We tested the first laptops with the new Nvidia RTX Spark N1X processors and, of course, compared their performance with Apple's M5 Pro and M5 Max. Is the N1X competitive right out of the gate?
Andreas Osthoff (translated by Andreas Osthoff), Published 🇩🇪
With its M-series processors, Apple has offered an ARM platform that combines the processor, graphics, and memory on a single chip for years. Unified memory in particular is a major advantage when performing extensive video or image editing or creating complex models.
AMD took a similar approach with its Strix Halo chips two years ago, but relatively few devices use these processors. Nvidia is now following suit with the RTX Spark N1X, a chip that combines an ARM CPU with a Blackwell GPU and unified memory.
This marks the first time an Nvidia GPU can be paired with unified memory. Although the N1X performs reasonably well in terms of raw CPU performance, it cannot compete with Apple's current M5 Pro and M5 Max in single-core performance, multi-core performance, or efficiency. Apple is simply well ahead here, though it is worth remembering that its M-series chips are already in their fifth generation. The tables turn when it comes to GPU performance, however, as the Blackwell GPU can at least pull well ahead of the M5 Pro. The M5 Max GPU, however, is significantly faster still.
So far, we have only been able to compare the N1X with the M5 Pro in terms of AI performance - overall, performance is quite similar here. The problem, however, is the price: Although Nvidia positions the N1X as a competitor to the M5 Pro, MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro are actually slightly cheaper.
The N1X only gains a slight price advantage if you need 128 GB of RAM, as Apple only offers this memory capacity with the M5 Max. More information is available in our analysis of the RTX Spark N1X.
I grew up with modern consumer electronics and my first computer was a Commodore C64, which encouraged my interest in building my own systems. I started working as a review editor for Notebookcheck during my dual studies at Siemens. Currently, I am mainly responsible for dealing with business laptops and mobile workstations. It’s a great experience to be able to review the latest devices and technologies and then compare them with each other.