Unlike CES or MWC, which are fairly consumer-focused trade shows, the annual Computex Taipei event is traditionally a “B2B” affair. Boring! Still, we made a point to attend, and it’s a good thing we did. Some of the greatest tech innovations of 2026 (or maybe even the decade) made their debut during Computex, including a few surprises that may completely change how the average person interacts with computers at a fundamental level. Hello, RTX Spark! Nice to meet you, Arc G3!
This is an exciting time for all classes of PC enthusiasts, from Windows on ARM evangelists to hairbrained homelabbers. Of course, the AI geeks get plenty of love, too. So, let’s stop yapping and get to the goods.
NVIDIA RTX Spark (n1x)
A turning point for Windows on ARM (and PCs as a whole, hopefully)
NVIDIA absolutely stole the show at Computex 2026, which is really no surprise given the company’s status in the AI boom and its near-biological interdependence with Taiwanese manufacturers. Even if the brand had attended this event without a peep of progress or products, the regular appearances of its CEO and co-founder Jensen Huang were a pure highlight for a majority of the attendees, particularly the locals. His lightly-guarded catwalks through the show floor (and comical enthusiasm for dashing off Sharpie signatures on other brands’ products) were met with messianic joy, rhythmic chants of “Jensen! Jensen!,” and the glow of stock trading apps. We learned a lot about the venue’s layout during these appearances, as we were forced to explore uncharted paths just to attend our pre-planned meetings and walkthroughs.
But Jensen and company knew better than to arrive empty-handed. Instead, they revealed the RTX Spark (n1x) “superchip,” an all-new PC platform that promises to bring high-end agentic local AI to all classes of PC, including consumer devices. It offers a petaflop of AI compute power with up to 128GB of unified memory, enough to power AI agents with up to 120 billion parameters. The closest comparison, at least in NVIDIA’s words, is a pro RTX 5070 AI workstation.
Though, in our eyes, the most interesting part of RTX Spark is its architecture. This isn’t a clone of AMD’s x86 Ryzen AI Ultra platform. Instead, it’s ARM. Ignoring all of the AI stuff, RTX Spark creates a unique opportunity for Microsoft to finally push Windows on ARM into excellence, as the operating system is no longer bound by Qualcomm’s de-facto monopoly on ARM desktop development.
It’s easy to compare this moment to the introduction of Apple Silicon, which occurred nearly 6 years ago. Yet there are still questions as to whether RTX Spark will begin its life as a prosumer platform (as Apple Silicon did). Its emphasis on AI development and technical similarities to DGX Spark AI, a 2025 dev workstation that currently sells for $4,700, suggest a more enterprise-focused approach. But even if the average enthusiast is priced out of the equation, RTX Spark could give Windows on ARM (and PCs as a whole) the kick in the pants we’ve craved for the last decade. Microsoft certainly seems to think so.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra
The flagship NVIDIA Spark machine
Microsoft calls the Surface Laptop Ultra “the most powerful thing we’ve ever made.” And while it isn’t the most visually exciting device to grace the Surface lineup, the specs are, to Microsoft’s credit, outrageous. Surface Laptop Ultra is the first RTX Spark device and potentially the first slam-dunk for Windows on ARM, boasting a 20-core CPU, up to 128GB of unified memory, and a maximum 1 petaflop of AI performance for local LLMs and AI/ML development. The closest comparison is a desktop PC with an RTX 5070 GPU (as we mentioned earlier), although there are no real-world benchmarks at this time and the ARM architecture means that 1:1 comparisons should be taken with a grain of salt.
Externally, Surface Laptop Ultra utilizes a gorgeous 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra touchscreen display with a 3:2 aspect ratio and 2880 x 1920 resolution. Microsoft promises 2000 nits of peak HDR brightness, which is excellent for any laptop. The chassis and keyboard are very MacBook Pro-esque; you get an aluminum body, lattice keys, a haptic trackpad, two USB-C ports (presumably Thunderbolt 4 or 5 though not confirmed), one USB-A port, an HDMI jack, an SD card slot, and 3.5mm audio output.
The Surface Laptop Ultra launch event was fairly GPU-focused, with laptops chugging through demanding games like Pragmata, but Microsoft also spent some time showing off the device’s repairability. You can remove the Laptop Ultra’s backplate, and internal components are tagged with QR stickers for easy lookup. Plus, the SSD and battery are readily accessible. Mild repairability has slowly become a key feature in Surface products, though it’s surprising to see this trend continue in a high-end ARM laptop, at least for those of us who’ve spent any amount of time with a modern MacBook.
Pricing and availability for the Surface Laptop Ultra are unknown, but a late-2026 launch date is expected. Microsoft’s use of unified memory should alleviate some cost concerns, although RTX Spark makes pricing a bit of a guessing game. It’s obviously safe to assume that Surface Laptop Ultra will exceed $1,000, but we could be looking at a product that goes beyond the $2,000 or $3,000 threshold.
Intel Arc G3 and G3 Extreme
Intel’s trying to eat AMD’s lunch
AMD managed to dominate the handheld PC gaming market with surprisingly little effort. Through this dominance, AMD has also entrenched itself as the premiere processing platform for Linux gaming as a whole. Frankly, it’s always seemed like a missed opportunity for the Intel Arc platform, which could have secured an early niche in the handheld market if it hadn’t spent so much time banging its head against desktop PCs like a bumblebee that can’t figure out how to get through a car window (although we’d be remiss if we failed to mention how Intel Arc excels in homelabbing scenarios).
Evidently, Intel finally caught on to the scent of opportunity. It introduced the Arc G3 and G3 Extreme, a set of powerful and power-efficient mobile processors that can rival AMD’s Ryzen Z-series chipsets. Leveraging the Panther Lake architecture, these CPUs are essentially handheld-focused versions of the Intel Core Ultra Series 3, a chipset that quietly smuggled high-end iGPU gaming performance and an extended battery life to laptops a few years ago. The Arc G3 Extreme is especially notable, as it borrows the B390 iGPU from the Core Ultra X7 and X9 line (Intel’s standard Arc G3 uses a B370 graphics unit).
The first Arc G3-powered handhelds will arrive in June 2026, and the first confirmed device is the OneXPlayer 3 (which will launch through an Indiegogo campaign in the coming weeks). Acer plans to stick an Arc G3 in a future Predator Atlas 8 handheld, while MSI has confirmed that the Claw 8 EX AI+ will eventually get an Arc variant.
These Arc-based handhelds should be more powerful than AMD Ryzen Z-series machines, at least on paper. The real question is whether game developers (and Valve) will prioritize Arc compatibility at a software level. If games aren’t optimized for this platform, then they won’t be able to take advantage of the Arc G3 or G3 Extreme’s raw power. We’ll have a better grasp of the situation once large brands like Acer and MSI put their hat in the ring.
Dell XPS 13
The closest thing that Windows users can get to a MacBook Neo
The Dell XPS family has always served as a sort-of Windows counterpoint to Apple’s MacBook lineup. They’re thin and light laptops with a ton of processing power, high-quality screens, excellent keyboards, and wonderful (though occasionally excessive) trackpads. In light of the $600 MacBook Neo, it’s no surprise that Dell is pushing to sell a “mid-range premium” laptop of its own; a refreshed XPS 13.
Priced at $700 MSRP in its lowest config (or just $600 with a student discount), the base model XPS 13 comes with a minimum Intel Core 5 320 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Dell promises 17 hours of battery life, a backlit keyboard (something the MacBook Neo lacks), and a 13.4-inch 1600p display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The most notable thing here, aside from the price, is the build—XPS 13 is slimmer and lighter than the MacBook Neo, clocking in at 0.5 inches thick and just 2.2 pounds.
But like the MacBook Neo, there are some notable shortcomings in the XPS 13’s build quality. Dell opted for a mechanical touchpad instead of a haptic trackpad (just as Apple did), and it settled for a basic lattice keyboard layout instead of going hog-wild on the awesome, edge-to-edge keyboard layout that’s featured in the XPS 14 and 16. There’s also some questions about processing power, as the Intel Wildcat Lake platform hasn’t been properly benchmarked yet and 8GB of RAM is questionable for a Windows device in 2026.
But the point still stands; Apple decided to stop neglecting the $600 to $1,000 market, and brands like Dell are following suit. If you’re a customer shopping in this range, and especially if you’re a student who can cash in on discounts or other promotions, the new XPS 13 appears to be your best non-Apple option. It’s certainly a welcome addition as computer components and PCs continue to march toward the extreme end of unfriendly pricing.
AMD Ryzen 7 5800X3D
A 10-year-old processor revived
Reinventing the wheel every year is a fool’s errand. At least, that’s the mindset that we see in most corners of the tech industry. Automakers are happy to stick with a single platform for a decade, Apple likes to reuse its laptop chassis, and legacy software keeps the entire world from falling into chaos.
But desktop CPUs tend to disappear from the market after just a couple of years. So, needless to say, AMD’s decision to re-introduce the Ryzen 7 5800X3D is kind of unusual. The chipmaker proudly announced a “10th Anniversary Edition” of the CPU at Computex 2026 alongside a revived Ryzen 7 7700X3D. As far as upgrades are concerned, there are none, aside from the inclusion of a Carbice Ice Pad that may provide extended thermal dissipation in some PC builds.
This move is clearly a response to rising component costs in the AI era (and the stubborn stagflationary economy, which would have contributed to demand for cheaper PCs in the consumer market regardless of the AI boom). While this CPU isn’t a great option for high-end modern PC builds, it’s more than good enough for a decent desktop rig, and it should provide a solid upgrade opportunity for anyone currently rocking an older machine with an AMD 400 or 500-series board.
Priced at $350 with a launch date set for June 25, the 10th Anniversary Ryzen 7 5800X3D is slightly more expensive than an aftermarket Ryzen 7 5800X3D. The extra cost is a decent trade-off for a fresh warranty, and the CPU’s re-introduction should create some downward pressure on aftermarket prices—used CPUs could get cheaper.
ASUS ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro
A big honkin’ Wi-Fi 8 router
“Is it a large-scale model, or is it the real thing?” That’s the question we kept hearing from passers-by as ASUS introduced us to the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro, a colossal Wi-Fi 8 (802.11bn) router that looks like something you’d find crawling in the mercurial waters of an alien beach. ASUS is getting a huge head-start on the soon-to-be Wi-Fi 8 craze with this monster, boasting two-times mid-range throughput, two-times wider IoT coverage, and 34% lower latency when compared to an unspecified product (we love vague product comparisons). The router’s also packed with seven Ethernet ports, specifically a 10Gbps high-speed gaming port, a 2.5Gbps and 10Gbps WAN/LAN jack, three 2.5Gbps ports, and a single 1Gbps connection.
We asked why this router is so big, and the answer’s pretty predictable; a bunch of 2.5GbE and 10GbE lanes, combined Wi-Fi 8 capabilities, require some decent processing power and heat dissipation. Thermals seem to be a big part of the conversation here, as ASUS took the time to tell us that the new Wi-Fi 8 router will offer better heat dissipation than the Wi-Fi 6E Rapture GT-AXE1600—hopefully that means the thermals have actually improved, as it could also mean that the new router simply spits out more heat.
ASUS plans to launch the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro at some point, presumably in late 2026 or early 2027. Though, notably, the Wi-Fi 8 standard probably won’t be finalized until 2028. That means the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro may lack some functionality that becomes standard to Wi-Fi 8 in the next year or so. Future Wi-Fi 8 routers will be a lot smaller than the ROG Rapture GT-BN98 Pro, as the high-speed connections that are responsible for its size are only necessary in enthusiast and enterprise markets.
Stephan is the sports journalist for the Maple Grove Report.
