My favorite laptop for local AI doesn't use RTX Spark or Strix Halo, it's the third option everyone underestimates

Published Nov 6, 2026, 11:30 AM EST Patrick Campanale has been in the tech space for well over a decade, specializing in PC/gaming news and reviews, as well as maker-focused products to build small businesses. With a start in technology back in 2010 surrounding the Palm/webOS ecosystem, Patrick spent his formative years developing mobile applications as well as blogging for various publications, eventually leading to starting his own website in 2014. After running a technology blog for a few years, he stepped out of that role and into the world of high-end custom PC manufacturing and building, with a focus on YouTube video production and overclocking. Then, in 2017, Patrick joined the 9to5Toys team as an editor/writer/reviewer with over 14,000 articles being published during his time there, ranging from deals and roundups to in-depth reviews on the latest technology, video games, 3D printers, and more. In his free time, Patrick loves to create projects from wood using various robots and methods, including leveraging the technologies of CNCs and lasers. If Patrick isn't working on a computer or playing video games, he's likely in his 2-car garage workshop creating something unique. In addition to all this, Patrick is also the media director at his local church where he feels God has called him to serve, and he loves every minute of it. I own an RTX Spark laptop, and it's not the one I grab when I want to run local AI. That job goes to the Asus Zenbook A16, a Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme machine with 48GB of RAM that costs about half as much as my 32GB OmniBook Ultra 16. It's not the faster of the two, but it loads the models the RTX Spark won't, it weighs barely more than half as much, and it's the laptop I'd tell most people to look at first. Snapdragon processors are actually great at handling AI tasks They might not be the fastest for large models, but they work well Credit: Justin Duino / How-To GeekCredit: Patrick Campanale / How-To Geek While you might think that you need the latest NVIDIA or AMD chip to run local AI, you can actually run local models on way more hardware than you might realize. In fact, you can run some pretty impressive models on Snapdragon’s latest X2 series processors. Sure, AMD and NVIDIA are at the forefront of local AI processing with the Strix Halo, DGX Spark, and RTX Spark platforms. But, Snapdragon’s X2 series is actually built to run AI too. I recently put the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme with 48GB of RAM head-to-head against the RTX Spark with 32GB of RAM and the results were nothing short of impressive. It really moved the Snapdragon up in my mind as far as local AI capabilities, which is something I did not expect. You can get Snapdragon laptops for way cheaper than RTX Spark 48GB of RAM for how much?! The HP OmniBook Ultra 16 that I reviewed running on the NVIDIA RTX Spark platform was a fantastic computer, don’t get me wrong. The hardware is superb and the build quality is fantastic. But, it’s expensive for a 32GB laptop. Meanwhile, for around half the cost (especially when sales are going on), the Zenbook A16 with the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme and 48GB of RAM is available—and it can run more capable local AI models. The 32GB RTX Spark struggled to load in moderate models. When they ran, they were quick. But, I couldn’t load the models that I wanted to use on the RTX Spark. The models were simply were too big to use with platforms like Hermes since it needs a larger context window. Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme, on the other hand, ran everything I wanted it to, including Qwen 3.8 27B, which is one of my favorite local models right now. Placing the X2 Elite Extreme side-by-side with a vastly more expensive laptop surprises me every time, though. A laptop that is built to be light, fast, and more affordable runs larger and more capable models than the laptop purpose-built for local AI work, and it’s still something I’m trying to wrap my head around. I definitely underestimated the Snapdragon at first before putting it through its paces. The laptops are lighter, have better battery life, and are just fun to use I'm always surprised when I pick up my Zenbook A16 Credit: Cianna Garrison / How-To Geek My Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme-powered Zenbook A16 is probably one of the lightest laptops I have right now—rivaled only by the ultra-tiny Dell XPS 13. It’s impressively light. At 2.65 pounds, the A16 is about half the weight of the OmniBook Ultra 16, even though it’s more capable. It also has better battery life and essentially just as good of a screen. It impresses me every time I pick it up. I honestly forget how light it is, which makes it fun to use. I love picking up the Zenbook A16 to write an article, watch YouTube, or do some local AI work. Meanwhile, I do love the RTX Spark laptops and Strix Halo laptops out there, but they just aren’t as fun to use on the more budget-focused side of the tracks. Asus Zenbook A16 (2026) 9/10 Operating System Windows 11 Home CPU Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme GPU Qualcomm Adreno RAM 48GB The ASUS Zenbook A16 (2026) has a lot going on under the hood, like the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme CPU, powerful integrated AI features, and a stunning 3K OLED display. Despite some incredibly powerful specs, it's ultraportable, weighing just 2.65lbs. I wanted to love the RTX Spark, but Snapdragon has stolen my heart for affordable local AI work At the end of the day, price and performance are king—and Snapdragon reigns supreme right now for both in the local AI space. For under $2,000, the Asus Zenbook A16 packs the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme processor with 48GB of RAM and a 3K OLED display. If I were to pick a favorite laptop for local AI, it would be the Snapdragon X2 Elite Extreme without hesitation. I just love doing local AI work on that machine.