The most popular RTX 40-series GPU on Steam is in a gaming laptop, not a graphics card

HP Omen Transcend 14 gaming laptop from various angles
(Image credit: Future)

The latest RTX 4060 laptops being used on the gaming platform, comparing stats from May to June 2024.

The gaming laptop GPUs used by survey responders, rising from 2.84% in May to 3.58% in June. That might not appear like much of a leap, but the next-biggest increase is a 0.2% uptick for the desktop RTX 4060—go figure. It also makes the laptop version of the RTX 4060 the most popular 40-series GPU on Steam.

The Steam hardware survey collects (you guessed it) hardware data, but only from a fraction of Steam’s base and only those who volunteer to take part. Still, the survey usually gives a pretty decent idea of PC gaming market trends.

The June survey also shows a decrease in the usual GPU suspects: RTX 3060, GTX 1060, GTX 1650, RTX 2060, and so on. These older cards are likely dropping off as people upgrade. In fact, a general trend for this month seems to be more current-gen GPU adoption across the board.

Just as we noted Steam Deck OLED.

It’s not bewildering that people might choose to upgrade now. We’re pushing towards the end of the Ada Lovelace GPU generation, with Nvidia's next-generation architecture, presumably Blackwell, just around the corner. Super variants pushed down prices not too long ago, too.

MSI Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 resting on a desk showing display outputs

(Image credit: Future)

Most importantly, there’s been a slew of cheap gaming laptop deals bombarding us over the past couple of months. And you may notice that most of the sub-$1,000 gaming laptops feature an RTX 4060. So, perhaps now’s just a great time to pick up one of these budget gaming laptops.

The mobile RTX 4060 doesn’t quite feature the fully-fledged AD107 chip that you’ll find in the desktop version. However, with a TDP of 115W—which you might hit, if you’re lucky and the manufacturer’s sufficiently benevolent—it’s powerful enough to churn out playable frame rates in modern games. Dave found that even the somewhat power-nerfed RTX 4060 in the HP Omen Transcend 14 offers great 1080p frame rates and even has a decent bash at 1440p.

Your next upgrade

Nvidia RTX 4070 and RTX 3080 Founders Edition graphics cards

(Image credit: Future)

Best SSD for gaming: Get into the game ahead of the rest.

So, it makes sense that mobile RTX 4060 GPUs are on the climb.

Another notable note from the hardware survey is the continued increase in the number of Steam s on Windows 11, and a corresponding decrease in Windows 10 s. We noted this trend back in February

While Windows 11 still s for less than half of Steam s on Windows, at 46.63%, the number’s climbing. Again, not really a surprise, given that won’t it, either.

In other words, June’s Steam hardware survey confirms that the steam-engine of progress rolls on, as always, bit by bit (or, by ).

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Jacob Fox
Hardware Writer

Jacob got his hands on a gaming PC for the first time when he was about 12 years old. He swiftly realised the local PC repair store had ripped him off with his build and vowed never to let another soul build his rig again. With this vow, Jacob the hardware junkie was born. Since then, Jacob's led a double-life as part-hardware geek, part-philosophy nerd, first working as a Hardware Writer for PCGamesN in 2020, then working towards a PhD in Philosophy for a few years (result pending a patiently awaited viva exam) while freelancing on the side for sites such as TechRadar, Pocket-lint, and yours truly, PC Gamer. Eventually, he gave up the ruthless mercenary life to the world's #1 PC Gaming site full-time. It's definitely not an ego thing, he assures us.