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Here's the one most people should buy ChatGPT vs. ChatGPT Plus: Is the subscription fee worth it? Have 10 hours? IBM will train you in AI fundamentals - for free How to upgrade Windows Home edition to Pro 7 useful things to do with your Flipper Zero The Apple Watch to buy this year Meta's $299 Ray-Ban smart glasses may be the most useful gadget I've tested all year iPhone 15 Pro review: Who this upgrade will wow Samsung Galaxy S23 Ultra review: One of the best smartphones of the year Sonos Era 300 review: Close to a perfect smart speaker Do you need antivirus on Linux? Best laptops Best VPNs Best TVs Best Headphones Best robot vacuums ZDNET Recommends * Tech Gaming Headphones Laptops Mobile Accessories Networking PCs Printers Smartphones Smart Watches Speakers Streaming Devices Streaming Services Tablets TVs Wearables Kitchen & Household Office Furniture Office Hardware & Appliances Smart Home Smart Lighting Yard & Outdoors * Innovation Artificial Intelligence AR + VR Cloud Digital Transformation Energy Robotics Sustainability Transportation Work Life Accelerate your tech game Paid Content How the New Space Race Will Drive Innovation How the metaverse will change the future of work and society Managing the Multicloud The Future of the Internet The New Rules of Work The Tech Trends to Watch in 2023 * Business See all Business Amazon Apple Developer E-Commerce Edge Computing Enterprise Software Executive Google Microsoft Professional Development Social Media SMB Windows Digital transformation: Trends and insights for success Software development: Emerging trends and changing roles * Security See all Security Cyber Threats Password Manager Ransomware VPN Cybersecurity: Let's get tactical Securing the Cloud * Advice Deals How-to Product Comparisons Product Spotlights Reviews * Buying Guides See all Buying Guides Best all-in-one computers Best budget TVs Best gaming CPUs Best gaming laptops Best gaming PCs Best headphones Best iPads Best iPhones Best laptops Best large tablets Best OLED TVs Best robot vacuum mops Best rugged tablets Best Samsung phones Best smart rings Best smartphones Best smartwatches Best speakers Best tablets Best travel VPNs Best TVs Best VPNs Best Coupons * More See all Topics Finance Education Health Special Features ZDNET In Depth ZDNET Recommends Newsletters Videos Editorial Guidelines Tech Why you can trust ZDNET : ZDNET independently tests and researches products to bring you our best recommendations and advice. When you buy through our links, we may earn a commission. Our process 'ZDNET Recommends': What exactly does it mean? ZDNET's recommendations are based on many hours of testing, research, and comparison shopping. We gather data from the best available sources, including vendor and retailer listings as well as other relevant and independent reviews sites. And we pore over customer reviews to find out what matters to real people who already own and use the products and services we’re assessing. When you click through from our site to a retailer and buy a product or service, we may earn affiliate commissions. This helps support our work, but does not affect what we cover or how, and it does not affect the price you pay. Neither ZDNET nor the author are compensated for these independent reviews. Indeed, we follow strict guidelines that ensure our editorial content is never influenced by advertisers. ZDNET's editorial team writes on behalf of you, our reader. Our goal is to deliver the most accurate information and the most knowledgeable advice possible in order to help you make smarter buying decisions on tech gear and a wide array of products and services. Our editors thoroughly review and fact-check every article to ensure that our content meets the highest standards. If we have made an error or published misleading information, we will correct or clarify the article. If you see inaccuracies in our content, please report the mistake via this form. Close Home Tech Computing PCs WHAT IS AN AI PC? (AND SHOULD YOU BUY ONE?) How does a computer powered up to handle artificial intelligence tasks differ from a regular PC? Who's making them? And where does Windows 12 fit in? We answer all your burning questions. Written by Adrian Kingsley-Hughes, Contributing Writer Feb. 27, 2024 at 10:40 a.m. PT * * * * * RANK CHANGE TREND 1 new Microsoft Copilot now lets you create your own custom chatbots 2 new EnCharge AI breakthrough could solve generative AI's power problem 3 new Meta Ray-Ban smartglasses can now identify landmarks 4 new AWS launches tool to validate the helpfulness of AI models read full trend report Dell's 2024 XPS 16 laptop, powered by Intel's Core Ultra chips, is a system that can be called an "AI PC." Cesar Cadenas/ZDNET Companies are exploring ways to leverage artificial intelligence (AI) to maintain their competitive edge, and PCs must evolve to keep pace. Also: The best computers: Laptops, desktops, PCs and more compared This is why "AI PCs" will be a hot topic in 2024, as PC manufacturers, OEMs, and chip makers aim to initiate a new cycle of upgrades. But what exactly is an AI PC, and how does it differ from a regular PC? WHAT IS AN AI PC? Think of an AI PC as a supercharged personal computer, tailor-made with the right hardware and software to handle AI and machine learning tasks like a pro. It's all about giving those number-crunching, data-sifting AI and machine learning tasks the power boost they need. These tasks cover a wide spectrum of workloads including generative AI programs like Stable Diffusion, clever chatbots powered by local language models, comprehensive data analysis, training of AI models, and running intricate simulations and sophisticated AI-driven applications. Also: This mini PC is basically a Mac Mini for Windows users Along with power processors (CPUs) and graphics cards (GPUs) to give the systems multitasking might, and supported by ample RAM and swift storage options, these PCs boast something new: an NPU, or neural processing unit, designed to turbocharge AI tasks. The goal is to create systems that are quicker at executing AI tasks, more energy-efficient, and eliminate the need to send data -- especially sensitive data -- to cloud-based AI servers for processing. This approach ensures that systems can operate independently of an internet connection, and enhance security by retaining the data locally. NEWSLETTERS ZDNET Recommends ZDNET saves you time and money by delivering the best products and tech deals to your inbox every week. Subscribe See all WHAT IS AN NPU? An NPU, short for neural processing unit, is a specialized processor that's tailor-made to manage the heavy lifting for AI tasks, a job typically assigned to the GPU. While a PC's GPU can certainly power through AI workloads, it can be quite a power-hungry endeavor. That's not ideal for laptops where battery life is precious, and it's not the most efficient choice for desktops either. Also: What is deep learning? Everything you need to know Right now, NPUs aren't quite ready to take the reins from GPUs entirely. It's now more like a partnership, with the two working in tandem to slash processing times while at the same time curbing power usage. But this is just the beginning, and next-gen NPUs will likely be up to speeding through AI tasks all on their own, leaving GPUs to focus on what they do best. While that's the endgame, we're just not quite there yet. WHO'S GETTING INTO THE NPU GAME? Tech titans Intel and AMD are wading into the AI PC arena in a big way. Processor ranges such as Intel's Core Ultra or AMD's Ryzen 8000G (previous to this, AMD had the Ryzen 7040 series which featured the "Ryzen AI" engine), respectively, each feature an NPU to take on some of the AI workload -- workloads such as AI-effects on video calling and for video generation, better multi-tasking with AI-accelerated software, and AI assistants. You're going to see "productivity" and "efficiency" and "advanced collaboration" bandied around a lot. Also: Your next phone will be able to run generative AI tools (even in Airplane Mode) But remember, Intel and AMD are somewhat late to this game. When Apple kicked Intel to the curb and replaced the chip giant with its own line of M-series processors in 2020, these chips all featured "neural engine" NPUs. But the story goes further back. In September 2017, Apple unveiled the A11 Bionic chip for the iPhone, which was the first of its chips to feature a neural engine. Some Qualcomm Snapdragon mobile processors also featured neural engines back in 2018. Intel and AMD aren't so much leading the way, but instead playing catchup. WHAT SORT OF PERFORMANCE CAN YOU EXPECT FROM AN AI PC? It's hard to take benchmarks and translate these into real-world numbers. Intel has published data on how its Core Ultra chips perform under different workloads compared to the competition (the competition in this case being AMD). WHERE DOES WINDOWS 12 FIT IN HERE? There's nothing like a new release of Windows to get both consumers and businesses to upgrade their hardware, so PC makers are hoping that Windows 12 will make a big AI push. Also: Windows 12 FAQ: Yes, it's coming in 2024 (and more surprising predictions) And if just some of the hints are rumors are true, AI is going to be a cornerstone to the new Windows release, and it will be a way for Microsoft to give Windows Copilot -- formerly Bing Chat, the company's centralized AI assistant -- more features, and closing the gap between Windows and Apple's MacOS. WHO'S MAKING AI PCS? Big name OEMs such as Dell, Lenovo, and HP are all rolling out AI PC systems, powered by Intel and AMD processors that feature NPUs. SHOULD YOU BUY AN AI PC? Good question! On one hand, the true potential of AI PCs might not fully become clear until Windows 12 rolls out (likely later this year), which will give us a better idea of what the current crop of AI PCs will be capable of. Also: I turned my laptop into a desktop PC and I've never been more productive On the other hand, if you're in the market for a new PC anyway, opting for one with AI capabilities seems like a smart move. It not only future-proofs your investment but also offers immediate benefits, like blurring your video call background or quickly summarizing lengthy documents. If this sounds useful to you, it might just be worth considering. WILL THESE EXISTING AI PCS BE COMPATIBLE WITH WINDOWS 12? While we don't have any official word on what the system requirements of Windows 12 will be, you can be sure that this current crop of AI PCs will have been built by the OEMs with a lot of feedback from Microsoft. FEATURED REVIEWS LG showed me its retro-themed projector and it's even better than I expected How I optimized the cheapest 98-inch TV right now to look and sound amazing The Blink Mini 2's weather resistance makes for a worthy Wyze Cam competitor I tried LG's new Gram Pro laptops, and they beat my MacBook Air in 3 ways This $350 Android phone nearly made me forget about the flagships * LG showed me its retro-themed projector and it's even better than I expected * How I optimized the cheapest 98-inch TV right now to look and sound amazing * The Blink Mini 2's weather resistance makes for a worthy Wyze Cam competitor * I tried LG's new Gram Pro laptops, and they beat my MacBook Air in 3 ways * This $350 Android phone nearly made me forget about the flagships Editorial standards Show Comments Log In to Comment Community Guidelines x player version3.2.1stream typeHLSplayback state1duration38.271566current time6.23buffer length38.27average dropped (fps)0.00playback framerate (fps)0.00switching modeautotransition statestartstart index bitrate (B/s)-0.00kcurrent index bitrate (B/s)542.05kcurrent bandwidth (B/s)0.00k innovations to work in smart and sometimes startling new ways. 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