With 1,500 exhibitors across four venues in Taipei, Taiwan, a total of 111,312 buyers and visitors from 152 countries and regions, it’s safe to say that the 2026 edition of Computex was a massive hit. The theme for 2026 was “AI Together”, and every product manager was on hand to explain just how all the artificial intelligence that they’ve crammed into their products would actually be useful to businesses and consumers. I was at Computex for a couple of days and it took me a while to truly process just how far technology has come. For this edition, there were a few clear standouts, and one headline-grabbing announcement.
Let’s start with that headline! After experiencing several delays, and having wanted to fine-tune the product before letting it loose in the wild, Nvidia’s CEO Jensen Huang announced the RTX Spark, the company’s ambitious Arm-based laptop superchip. It has the capacity to shake up the industry like nothing else.
The Nvidia RTX Spark Superchip
Nvidia is singlehandedly trying to save the Windows ecosystem that has, in recent times, become a bit of a laughingstock. It’s full of AI-feature no one cares about, and has slowed down to a point where consumers are looking for alternatives. Nvidia’s chip could yet save the day.
The RTX Spark Superchip, made with the latest 3nm process, along with its full roster of hardware and software partners, is set to define the next age of AI PCs. Nvidia, with its full hardware and software stack, is set to lead with local AI and also with high-end laptops running Windows.
Nvidia’s chips will run Windows on Arm, rather than x86, much like Qualcomm’s Snapdragon laptop chips. Nvidia, for its part, has worked closely with Windows to improve the Prism x86 emulator, and with Adobe and other partners to ensure a broader software compatibility. The company also worked with anti-cheat providers making sure all your favourite games will work from day one. With six laptop and desktop partners already on board—Microsoft, Asus, Dell, HP, MSI and Lenovo—and future Spark chips in the pipeline, Nvidia is clearly aiming for the market share dominated by AMD, Intel and Qualcomm.
The one thing you’d notice upfront is that the RTX Spark features up to 128GB of RAM, something we’ve never seen in consumer-grade laptops before. Nvidia representatives didn’t divulge the minimum RAM configurations for the RTX Spark chips, but some are speculating it might be as low as 16GB.
Nvidia SKUs and their pricing is unknown. What we do know is that the Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra, powered by the RTX Spark will be the one to watch amongst the various laptops expected to launch later this year.
I went hands-on with the Surface Laptop Ultra at Computex. It’s a mix of between an ultraportable and a heavy workstation, and seems tailormade for the current generation of AI processing. Powered by the flagship Nvidia RTX Spark “Grace Blackwell” chip, it has a 20-core Arm processor along with up to 128GB of unified memory and GeForce RTX 5070-level graphics (according to Nvidia). It is truly a mind-boggling device, until you push it to the limits and the fans kick up a storm.
At the core is the gorgeous 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra touchscreen (3:2 aspect ratio, 2,000 nits of peak brightness and 120Hz refresh rate). With its generous port selection—2 USB-C ports, 1 HDMI port on the left; 1 USB-C port, 1 USB-A port, 1 full-sized SD card reader on the right—and the largest trackpad ever on a Surface device, it is directly aimed as a competitor to the 16-inch MacBook Pro.
The creator demos were as good as you’d expect, but Windows didn’t divulge any more information on battery life, expected configurations or pricing. Once released later in 2026, the Surface Laptop Ultra could well become the best Surface PC ever made by Microsoft.
Beyond the Surface Pro Ultra, there was the Asus ProArt P16. It comes with the Lumina Pro OLED display in a 16-inch configuration with a 4K resolution, 120Hz refresh rate and up to 1600 nits of brightness. There’s also the ProArt P14, which has the same specs, but in a 14-inch design, and weighs under 1.5kgs. These did seem excellent at first impressions but having not been shown a ton of demos, and not being able to try it out for long periods, I’ll reserve my verdict for now.
Dell came out with the XPS 16 Creator Edition, a souped-up XPS 16. It’s got a tandem OLED screen (with support for True Black HDR 600 for content creators) and all the other bells and whistles you’d expect, along with that RTX Spark chip. The other partners also had beefy laptops on display. From MSI to HP, these laptops seem poised to shake up the industry when they launch in the Fall.
Intel Arc G3 Extreme: Handheld gaming has a new player
While Nvidia may have stolen the show, Intel wasn’t far behind in grabbing the headlines at Computex. The new Arc G3 chip series is based on the same Core Ultra Series 3 (aka Panther Lake) chip architecture but has been built and designed with for low-power and high-performance gaming handhelds: The G3 Extreme SoC is the top-of-the-line chip that will power the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+, the OneXPlayer 3 and the Acer Predator Atlas 8.
The MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ gaming handheld aims to deliver 60+ FPS gameplay on an 8-inch display with a 120Hz refresh rate. There are also ergonomic controls and Xbox Mode support. Playing Forza Horizon or Battlefield 6, and you know this chip isn’t to be underestimated. For those long train journeys, the Claw 8 EX AI+ will be a wonderful companion with its bright display and smooth gameplay.
While the MSI Claw 8 EX AI+ stands out, I do wish the company had outfitted it with an OLED display. While MSI did test SteamOS, it has stuck to Windows for this handheld. The new Claw is 10g lighter, but it felt a lot heavier when I went hands-on.
Acer too didn’t re-invent the wheel with the Predator Atlas 8. It does, however, massively improve upon performance courtesy the G3 Extreme chip inside. The one upgrade it did get was the new AeroBlade fan which allows for 10% better airflow than the previous model.
Gaming monitors start a spec war
Monitors, especially the gaming ones, were out in full force at Computex. Alienware, one of Dell’s brands, came out swinging with its 39-inch 21:9 display with OLED panel tech and a 5K resolution. The Alienware AW3926QW is the world’s first 39-inch 5K OLED gaming monitor with RGB stripe technology. Thanks to this, the peak brightness has been pushed to 1,300 nits. Before you ask, no, this doesn’t come with sacrificing colour accuracy or the inky blacks that OLED panels are known for.
There’s a dual-mode design with which you can switch between 5K at 165Hz and 1080p at 330Hz, without having to restart the monitor. It’s a curved screen with support for Dolby Vision and a built-in KVM switch, in case you’re using it with multiple devices. Last, but not least, there is an intelligent pixel management tech that is designed to keep degradation in check.
Asus has a new monitor in town for the eSports community. The new ROG Strix OLED XG259QWPG (yes, these monitor names are truly a handful) has a Tandem OLED panel, with a 540Hz refresh rate at the native 1920x1080 resolution and a 0.02ms response time. It’s a 24.5-inch panel that offers 99.5 percent DCI-P3 coverage and has 350 nits of typical brightness and 1,700 nits of peak brightness.
MSI wasn’t going to be left behind as it came out with the world’s first 4K 360Hz display with triple-mode functionality. The 32-inch display (MPG OLED 322URDX36) is backed by its new triple mode functionality, the 5th-generation QD-OLED display. In 1080p resolution, it can go as high as 680Hz refresh rate. There’s 4K at 360Hz and 1440p at 520Hz.
Sahil Bhalla is a Delhi-based writer. He posts @IMSahilBhalla.