MacBook Pro alternatives launch globally with 20-core CPU, 128 GB RAM, 2 TB SSD and RTX Spark N1X

[Redaktion]

Asus has launched its new ProArt P14 and P16 laptops globally with the Nvidia RTX Spark N1X. The creator laptops combine a 20-core Grace CPU, Blackwell graphics and up to 128 GB of unified memory, with the first US units arriving on October 16.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/MacBook-Pro-alternatives-launch-globally-with-20-core-CPU-128-GB-RAM-2-TB-SSD-and-RTX-Spark-N1X.1418561.0.html

[48 GB RAM available]

The ProArt P14 starts at $2,599.99, while the ProArt P16 starts at $2,799.99 in the US. Both models start with 24 GB of unified memory and 512 GB of SSD storage.

2600 bucks / 24GB RAM/unified memory and can't even fit SOTA (in its class size) AI LLM model[1] huggingface.co/unsloth/Qwen3.6-35B-A3B-MTP-GGUF at a minimum good Q4_K_XL quant. This is for 32 GB RAM/unified memory:

.. I've come to the conclusion that (1) 32768 is the biggest context I can get away with in an adequately smart model, and (2) it just ain't enough.

It's also possible to calculate the available context[2]: 16,384 [KV cache context tokens per GB]*(32 [GB total memory] - 6 to 8 [GB for the OS] - [GB quant filesize]):
~34,400 context tokens = 16,384*(32-7[3]-22.9) (confirms the quote)

Agentic workflows often exceed 60,000 or quite a bit more context tokens.

Recalculating with an additional 8 GB VRAM GPU:
165,500 = 16,384*(32-7-22.9+8)

So, in this memory sense, any normal gaming laptop that has a 6-8 GB VRAM GPU is superior and cheaper. It's also going to have upgradable RAM (yes, upgradable RAM is slower (5600 vs 9400 (what Lenovo uses)), but the GPU's much faster VRAM compensates for that).

And, generally, you get more memory per buck if you get a desktop PC (and get a much cheaper iGPU-only laptop for everything else/non-AI and remote desktop into your AI desktop PC).

[1] artificialanalysis.ai/?models=qwen3-8-27b%2Cqwen3-8-27b-medium%2Cqwen3-8-27b-low%2Cqwen3-8-27b-non-reasoning%2Cqwen3-6-35b-a3b%2Cqwen3-6-35b-a3b-non-reasoning&intelligence=artificial-analysis-intelligence-index
[2] reddit.com/r/Qwen_AI/comments/1vo8pjz/qwen3827b_kv_cache_works_out_to_64_kibtoken_so/
[3] techpowerup.com/353395/windows-11-26h2-update-lowers-ram-consumption[/quote]

At least ASUS offers a 48 GB RAM config as well.