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Apple’s Mac lineup has gone from strength to strength since the rollout of its own Apple Silicon chips beginning with the M1, and while other manufacturers are catching up, it may have its most impressive rival yet.
Nvidia’s new RTX Spark leans on the company’s strengths in AI, gaming, and creative applications, and while it’s not out yet, it could supercharge the Windows laptop in a similar fashion to Apple’s own revolution in 2020.
Here’s all we know about each, and which could come out on top.
Release
The RTX Spark was revealed at Computex 2026, and we've already had some early hands-on time with it. The chip will roll out via manufacturers including Asus, Dell, MSI, and more in the coming months.
It’ll also come to the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra, with Acer and Gigabyte expected to follow. Sadly, because it’s not on sale yet, we don’t have an idea of what the final prices on these machines will be. Expect them to be high.
The M5 Pro, Apple’s latest and greatest laptop chip, can be found starting at $2199. That’s a steep cost, but it only gets steeper if you’re looking for more memory or storage.
Specs
| Row 0 - Cell 0 | Row 0 - Cell 1 | Row 0 - Cell 2 |
Manufacturer | Nvidia | Apple |
Launch Date | Late 2026 | March 2026 |
CPU | 20-core | 14-core and 12-core options |
GPU | Blackwell architecture | 20-core and 14-core options |
Max Unified Memory | Options up to 128GB | Options up to 64GB |
OS | Windows 11 | macOS Tahoe |
What’s in a chip?
As you might expect, Nvidia’s new chip is built to take advantage of the company’s expertise across the likes of AI and graphical prowess.
To that end, the company hasn’t been shy about reaching out to partners like Microsoft and Adobe. RTX Spark, thanks to its development in partnership with Microsoft, will allow the first Windows PC models “purpose-built for personal agents”. OpenClaw users, rejoice!
Nvidia has also been working with Adobe to make its suite of professional apps, like Photoshop and Premiere, run even better on RTX Spark. The result (with the caveat of us not having tested it yet) is two times the AI and graphics performance.
It’s worth noting that Apple also trots out Adobe numbers when talking about its Mac chips, stating the M5 Pro and Max models offer a 35% increase in capabilities from the prior generation.
We’re expecting big things for GPU performance, too. The Blackwell architecture from the RTX 50-series of GPUs is found in the onboard GPU, and that means plenty of CUDA cores that could, at least in theory, mean features like DLSS 4.5 could come to RTX Spark.
Apple does boast improved graphical performance for the Mac lineup with each iteration, but it would be fair to say that its ecosystem doesn’t support as many titles. With that in mind, gamers will likely prefer the RTX Spark.
The CPU on Apple’s chip supports up to 64GB of RAM, but the RTX Spark can reach as high as 128GB. Expect to pay handsomely for it, but it might make it a no-brainer if you’re using your laptop for complex AI compute tasks.
Bottom line
Watching these two chips go head-to-head in the next generation of devices (MacBook Ultra, anyone?) is going to be fascinating, but it seems pretty clear-cut to me where the dividing lines will be.
Anyone who wants raw power for things like gaming or demanding creative work is going to be leaning towards the RTX Spark. Meanwhile, those looking for streamlined efficiency and battery life will still be suited to a MacBook. While Nvidia's chip will win on raw power, it will still run Windows inside a laptop developed by a third party. Apple's unification will be its remaining strength.
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