An editor and his money are soon parted
Ihaven’t gone through the pain of house-hunting for over a decade, but I still remember the X+ problem. In my last search for a new home I had a hard price limit, determined by salary and savings, which meant there was zero point looking at properties above a certain budget. So why did I always find myself looking at houses just beyond?
The odd thing about those properties was that they were all perfect, while all the ones in my budget were never quite right. The kitchens were too small, the neighbourhoods were unsuitable, the gardens were odd shapes that the kids would hate. If only I could stretch that little bit further and buy the next house up in the listings, I lamented. My life would be complete!
As we’re all aware, it’s an illusion. If somehow the extra budget had fallen into my lap then I know full well that my eyes would have crept up to the next batch of houses that I couldn’t quite afford. If only, I would have said, and the cycle would have repeated once more.
Today I’m not looking for a house, but I do need a new laptop. Again, I have a budget, and I have my eye on a bunch of contenders. And this time, my X+ problem relates to the graphics card. I’m not a gamer, but for once I’m trying to think ahead: I reckon that in two years’ time generative AI services will have moved past their current alpha stage and will actually be usable, perhaps even woven into the operating system. And that means GPU power will become hugely important.
Yes, AMD and Intel are loudly arguing that CPU-based neural processing units will be crucial, but that ignores the incredible parallel processing power packed into the latest graphics chips. It’s Nvidia that has grown rich on cloud-based AI, its stock price tripling in the space of a year as it’s struggled to keep up with exploding demand for AI GPUs.
And it’s Nvidia that’s set to benefit from the rise of AI in PCs. Take a look at this month’s bumper crop of laptops and you’ll see that the Nvidia brand no longer just means gaming. Its mobile RTX chips are found in the Dell XPS ( see p ), HP Omen Transcend ( see p ), PCSpecialist in Recoil ( see p ) and Asus Vivobook Pro OLED ( see p ) systems. Only two of those would consider themselves gaming machines; discrete graphics chips are muscling their way into the mainstream.
Lenovo also mentions Nvidia in the manual for its ThinkVision D monitor ( see p ), indicating an additional pathway for the company to make money. Buying a monitor? You’ll want an Nvidia card with that.
My current laptop already has an Nvidia chip inside, but it’s a modest GTX GPU. That’s been fine for me; as I’ve said, I’m not a gamer. I am, however, someone who’s interested in AI, and who has fallen just a little in love with Lenovo’s D monitor. And so, once again I have an X+ problem – or perhaps I should say an RTX+ problem. For although an RTX would be okay, and an RTX better, shouldn’t I really be looking for an RTX or £, just to be certain that it will last for a few years?
And having convinced myself of that, I suppose I might as well pay for an RTX ¤. You know, just to be sure.