Laptops with Nvidia's RTX 3060, RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 GPUs have landed, but in many  ways, it's more complicated to know exactly what you're getting.

On the one hand, Nvidia has published plenty of information about the mobile cards, including the fact that clock speeds vary, as does total graphics power. But on the other, it's being a bit more reserved with the Max-Q moniker.

Max-Q is a set of technologies meant to be used in GPUs in thin gaming notebooks that make them quieter and more efficient, but have also been, in our testing, less powerful than the full-fat models. It's a trade-off.

It used to be that Max-Q was commonly found on laptop vendor spec sheets, but that doesn't seem to be the case this time around.

So what are you to do? Here's how to tell if your RTX 30-series laptop uses a Max-Q GPU:

Check the listings

You shouldn't be buying a laptop off the shelf without seeing what's in it. And while in our searching, most major OEMs haven't listed Max-Q parts, some smaller shops have.

For example, the European seller of XMG and Schenker laptops has committed to using Max-Q where applicable and listing TGP of the Nvidia GPUs in its RTX 3000 laptops. This is good, as it gives lots of information. A lower TGP suggests Max-Q.

"We strongly encourage OEMs to list clocks and other technologies a laptop supports, including Advanced Optimus, Dynamic Boost 2, and more," Nvidia told Tom's Hardware in mid-January. "Ultimately, like all laptop features and specs, it is up to the OEM to market what their particular laptop configuration supports."

But that hasn't always been the case in the listings that we have been looking at. Hopefully, this practice actually proliferates.

If you buy one and don't know if it's Max-Q? Well, you can still find out when you turn it on.

How to check for Max-Q on your laptop

Buying a laptop and not knowing exactly what you got isn't ideal, but let's say you have. You used to be able to check in the Device Manager, where cards would be listed "with Max-Q Design." It's slightly more buried now, but the information is all there.

A window will pop up with all of the details about your Nvidia GPU, from the driver version to the number of CUDA cores, as well as a field called "Max-Q Technologies." Check there:

Other key features you may want to check are the boost clock and the maximum graphics power.

If Max-Q Technologies says "yes," then there you go, that's what would have been labeled a "Max-Q" GPU. If no, then it's probably not — check the Maximum Graphics Power. Our samples above show 85W for a 3070 with Max-Q and105W for a 3080 with Max-Q, but there's a wide range of options in between. One report suggests there are 28 different RTX 3000 SKUs across RTX 3060, RTX 3070 and RTX 3080 , largely with differences based on TGP, clock speeds and memory speeds.

What else to look for

Pictured above are entries for the Gigabyte Aorus 17G YC with an RTX 3080 and the Asus TUF Dash F15 with an RTX 3070. Both of these, it ends up, use Max-Q technologies, though neither vendor lists further information under than the name of the card.

You'll notice the first one, the Aorus with the RTX 3080 is at the minimum boost clock and in the middle of the wattage range. When looking at the RTX 3070 in the Asus, you'll notice the TDP is only 5 watts above the minimum and has the lowest listed boost clock from Nvidia's site.

Of course, there's more to performance as well, including the cooling. Right now, looking for third party benchmarks (we're happy to help!) is more important than ever so you know what you're getting.

The sooner more OEMs list specific GPU details to their web sites, the better this will be for everyone.