Testing finds Nvidia’s RTX Spark N1X-powered laptops can rival high-performance notebooks, but they use significantly more battery than leading ARM-based alternatives.
Testing by Linus Tech Tips suggests Nvidia’s RTX Spark N1X chip can deliver strong performance in Windows laptops, but its battery efficiency still trails the best ARM-based rivals. In video playback testing at 1080p, 60Hz and 200 nits, the Asus ProArt P16 ran for about 12 hours, while Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra lasted roughly nine hours. A MacBook Pro 14 with Apple’s M5 Pro also reached around nine hours, even though it uses a smaller battery than both Windows machines.
The figures are respectable rather than exceptional, especially for a platform built around ARM principles and pitched as efficient enough for thin-and-light systems. The Surface Laptop Ultra carries a battery that is 27 per cent larger than the MacBook Pro 14’s 72.4Wh pack, yet it achieved the same runtime in Linus Tech Tips’ test. The Asus ProArt P16, meanwhile, uses a 99.9Wh battery, about 38 per cent more capacity than Apple’s notebook, to extend playback by only about three hours.
That gap becomes more obvious when compared with other ARM laptops. Linus Tech Tips reported that Asus’s Zenbook A16, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and fitted with a 70Wh battery, lasted 12 hours and 40 minutes in a similar test. Under heavier stress, the RTX Spark N1X devices also showed limits: both the ProArt P16 and the Surface Laptop Ultra lasted just over an hour, while the MacBook Pro 14 managed around an hour and a half, and the Zenbook A16 ran for more than two hours.
The broader picture is that Nvidia’s chip appears promising for performance, but not yet class-leading for endurance. Earlier testing by Notebookcheck found that the ProArt P16 could pair strong CPU output with graphics performance on the level of a GeForce RTX 5070-class laptop GPU, yet that power came with a cost in some scenarios. Tom’s Hardware has also reported that the Surface Laptop Ultra is capable of getting through a working day in mixed use, but does not lead the field for longevity, and that demanding AI workloads drain the battery quickly. In other words, the RTX Spark N1X may be an early step towards more capable Windows-on-ARM machines, but battery efficiency still looks like a work in progress.
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