The first array of laptops powered by Nvidia’s new RTX Spark chip are designed to compete with high-end MacBook Pros — and they’ve got some high-end prices to match. The flagship Surface Laptop Ultra and RTX Spark laptops from Dell , Lenovo , MSI , HP, and Asus start as low as $2,599 for configurations with an 18-core CPU, 24GB of unified memory, and 512GB of storage.
What happened
The first array of laptops powered by Nvidia’s new RTX Spark chip are designed to compete with high-end MacBook Pros — and they’ve got some high-end prices to match.
Where the sources line up
The flagship Surface Laptop Ultra and RTX Spark laptops from Dell , Lenovo , MSI , HP, and Asus start as low as $2,599 for configurations with an 18-core CPU, 24GB of unified memory, and 512GB of storage. That’s close in price to a similarly specced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro chip, though Apple includes 1TB of storage. But the prices for both RTX Spark and Apple laptops of course go much, much higher.
Practical impact for readers
Of the pricing we’ve seen so far, a kitted-out Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark laptop with a 20-core chip, 128GB of unified memory, and 2TB of storage costs up to $6,999. 99 . We don’t yet know the full breadth of configuration options for Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra, as the preorder page only has an email sign-up box to get updates, but a 48GB model on Best Buy costs $3,999.
Who should pay attention now
Wildly expensive laptops aren’t really anything new: you can configure a 16-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Max chip to nearly $10,000 if you max out all options. But the first volley of RTX Spark options are obviously aimed at the high-end side of creators and local AI users. And RAMageddon certainly isn’t helping make this any easier on peoples’ wallets.
What is still unclear
Will they be worth it? We’ll find out soon. The Surface Laptop Ultra and other RTX Spark laptops are launching this month — as early as October 16th.
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