PC makers and Microsoft take aim at Apple again, this time with help of Nvidia

Of late Apple and its MacBook have become unbeatable, leaving Microsoft and laptop makers like HP and Lenovo on the back foot. Now, PC giants and the Windows makers are trying again to beat Apple, this time with a helping hand from Nvidia.

In Short

• Laptop makers are struggling against MacBook like Neo
• Apple hardware has become popular among AI enthusiasts 
• Microsoft, Nvidia and others have joined hands to challenge Apple

When we think of AI, we think of companies like Anthropic, OpenAI, Google and Nvidia. The one company we don’t think of in this aspect is Apple. And yet, Apple is arguably seeing some impressive upside from the AI wave even when it has no AI model of its own, or even if the company plays no role in large AI data centres. Yet Apple is winning in the AI world, silently and behind the curtains because of its personal hardware. The Mac computers, whether it is a Mini or a Neo, are some of the best devices on which you can use different AI tools.

This became evident a few months ago in January when OpenClaw aka ClawdBot burst onto the scene. As the AI tool became popular, Mac Mini started flying off the shelves in cities like san Francisco. People suddenly realised the best way to run tools like OpenClaw, a mix of local and cloud-based AI, was to run it on an Apple computer.

The popularity has added to the general appeal of MacBook and Mac computers. Since Apple debuted in 2019 the M Series chipsets, which have extremely fast cores and well-tuned AI Neural Engine, the Windows ecosystem has struggled. Laptop makers have been unable to match MacBooks on design, battery life, the quality of screen and overall hardware.

Until recently their one consolation was that the MacBook was slightly more expensive compared to Windows laptops. But even that is no longer a shield. Apple a few weeks ago launched the MacBook Neo, a significantly cheaper laptop with not-many compromises. The Neo too is decimating competitors in its segment, adding to the woes of laptop makers like HP, Dell, Lenovo and others. It has also added to the woes of Microsoft, which relies on its hardware partners to push Windows.

Enter Nvidia, the AI superstar

When we look at RTX Spark, a new chip announced by Nvidia earlier this week, in this broader context of Apple vs the Rest, a clearer picture begins to emerge. It is not a coincidence that RTX Spark is a move behind which all the laptop makers and Microsoft have rallied so quickly. From Dell to Microsoft, they are all talking about Nvidia Spark this week. It is, after all, the weapon with which they are hoping to bring down the mighty MacBook.

The last 6 to 7 years have seen a stratospheric rise of Apple as the definitive — and the world’s best — maker of personal computing devices. Apple has achieved that through vertical integration. And in the process it has made a fair number of enemies because it has replaced their components with its own. The M series chipsets, and given how good they are, have allowed Apple to create laptops and computers where it has almost the full control. The entirety of core hardware is handled and managed by Apple. Similarly, the entirety of the software is managed by Apple.

This approach has resulted in personal computers that are superior to anything that the Windows ecosystem pushes out. Windows is a fragmented space, more tuned for competition and hence lower cost and lower prices. It is not tuned for excellence, not at the moment. The hardware that goes into laptops is made by a number of different companies. Software is made by Microsoft, and then again customised or pruned and polished by laptop makers.

These machines do not stand a chance against Mac at their respective price points unless the use case is gaming or something more niche, like a legacy app or Linux. Even in places where Windows used to be strong, such as office and enterprise work, nowadays we see more MacBooks. There is a reason why in the richest and most competitive workplaces, such as offices of Google and Facebook, the MacBook is the preferred machine.

At the same time, Apple moving to M series chips has also hit companies like Nvidia and Intel fairly hard. Earlier, Apple products used to have Intel and Nvidia hardware inside them. Now, they don’t.

Trying to ride the change and Nvidia AI magic

In a way, the arrival of Nvidia RTX Spark, a chip that will go into personal computers, looks like a concerted charge from the Windows Camp. The aim is to breach Castle Apple. That such a charge can be planned has been made possible by the changes the computer world is going through due to AI.

But let’s pause for a moment. We have been talking about the Apple vs Rest for a while and have several times name-dropped the RTX Spark. So, first a few words about that.

Nvidia is the world’s most valuable tech company at the moment because of one thing and one thing only — the AI wave. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang sensed the future quicker than anyone else in the hardware world. And around 10-12 years Nvidia made a hard pivot towards AI hardware. Instead of focusing on gaming graphics cards, the way the company had done since its beginning in the late 1990s, it decided to bet the farm on making AI chips. A lot of work was put into it, but to cut a long story short, Nvidia emerged as the hardware leader in the AI era.

This has happened because not only has Nvidia spent a large sum of money on perfecting AI chips, but has also created an ecosystem with help of CUDA — a low-level coding language to best utilise AI chips — that is unbeatable.

But Nvidia AI chips like Blackwell and Hopper that the rest of the world so badly needs and wants are made for data centres and specialised machines that companies such as OpenAI and Anthropic need. They are not meant for personal computers.

RTX Spark, meanwhile, is going inside the personal computers. It is in a way a redux of something like Blackwell into a small and efficient chip that can be put in a laptop. Although for some parts of the chip, where Nvidia either lacks the technology or inclination, the company has collaborated with MediaTek. For example, MediaTek says that it has contributed tech for CPU, power management and memory system of Spark.

The nature of Spark was highlighted by Nvidia CEO Jensen at his keynote. “The PC is being reinvented,” he said. “RTX Spark brings everything NVIDIA has built — CUDA, RTX, our AI platform — into a single superchip. Local agents. Frontier models. Creative workflows. RTX games. All on a laptop. This is the new PC. The personal AI computer.”

In the coming years, increasingly people will demand laptops and computers that can handle AI workload locally. Hence, the craze around MacBooks and Mac Mini. Nvidia senses that. And it has now worked with Windows makers as well Microsoft to bring to life the RTX Spark. Compared to Nvidia’s enterprise AI chips, this one is more modest. And yet, Nvidia says, it will handle up to 120B-parameter Large Language Models locally.

A few days after Nvidia announced the RTX Spark, Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella took to the stage at the Build event. He emphasised, “There’s a real platform shift. We’re moving from building operating systems and devices for apps to AI Agents.”

This is a shift that Nvidia is well-positioned to exploit. And as it moves to do so, it is attracting support from all those who have been mauled and humbled by the mighty Mac in the last few years.

Can Apple be beaten?

With RTX Spark in their machines, the Windows laptops makers, from Microsoft to Dell to Nvidia, are hoping that at last they have a chance to beat Apple at hardware. Somewhat like how the IBM PC beat the Mac in the 1980s. Accurate that may be, it is also worth noting that we live in 2026 and not 1984.

There is nothing specifically wrong with the vision that Nvidia, Microsoft and their group of partners have. It is based on a reasonable assumption that AI hardware in laptops and desktops will become increasingly important and only Nvidia will be able to provide that in the best possible manner. And yet, we must also look at the competing vision.

And the competing vision, which comes from Apple, is not shabby at all. One key reason why Windows laptop makers have struggled against Apple in the last few years is because of the way they operate. Their hardware and software is disjointed. And their business objectives are different. Microsoft, which makes Windows, may not have the same objective with software that a company like Lenovo, which makes the hardware, has. This reality complicates the execution part.

Earlier too laptops companies, mostly egged by Intel and its concept of Ultrabook, tried to take on Apple MacBook. But they were unsuccessful because execution was always falling short of the vision. In the case of RTX Spark too at the moment all we have are words. The laptops and computers powered by Spark will only be arriving towards the end of the year. How the chip will function inside a confined space, such as a laptop chassis, is not yet known. How Windows software will work with RTX Spark too is an unknown factor at the moment.

Whether the RTX Spark laptops match MacBook on design, battery, performance and overall usability, is something we do not yet know. Similarly, the price of these systems too remains a mystery at the moment.

Then there is Apple itself. The company, seeing the challenge, may decide to dial up its MacBook game by a few notches. In terms of hardware and even the raw performance of its M series chip it surely can do enough to match the raw performance of RTX Spark. Although, to truly compete on AI workloads, the company will have to find a way to either co-opt or workaround the CUDA that so far Nvidia has closely guarded. But that too is doable, at least in theory.

Irrespective, the coming months will bring a fresh charge from Windows laptop makers and Microsoft, hoping to dent and damage the Mac. In their charge they will be hoping that the new Nvidia chip and CUDA will give them a unique advantage. That is not a bad assumption to make. Yet, whether it turns out to be real or not will depend on how well laptop makers and Microsoft can execute their vision. Earlier, whenever they took an aim at the Mac, they missed.

- Ends