Nvidia RTX Spark Windows Laptops Go on Sale as Early Reviews Find Local AI Promise and Friction

Microsoft built the Surface Laptop Ultra with Nvidia to showcase the new Arm-based RTX Spark chips. The Verge reported that the top model costs $5,900 and described hardware that now rivals Apple's professional laptops, including an all-aluminum design, a large haptic trackpad and a nightfall color similar to Apple's space black. Its 15-inch MicroLED display runs at 3270 by 2180 pixels, or 262 pixels per inch, with up to 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, compared with a 1,600-nit peak on the MacBook Pro. It is also a 3:2 touchscreen, and Microsoft includes three USB-C ports, a USB-A port, HDMI 2.1b, an SD card reader and a headphone jack. A new Magnetic Connect system charges through a USB-C port on the right side and snaps into place.

The Verge's review found that the local AI experience still feels like a beta. Getting the most from the Surface Laptop Ultra requires coding experience or the patience to experiment with models and AI agents until something works, the publication said. It also reported underwhelming CPU performance and bugs with sound and display. At one point, moving windows rapidly left a visible trail, and changing power settings from best power efficiency to best performance reduced lag. Built-in speakers produced loud pops and bangs that sounded like firecrackers, although rebooting fixed the issue. The Verge also saw the battery indicator drop from 100 percent to 97 percent immediately after unplugging. Microsoft spokesperson Moses Nsereko said the behavior is designed to reduce wear: when plugged in and full, the device pauses charging and resumes only when the level drops to 95 percent, and the indicator shows an exact lower level after unplugging.

Ars Technica offered a more positive assessment. Its review unit summarized books and movies, generated images and ran a 70-billion-parameter AI model, while also playing AAA games at a speed and fidelity that Ars said would have seemed impossible on an ARM system a year earlier. Microsoft wants to sell one computer for all needs, and Ars wrote that for once the pitch mostly did not feel like marketing fluff. The Surface Laptop Ultra is being positioned against the MacBook Pro and aimed at what Microsoft calls a high performance audience. Ars noted that the launch comes as total PC shipments fell 20 percent year over year in the third quarter of 2026, and as rising RAM prices and an industry focus on enterprise spending have left enthusiasts with little new hardware to excite them.

APPSO, the media outlet operated by Chinese tech site 爱范儿, tested the Asus ProArt 创16 RTX Spark. The 16-inch laptop costs 28,999 yuan for a 64GB unified memory configuration and 37,999 yuan for 128GB. It measures as little as 12.9mm thick and weighs about 1.77kg. With unified memory, the 64GB model has roughly 46.7GB available for GPU use, LPDDR5X memory and a theoretical peak bandwidth of 300GB/s. APPSO ran a Qwen 3.8 27B model and measured generation speeds around 14.3 tokens per second, with a first-token time of 2.83 seconds. A web project task took 609.67 seconds, with generation holding near 14 tokens per second and a first-token time of 12.05 seconds. Qwen3 32B in NVFP4 ran at 55 to 60 tokens per second, which APPSO described as smooth for conversation, copywriting and code assistance.

Battery life remains a trade-off for local AI. The Asus ProArt 创16 RTX Spark has a 99.9Wh battery. Running a 27B local model drained the battery from 100 percent to 85 percent in about ten minutes, with discharge power around 86.5W to 88.4W, APPSO reported. The outlet estimated that continuous operation of a 27B or larger model could last about one hour and 15 minutes on battery. The laptop includes three USB4 Type-C ports, each up to 40Gbps, one USB-A port, HDMI 2.1 FRL, an SD Express 7.0 card reader and a 3.5mm audio jack, making it usable as a mobile workstation.

APPSO also found that WorkBuddy, an AI agent tool, can use locally downloaded models on the RTX Spark laptop. A beta feature lets users download and manage local models, and APPSO tested a Tencent-optimized 50-billion-parameter MoE model that is 16GB in size and uses CUDA 13 acceleration. A Three.js roof game task took 13 minutes and 59 seconds, with GPU utilization reaching 100 percent and fans becoming audible. APPSO said the hardware can run large local models, but software, model capability, performance and battery life still create friction. It concluded that users who need local models, develop AI applications or handle sensitive data have a new option, while users who rely on cloud tools such as ChatGPT and Gemini do not need to switch yet. APPSO noted that Windows is also adding tools for local AI developers, including the Microsoft Execution Containers MXC project for safer AI agent operations and Windows ML support for llama.cpp.

In a separate PC hardware development, TechRadar reported that Crucial Pro's 32GB DDR4-3200 kit, made of two 16GB modules, was selling for $230 at Newegg, down from $249. The discount is modest, but TechRadar described it as one of the cheapest ways for DDR4 desktop owners to double their memory without changing platforms while RAM prices remain high. The modules run at 1.2V, use non-ECC UDIMM memory, support Intel XMP 2.0 and are listed as compatible with 8th to 13th Gen Intel Core and AMD Ryzen 1000 to 5000 series desktop CPUs. TechRadar said it had not tested the kit itself.

Also on October 16, TechRadar reported that Sega had partnered with office furniture company Branch on three ergonomic chairs themed around Sonic, the Sega Genesis and the Sega Dreamcast. The Branch Ergonomic Chair Pro: Sega Edition starts at $569 and includes 14 points of adjustment, 5D armrests, a two-way adjustable lumbar support, forward seat tilt, a 275lb weight capacity and a seven-year warranty. A tall cylinder for users 5 feet 11 inches and taller costs $29 extra. The standard Branch Ergonomic Chair Pro scored 4.5 stars in TechRadar's review, and Branch says the Sega editions match its ergonomics and build quality, though TechRadar has not tested the themed versions. The Sonic model uses blue mesh with red and gold accents, while the Genesis and Dreamcast models use vegan leather, and all three have custom stitching and branded casters.