The good news is that you can grab an RTX 4090 laptop for $2,851

CyberPower Tracer VII Edge
(Image credit: CyberPower)

Laptops running Nvidia's super speedy RTX 4090 graphics are so expensive it makes us sad. But what's this? An RTX 4090 laptop for well under $3,000? Not exactly chump change, but far more affordable than the $4,000 to over $5,000 we've seen so far.

There is, inevitably, a catch. If you want a vaguely affordable laptop with Nvidia's finest RTX 40-series GPU, it'll be a generic whitebook system rather than something custom-engineered from one of the big brands.

That said, you can have an RTX 4080-powered laptop from both Asus and Lenovo for sensible money. Hold that thought. First, let's square away the cheapo RTX 4090 portable.

The machine in question is the CyberPower Tracer VII Edge. Fitted out with an Intel Core i9 13900HX CPU, 16GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD, you're looking at $2,851, or not far off half the price of the MSI beast Dave has just reviewed.

OK, you don't get a mini-LED backlight. But the 17-inch screen still clips along at 240Hz. It's all built into a Clevo clone style chassis that's available from several laptop retailers. But when most big brand RTX 4090 laptops are over $4,000, it's hard to argue with the value proposition here.

Speaking of big brands, Asus RoG Zephyrus laptops are among our absolute favourites. So, it's nice to see the RoG Zephyrus 16 with a QHD 240Hz Nebula HDR display and an RTX 4080 pop up on Best Buy for $2,699

Asus Zephyrus M16 gaming laptop

Asus's RoG Zephyrus 16 with RTX 4080 graphics is up for $2,699 on BestBuy. (Image credit: Future)

For a whisker more, there's also the Lenovo Pro 7i Gen 8. It's pretty much a dead ringer for the Asus ROG Zephyrus 16, what with its 16-inch 240Hz display and the same Intel Core i9 13900HX processor and the aforementioned RTX 4080 mobile graphics, all for $2,749.

Not cheap enough? How about the MSI Katana 15.6-inch 144Hz laptop with an Intel Core i7 12650H CPU, 16GB, a 1TB Samsung SSD (from when those used to be a good thing…) and RTX 4070 graphics, all for $1,565 from AVAdirect?

It'll certainly be interesting to see exactly how all these new mobile GPUs from Nvidia stack up. We already know the RTX 4090 is an absolute beast. But even though $2,851 is way cheaper than we've seen previously, it's still a lump of cash. So, laptops built around the likes of the RTX 4070 or even RTX 4060 mobile GPUs are going to be more relevant, more of the time.

Best gaming PCBest gaming laptop


Best gaming PC:
The top pre-built machines from the pros
Best gaming laptop:
Perfect notebooks for mobile gaming

TOPICS
Jeremy Laird
Hardware writer

Jeremy has been writing about technology and PCs since the 90nm Netburst era (Google it!) and enjoys nothing more than a serious dissertation on the finer points of monitor input lag and overshoot followed by a forensic examination of advanced lithography. Or maybe he just likes machines that go “ping!” He also has a thing for tennis and cars.

Read more
Asus ROG Zephyrus G16 with an AMD Ryzen AI 9 HX 370 chip inside it.
The first RTX 50-series laptops are listed at retailers and dare I say it, is that reasonable pricing I see?
A Lenovo LOQ 15.6 inch gaming laptop on a teal deals background
Ahead of RTX 50-series gaming laptops you can snag an RTX 4070 Lenovo machine for just $900
The HP Omen 35L gaming PC, Lenovo Legion Pro gaming laptop, and Nvidia RTX 5090 Graphics card on a blue background
Here are the best gaming rig deals you can get for the measly cost of an Nvidia RTX 5090
An HP Victus 16 gaming laptop against a teal background with a white border
It's a very happy new year when you can get this RTX 4070 gaming laptop for just $850
Gigabyte G6X gaming laptop
More affordable sub-$1,000 RTX 50-series laptops likely coming in May as RTX 5060 and RTX 5050 models spotted online
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang standing in front of a screen showing an RTX 5070 laptop at CES 2025.
Nvidia has announced a whole host of gaming laptop GPUs at CES 2025, from the RTX 5070 all the way to the big RTX 5090
Latest in Graphics Cards
Jensen Huang, co-founder and chief executive officer of Nvidia Corp., speaks while holding the company's new GeForce RTX 50 series graphics cards and a Thor Blackwell robotics processor during the 2025 CES event in Las Vegas, Nevada, US, on Monday, Jan. 6, 2025. Huang announced a raft of new chips, software and services, aiming to stay at the forefront of artificial intelligence computing. Photographer: Bridget Bennett/Bloomberg via Getty Images
Group allegedly trying to smuggle Nvidia Blackwell chips stare down bail set at over $1 million
Nvidia RTX 5090 Founders Edition graphics card on different backgrounds
AI will be crammed in more of the graphics pipeline as Nvidia and Microsoft are bringing AI shading to a DirectX preview next month
Nvidia RTX 50-series graphics cards alongside an RTX 4090
Nvidia says it's sold twice as many RTX 50-series cards as RTX 40-series in the first 5 weeks. I'd bloody well hope so given there was essentially just the RTX 4090 for competition
AMD Radeon RX 9070/9070 XT graphics cards with artistic renders of reference design cards circled
Looks like a reference design AMD RX 9070 XT card has shown up in China, but let's not get carried away with thoughts of MBA cards just yet
AMD Radeon Sapphire Pure RX 9070 XT graphics card for PC gaming in white colourway
Ranking AMD Radeon RX 9070 XT graphics cards by their visual design, cuz, you know, I can't buy one for MSRP so have to kill my time somehow
XFX Radeon RX 9070 XT Quicksilver graphics card on a blue background with angel wings on either side
XFX is letting you add customisable 3D printed wings to its Quicksilver RX 9070-series graphics cards
Latest in News
Gabe Newell in a Valve promotional video, on a yacht.
Go ahead and complain the discounts aren't as steep as they used to be, but Steam just had its biggest year ever for seasonal sales
Valve Steam Deck OLED handheld PC
'The future of hardware at Valve is bright': Valve celebrates the success of Steam Deck and Steam OS
Key art of the videogame Lunacid, showing a pale, long haired knight in purple armor contemplating a purple, flaming sword surrounded by the different phases of the moon.
One of my favorite indie RPGs is getting a follow-up made with FromSoftware's 25-year-old Super Mario Maker for first person dungeon crawlers
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 image - Henry riding a pink and blue striped horse while holding a fish
Kingdom Come: Deliverance 2 now has Steam Workshop support, and of course one of the first mods lets you adjust the 'jiggle physics'
Still image of Bastion holding a bird, taken from Microsoft's Copilot for Gaming reveal trailer
Microsoft unveils Copilot for Gaming, an AI-powered 'ultimate gaming sidekick' that will let you talk to your console so you don't have to talk to your friends
Erenshor - A player and two simulated MMO party members stand on a plateau in front of a yellow landscape
This RuneScape-looking 'simulated MMORPG' has all the nostalgia without the drama because all the other 'players' are NPCs