NVIDIA's most affordable RTX 50-series GPU is here for laptops, and it's coming to desktops in July — just don't expect any reviews

NVIDIA's GeForce RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is here, and laptops from major brands with the new card are appearing online.

NVIDIA has so far released laptop versions of its Blackwell GPUs for the RTX 5090, RTX 5080, RTX 5070 Ti, RTX 5070, and RTX 5060. The new RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is the least powerful card so far from NVIDIA, but that doesn't mean it won't be popular.

Laptop makers are undoubtedly going to use the new RTX 5050 as often as possible in new gaming laptops, if only for the opportunity to keep gaming PC prices as low as possible.

But how much of a decrease in performance does the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU have compared to the RTX 5060?

There's not a whole lot of info to work with yet, as no one has had a chance to actually test the new laptop GPU, but NVIDIA lists some specs on its website.

The RTX 5050 Laptop GPU has 2,560 CUDA cores, a significant drop compared to the 3,328 CUDA cores in the RTX 5060 Laptop. It does, however, have a higher boost clock.

Just like the 5060, the RTX 5050 Laptop card has 8GB of GDDR7 VRAM, a 128-bit memory bus, and a power draw up to 100W with an additional 15W from Dynamic Boost.

Compared to its RTX 4050 Laptop GPU predecessor, the new 5050 comes with the same number of CUDA cores, a higher maximum boost clock, more (and faster) VRAM, a wider memory bus, and far more AI TOPS.

Being from the Blackwell generation, the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU supports all of NVIDIA's latest features, including DLSS 4 with Multi Frame Generation, the latest ray tracing cores, and the latest Tensor cores. This is a major advantage over the RTX 4050.

X user @realVictor_M shared a screenshot of RTX 5050 Laptop GPU power compared to the RTX 5060 and 5070 mobile cards, pulled from Chinese launch documents.

Using 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme, Time Spy, and Port Royal tests, it appears that the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU is roughly 18% to 22% slower than the mobile RTX 5060, depending on the test.

Performance will differ depending on the specific laptop's cooling capabilities and power allowance, and it'll likely be more crucial than ever to ensure the RTX 5050 in your laptop of choice is capable of hitting its full potential.

The most affordable RTX 5050 gaming laptop I've spotted so far comes from Acer, which just introduced new Nitro V 16 AI, Nitro V 16, and Nitro V 15 models starting at $899.99. They're expected to go on sale later this year, starting late July and August. MSI's Katana 15 with an RTX 5050 mobile GPU is also now listed at Walmart for $999.99.

In a follow-up post on X, user @realVictor_M noted that MECHREVO's RTX 5050 laptops launched at 240 yuan less than the RTX 5060 version; that equates to about $33 USD, so not a big difference.

It'll be interesting to see the average price difference in US markets once all of the new RTX 5050 laptops have launched.

An NVIDIA RTX 5050 for desktop PCs arrives in July

Alongside its new mobile RTX 5050 GPU for laptops, NVIDIA also unveiled a desktop version.

It's set to debut at an attractive $249 price point in the "second-half of July" according to NVIDIA, but rumors from reliable X user @Zed__Wang suggest it could arrive instead as early as July 1.

While the RTX 5050 Laptop GPU had a predecessor in the RTX 4050 Laptop hardware, the new desktop version of the RTX 5050 has nothing comparable from the RTX 40-series generation.

NVIDIA has shared some specs for the desktop RTX 5050, and I've included the RTX 3050's specs to compare.

The new desktop RTX 5050 runs on a single 8-pin power connector, and it includes three DisplayPort and one HDMI output along the back.

There's no news so far regarding a review program for the new desktop RTX 5050, and if rumors are true about a surprise July 1 launch, there will be many buyers going in completely blind.

That won't be the first time NVIDIA has pulled the same stunt, as the RTX 5060 launched in May without any reviews to read.