A Dell laptop with Nvidia's eagerly anticipated N1X Arm CPU may have been postponed or scrapped.
It has taken a while for Nvidia to release its N1X Arm-based CPU. However, it has now been discovered in a shipment manifest set up on a 16-inch Dell laptop. Is it about to launch, then? Maybe not.
On the NBD Trade Data website, Twitter user @Olrak29_ noticed a reference to a "Dell 16 Premium" with "N1X" in a shipment manifest entry. N1X most likely refers to Nvidia's Arm processor for consumer PCs, the existence of which has been verified by none other than CEO and leather jacket tycoon Jensen Huang.
The terms "engineering technical samples for R&D purposes" and "DVT" are two more interesting details in the listing. The latter is referred to as a design validation test, which often denotes a fully functional and feature-rich version of a product.
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In fact, several manufacturers have provided us with official review samples of "DVT" computers. To be equivalent to retail shipping items, they frequently just require a firmware upgrade.
This clearly suggests that the Nvidia-equipped Dell laptop was almost ready to market. However, there are a few drawbacks. To begin with, this manifest listing dates back to November 20 of last year. However, nothing has been launched.
Additionally, Dell's 2025 "Premium" logo is present on the described laptop. Additionally, Dell just revealed at CES that it would be bringing back the XPS brand for 2026 laptops with a small "p" premium market positioning.
Therefore, it is quite likely that Dell had planned to release this laptop in 2025, but for some reason it has been postponed or perhaps canceled. As we previously reported in July, there were several reasons why the N1X was delayed.
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One was that the chip itself needed to be revised. However, "delays in Microsoft's operating system roadmap" were also mentioned.
The latter problem—more especially, operating system and program support—is undoubtedly the largest obstacle that any Arm processor for the PC must overcome. The precise characteristics of the N1X are still unknown. It could feature an iGPU with the same specifications as an RTX 5070 desktop GPU if it is built on the same GB10 "superchip" as the Nvidia DGX Spark box.
Arm CPU cores are already being introduced to PCs by Qualcomm's Snapdragon X processors. (Photo courtesy of Qualcomm)
Regardless of the precise specifications, there will be significant demands for gaming performance, which will necessitate superior OS support, including a translation layer.
Of course, there are already examples of this, such as Windows on Arm and the Prism translation layer. The issue is that it has been adjusted especially for Qualcomm's Snapdragon X CPUs. Therefore, a version designed especially for Nvidia's N1X would be needed. And it may have been postponed.
In any case, the only thing we can be certain of is that Nvidia has stated that an Arm processor for PCs is on the road, but it hasn't arrived yet. Thus, the possibility of an Nvidia Arm chip for the PC is still intriguing but still unattainable.
Since the 90 nm Netburst period (Google it!), Jeremy has been writing about computers and technology. He appreciates nothing more than a thorough discussion on the subtleties of overshoot and monitor input lag, followed by a forensic analysis of advanced lithography. Or perhaps he simply enjoys "pinging" devices. He also enjoys automobiles and tennis.