Nvidia is launching a new software-hardware initiative aimed at creators, which will see a new set of graphics rendering tools released alongside an extensive line-up of laptops to support its new toolset. The new software is called Nvidia Studio and is a collection of APIs, SDKs, and drivers for Nvidia RTX GPUs designed to boost performance and efficiency in creative software.
According to Nvidia (via The Verge), its new studio drivers have been tested against the likes of Adobe, Epic, Autodesk, Unity, and Blackmagic Design, so should allow game creators to instantly us these tools alongside their engine of choice. They can also make use of CUDA-X AI software for automation of certain tasks like image upscaling or video colour matching designed to make the creation process even quicker.
The initiative is not just about a new set of tools though as the company has also announced that there will be a string of RTX Studio-branded laptops coming their way, with seven PC manufacturers set to be announcing a variety of offerings around this from the likes of Acer, Asus, Dell, Gigabyte, HP, MSI, and Razer. The laptops will have options for RTX 2080, 2070, and 2060 GPUs as well as Quadro 5000, 4000, and 3000 models from Nvidia’s workstation range.
The real magic according to Nvidia though comes when the new tools and hardware are combined together, with the company claiming that an unnamed RTX Studio laptop with a Core i7 CPU and an RTX 2080 Max-Q GPU was seven times faster than a top-end MacBook Pro with a Core i9 and AMD’s Radeon Pro Vega 20 graphics in apps like Maya and RedCine-X Pro. They don’t provide any specific metrics on how this was measured, so for now, we will just have to take their word for it and assume that it is very fast.
Pricing for these laptops is set to start from around $1599 (R23 000) with the first models apparently available as early as next month.
Last Updated: May 28, 2019
HvR
May 28, 2019 at 17:14
$1600 (R23500 at the time of writing this comment) is a lot cheaper than I thought it would be
I_am_Duffman!
May 29, 2019 at 14:08
Add in either your return ticket to the USA or import duties, VAT and shipping fees, and it will end up being way more expensive locally.
But yeah. I did expect it to be more
HvR
May 29, 2019 at 14:18
Well these prices always exclude taxes and duties. Even in the US you have to add 0 to 5%. South Africa probably in 30% region extra if you buy it for private use.
Probably not a hobbyist tool, so at the least you skip all import related duties and taxes getting it for work and do not pay if you have or work for a VAT registered entity.
Just relative to say the laptops we use for development (basically biggest CPU you can find with maxed out RAM) you are looking R40k for PC and R50k for Mac excluding.