2020 is the year the next-generation of PlayStation and Xbox hardware is finally unleashed. We don't know exactly when the PS5 and Xbox Series X will land just yet, but the end of 2020 seems to be the rough ETA for both bits of kit. That means we've still got a fair few months to go then, but Nvidia is already confident that it will more than be able to hold its own against Sony and Microsoft as we step into the future.
During its GPU Technology Conference in China last week, Nvidia made the pretty ballsy claim that neither Sony's nor Microsoft's next-gen machines will be as powerful as a current-generation gaming laptop powered by a GeForce RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang explained during the presentation that the new the Max-Q tech will deliver incredible boosts in power to even lightweight laptops.
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To demonstrate, Huang showed off the Lenovo Y740 laptop powered by a 2080 Max-Q. The CEO then went on to compare the laptop to the upcoming offerings from Sony and Microsoft, and suggested that the 2080 Max-Q-augmented machine will be able to outperform both next-gen consoles. You can see the moment in question in the video below, at around the 21:11 mark.
"Gaming requires powerful PCs and powerful PCs tend to be large," Huang explained. "When we started working on gaming notebooks they were quite large so that the GPUs, which are very powerful, requires a lot of thermal and electricity, and therefore the systems tend to be quite large. We've made it possible to put the highest end GPUs into sleek, beautiful, gaming notebooks."
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Huang also added during the presentation that lightweight gaming laptops are "unquestionably the fastest-growing new gaming platform." In 2019 in China alone, Nvidia shifted over 5 million gaming laptops.
It's worth noting that Huang's claim that 2080 Max-Q-powered laptops will be more powerful than next-gen consoles should be taken with a massive pinch of salt right now. It's an incredibly bold claim for the CEO to have made, and there are plenty who have pointed out that none of us are actually entirely sure how either of the upcoming consoles will actually perform yet.
We know that both next-gen consoles will feature custom AMD silicon, but we don't know yet exactly how they'll deliver. Until both next-gen consoles are out and can be properly compared then, there are just far too many factors and variables for Nvidia to definitively state that it'll be ruling the roost this time next year.
Featured Image Credit: Nvidia