(Image credit: Tom's Guide/Nvidia/Apple/Shutterstock)
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
(Image credit: Future)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.SpecsSwipe to scroll horizontallyRow 0 - Cell 0 Row 0 - Cell 1 Row 0 - Cell 2 ManufacturerNvidiaAppleLaunch DateLate 2026March 2026CPU20-core14-core and 12-core optionsGPUBlackwell architecture20-core and 14-core optionsMax Unified MemoryOptions up to 128GBOptions up to 64GBOSWindows 11macOS TahoeWhat’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.Get instant access to breaking news, the hottest reviews, great deals and helpful tips.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.
