Cheap gaming laptops may be getting a new Nvidia 30-series GPU option

Virtually all of the best cheap gaming laptops under $1,000 are running on Nvidia GTX 1650 or at most GTX 1660 Ti. However, it appears that yet another Nvidia 30-series GPU may be coming to address the budget gaming market. 

The Nvidia RTX 3050 Ti was spotted by frequent leaker @momomo_us on the Asus page for the new Asus TUF Dash F15. The yet-to-be-announced GPU appeared in the list of graphics options for the gaming laptop alongside the RTX 3060 and 3070 (via PCMag).

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Unfortunately, the listing didn't include many specs for the GPU, simply stating that it would offer 4GB of GDDR6 RAM as opposed to the 6GB found in the RTX 3060. It also notably lacked reference to the ROG Boost feature detailed in the listing for both the RTX 3060 and 3070.

The page had previously contained a listing for a "GN20-P0" and "GN20-P1" chip, the leaker found discrete references to these codenames as the RTX 3050 and RTX 3050 Ti respectively to add further support.

As the Asus TUF Dash F15 with an RTX 3060 is currently available for $1,099, there's no question that this GPU would bring the price of that laptop below $1,000. Neither Nvidia nor Asus has confirmed the existence of the GPU yet, but following a leak this big we wouldn't expect them to maintain silence on it for too long if it's real.

Given the popularity of more affordable gaming laptops and the GPU shortages driving prices up, it would be great to have a newer GPU option for this segment of the market. The big question, of course, will be how does it compare to the RTX 3060, will the cost savings justify whatever performance drop-off exists.