If 120 frames-per second on your gaming laptop's display is twice as quick as 60 frames per second so surely eight times as many frames will be eight-times as good. This is the reasoning behind the most recent super high refresh rate panels that are available on Alienware gaming laptops. The Dell subsidiary is now selling its M17 R5 and x17R2 17-inch laptops with new panels, which are claimed to be the most powerful in the market.
Fake It Till You Make It
The panels are limited to 1080p resolution at that incredible refresh rate, but it's probably for the best. After all, you'll need to run games that output more than 500 frames-per-second for you to experience the benefits. Turn off ray-tracing and settle for Minecraft-grade textures, I suppose. The new panel has a 3ms response rate and is compatible with both AMD FreeSync and NVIDIA G-Sync, depending on the GPU configuration. The upgrade is $300 more than the standard screen at 165Hz, which is 95 cents per hertz.
I've seen demos of 120hz screens against 240hz at trade shows, and they were enough to convince me that at least some ultra-fast gamers could see a benefit from them. But what if you double the speed? It's not going to improve actual gaming performance I'm not convinced, even for eSports pros equipped with Special Eyes. However, the absurdity is a major part of the appeal of gaming hardware in the end.
