Nvidia’s RTX 5090 laptop is half as powerful as its desktop counterpart
With 50% of RTX 5090 desktop GPU performance, Nvidia’s RTX 5090 laptop GPU doesn’t deserve RTX 5090 branding
Notebookcheck has tested multiple RTX 5090-powered laptops, and their impressions are mixed. While Nvidia’s RTX 5090 laptop GPU delivers impressive power efficiency levels (compared to desktop GPUs), the GPU’s performance is severely lacking compared to Nvidia’s RTX 5090 desktop GPU.
When testing Razer’s Blade 16 2025 and ASUS’ ROG Strix Scar 18 G835LX laptops, Notebookcheck found that Nvidia’s RTX 5090 delivered 50-55% less performance than the GPU’s desktop counterpart. Compared to an RTX 4080 laptop GPU, Nvidia’s mobile RTX 5090 GPU delivered 15-30% performance gains.
Laptop purchasers will need to manage their expectations when purchasing RTX 50-series devices. Simply put, Nvidia’s mobile GPUs are nothing like their desktop counterparts. While they use a matching naming scheme, real-world performance levels are drastically different. The only thing similar about a desktop and laptop RTX 5090 GPU is their matching names.
(Testing from NotebookCheck)
Nvidia’s RTX 5090 mobile GPU uses the company’s GB203 silicon, which Nvidia also used to create its desktop RTX 5080. This is a much smaller chip than Nvidia’s desktop RTX 5090. Add on significantly reduced power levels, and you have a tremendous performance gap between Nvidia’s desktop and mobile RTX 50 GPUs.
With the widening performance gap between desktop and mobile GPUs, it has become increasingly hard to justify Nvidia’s mobile GPU naming schemes. At a minimum, Nvidia should call its RTX 5090 mobile GPU the RTX 5090L or RTX 5090M. With 50% of the gaming performance of its desktop counterpart, Nvidia RTX 5090 laptops don’t deserve full RTX 5090 branding. At a minimum, this kind of branding is misleading.
You can join the discussion on the performance of Nvidia’s RTX 5090 laptop GPU on the OC3D Forums.
