At NVIDIA’s GTC event, a significant collaboration between Microsoft and NVIDIA was unveiled, showcasing the most powerful and efficient thin-and-light Windows PCs to date. These new devices, enhanced by NVIDIA RTX Spark technology, are designed to propel developers, creators, and power users into a new era of computing, tailored specifically for the emerging wave of AI agents.
This announcement signifies a pivotal moment in the ongoing partnership between Microsoft and NVIDIA, which has spanned multiple years and various domains, including gaming, AI, and cloud computing. Their joint efforts have produced innovations from DirectX and RTX to NVIDIA-accelerated AI workloads on Azure, ultimately benefiting their shared clientele. The latest Windows PCs embody the next phase of this collaborative journey.
As builders and creators redefine productivity, they require advanced hardware and platform capabilities to meet their evolving needs. The new PCs are engineered to handle graphically demanding tasks, support sophisticated AI models, and provide a secure environment for running agents locally. The synergy between Windows’ established platform and NVIDIA’s cutting-edge silicon innovation has birthed a series of laptops poised to transform how developers and creators engage with technology.
“NVIDIA and Microsoft share a vision that agents are the future of personal computing,” stated Jeff Fisher, NVIDIA’s senior vice president of personal computing. “RTX Spark combines NVIDIA’s full technology stack with Microsoft Windows and is purpose-built for creators, gamers, and AI developers in the personal AI era.”
Taking Windows to the next level on RTX Spark
RTX Spark boasts an impressive 1 petaflop of AI performance, setting a new standard for performance-per-watt. It integrates NVIDIA’s full stack of AI and RTX graphics technology, featuring up to 6144 Blackwell RTX cores, 20 power-efficient Arm architecture cores, and up to 128GB of unified memory. This powerful combination, when paired with Windows, equips creators and developers with the necessary tools to execute advanced workloads, utilize essential software, and enjoy gaming experiences.
To maximize the potential of Windows on RTX Spark’s heterogeneous architecture, Microsoft has implemented workload profile scheduling (WPS), optimizing the Windows scheduler to efficiently distribute tasks across all 20 cores. Whether users are managing emails or debugging code with an agent, the Windows scheduler ensures optimal performance and efficiency.
Performance and power management
In collaboration with NVIDIA, Microsoft has introduced the Microsoft Power and Thermal Framework (MPTF) on RTX Spark, enhancing performance and power efficiency. MPTF standardizes complex components of modern PCs, allowing RTX Spark-based devices to maintain industry-leading power efficiency while remaining cool under demanding workloads.
RTX Spark is also designed to leverage advancements in DirectX 12, supporting neural rendering and optimized ray tracing performance. Additionally, through Windows ML, developers can harness the GPU’s power for local AI workloads, utilizing TensorRT natively within Windows.
Unified memory optimizations
To fully utilize the potential of up to 128GB of unified memory on RTX Spark, Microsoft has focused on enhancing Windows’ support for unified memory systems. This includes a new, higher limit on total system memory accessible by the GPU, allowing for larger local AI models and more complex project renderings.
As memory-intensive tasks demand a versatile memory system, Windows is also improving how it manages page sizes in shared memory regions, ensuring larger memory pages are available for demanding workloads while providing developers the flexibility to optimize memory usage between CPU and GPU.
Prism emulation enhancements
The Prism emulator, which facilitates the operation of 32-bit and 64-bit x86 applications on Windows on Arm, has been optimized for RTX Spark-powered PCs. Enhancements to Prism ensure that applications run smoothly, even if they were not originally designed for the Arm architecture. The emulator has been fine-tuned for RTX Spark’s microarchitecture, unlocking exceptional performance for developers, creators, and gaming applications.
Windows quality investments
This year, Microsoft has concentrated on elevating performance, reliability, and overall quality across Windows 11. As the foundation of Windows strengthens, significant improvements in system performance will benefit all Windows 11 PCs, including those powered by RTX Spark. Enhancements include smoother app interactions through the WinUI3 framework, an improved Windows Subsystem for Linux (WSL) experience, and increased control and personalization options.
Delivering a better platform for agents with Windows on RTX Spark
During Microsoft Build, the focus will be on optimizing the Windows platform for securely building and running agents, incorporating OS-enforced identity, containment, and manageability. With a robust GPU and up to 128GB of unified memory, RTX Spark is well-suited for local agentic workloads, equipped with security features designed to protect users.
NVIDIA is introducing NVIDIA OpenShell to Windows, leveraging new security and containment primitives. This integration will enable customers to run agents seamlessly within their developer and creative workflows, providing the necessary performance to process large contexts without relying on cloud resources.
Enabling the Windows ecosystem for RTX Spark
The collaboration between app developers optimizing their software for this architecture and OEM partners creating powerful new PCs ensures that RTX Spark delivers a comprehensive, high-performance experience from the outset.
App ecosystem growth
While silicon and OS optimization are crucial, the real value lies in the applications available to users. Microsoft and NVIDIA have collaborated with a wide range of app developers over the past two years to ensure that the new RTX Spark-powered PCs launch with extensive application support.
For creatives, leading tools such as Blender, DaVinci Resolve, and Adobe’s flagship applications like Photoshop and Premiere are now optimized for Arm, enhancing the user experience. Technical creators will also benefit from applications like MATLAB, which now officially supports Windows on Arm, unlocking new capabilities for complex tasks.
Game developers have laid a solid foundation for RTX Spark, with native anti-cheat solutions and expanded emulator compatibility. Titles such as League of Legends and VALORANT are set to join the growing catalog of compatible games, promising enhanced performance for AAA titles on Arm.
PC ecosystem adoption
The introduction of Windows and RTX Spark heralds the arrival of the most powerful and efficient thin-and-light PCs, designed for developers and creators who require reliable performance for advanced workflows in a portable format. These PCs will be part of the Copilot+ PC category, featuring powerful NPUs for local AI processing alongside the GPU.
Beginning this Fall, a diverse range of Windows laptops and small form factor desktop PCs powered by RTX Spark will be available from manufacturers including Microsoft Surface, ASUS, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and MSI.
Introducing Surface Laptop Ultra
The Surface Laptop Ultra is crafted for creators and professionals, offering cutting-edge AI performance in a sleek, precision-engineered design. This laptop is built for sustained high performance, making it ideal for rendering, compiling, and local AI workflows.
- ASUS: The ASUS ProArt P16 and ProArt P14 combine powerful AI performance with lightweight designs, featuring elegant displays and exceptional battery life.
- Dell Technologies: The XPS 16 Creator Edition offers serious GPU power, ensuring smooth playback on 4K timelines and faster exports.
- HP Inc.: The HP OmniBook Ultra 16 and OmniBook X 14 are designed for creators, gamers, and AI developers, delivering powerful local AI performance.
- Lenovo: The Lenovo Yoga Pro 9n merges creator-focused features with NVIDIA’s latest chip for a portable powerhouse.
- MSI: The Prestige N16 Flip AI+ features a premium design, advanced AI experiences, and exceptional mobility.
As the worlds of stunning graphics, remarkable performance, and cutting-edge AI converge, the anticipation builds for what developers and creators will achieve with these powerful, portable PCs.
Scaling the power of Windows to NVIDIA DGX Station
This announcement marks a significant milestone in the ongoing journey to harness the full potential of Windows on NVIDIA silicon, extending from powerful laptops to data center-class workstations. Together with NVIDIA, Microsoft is scaling Windows from RTX Spark to DGX Station, which will feature the NVIDIA GB300 Grace Blackwell Ultra Desktop Superchip, unlocking unprecedented AI performance on Windows.
This integration allows enterprises to run advanced AI models and agentic workloads locally, previously confined to cloud environments. By pairing the GB300 Superchip with an NVIDIA RTX PRO™ Blackwell Workstation GPU, developers can combine AI computation with ray-traced visualization in a single workstation, enabling a new level of interaction with the physical world.
By facilitating on-device AI, organizations can maintain data proximity and tailor its usage to meet compliance and data boundary requirements, complementing cloud workloads. This shift not only opens new possibilities but also lowers the barriers to experimentation, making AI compute a native aspect of Windows workflows.
As Microsoft continues to build toward a future where Windows serves as a unified foundation for AI, the excitement grows for what lies ahead. Further insights into this vision will be shared in the coming days at Microsoft Build.
1 Based on internal testing of pre-release units. Battery life varies significantly based on usage, settings, and other factors.
