NVIDIA will finally release its Arm-based APU, according to a report in the United Daily News. The chip is expected to ship inside a new Alienware laptop in either the final quarter of 2025 or in early 2026.
The rumored chip is said to deliver comparable gaming performance to an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 4070 mobile GPU while consuming only a bit more than half the power.
Leaks and reports about that APU have swirled for months, but we now have details about a device that will reportedly be powered by the chip. Our Cale Hunt explained how the APU could change gaming laptop design forever.
In short, the APU would make it possible to create thinner laptops that deliver comparable power to bulkier systems, all while using less power. Laptops powered by the APU would also have better thermals and require less space for cooling.
NVIDIA is reportedly working with MediaTek to make the APU.
United Daily News states that the APU will feature "a customized Arm architecture CPU," but it is unclear if the CPU cores of the chip will be designed by NVIDIA or Arm.
Our colleagues at PC Gamer shared Apple's M series processors as a point of comparison. Apple uses its own designs for those chips and has become an industry leader by doing so.
Regardless of who makes the APU, chips built on ARM architecture offer several advantages over x86 processors, though there are also notable drawbacks.
👉Related: APU, CPU, and GPU — what are the differences?
Power efficiency is a major benefit delivered by Arm-based chips. That fact is highlighted by Snapdragon-powered PCs, but the power efficiency should also be apparent on Arm-based chips made by NVIDIA, MediaTek, or any other company.
The main downside of Arm-based processors is that systems powered by those chips can run into compatibility issues. Microsoft's Prism technology is better at emulation than its predecessors, but there are still some games and features that do not play nicely with Arm-based PCs.
The topic of game compatibility and Arm-based chips came up when a job listing led some to believe the next Xbox would run on Arm.
Up to this point, Qualcomm has been the only company to make Arm-based chips for laptops. If NVIDIA releases its own Arm-based APU, that could persuade game developers to optimize titles for any chip built on ARM architecture.
If the rumored APU ships, it would push gaming laptops to new limits. United Daily News said the chip provides "the same level of performance as a 120 W RTX 4070 notebook" but does so while using just 65 W of power.
What is an APU?
APU stands for "accelerated processing unit." They have been around since 2011, but you may not have run into the term unless you've used or studied certain types of devices.
APUs are CPUs with integrated graphics. By combining the CPU and GPU on a single die, chipmakers can increase efficiency.
The first APUs were made by AMD, and that company is still closely associated with the term. For example, the AMD Ryzen 8700G is an APU designed for desktops. AMD's Z1 Extreme is a mobile APU seen inside gaming handhelds like the ASUS ROG Ally and Lenovo Legion Go.
APUs are also available in laptops. AMD's Ryzen AI 300 processors are the latest generation of mobile chips.
Even the Xbox Series X|S and PlayStation 5 gaming consoles have APUs.
One thing that the above APUs have in common is that they are from AMD. NVIDIA releasing an APU for gaming laptops would mark a major shift in the industry. The rumored chips would also break ground by being built on ARM architecture rather than x86.
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