from the how-much-will-they-charge-for-the-RAM-it-comes-with? dept.
Arthur T Knackerbracket has processed the following story:
Nvidia's big consumer chips for PCs, the Arm-based N1 and N1X, could finally be about to arrive if a new rumor is correct.
A report from DigiTimes (hat tip to VideoCardz) claims that laptops with Nvidia's N1X chip inside will be launching in the first quarter of 2026. So, within the next two months.
These will target the consumer market, and three other variants will be on sale in Q2, we're told. Presumably, that includes the base N1 chip, which is less powerful, but still intended for producing 'high-end AI computing platforms' – the N1X is the more performant CPU which will be aimed at notebooks for professionals, the report observes.
There's still some confusion around the naming and where exactly the N1 and N1X will fit into the CPU landscape, with some guessing that the N1 will be a desktop chip, and the N1X a mobile (laptop) chip. However, DigiTimes makes it clear that both the N1 and N1X will appear in laptops (add your own seasoning, naturally). That doesn't mean that there couldn't be a desktop variant of one of these chips as well, though, and perhaps that's still planned.
Following the N1 series, the next-gen N2 silicon will take the baton for Nvidia in the third quarter of 2027, the report claims.
Obviously, be skeptical about that timeframe in particular, because even if Nvidia has plans for these N2 chips, this schedule may end up going awry (what with the silicon still being relatively early in development).
The rumor comes from supply chain sources, we're informed, and the delay of the N1 series – which was supposed to arrive late in 2025 as per the original speculation about Nvidia's Arm CPU – is due to Team Green fine-tuning these chips, and "Microsoft OS timelines", the report states.
The latter presumably refers to Windows 11 26H1, which is a new spin on the OS specifically for Snapdragon X2 chips – and seemingly Nvidia's N1 silicon, too, as that's Arm-based and a direct rival for Qualcomm's processors powering Windows 11 laptops. So, the launch of the N1 and N1X being put back to wait for this 26H1 update – which isn't being delivered to non-Arm Windows PCs (AMD and Intel) – makes sense.
Still, we must be cautious because, as already noted. I don't rank DigiTimes as one of the most reliable sources out there, but it can, on occasion, dig up useful and accurate rumors from the supply chain. The purported launch timing seems believable enough given what I've just outlined, and also we've heard rumors suggesting similar plans in the past – such as an Alienware laptop with an Nvidia CPU aiming for a Q1 2026 launch.
[...] A better question is if these laptops are that close, why didn't Nvidia show off the N1X at CES 2026 recently? I haven't got an answer for that one, except that maybe Team Green wants to carry out a standalone launch that gives the spotlight entirely to this new Arm-based silicon to make a big splash for the entrance of these laptops.
(Score: 4, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 02, @12:21AM (4 children)
If this is tied at all to the pig fuckers in Redmond, it is a non-starter.
(Score: 4, Interesting) by FunkyLich on Monday February 02, @06:58AM
Microsoft, Intel, Nvidia... they are different only in name, while the intent and practices are the same. If in the late 90s and through the 2000s we had the Intel-Microsoft marriage, out of which one outcome was the beloved UEFI, now that Intel seems to have been going the way of the shit for quite a while, Microsoft is turning to another spouse. A spawn of this marriage is obvious: The AI PC. Nvidia makes the hardware, Microsoft has the software stack and the vast userbase beyond the gaming world, rather also into the generic consumer and the workplace. There have already been testbeds for such systems. The Jetson AGX Orin from Nvidia is nothing else but an ARM based SoC computer with an embedded GPU as well, not much different from what a RPi5 would be if it had a GPU as well. Shape the box to a flat surface, glue a screen and a keyboard to it, have a deal with Microsoft to run Windows and the drivers to it, and there is the laptops to come that we're talking about.
The golden era of generic computing with generic interchangeable components that work together, is past. It lasted some 20+ years, from roughly 1995 till more or 2015-2020. And while there still exist discrete parts and it is possible to assemble a computer with separate components, it is less and less viable and popular as compared to how it was in the late 90s (I worked in a computer shop to assemble IBM clone PCs at the time). More and more now there's embedded and SoC computing. Laptop, mobile phones, Apple Mac, now this N1/N1X... And also the device driver delivery mechanism is already in place too: the os update does it, less and less it's possible to find dedicated standalone drivers for individual hardware components separately from "bundle" in the SoC.
It becomes ironic as the opensource os-es and software (Linux, *BSD) took off in great part because of that: commodity hardware, bundle some pieces together, don't care of the brand-name as long as they speak a standard communication protocol (in hardware and software) everything is good. But now, the SoC pc are more and more on the rise. The future of computers seems to be just mobile phones with a laptop sized screen and a keyboard. And of course with the proprietary crapware and spyware that comes with them as we all know.
(Score: 5, Insightful) by driverless on Monday February 02, @10:58AM (2 children)
Ah yes, just what every laptop buyer has been crying out for. Not battery life or weight or screen size but whether CoClippy can nag them more.
(Score: 2) by looorg on Monday February 02, @06:34PM (1 child)
Not only that. Clearly users are not as thrilled about the whole "AI" computers or keyboard or operating systems. Clearly they are hoping this rejection is just some kind of fad and that we are soon really really going to want it. Question is will this machine be able to be used in some kind of offline mode or without the "AI" integration or will the laptop/desktop more or less require that you and your machine are constantly part of their magic cloud community. Always ready to ask friend "AI" for help and guidance ...
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Monday February 02, @07:35PM
That is absolutely NOT what the overlords in Redmond want.
Their CEO is from the server world, and that is what they want everyone
to be, of "service" to them and their rent-seeking.
(Score: 2) by VLM on Monday February 02, @03:04PM
It's a strange story because CPU is only a significant cost for gamer-type markets and non-FOSS servers (the server OS/hypervisor/apps that charge per CPU licensing fees). "Generic laptops" put all their money in the (usually too low resolution, and too shiny) screen. I would like to buy a laptop that has a keyboard that had more than twenty five cents spent on it. A "Model M in a laptop" is probably too much to hope for, but it would be nice.
The market segment that puts 90% of the purchase price into the screen isn't going to care if the CPU is an Intel costing $5.00 or an ARM costing $2.50, beyond software hassles anyway (ARM would be nice for a chromebook, maybe)