One signal

Windows Central has spotted the ASUS ROG Strix G16, one of its favourite AMD gaming laptops, at $1,649.99 at Walmart, 18% off the $1,999.99 list price. AMD's Ryzen 9 8940HX pairs with an RTX 5070, 16GB of RAM, a 1TB SSD and a 165Hz FHD+ display.

Why it matters

The value case is the GPU market rather than the sticker. Standalone RTX 5070 cards run $850 to $1,000 on PCPartPicker, per the report, and 5070 Ti cards $1,170 to $1,838, with some models vanishing from retailers entirely. A whole laptop with the 5070 inside for $1,649.99 is the pitch. Windows Central's review of the RTX 5070 Ti version scored four and a half stars, and the outlet reports this configuration holding Forza Horizon 5 at 120fps/1600p and Cyberpunk 2077 at 60fps with ray tracing on. Check the live listing before committing; deal prices have a short attention span. With a standalone RTX 5070 costing up to $1,000 on its own, is a prebuilt laptop now the rational way to buy NVIDIA performance, or a premium for portability you never asked for?

Discuss: With a standalone RTX 5070 costing up to $1,000 on its own, is a prebuilt laptop now the rational way to buy NVIDIA performance, or a premium for portability you never asked for?

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