RTX 5090 laptops & scams
RTX 5090 is shipping in new flagships—Asus ROG Strix Scar 18 with 4K Mini‑LED and up to 450W charging is listed to support the 5090 laptop GPU. (notebookcheck.net) Alienware’s refreshed Area‑51 machines also support the RTX 50‑series, there’s a $400 discount on an all‑white RTX 5090 card, and buyers are warned about scams with some eBay listings asking $4k–$5k. (the-gadgeteer.com) (pcguide.com) (eteknix.com)
ASUS’s official ROG page lists the Strix SCAR 18 with an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 5090 Laptop GPU rated up to 175W max TGP and an Intel Core Ultra 9 275HX option with up to 80W TDP. (rog.asus.com) That ASUS page also specifies up to 64GB DDR5‑5600 memory, support for a 4TB PCIe Gen4 SSD in RAID 0, and an end‑to‑end vapor chamber plus liquid‑metal cooling solution. (rog.asus.com) Notebookcheck’s review of the Strix SCAR 18 measured the top configuration at roughly $6,200 and reported only modest gaming gains over the previous RTX 4090 Laptop at native WQHD, with clearer advantages when using upscaling (MFG4x), while also flagging loud cooling and very high power draw. (notebookcheck.net) Alienware’s refreshed Area‑51/ Aurora laptops were made available March 17 and ship with options spanning the full RTX 50‑series mobile stack, with entry pricing listed from $1,649.99 and per‑model total gaming power budgets of about 240W for the 16‑inch and 280W for the 18‑inch Area‑51. (the-gadgeteer.com) Dell’s Area‑51 desktop configurations with RTX 5090 hardware have already appeared in retail deals, including an Alienware Area‑51 build with an RTX 5090 and Ryzen‑based CPU discounted to about $4,450 and paired with a 1,500W 80Plus Platinum PSU in that configuration. (ign.com) Retailers have been cutting flagship card prices (examples include a $400 markdown on certain RTX 5090 SKUs), but marketplace fraud persists: multiple outlets document eBay listings that sell only a photo of an RTX 5090 while using “read the description” titles, with sold listings hovering around the card’s list price and at least one buyer reporting a $2,300 purchase that required eBay intervention. (pcguide.com) (deltiasgaming.com) (pcmag.com) (digitaltrends.com)
