Skip to main content

Gaming notebooks with Nvidia's GeForce GTX 1050 will likely show up at CES 2017

MSI GTX 1050 OC EDITION
Bill Roberson/Digital Trends
It was only a matter of time before news of laptops based on Nvidia’s GeForce GTX 1050 graphics chip would surface. Unnamed sources from the upstream supply chain are now chatting about the upcoming CES 2017 trade show taking place at the beginning of the new year. GTX 1050 notebook solutions are expected to be revealed during the annual event alongside Intel’s upcoming “Kaby Lake” seventh-generation “H” processors for high-end notebooks and gaming laptops.

The unnamed sources specifically name Asus, Gigabyte, MSI, and Lenovo as laptop manufacturers who will reveal notebooks based on the GTX 1050 and Kaby Lake-H processors in a few weeks. And as expected, the sources also said that manufacturers will be showcasing products that rely on Intel’s upcoming 200 Series chipsets for motherboards along with mini PCs.

Recommended Videos

If you’re not up to speed with Nvidia’s GTX 1050 graphics chip, it’s the latest in the company’s GTX 10 Series based on its fairly new “Pascal” graphics chip design. It’s at the bottom of the 10 Series totem pole in performance and price, following the GTX 1060, the GTX 1070, the GTX 1080, and the updated Titan X. The vanilla GTX 1050 has a suggested price of $110 while the GTX 1050 Ti has a suggested price of $140. Here are the differences:

Please enable Javascript to view this content
GTX 1050 GTX 1050 Ti
Architecture: Pascal Pascal
CUDA cores: 640 768
Base clock speed: 1,354MHz 1,290MHz
Boost clock speed: 1,455MHz 1,392MHz
Memory amount: 2GB GDDR5 4GB GDDR5
Memory speed: 7Gb per second 7Gb per second
Memory interface: 128-bit 128-bit
Memory bandwidth: 112GB per second 112GB per second
VR Ready: No No
SLI Ready: No No
Ports: 1x DisplayPort 1.4
1x HDMI 2.0b
1x Dual Link-DVI
1x DisplayPort 1.4
1x HDMI 2.0b
1x Dual Link-DVI

As the specs show, both versions of the GTX 1050 aren’t capable of supporting the Oculus Rift or HTC Vive headsets for virtual reality. Nvidia actually suggests using the GTX 1060 graphics chip or better, so mobile PC gamers looking for a little virtual fun with the popular headsets will need to hunt down a notebook with a GTX 1060 graphics chip or better.

According to the sources, notebooks already equipped with Nvidia’s GTX 1060 graphic chip are still experiencing strong demand overseas, in markets such as China and Southeast Asia. They believe the new units equipped with the GTX 1050 will bolster gaming notebook sales. That will likely hold true here in the United States as well, as the GTX 1050 laptops should work just fine when Microsoft releases Creators Update for Windows 10 in the spring along with the compatible VR/AR headsets provided by third-party manufacturers.

The sources add that Asus and MSI are the current top-selling vendors in the gaming laptop market. Meanwhile, Lenovo, Dell, and HP are adjusting their strategies in this specific notebook sector to increase their gaming laptop offerings for the $900 to $1,300 price range. Lenovo is reportedly the most aggressive of the trio by doubling its gaming laptop efforts in China with “competitive” specifications and pricing.

PC gamers wanting an affordable laptop solution should have something to look forward to next month. Of course, the prices will ultimately depend on the end configurations, but there should be a good variety of pre-configured GTX 1050 laptops to fit the budget of every PC gamer. We can’t wait to see what shows up next month at the Las Vegas convention!

Kevin Parrish
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Kevin started taking PCs apart in the 90s when Quake was on the way and his PC lacked the required components. Since then…
RTX 5090 GPU shortage could soon end if Nvidia adopts this strategy
Fans on the RTX 5080.

Nvidia may be close to resolving some of its delay issues and getting the RTX 5090 GPUs ready for consumers in at least a month, with a fortunate workaround.

Online leakers noted on X that the shortage began due to scalpers over-purchasing components, but it could soon end if Nvidia adopts this strategy.

Read more
Lenovo’s leaked ThinkBook Flip is a wild take on dual screen laptops
Leaked image of ThinkBook Flip in tent mode. Leaked image of ThinkBook Flip in tent mode.

At CES 2025, Lenovo showed off a laptop with a rollable extending screen. It seems there is more weird laptop innovation still left in the bank at Lenovo. Evan Blass has shared what appear to be product renders of a folding dual-display laptop.

Imagine a book-style foldable phone, and add a keyboard to it. Or maybe, one of those Asus or HP laptops with a flexible folding screen, with a real keyboard deck attached at the bottom.

Read more
Samsung savings: Take $900 off the Samsung 55-inch Odyssey Ark
Forza running on the Samsung Odyssey Ark monitor.

A dedicated PC gamer needs a fast and lag-free monitor, and we’re always keeping an eye out for the best monitor deals. The stars have aligned today, folks, as Samsung has graced us with the following offer: For a limited time, when you purchase the Samsung 55-inch Odyssey Ark Gaming Monitor (2nd Gen) at Amazon, Best Buy, Samsung, and a handful of other retailers, you’ll only pay $1,800. The full MSRP on this model is $2,700.

Why you should buy the Samsung 55-inch Odyssey Ark
A gaming command center like no other, the 55-inch Odyssey Ark leans on Samsung’s years of TV experience to bring you a mini-LED-backlit monitor with the works. Featuring a 1000R curved display to pull you deep into the action, Samsung’s Multi View feature lets you use the Odyssey Ark in both portrait and landscape modes and gives you the ability to stack multiple opened apps, tabs, and sources.

Read more