Geforce or not? Where did Quadro go? And what does studio mean? In order to choose a laptop with the right Nvidia GPU, you need to pay attention to many parameters. We check the most important points.
Do you design 3D models? Are you looking for a workstation on which you can develop AI algorithms? Perhaps you want a laptop that supports photo and video editing ideally? Or is it the ambition to just play a bit after work? In all of these cases, it’s best to choose a computer with a discrete GPU on board. Nvidia remains by far the biggest player in this space. How do you choose the right graphics card for your needs?
Get rid of quadro
A first very important point revolves around Nvidia Quadro. Or more precisely: its abolition. Nvidia has dropped the Quadro brand name and that has very important implications. After all, the distinction between GPUs for the business market and variants for gamers has become increasingly blurred.
The deprecation makes sense: Quadro in its earlier form was a repackaged GeForce for much of the lineup, but optimized with stable drivers and ISV support. In many SMBs, IT people have dared to ignore Quadro in favor of cheaper GeForce laptops, which tend to look very swanky.
Today, Nvidia supports users who want to get off to a (semi-)professional start with GeForce in their laptop. In fact, for many workloads in small and medium-sized businesses, an Nvidia GeForce RTX card is the right choice. In a professional context you have to choose the right drivers: not the Nvidia GeForce drivers with their constants ready to playUpdates tailored for gamers but the more stable Studio drivers with a slower update cadence.
studio laptops
Studio drivers are ideal for creative professionals working in video and photo editing, animation, or graphic design. That’s why you’ll find GeForce cards in professional laptops today. The result is interesting. For example, if we look at MSI, which historically has built PCs and laptops with gamers in mind, we not only see the GeForce-configurable Creator series for creative professionals, but also the relatively new Summit series and Prestige line-up. These laptops are really aimed at a business context where GeForce is rightly embraced.
Hand in hand with the Studio drivers, Nvidia itself launched the Studio label. This label shows that a laptop is optimized for the GPU it contains, both in terms of hardware and cooling and in terms of software with the drivers.
30 and 40
Within the GeForce line, Nvidia uses a simple naming convention. The latest GPUs for laptops are part of the RTX 40 series. Earlier this year, the GPU specialist released several models, with the GeForce RTX 4050 as a relative entry-level component, the GeForce RTX 4060 and 4070 as an intermediate solution, and the RTX 4080 and 4090 as top-end components. All 40 GPUs are based on the very latest Ada Lovelace architecture.
Generation older GeForce GPUs have 30 in the model number. The second digit of the thousand again indicates the strength. So the GeForce RTX 3050 is an entry-level chip, and a GeForce RTX 3080 is a powerhouse. Even laptops with 30 series chips are still considered powerhouses.
And what does mean RTX then exactly? Not so much: since Nvidia integrated ray tracing into its GPUs, it’s moved away from it GTX-Label. RTX hints at ray tracing capabilities, but they’re present in all Nvidia GPUs.
Nvidia RTX
In many cases, laptops with GeForce cards from the Studio range are sufficient. If the focus is on AI and analytics workloads or the devices end up in an enterprise environment, it’s interesting to take a look at the exclusively professional GPUs.
They used to be called Quadro, but not anymore. Somewhat confusingly, Nvidia does not give the business portfolio an extra brand name. This is how the cards go through life Nvidia RTX. The latest Nvidia RTX cards, like the GeForce RTX 40 series, are based on the Ada Lovelace architecture. Nvidia first introduced the RTX 6000: an absolute monster suited to heavy AI workloads.
The lineup has recently expanded to include more accessible cards, from the RTX 5000 to the RTX 4000 and RTX 3500 to the RTX 3000 and RTX 2000. These cards have assets like ECC memory. You’ll find them in workstations and laptops for creative professionals, just like the GeForce GPUs, and in many cases the performance will be similar.
However, the support differs. Nvidia, for example, equips these cards with its enterprise drivers that contain specific optimizations created in collaboration with developers of relevant applications.
We also see slightly different specifications: The Nvidia RTX 6000 with its 48 GB of GDDR6 ECC memory, for example, is very well suited for memory-centric workloads that the average creative professional does not have to deal with easily.
when do you choose what
When do you need a GeForce RTX card and when do you need an Nvidia RTX card? The rule of thumb is simple: if you must ask the question, you can probably stick with GeForce and the Studio drivers. In the enterprise context or for developers, where a lot of (ECC) memory is important, laptops with purely professional GPUs are attractive. Please note that the Nvidia RTX series is not necessarily more powerful than the GeForce series: a laptop with Nvidia GeForce RTX 4090, for example, is clearly superior to one with Nvidia RTX 2000.
In practice, you can usually choose within the same laptop family. Take the MSI Creator series for example: you’ll find them with both GeForce RTX GPUs and Nvidia RTX variants. The laptops are basically similar, but the focus is different.
At first glance, Quadro’s disappearance seemed to cause more confusion, but as you can see, in practice it’s not that bad. If you’re a creative professional working independently, in a small or even a medium-sized business, you can look to GeForce with confidence. Unlike before, you don’t have to buy a gaming laptop for this: the Nvidia Studio program is full of professional laptops that can be configured with a GeForce card.
This editorial was created in collaboration with MSI.
Source: IT Daily
As an experienced journalist and author, Mary has been reporting on the latest news and trends for over 5 years. With a passion for uncovering the stories behind the headlines, Mary has earned a reputation as a trusted voice in the world of journalism. Her writing style is insightful, engaging and thought-provoking, as she takes a deep dive into the most pressing issues of our time.