It’s not often we can say it, but there’s a new type of laptop in town. Nvidia felt limited by being a bolt-on graphics option for mobile computers, and so designed an entirely new platform for modern power users. It’s designed to handle powerful AI workloads, the latest gaming technologies and every other GPU-intensive design and rendering task – locally – on a thin-and-light laptop. It’s called RTX Spark and to celebrate its launch, MSI is offering a 128GB Dual Drive and one-year accidental damage protection to early buyers of its Nvidia-powered Prestige N16 FLIP AI+ convertible. Here’s what you need to know.
Nvidia RTX Spark in a nutshell
Adding a powerful, discreet GPU to a laptop is expensive and power inefficient. Adding a powerful, integrated Nvidia GPU to another company’s processor is a non-starter. So, Nvidia combined all of its RTX technologies to make a new processor that features the Blackwell GPU (with 6,144 cores) that we see in graphics cards, a 20-core Grace CPU (that features in its AI datacentres), NV Link server technology (to connect the high-performance modules) and up to 128MB of on-board unified memory for demanding AI applications. There’s even a small, (50 TOPS-capable) dedicated NPU to handle Windows CoPilot+ demands, and the result is one of the most-powerful Superchips on the mobile market.
Why RTX Spark is a big deal
Though it’s an ARM processor, its development has involved extensive partnerships with software companies meaning it arrives supporting Windows, most significant business and design applications and almost every significant game. While games that involve anti-cheat systems are still being adapted for the platform, having Nvidia’s DLSS 5 and ray-tracing technologies (and Reflex technology) built into the primary processor means that the latest and greatest games will look (and feel) better than on other thin-and-light laptops which have regular, integrated GPUs.
While it’s not formally a gaming laptop, it’s a laptop that plays games but it also offers workstation-like grunt for those working with graphics, CAD, rendering and AI workloads. For the latter, it makes running local LLMs a reality at a time where cloud-based ‘Frontier’ AI is no longer several months ahead. That means those who spend serious money on tokens can make significant savings by switching to local workloads. RTX Spark also facilitates the efficient operation of local AI agents which can, among other things, fully transform how you interact with your laptop. It’s designed to be the obvious choice for the modern laptop power user.
It’s also worth noting that thermal design has featured heavily in the design. The 80-Watt TDP means that RTX Spark laptops are thin and light, won’t suffer significant thermal throttling and can operate on battery power with few limitations.
MSI Prestige N16 FLIP AI+
Laptop aficionados won’t be surprised that MSI has selected its industry-leading Prestige line to launch its first RTX Spark laptop, and it’s called the Prestige N16 FLIP AI+. As such, the powerful Nvidia innards are housed in a highly portable and very beautiful sub-2KG 16-inch laptop with few compromises.
First up there’s the (optional) beautifully bright, 1,600-nit, Calman Verified Tandem OLED screen. This has an incredibly high 3,840 x 2,400 resolution, it augments the innate vibrant, OLED colours with VESA DisplayHDR True Black 1000 certified HDR contrast and it’s accurate enough to display 100 percent of the difficult DCI-P3 colour gamut with an industry-leading Delta E of < 1. It also has a 120Hz VRR refresh rate to ensure games are blur-free.
Brilliant engineering for the real world
The whole screen can fold back on itself to become a tablet and its touchscreen supports MSI’s (included) Nano Pen active stylus. The Nano Pen even conveniently stows in the base, so you won’t lose it, and just 30 seconds of fast-charging is quick enough to allow it to work for an hour!
Despite the chassis being less-than 17mm thick, MSI squeezes in two 2-Watt speakers and two 2-Watt woofers for audio capabilities that stretch from immersive multimedia to executive-level web conferencing. The latter is further augmented by a high-resolution microphone array and Full HD webcam with grain-banishing 3D Noise Reduction+ technology. It has a hardware privacy shutter and supports Windows Hello login technology.
A fingerprint reader also supports Windows Hello and further security comes from an integrated TPM (2.0) chip and Microsoft Pluton.
A delight to use
The Prestige N16 FLIP AI+ also features a large, multi-gesture Action Touch Pad and the comfortable, UV-cured, smudge-resistant keyboard has four-zone RGB backlighting – because it’s not only gamers who love that.
MSI also includes a full complement of connectivity. There are two, USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 ports, two USB 4 ports (with DisplayPort and Power Delivery 3.1), a 3.5mm audio jack, a full-size SD Card reader and an HDMI 2.1 port for video. Inside there’s Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4, so there won’t be issues connecting new or old devices.
The Prestige N16 FLIP AI+ is portable too. The Superchip is cooled using a vapor chamber with MSI’s Intra Flow, whisper-quiet fan technology and this, plus the maximum-size 99.9Wh battery means it can operate away from the mains all day for office tasks. It’s also military-grade, MIL-STD-810H/G certified so it will survive life on the road.
MSI also bundles the latest version of its configuration software, MSI Center S, which intuitively lets you manage the laptop’s power settings or provides AI that learns from your actions and optimises everything for you.
Real power for local AI
The MSI Prestige N16 FLIP AI+ is available in multiple SKUs to suit different budgets and workloads. The main differences revolve around SSD size, screen technology and unified memory size. It starts at 32GB for everyday AI tasks, through to 64GB for advanced AI-accelerated creation and up to to 128GB for those using the largest LLMs and most-advanced AI agents.
So, if you need an uncompromising new laptop for business or pleasure, or you’re a modern power user who likes to use one device for everything, the RTX Spark-powered MSI Prestige N16 FLIP AI+ needs to be at the top of your shortlist. Get yours here!