Do You Need an NPU in Your Next Laptop?

Is the NPU on that spec sheet worth paying extra for? It runs a few small AI jobs in the background, such as blurring the room behind you on a video call, and it uses less power for them than the CPU or GPU would. Little software is written to call on it, so most people will barely use it.

Here is the catch on cost. None of the four sources behind this piece (Engadget, Microsoft, HP and Laptop Mag) gives a price for the NPU, so the only numbers to weigh are power figures. The "AI PC" sticker tells you the part is inside. It does not tell you whether anything you run will use it.

What an NPU does that the CPU and GPU don't

Engadget defines an NPU as "a block of silicon that runs AI workloads at a fraction of the power a CPU or GPU needs." Its rough comparison puts the NPU at about 2W against well over 100W for discrete graphics. The workload behind those two numbers is not given.

Background blur shows the trade. The CPU or GPU can run it, but Engadget notes that both draw a lot of power doing so, and on battery that draw comes out of the same charge as everything else. For now the NPU's work is what Engadget calls "always-on and low-power use cases".

HP sells laptops with NPUs, so its explainer is a vendor page and should be read as one. Its list of NPU jobs is "voice recognition, image enhancement, background blur, and real-time transcription." On where the chip sits next to the other two, HP is plain: "An NPU does not replace the CPU or GPU. It complements them."

In general terms, running a model that has already been built is called inference, and building the model in the first place is called training. Blurring a video frame and turning speech into text are inference jobs.

Which chip handles what

The table sorts everyday jobs by chip, using only those four sources. Rows from HP are vendor claims. The notice column records what each source says happens, and the Mistral 7B row is the only one with a measured figure.

The 98% figure measures load. It shows where the work went in Engadget's test and carries no timing, so whether answers came back any faster is unknown.

If running models offline is the reason for buying, read the GPU and its video memory on the spec sheet before the TOPS line.

What the TOPS figures mean for the price

TOPS stands for trillion operations per second, the unit Microsoft uses to rate an NPU. For a Copilot+ PC, Microsoft's Windows specifications page calls for a "compatible processor or System on a Chip (SoC) with an NPU capable of performing 40+ TOPS."

Engadget points out that the 40 TOPS has to come from the NPU, not a GPU. A laptop with fast graphics and a weaker NPU still falls short of the Copilot+ line.

Video calls ask for far less. On the same Microsoft page, Windows Studio Effects, which handles call blur and eye contact, needs an NPU of 10+ TOPS. The step from 10 to 40 TOPS pays for the Copilot+ features. Studio Effects is covered well below it.

Copilot+ also sets a memory floor of 16 GB of DDR5 or LPDDR5. Microsoft lists a storage minimum too, and that figure was not available at the time of writing. RAM is used by every program you open. The NPU only works for software built to call on it.

Buy or skip?

Start with who should not pay extra: anyone whose computing needs are basic. HP, which sells NPU laptops, says people with basic computing needs only don't need one. Software support points the same way. Engadget writes that "very little software natively supports it," and its author's own laptop, used casually, left the NPU sitting idle.

The battery argument also comes from the seller. HP says efficient NPU processing can extend battery life by 15 to 20% during AI-intensive workloads. It shows no test behind that number, the claim covers AI-heavy work only, and none of the other sources tests battery life at all.

Then the cost column, which is empty. No source gives a price for a 10 TOPS NPU, a 40 TOPS NPU, or a Copilot+ laptop over one without the badge. With no premium, there is no cost per year to set against HP's battery claim or Engadget's 2W figure.

• Skip the premium if your AI is ChatGPT or Gemini in a browser.
• For blur and eye contact on calls, an NPU of 10+ TOPS covers Windows Studio Effects.
• Pay for Copilot+ only if you want its features. The 16 GB RAM floor comes with it, and that memory serves every program you run.

Unless you want Copilot+ features, put the money into RAM before you pay for an NPU.