If you are planning to upgrade your gaming laptop, it is recommended to wait until 2025 to make a purchase, unless your current laptop is completely unusable or cannot run the games you want to play. The primary reason for this is that a new generation of mobile GPUs will be released in 2025, and current gaming laptops will miss out on some important upcoming features.
Of course, there are other reasons to justify why next year will be a good time to buy a gaming laptop.
1. Next-Generation Laptop GPUs Won’t Launch Until 2025
Nvidia’s current lineup of mobile GPUs is quite strong, offering excellent ray tracing performance, DLSS frame generation support, and impressive power efficiency. However, these GPUs have been around for more than a year and a half. The RTX 4090 mobile version was launched in early 2023.
Given that Nvidia is likely to release a new generation of desktop GPUs at the end of 2024, with the mobile version expected to launch in 2025, there is little reason to buy a new gaming laptop now.
If you are in urgent need of a laptop, consider models from 2023. You might get the same GPU and a CPU as fast as the latest 2024 models while spending less money.
If there is no compelling reason to immediately replace your gaming laptop, it is advisable to wait until 2025 to upgrade. The next generation of mobile GPUs will offer better gaming performance and higher power efficiency, likely at prices similar to the current RTX 40 series mobile GPUs.
2. Next-Generation Mobile CPUs Have Not Yet Been Released
Although current mobile GPU performance is quite good, the current mobile CPUs are somewhat disappointing.
The Ryzen 8000 mobile CPUs are merely upgraded versions of the Ryzen 7000 series, with added AI cores but no significant performance improvements in gaming and productivity workloads.
Apart from slightly stronger neural processing units (NPUs), the only difference between these two generations of CPUs is the name. Specifications, performance, and power efficiency remain the same.
The latest Intel mobile CPUs, the Core Ultra series, are also disappointing. Most gaming laptop manufacturers still use the older Core i9 and i7 models. Only a few 2024 gaming laptops are equipped with Intel Core Ultra CPUs.
Although Intel released the high-end 14th generation mobile CPU series this year, these CPUs show no performance improvements over the 13th generation (similar to AMD’s Ryzen 8000 processors). The only differences are the name and a slight 1% boost in gaming performance, thanks to minor clock speed increases (100MHz or 200MHz) in the 14th generation CPUs.
That said, we should soon see next-generation mobile CPUs from AMD and Intel, which look very promising.
First, Intel’s Lunar Lake mobile CPUs will bring significant performance improvements, impressive power efficiency boosts, new NPUs, faster E-cores and P-cores, and an improved Thread Director.
Ryzen AI 300 CPUs are also set to launch. They will feature new, improved NPUs, new Zen 5 cores, and Zen 5C cores, similar to Intel’s E-cores. Compared to the Ryzen 8000 CPUs, they will deliver significant gaming performance improvements.
If you do not want to wait until 2025 for Nvidia’s next-generation mobile GPUs, it is recommended to wait at least a few more months to purchase a gaming laptop equipped with Lunar Lake or Ryzen AI 300 CPUs, even if you are satisfied with the performance of the RTX 40 series mobile GPUs.
3. You Can Get Cheaper Current Gaming Laptops in 2025
Gaming laptops from 2024 are quite expensive, especially compared to 2023 models, which usually offer the same gaming performance. This situation may change after the 2025 hardware lineup is released.
Next-generation gaming laptops will feature brand-new RTX 50 series mobile GPUs and next-generation Ryzen AI and Intel Lunar Lake CPUs, bringing significant performance improvements and powerful NPUs, supporting Windows Copilot+ functionality.
Considering the current interest in AI, once these cool features become outdated, the prices of gaming laptops supporting Copilot Plus will drop significantly, as manufacturers and retailers will likely clear out their inventory quickly.
If you are not interested in Microsoft’s exclusive Copilot+ Windows 11 features, you can wait about six months to grab a 2024 gaming laptop at a bargain price.
4. Current Gaming Laptops Will Miss Out on Some AI Features
On the other hand, if you are interested in Copilot+ features, you should wait for the 2025 gaming laptop lineup. Current gaming machines do not and will not support Copilot+ Windows 11 functionality.
They lack the hardware required to run these features—at least 40 TOPS AI performance from NPUs—and it is unlikely they will get these features in the future.
Microsoft might eventually make Nvidia’s standalone GPUs compatible with Copilot+, but until then (if it happens at all), your only chance to experience Copilot+ is to buy a next-generation gaming laptop with powerful NPUs.
One exclusive feature is Auto Super Resolution, an operating system-integrated super-resolution technology dependent on NPUs. It works without any action from game developers, and if we believe Microsoft, Auto SR will soon support most DX11 and DX12 games.
This technology looks very promising. If Microsoft fulfills its promise of Auto SR support in most DX11 and DX12 games, it could become the preferred super-resolution option for games without DLSS support. For many, Auto SR might look better than FSR and XeSS running on non-Intel GPUs.
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