[dmnmnm]

> much better GPU and NPU

I don't know about the Apple ecosystem, but have you seen ANYTHING using the NPU on PC? I have not. I own an AMD laptop with an NPU (Ryzen 9 8945HS) and the NPU has never seen a single percentage of utilization since the laptop was unboxed and put to use. And I actually have an interest in local AI, but all the stuff I use (like Ollama or ComfyUI) run on the GPU, even if they had support for the NPU (I do not think they do) I would not run that stuff on the NPU because it's just not competitive with the nvidia gpu that's also on my laptop.

To me, seeing intel and AMD include this sort of useless thing is anger inducing. I am paying for this. I want every inch of that silicon to be useful. Not detrimental waste of space, like the NPU.

Seeing "better NPU" in a sentence meant to market a CPU doesn't elicit positive emotions.

In the windows world, the one thing that might end up using an NPU is also the thing most people do not want: Windows Recall. And that feature, for now, is exclusive to Qualcomm ARM PCs, current x86-64 NPU owners can't get it.

[ruthmarx]

> seeing intel and AMD include this sort of useless thing is anger inducing. I am paying for this.

So don't pay for it. No one is making you. Wait for a model that doesn't have an NPU, or buy an older model that doesn't. It's not like it won't still be fast enough.

[dmnmnm]

>Wait for a model that doesn't have an NPU

How many years from now? There isn't any high end CPU in laptops without those useless things now.

> buy an older model that doesn't

I don't think you've ever shopped for laptops, or you're lucky and live in a country that is particularly plentiful for choices in PCs. Looking for the specific combination of having 32gb of ram, 1tb of SSD, an AMD CPU (with Intel's current manufacturing woes I was not willing to gamble), an NVIDIA GPU with a minimum of 8 gb of vram took far more efforts than I am normally to spend doing activities like shopping. And now you tell me "do all that while looking for a model that predates NPUs"?

Of course I could order online from god knows where but I like buying from retailers that are known to honor their warranty well and good since there's always the possibility of buying lemons and I don't feel like wasting time shipping crap myself when I could just exchange it in place if it happened.

[ruthmarx]

> How many years from now?

Entirely up to you. Point is, vote with your money.

> There isn't any high end CPU in laptops without those useless things now.

Even not considering processors from Intel/AMD?

> I don't think you've ever shopped for laptops,

I've purchased 6 in my life.

> Looking for the specific combination of having 32gb of ram, 1tb of SSD, an AMD CPU (with Intel's current manufacturing woes I was not willing to gamble), an NVIDIA GPU with a minimum of 8 gb of vram took far more efforts than I am normally to spend doing activities like shopping.

So be less picky or find a laptop that lets up upgrade the parts.

> I don't feel like wasting time shipping crap myself when I could just exchange it in place if it happened.

Fine, but this is a compromise you are willing to make, just like paying for the NPU. That's my point.

You don't need a super modern laptop.