EU rules on common chargers apply to laptops from today. It means that all new laptops sold in the European Union must now support USB-C charging.
In December 2024, the rules came into force for mobile phones, tablets, digital cameras, headphones, videogame consoles, and portable speakers.
Laptop manufacturers were given a longer lead in time to allow for redesign and transition to the common charging system.
How big a niche is that - because when I think high end gaming a laptop has all sorts of trade offs to make anyway.
They sell more than you’d expect, tons of companies do them.
The trade offs are high price and low battery, comparitavely.
On the plus side, I have a easily movable PC that will run new games at ultra settings and it takes about 20s to fully pack up.
Luggables are quite common for gamers who travel a lot. I can’t take a tower into hotels easily, but most of my free gaming time is on the road. I know quite a few people with portable gaming systems.
My current laptop is rocking a 4080, with a water cooling loop. It has to fall back to internal graphics when on battery. The batteries just can’t provide the current required.
The majority of my gaming is on the road too but I’ve found the Steam Deck hits that niche for me. I carry a thin Chromebook for work related things. Admittedly you don’t need as powerful a GPU for a small 720p display.
I’ve also got a steam deck. Unfortunately it just doesn’t cut it for games like satisfactory or factorio.