Nvidia Set to Compete with ‘Intel Inside’ by Launching Up to Eight Arm-Based Laptops

Intel and AMD have long dominated the Windows laptop scene, but the landscape is shifting as Arm-based options gain traction. It’s not just Apple MacBooks and MediaTek Chromebooks leading the charge anymore; Qualcomm Snapdragon laptops are now making their mark on Windows. This spring, Nvidia is set to introduce its own Arm chips for consumer laptops, moving away from the traditional Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU combo. Instead, we’ll see the Nvidia N1 system-on-chip taking center stage.

Recently, a leak from Lenovo revealed that the company is developing six laptops powered by the upcoming N1 and N1X processors, including a 15-inch gaming model. Dataminer Huang514613 shared the product names on X, which feature 14 and 16-inch versions of the Ideapad Slim 5, two configurations of the 15-inch Yoga Pro 7, and a Yoga 9 2-in-1 device.

You can find additional confirmation beyond Huang’s insights: an update page for Lenovo’s Legion Space control software lists a “Legion 7 15N1X11” gaming laptop, indicating the presence of Nvidia’s gaming SoC. A quick search also uncovered a publicly indexed web portal with listings for password-protected “Nvidia N1x Portal Prod” and “Nvidia N1x Portal Test” sites.

While Lenovo is the largest laptop manufacturer globally, it’s not alone in this venture. Dell is rumored to be gearing up to launch an Alienware gaming laptop by early 2026, and there are whispers of a Dell Premium laptop (now XPS) featuring the Nvidia N1X as well. That brings the potential count of upcoming Nvidia laptops to eight.

Just a few days ago, reports indicated that Nvidia plans to roll out its N1 and N1X laptop platform this spring, with more devices expected to follow in the summer after a previous delay. Additionally, the company has N2 and N2X chips on the roadmap for late 2027.

While the exact performance of the N1 and N1X remains uncertain, a Geekbench leak (which should be taken with caution, as there have been instances of fake specs) hinted that the N1X variant could boast as many CUDA cores as a desktop RTX 5070 graphics card and 20 CPU cores, similar to Nvidia’s GB10 “Superchip” in the DGX Spark mini-PC. This speculation is bolstered by Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang’s near-confirmation that the N1 and GB10 are closely related.

Nvidia’s foray into Arm PC chips has been anticipated for some time, but the company has previously powered consumer devices with Arm technology. Every Nintendo Switch features an Nvidia Tegra chip, and this line has also powered various tablets, including the original Microsoft Surface RT, as well as Nvidia’s Shield handheld and Shield TV set-top boxes, developed in collaboration with MediaTek.

AMD is reportedly working on its own Arm chips for future Microsoft Surface devices, adding to the competitive landscape.