ASUS ProArt P16 vs Dell XPS 16 Creator vs Surface Laptop Ultra: Which RTX Spark laptop to buy

All three of these laptops use the same NVIDIA RTX Spark N1X chip, and with the 20-core version and 64 GB of unified memory they should run local AI models at about the same speed. If you have not decided whether you need RTX Spark at all, start with our guide is an NVIDIA RTX Spark laptop worth it?. This comparison is for the next question: which one?

We are choosing between exactly these three ourselves. Our use case is local AI experiments, software development, looking at finished design work rather than creating it, and long days on a dock at a desk. We have not tested any of them yet, so everything measured below comes from the manufacturers and from reviewers we trust. When our laptop arrives, this guide gets our own notes.

Why the chip is not the deciding factor

All three companies sell the same two versions of the N1X. The small one has 18 CPU cores and 5,120 GPU cores. The big one has 20 CPU cores and 6,144 GPU cores, and it is the only one you can get with 64 or 128 GB. For local AI you want the big chip and at least 64 GB, which is why we compare those configurations here.

At that level, CPU, GPU and memory are identical. Cooling and power limits can still differ a little, but nobody has tested the three side by side yet, so we would not pick one over another for AI speed. What separates them is everything around the chip.

The comparison at a glance

Prices are the manufacturers’ US prices when we checked. ASUS’s 3K-display version was out of stock in the ASUS store at the time, and the 4K version is sold through ASUS’s configurator, so check availability and the exact configuration before you plan around it.

1. ASUS ProArt P16: The best value, and our pick

What it does well

The ProArt P16 is the lightest of the three at 1.77 kg, and the 64 GB version is the cheapest. From $4,499.99 you get the full 20-core chip, 64 GB, a 16-inch 4K tandem OLED touchscreen and Windows 11 Pro, which matters on a work laptop. ASUS includes a 140 W USB-C charger, and the 99.9 Wh battery is as big as airlines allow.

Notebookcheck gave the ProArt P16 with RTX Spark 90 percent and its Editor’s Choice award, calling it slim, light and stable, with strong speakers, a good choice of ports and two M.2 slots for SSDs. For local AI, that second slot is a real advantage: models take a lot of space, and a second drive for them is easy to add. Notebookcheck also saw stable performance on battery, which Hardware Canucks did not see on the Surface.

Where it falls short

The display is the best of the three on paper. ASUS’s Lumina Pro OLED is a 4K (3,840 by 2,400) tandem OLED rated at 700 nits and 1,600 nits HDR, with VESA DisplayHDR True Black 1400 and Pantone validation. Notebookcheck measured 722 nits in SDR, 1,644 nits in HDR and 99 percent DCI-P3 coverage. One catch: ASUS also sells a 64 GB P16 with a 3K OLED rated at 500 nits (model H7607BA-PB98T in the US), and that is the panel GeekaWhat’s review unit used. If you want the 4K tandem panel, check the model number or the display line before you order.

Notebookcheck measured PWM flicker on the 4K OLED and noted compatibility problems with some apps and games, the general Windows on Arm caveat. c’t 3003 found the fan on the smaller ProArt P14 spinning up on an idle desktop right after boot, which is worth listening for if the laptop will sit next to you all day. The US warranty is one year. And ProArt is a creator line, not an enterprise line, so an IT department may need to check its management and service options.

Who should buy it

Anyone who wants the most RTX Spark for the money, especially for local AI. It is also the one to carry around: almost 250 grams lighter than the Dell.

2. Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: The best desk and business machine

What it does well

The Surface is the most complete everyday package. Its 15-inch PixelSense Ultra display is a mini-LED panel with 1,344 local dimming zones, up to 2,000 nits HDR, 100 percent DCI-P3 and Dolby Vision IQ. Mini-LED cannot burn in, which makes it the most relaxed choice for long days of static content: code editors, browser tabs, dashboards, the same taskbar for eight hours.

Microsoft ships Windows 11 Pro with every configuration from 32 GB up, the SSD is removable, and the 64 GB version comes with 2 TB, so its $200 premium over the 4K ASUS also buys you more storage. PCWorld measured just under eight hours of 4K video streaming and about ten hours in an office battery test. Hardware Canucks praised the build quality, the haptic trackpad, the fast removable SSD and very quiet fans. The magnetic charging port is a small but nice touch for a laptop that goes on and off a desk every day. Microsoft also sells a for Business version for companies that manage their devices centrally.

Where it falls short

It is the only one of the three with a 15-inch screen, and at 4.41 lb it is not light. PCWorld measured 792 nits in SDR mode, below Microsoft’s 1,000-nit claim. Hardware Canucks heard coil whine under AI load, and on battery their unit lost 26 to 40 percent of its performance and lasted 20 percent less than a 14-inch M5 Pro MacBook Pro while browsing. Mini-LED is also not OLED: small bright details on a black background can show a little glow, which you notice more in night photos than in office work.

Who should buy it

Anyone who will use the laptop mostly on a desk with an external monitor, anyone whose IT department has to manage it, and anyone who wants the least worry about the screen over years of static content.

3. Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition: The most premium, at a price

What it does well

The Creator Edition is the best-looking of the three, in a CNC-machined aluminum body just under 18 mm thick. Its 16-inch 3.2K OLED touchscreen runs at a variable 20 to 120 Hz, which helps battery life on static content. Dell’s spec sheet lists 400 nits, and Dell quotes up to 1,000 nits peak, and launch coverage describes the panel as a tandem OLED. Andrew Marc David’s hands-on found it bright, with a good anti-glare coating.

Unlike the regular XPS 16, the Creator Edition brings back the ports photographers and video editors ask for: three USB4 ports with DisplayPort 2.1, HDMI 2.1b and a full-size SD card reader. Andrew also found the quad speakers unusually strong for a Windows laptop, and the 5 MP infrared webcam supports Windows Hello.

Where it falls short

At $4,799.99 for 64 GB and 1 TB it is the most expensive of the three, and at 2.02 kg the heaviest. Every US configuration ships with Windows 11 Home, so a business buyer has to budget for an upgrade to Pro. The base warranty is mail-in service. Dell keeps its zero-lattice keyboard, which you should try before you buy. And while the display is excellent, nothing in the published specs makes it clearly better than the ASUS for $400 more.

Who should buy it

Anyone who wants the most premium design and the full set of creator ports, or whose company already buys Dell at a good discount. At list price, it is hard to recommend over the other two.

Display: Which one shows your work best?

For looking at finished design work and photos, all three are excellent, and the differences are about character rather than quality.

• OLED (ASUS, Dell): perfect blacks and pixel-level contrast. Dark images, night photos and high-contrast designs look most dramatic here. The ASUS’s 4K panel is the sharpest of the three. Avoid the 3K ASUS version if the display matters to you: at the same 16 inches, the Dell’s 3.2K panel is slightly sharper than that one.
• Mini-LED (Surface): the brightest of the three in HDR and the safest for static content. Excellent in bright rooms. Small bright details on black can glow a little.
• For color-critical work, none of the three replaces a calibrated external monitor. If you only review and compare designs, as we will, any of them is more than good enough.

Living on a desk: Docks, charging and burn-in

If the laptop replaces a desktop and lives on a dock most of the day, a few things matter more than benchmarks.

• Power. ASUS and Microsoft ship 140 W chargers. Many USB-C docks deliver only 90 or 100 W, which is fine for office work but may not be enough under full AI load. Either buy a dock that really delivers 140 W, or plug in the original charger as well.
• Ports. All three have three USB4 ports and HDMI, so one or two external monitors, Ethernet and peripherals through a dock are no problem.
• Burn-in. With an OLED, let the internal screen switch off when you work on an external monitor, or close the lid. The Surface’s mini-LED does not have this concern.
• Battery health. If the laptop is plugged in nearly all the time, set a charge limit around 80 percent in the manufacturer’s app.
• Airflow. Do not stand the laptop in a closed vertical dock during long AI sessions. An open stand keeps it cooler and quieter.

Our pick

We are leaning towards the ASUS ProArt P16 with 64 GB. It costs the least, weighs the least, ships with Windows 11 Pro and has a second SSD slot for models, and for local AI, which is why we want an RTX Spark laptop at all, it uses exactly the same chip as the others.

The Surface Laptop Ultra is a very close second, and for some buyers the better first. If the laptop will spend most of its life on a dock in an office, or an IT department has to manage it, its mini-LED screen, Windows 11 Pro across the range, removable SSD and extra terabyte make the higher price easy to defend.

The Dell is a beautiful laptop that we would only buy with a strong company discount.

Whichever you choose, test your important software on Windows on Arm first, and ask about a return window. This is a first-generation platform. Our guide is an NVIDIA RTX Spark laptop worth it? explains the trade-offs in detail, and if you do not need Windows at all, our Mac mini guide for local LLMs shows a quieter, cheaper way to run the same models at home.

Our sources

• ASUS: ProArt P16 (H7607, RTX Spark) and the US store listing for the 64 GB version
• Microsoft: Surface Laptop Ultra
• Dell: XPS 16 Creator Edition
• Notebookcheck: ASUS ProArt P16 RTX Spark review
• PCWorld: Surface Laptop Ultra review
• Hardware Canucks: RTX Spark vs the fastest MacBook Pro (Surface Laptop Ultra)
• Andrew Marc David: Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition
• GeekaWhat: NVIDIA RTX Spark review (ASUS ProArt P16)
• c’t 3003: RTX Spark im Test (ASUS ProArt P14)

FAQ

Which RTX Spark laptop has the best display?

It depends on what you value. The ASUS ProArt P16 is available with a 4K tandem OLED, also with 64 GB, which Notebookcheck measured at 722 nits in SDR and 1,644 nits in HDR. ASUS also sells a 64 GB version with a dimmer 3K OLED, so check the model number. The Surface Laptop Ultra has a mini-LED with up to 2,000 nits HDR and no burn-in risk. The Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition has a 3.2K OLED with a variable 20 to 120 Hz refresh rate.

Is local AI faster on one of these laptops?

Not in a way we can measure yet. With the 20-core N1X chip and 64 GB, all three use the same processor, GPU and memory. Small differences in cooling and power limits are possible, but nobody has tested the three side by side.

Which one is cheapest with 64 GB?

The ASUS ProArt P16, from $4,499.99 at ASUS with the 4K tandem OLED. The Surface Laptop Ultra with 64 GB is listed at $4,699 but includes 2 TB. The Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition with 64 GB and 1 TB costs $4,799.99.

Can I use these laptops as a desktop replacement with a dock?

Yes. All three have three USB4 ports and HDMI. Use a dock that delivers enough power or plug in the original charger as well, set a battery charge limit if the laptop lives on the desk, and with an OLED let the internal screen switch off when you work on an external monitor.

Which RTX Spark laptop is best for business use?

The Surface Laptop Ultra. It ships with Windows 11 Pro from 32 GB, has a mini-LED screen that is safe for static office content, and Microsoft sells a for Business version. All US configurations of the Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition ship with Windows 11 Home.