the proverbial pie, if this latest rumor is to be believed.
Nvidia is reportedly working on its own PC gaming laptop, according to YouTuber Moore's Law is Dead, with the claim that “Nvidia is getting serious about making more portable gaming devices with its graphics IP (intellectual property).” Not only does it make sense in general, as this market is growing and one that Nvidia would want to invest in early, but there is another important reason for the tech giant's supposed investment.
Each of these gaming laptops have one thing in common, which is that they use AMD APUs to power them, and only Intel alternatives will appear later in 2024. This means that there is a huge deficit in the market for laptops that feature with Nvidia-based components; a shortfall that Nvidia can take advantage of if it develops its own Steam Deck competitor.
Moore's Law is Dead claims that while Nintendo will use Nvidia silicon to power its Nintendo Switch 2, Nvidia is looking to expand beyond the console market with a PC-oriented handheld system. The YouTuber also stated: “I heard that [Nvidia] “We may even partner with Intel to create a premium gaming handheld.” While this would avoid the x86 hurdle, it would also require a proper heatsink since the CPU and GPU would be separate.
This is not Nvidia's first rodeo
Seeing Nvidia's interest in making its own PC gaming laptop is quite exciting, as having more competition in this growing market is always a positive thing. However, this isn't exactly Nvidia's first foray into the gaming laptop market either.
The Nvidia Shield was both a portable gaming device and a streaming device. Or at least it was the first thing when it was first released. But over time, it failed to land in the portable gaming market due to strong competition from Nintendo's own systems, as well as not really capturing the PC gaming market.
Over time, it became a 4K HDR streaming device that, while powerful in its own right with great upscaling tools and more, is also several times more expensive than its competitors like the Amazon Fire TV Stick 4K or the Roku Streaming. Stick+. And for the average user, price tends to be much more important than features.
This time around, Nvidia is expected to have a much better understanding of the market it is entering and can better use its technology to create a much more attractive, long-term device that can compete with the Steam Deck.
