75 W vs. 130 W TGP GeForce RTX 3060 laptop: The performance gap isn't as wide as many were expecting

The GeForce RTX 3060 GPU for laptops can range from 60 W all the way up to 115+ W and it can be difficult to know what each laptop is targeting. We've tested a small handful of units thus far with various TGP targets as shown in the table below. There are many more options available, of course, but these few should give a good idea of what users can expect from systems that we've yet to personally test as well.

Raw graphics performance from the MSI GF65 and its 75 W GPU isn't significantly worse than the Schenker XMG Core 17 and its 130 W GPU. Though its target TGP is roughly 40 percent lower, the MSI performs only about 15 to 20 percent slower in 3DMark benchmarks for slightly higher performance-per-Watt than the Schenker — a common indicator of a Max-Q platform. Meanwhile, moving up to the 95 W GPU in the Razer Blade 15 will bring roughly 10 percent faster performance to be a comfortable midway point between the MSI and Schenker.

The MSI GF65 also happens to be one of the least expensive GeForce RTX 3060 laptops available which is perhaps not a coincidence when taking into account its low TGP target relative to the aforementioned alternatives.

Gamers looking for the fastest GeForce RTX 3060 laptop should certainly aim for a model with the highest TGP target they can find. However, gamers who are content with slight performance deficits of up to 10 to 20 percent can still find inexpensive systems like the MSI GF65 worth the price.