Recently, Nvidia and AMD have been gearing up to launch gaming laptops equipped with the AI Copilot Plus features announced by Microsoft for Qualcomm-powered laptops. Nvidia teased at Computex that “RTX AI PC” laptops are in the works from Asus and MSI, which will eventually include Copilot Plus PC features. These newly announced laptops will feature up to GeForce RTX 4070 GPUs and Windows 11 AI PC capabilities. Nvidia also confirmed that these laptops will come with AMD’s latest Strix CPUs.
There seems to be some uncertainty surrounding Microsoft’s AI features on AMD chips. Nvidia hinted that the first AMD-powered Copilot Plus PCs might not receive Microsoft’s AI features at launch. However, Nvidia mentioned that these Windows 11 AI PCs will receive a free update to Copilot+ PC experiences when available. This raises questions about the readiness of Microsoft to launch Recall and other AI-powered Windows features on AMD chips.
Nvidia’s Efforts to Remain Relevant
Nvidia is making efforts to stay relevant in the AI-powered tasks on laptops. While Microsoft is moving towards offloading AI models to NPUs, Nvidia is focusing on making its GPUs useful in the AI battleground on PCs. Nvidia is leaning into its branding of “RTX AI laptops,” highlighting the capabilities of its GPUs in running heavier AI workloads than an NPU.
Nvidia is collaborating with Microsoft to accelerate AI models using RTX GPUs. The collaboration will provide application developers with easy API access to GPU-accelerated small language models that enable retrieval-augmented generation capabilities. Microsoft’s Windows Copilot Runtime, announced at Build last month, aims to make it easy for developers to add AI-powered features to their apps, utilizing NPU hardware to accelerate those features, or GPUs from Nvidia in the future.
There are clear differences in performance when it comes to NPUs and Nvidia’s GPUs for AI acceleration. While NPUs are designed for smaller models and high power efficiency in laptops, Nvidia’s PC GPUs can handle larger models with higher performance in desktop PCs. NPUs currently operate at around 40 TOPS performance mark, whereas Nvidia’s GPUs can handle more than 1,000 TOPS for AI acceleration.
As the battle for AI supremacy in gaming laptops heats up, both Nvidia and AMD are making strides to leverage AI capabilities in their products. It remains to be seen how the collaboration between Nvidia and Microsoft will impact the AI landscape on PCs, and how AMD will position itself in this competitive space. Ultimately, consumers can expect a new era of AI-powered gaming laptops that promise enhanced performance and features.
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