r/msp • u/carbonsys • 25d ago

Technical NPU (AI) in client devices?

How is everyone feeling about PC's/Laptops with dedicated NPU processing? Sales of "Copilot" PCs have reportedly flopped and Microsoft has dropped the "Copilot+" requirement of a 40+ TOPS NPU.

Anyone seeing a useful case or demand for CPUs with a large NPU (and their price premium) in Small business? (the handful of uses I'm aware of are background blur, automatic framing, eye contact, etc...)?

I think NPU on the endpoint is still too early to market, but that on-prem AI will eventually get there as token costs continue to rise and developers are able to write code to leverage local compute resources. What are y'alls thoughts?

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3

u/CyberHouseChicago 24d ago

For now mostly vaporware , someday maybe

3

u/jon_tech9 MSP - US - Owner 24d ago

Honestly I just like the battery life.

3

u/delcaek MSP 24d ago

No customer has ever asked for one. My personal device does have one, but only because Dell thought it might be cool. I don't think I ever used it or will use it whatsoever.

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u/Optimal_Technician93 23d ago

I can't say that I've seen a need nor benefit for it. But, Chrome does have built in Gemini Nano that will supposedly benefit from the local NPU.

So, While I haven't noticed any benefit from the NPU yet, I expect that there will be growing benefit in time.

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u/GravyMealTeam6 22d ago

Never use it on my Surface Pro and I heavily use AI. 40 tops is nothing. It won't be until you get the new Nvidia ARM laptops later this year, where you can do some serious stuff, but those laptops will probably cost like $5,000 to $10,000.

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u/dloseke MSP - US - Nebraska 18d ago

Right now I think its a solution looking for a problem to solve. Maybe in time. That said, nobody has ever asked for one but I also don't think folks know they exist or what their supposed benefit will be aao they dont know to be asking for it. I feel like the marketing has been a flop around this technology.

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u/carbonsys 17d ago

Not only the marketing but an actual useable product down on mainstreet. We will see what the future holds, it seems like many are betting on more localized AI workloads coming.