The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide for AI PCs

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The Ultimate Buyer’s Guide for AI PCs

As a leader in the technology space, you understand the challenges of keeping up with emerging IT developments, including issues of complexity, cost and security. With device refresh cycles on the horizon — and AI tacked on to absolutely everything — determining the most valuable devices for your fleet can be particularly challenging.

That’s why we’re sharing our latest insight on AI PCs: the game-changing machines that are ushering in a new era of accelerated performance and workload management. AI PCs boast stronger security, improved energy efficiency and overall better performance. With AI continuing to advance at a rapid pace, organizations that choose to adopt these blazing-fast devices will go further, faster — and outpace the competition.

Here’s everything you need to know. ←
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When do you plan to refresh your organization’s devices?

In the next 1-3 months.
By the end of this year.
Sometime next year.
I'm not sure.

What is an AI PC? And does your workforce need it?

An AI PC is a computer that is specifically designed and optimized for AI workloads, such as machine learning, natural language processing and computer vision. These computers are typically equipped with specialized hardware and software components, such as GPUs, NPUs, and specialized AI frameworks, that enable them to handle complex AI tasks with high performance and efficiency.

Independent Software Vendors (ISVs) are increasingly embedding AI capabilities into their offerings, regardless of the industry. PCs lacking AI capabilities will struggle to run this advanced software effectively, if at all. The integration of AI allows for unprecedented functionalities in PCs, such as:

On-device personal assistants that adapt to and expedite user workflows.

On-device multi-modal generation, encompassing audio, video, text and more.

Enhanced on-device AI security that reduces the workload on the main processor.

These innovations leverage the substantial computational power of modern PCs to perform tasks that were previously inconceivable, marking a significant leap in software capabilities.

The greatest benefits of an AI PC include faster processing times, overall improved performance (particularly for generative AI tasks) and significantly longer battery life. By using an AI PC, organizations can enhance productivity, improve decision-making capabilities, and unlock new possibilities for innovation and growth.

Not investing in AI PCs now can have several downsides for organizations, such as:

Reduced competitiveness

Enterprises that do not invest in AI PCs risk falling behind their competitors who are leveraging AI to drive innovation, growth and efficiency. This can lead to reduced competitiveness and market share.

Slower processing times

Without specialized hardware and software components, enterprises may experience slower processing times for AI-enabled applications — leading to reduced functionality or, at worst, inability to run the latest versions of daily productivity tools.

Increased reliance on
cloud-based solutions

Without an AI PC, enterprises may be forced to rely on cloud-based solutions for their AI services, which can be slower, less secure and more expensive than on-premises solutions.

Missed opportunities
for innovation

Without an AI PC, enterprises may miss out on opportunities for innovation and growth in a wide range of applications and industries.

AI PC processing explained

The latest PCs are a combination of CPU, GPU, NPU and potentially other accelerators. They are being made available in traditional x86/x64 chipsets as well as an increasing availability on ARM-based offerings for both Windows and Mac users.

Central Processing Unit (CPU) is the primary component of a computer that performs most of the processing tasks. It’s responsible for executing instructions and managing the flow of data within a computer system. The performance of a CPU is measured by its clock speed, number of cores and cache size, among other factors. CPUs are general-purpose processors capable of handling a wide range of tasks, but by design they are not optimized for any single specific kind of operation.

Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) is a specialized processor designed to handle complex graphical computations. It’s used to render images, videos, and animations, and is essential for high-performance gaming, video editing, and other graphics-intensive applications. GPUs are optimized for parallel processing, allowing them to perform many calculations simultaneously and deliver faster performance compared to CPUs for certain tasks. Because GPUs are designed for parallel processing tasks, they are well-suited for running AI tasks; however, they are not as specialized or power efficient as NPUs.

Neural Processing Unit (NPU) is a specialized processor designed specifically for accelerating AI and machine learning workloads. Unlike CPUs and GPUs, which are general-purpose processors, NPUs are optimized for the specific types of computations required for AI. NPUs are designed to perform these computations with high efficiency, low power, and low latency, making them ideal for use in applications that require real-time processing, such as autonomous vehicles, robotics, and smart cameras.

By offloading AI workloads to an NPU, organizations can achieve faster performance and reduce their reliance on the cloud. This is important since cloud-based solutions have greater latency, because of network operations, and are potentially less secure.

NPU performance: The performance of an NPU is typically measured by its throughput, or the number of calculations it can perform per second. This is often measured in terms of Trillions of Operations Per Second (TOPS or TeraOps).

NPU efficiency: The efficiency of an NPU is typically measured by its power consumption, or how much energy it requires to perform a certain number of calculations. This is often measured in terms of TOPS/watt.

ARM-based processors are a type of processor architecture that is used in a wide range of computing devices, from smartphones and tablets to servers and supercomputers. ARM-based processors are designed to be energy-efficient, high-performing and highly scalable. One of the key benefits of ARM-based processors is their low power consumption, which makes them ideal for use in mobile devices and other battery-powered devices.

What are the differences in AI PCs?

The terms AI-enabled, AI-capable, AI-ready and next-gen AI PCs are often used to describe different levels of AI integration in computing devices. Here are the differences among these terms:

AI-capable PCs: These are computers that have the necessary hardware and software components to support more advanced AI workloads, such as machine learning or natural language processing. They may require additional software or hardware upgrades to fully leverage their AI capabilities.

Ideal user: An AI-capable PC is ideal for the generalist knowledge worker who may benefit from more advanced AI functionality. Right now, AI device capabilities far exceed that of the software — but this is expected to change rapidly. Having an AI-capable PC ensures the device will be able to execute any AI software developments to come.

AI-ready PCs: These are computers that are specifically designed and optimized for AI workloads, with built-in hardware accelerators and software frameworks. They are capable of handling advanced AI tasks out of the box, without the need for additional upgrades or modifications.

Ideal user: An AI-ready PC is ideal for users who need to run advanced AI workloads out of the box, without the need for additional upgrades or modifications. This type of PC is suitable for enterprises, research institutions, and large-scale AI projects that require high-performance computing and specialized hardware.

Next-gen AI PCs: These are the latest generation of AI-enabled computers, with cutting-edge hardware and software technologies that offer even greater performance and capabilities. They may include features such as adaptive AI models that learn as well, provide cutting edge capabilities and have the highest performance for AI workloads.

Ideal user: A next-gen AI PC is where the market is headed. These AI PCs are blazing fast, highly energy efficient, adapt to user needs and accelerate everyday tasks. They are ideal for your most technical and demanding users.

AI-enabled PCs: These are computers that have some level of AI integration, such as a pre-installed AI software or hardware accelerator. They are designed to handle basic AI tasks, such as voice recognition, content generation or image processing.

Ideal user: An AI-enabled PC is ideal for users who need basic AI functionality. This type of PC is suitable for home users, students or knowledge workers who only need basic AI capabilities for daily tasks.

Overall, these terms are used to describe different levels of AI integration in computing devices, from basic AI-enabled features to advanced AI capabilities. As AI continues to evolve, we can expect to see more powerful and capable AI-enabled devices that will drive innovation and growth in a wide range of industries and applications.

What are the benefits of AI devices?

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Productivity gains
AI PCs can improve productivity with new classes of capabilities across all kinds of ISV applications. By relegating certain functions to specialized processors, AI PCs can maintain their performance and prevent slowdowns when running large workloads. These devices can learn from user behavior and preferences to provide more personalized experiences and streamline everyday tasks. On-device AI also enables users to run certain generative AI functions without a network connection, increasing productivity for traveling workers.

Sustainability and efficient energy consumption
On-device AI PCs leverage NPUs that are optimized for parallel processing, resulting in less heat generation, power consumption and longer battery life, compared to legacy CPUs. They have reduced energy costs while still achieving high levels of performance. Additionally, with AI operations performed directly on the device, there is less reliance on cloud, further enhancing overall efficiency.

Stronger security and privacy
On-device AI enables workloads and queries to be processed locally. This eliminates the need to rely on the network or cloud, providing an additional layer of security for your organization. Your data stays confidential and protected, and you get nearly instantaneous results.

Future-proofing
AI is becoming pervasive. Investing in an AI PC ensures your device can take advantage of the latest AI-powered technology, especially for applications that leverage intensive NPU processing.

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AI-ready devices from Acer

Acer TravelMate P4 Spin 14 TMP414RN-54-56G9

14” Touchscreen 2-in-1 - Intel Core Ultra 5 125U - 16 GB DDR5 RAM - 512 GB SSD - Windows 11 Pro - Slate Blue

Your price: USD $1,251.99
Insight #: NX.B6HAA.001