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I don't care what Gandalf says, you can't shove a full-sized graphics card into a laptop

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without pulling some kind of crazy wizardry. But even so, modern gaming laptops still include

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discrete GPUs that can run demanding titles nearly as well as desktops in many cases.

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So how exactly are laptop makers pulling this off?

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Well, GPUs have benefited from the same things all processors have benefited from over the years,

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shrinking transistor sizes, meaning more computing muscle

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while simultaneously consuming less electrical power.

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You see, about 10 years ago, mobile GPUs were far weaker than their desktop counterparts.

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But as the years went on, performance per watt increased

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to the point where manufacturers could start fitting GPUs with some serious horsepower into laptops.

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A good example is NVIDIA's GTX 1080 from 2016,

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where the desktop and laptop versions were basically the same chip.

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But hold on a minute, even with smaller transistors, how does this make sense?

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Desktop graphics cards are still as beefy as ever,

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and gamers are still putting 700 plus watt power supplies

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into the rigs. How in the world can a slim laptop support all that power?

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There are a couple things going on here. First, part of the reason desktop graphics cards

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are so large is because they don't really need to be very small to fit in a standard mid-tower case.

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They do require support components, such as VRAM and power delivery,

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but you can actually fit these things into a relatively small area if need be.

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Just look at some of the many graphics cards designed for smaller cases.

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The extra bulk of a desktop card provides power delivery

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and cooling that's superior to what you find in a laptop,

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but it turns out many modern GPUs don't need huge amounts of power to function.

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For example, the mid-range RTX 3060 only has a TDP of 170 watts.

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The reason you see so many desktop power supplies offering between 600 and 800 watts

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is to support other high wattage components, particularly the CPU,

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and because desktop power supplies operate most efficiently around 50% load.

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So a savvy builder isn't going to buy a power supply that she's constantly maxing out.

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Oftentimes, even high-end gaming laptops can get away with having an external power brick

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that can deliver somewhere between 200 and 300 watts of power,

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especially as even though a laptop maker might use a GPU

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that's nearly identical to a desktop variant, the mobile version usually runs at a lower clock speed

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with a lower power limit. While this means you do take a little performance hit

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with some very high-end chips still drawing too much power to ever make it into a laptop,

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the lower clock speeds on mobile allow you to get near desktop quality results

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when paired with a lower power mobile CPU.

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Power bricks for these gaming laptops do tend to be chunkier than the compact ones

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you might get with ultra-portables that aren't built for gaming,

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but they're still small enough that it's practical to take them with you.

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But wait, you still need to pay very close attention

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to what you're buying. GPU manufacturers are notorious

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for not keeping their branding consistent between generations.

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You know how earlier we mentioned that the desktop and mobile GTX 1080s

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were extremely similar chips? Well, this isn't the story for the mobile 3080,

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which has fewer cores along with less VRAM.

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And NVIDIA simply refers to both of them as RTX 3080.

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And this is just one example of confusing branding.

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So make sure you read reviews so you know exactly what level of performance to expect.

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It would be great if the powers that be could just make this clearer,

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but why do that when you could mislead the consumer instead?

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It's just like how the Big Mac never actually looks like the picture.

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Thanks for watching, guys. Hey, like the video if you liked it. Dislike it if you disliked it.

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Check out our other videos and comment below with video suggestions, but don't forget, and I can't say this enough,

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don't forget to subscribe and follow. I miss you.