That makes this a story about which workload you buy for, not a simple winner and loser. Since the N1X is Nvidia's first shot at a Windows-on-ARM platform, the details matter.
What the N1X is
The RTX Spark N1X combines an ARM CPU, a Blackwell GPU and unified memory in one chip. Notebookcheck's longer analysis describes the CPU as a custom MediaTek design. It has up to ten Cortex-X925 performance cores and ten Cortex-A725 efficiency cores. Because the chip is ARM-based, it needs the ARM version of Windows, so software compatibility is a factor.
The name covers two configurations, so check the spec sheet before buying:
| Variant | CPU | GPU |
|---|---|---|
| Higher-end N1X | 20 cores | 6,144 Blackwell cores |
| Smaller N1X | 18 cores (9 performance + 9 efficiency) | 5,120 Blackwell cores |
Notebookcheck says maximum memory bandwidth is 300 GB/s, comparable to Apple's M5 Pro. Another outlet put the M5 Pro at 307 GB/s. That puts the two chips in the same bandwidth class. The M5 Max, per ThePCEnthusiast, reaches 614 GB/s on the 40-core model.
How it was tested
Notebookcheck's main unit was the redesigned 2026 Asus ProArt P16. It had the 20-core CPU, 6,144 GPU cores and 64 GB of LPDDR5X-9400. Notebookcheck later added Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra, which has the same chip and memory. It said that laptop also runs the N1X at the full 80 W, so overall performance is very similar to the ProArt.
Notebookcheck's power measurements are whole-system draws taken on an external display. They are not simple TDP comparisons.
CPU: Apple is clearly ahead
Notebookcheck's numbers for the 20-core N1X in the ProArt P16 show how big the gap is:
- Cinebench 2024 multi-core: the ProArt scored 1,726 points. The M5 Pro MacBook Pro 16 scored 2,347 and the M5 Max scored 2,490.
- Cinebench 2024 single-core: the ProArt scored 130 points. The M5 Pro scored 201.
- Geekbench 6.7 multi-core: the ProArt scored 20,296 points. The M5 Pro scored 28,436 and the M5 Max scored 30,057.
- Geekbench 6.7 single-core: the ProArt scored 3,092 points. The M5 Pro scored 4,295.
Against the wider field, the picture is better for Nvidia. Notebookcheck calls the N1X's single-core performance solid, faster than AMD's Zen 5 chips and on par with Intel's Panther Lake. Its multi-core performance is very good and keeps up with the fastest AMD Strix Halo systems. It falls behind the M4 and M5 Pro and Max models.
Efficiency favors Apple too. In Cinebench 2024 multi-core, the M5 Pro delivered 23 points per watt. The ProArt P16 delivered 13.6. In that test the N1X drew about 127 W from the wall, against about 102 W for the M5 Pro. That is a benchmark-efficiency result. It is not a battery-life test. Separate testing cited by ThePCEnthusiast points the same way. In LTT Labs' GPU stress test, the Surface lasted 53 minutes against 1 hour 33 minutes for a 14-inch MacBook Pro.
GPU: the N1X's strongest card
Here the N1X leads the M5 Pro. In Notebookcheck's performance rating, the ProArt's Blackwell GPU scored 67.8 points and the Surface scored 64.7. The M5 Pro's 20-core GPU scored 47.2 and the M5 Max's 40-core GPU scored 83.8.
Individual tests differ:
- 3DMark Steel Nomad: the N1X scored 3,134. The M5 Pro scored 2,323 and the M5 Max scored 4,386.
- Geekbench 6.7 OpenCL: the ProArt N1X scored 144,949, against 148,149 for the M5 Max and 88,251 for the M5 Pro. The Surface scored 130,738.
Notebookcheck says the N1X GPU is comparable to powerful versions of the GeForce RTX 5070 and around 50% faster than the Radeon 8060S.
Gaming: emulation costs performance
Notebookcheck's wider analysis warns that the vast majority of titles have to be emulated right now. It lists F1 25 and Battlefield 6 as incompatible. It also reports stutter in Assassin's Creed titles. A native Marvel Rivals build gave roughly a 20% gain at 1080p, with much better 1% lows (9 fps versus 29 fps).
In Cyberpunk 2077 at 1440p Ultra with FSR off, the ProArt averaged 56.8 fps. That is close to the RTX 5060 and well behind the M5 Max (63.1 fps) in the same table. It is, however, well ahead of the M5 Pro (33.4 fps). Notebookcheck's verdict is that gaming works, especially with DLSS and Frame Generation, but laptops with powerful GeForce GPUs are still better for it.
AI: similar, with caveats
Notebookcheck could so far compare the N1X only with the M5 Pro on AI, and found overall performance quite similar. That is a narrow claim. Other outlets report more mixed results. Notebookcheck's own report on Hardware Canucks' testing says the M5 Pro MacBook Pro consistently beat the Surface Laptop Ultra in creative tools. It also says the N1X beat the M5 Pro in only one tested LLM. ThePCEnthusiast, meanwhile, reports the RTX Spark finishing some local AI agent tasks faster than an M5 Max. Which chip wins depends on the model, the software stack (CUDA versus Apple's MLX) and the memory size.
Price: the sore point
Nvidia positions the N1X as an M5 Pro rival, but MacBook Pro models with the M5 Pro are slightly cheaper. The N1X gets a slight price edge only if you need 128 GB of RAM, because Apple offers that capacity only with the M5 Max. Notebookcheck gave no price figures in this item. Prices depend on configuration and chassis, so this is a pattern, not a universal rule.
Who should care
- Developers and AI users: CUDA on a Windows laptop, plus up to 128 GB of unified memory, is the platform's main selling point. Check that your tools run on Windows on ARM.
- Creators: the M5 Pro stays ahead in the creative-app results reported by Notebookcheck and others. Huge RAW projects that overflow a discrete GPU's memory are a possible exception.
- Gamers: a conventional GeForce laptop is the safer choice for now.
- Everyone: make sure you know which N1X variant you are buying.
Bottom line
Notebookcheck's findings are mixed rather than damning. The N1X is competitive with AMD, Intel and most Qualcomm chips on CPU and clearly beats the M5 Pro on graphics. Apple's fifth-generation silicon still leads on CPU speed and efficiency, and the M5 Max beats the N1X on GPU. For now, the N1X's case rests on CUDA, big unified memory and the specific workload, not on beating Apple across the board.