Nvidia built the gaming laptop of the future. But don’t buy RTX Spark for games

Right now you can buy a new laptop powered by an Nvidia processor. That would have been a wild statement a few years ago. But what’s even wilder is that these RTX Spark laptops aren’t for PC gamers, and PC gamers shouldn’t buy them.

That’s not to say they’re bad. The RTX Spark platform is impressive, even if it’s currently going through a bit of a teething phase. It’s phenomenally powerful, a true Windows alternative to Apple’s Arm chips. And of course it’s great at just about anything having to do with local “AI,” as that’s its primary purpose. For more info on that, check out Mark Hachman’s full review of the Surface Laptop Ultra, on the same platform.

But when most people think of an “Nvidia laptop,” they probably assume it’s for gaming. And the RTX Spark can do gaming. Quite a lot of gaming, in fact — the pre-release estimate that the integrated graphics run at “5070 level” is approximately on the money. I’ve found the initial testing on HP’s $3199 Omnibook 16 Ultra impressive, extremely so for integrated graphics.