Nvidia RTX Spark challenges Dell Pro Max 18 Plus for local AI crown

TechRadar compares NVIDIA's RTX Spark laptops with the Dell Pro Max 18 Plus in local-AI workloads. It reports that Dell's RTX PRO 5000 configuration reached 185.1 tokens per second on Phi, 140.5 tokens per second on Mistral, and 119.7 tokens per second on Llama 3 in its cited testing, while RTX Spark laptops are expected to go on sale on October 16, 2026. Those figures come from TechRadar's reporting and cited testing; they are not a head-to-head RTX Spark result.

The article says RTX Spark can offer up to 128GB of unified memory and is marketed for local models of about 120 billion parameters, compared with a reported 109-billion-parameter local capacity for the Dell system. TechRadar also notes that Spark's roughly 300GB/s memory bandwidth trails the Dell GPU's 896GB/s and that Spark has fewer CUDA cores. Memory capacity can allow larger models, but it does not establish inference speed: model precision, software, power limits, thermals, and workload all matter. RTX Spark's performance against Dell therefore remains unconfirmed until comparable tests are published.

For Canadian buyers, the article's US pricing and October launch timing do not establish Canadian pricing, availability, warranty coverage, or shipping. Canadian manufacturer listings and independent tests using the same models and settings should be checked before treating the comparison as a purchasing conclusion.