10:12Machine-translated from Azerbaijani by AIRead in Azerbaijani
Microsoft Opens Preorders for AI Computer Costing About 10,200 Manats
Microsoft has opened preorders for the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a computer designed for artificial intelligence developers. The device costs $5,999 (about 10,200 manats), and shipping will begin in November. The company unveiled the desktop computer alongside the Surface Laptop Ultra in June. The model is primarily intended for developers and engineers working on artificial intelligence projects.
The Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is powered by the Arm-based RTX Spark N1X chip and has 128 GB of shared memory. The computer has a 100 W thermal limit, as well as NVIDIA Tensor cores for artificial intelligence computing. This power is sufficient to run large artificial intelligence models with more than 120 billion parameters directly on the device. This eliminates the need to send all computations to a cloud service over the internet.
The mini PC is designed for testing artificial intelligence models, developing early versions of artificial intelligence agents, and running coding tools on the device itself. The device may also perform well in games, but its primary target audience is developers and engineers. The flat aluminum chassis is made using a 3D printer and helps dissipate the heat generated. The grille on top resembles the ventilation holes on the Xbox Series X console.
There are 2 USB-C ports and 1 USB-A port on the back. Ethernet, DisplayPort 2.1, and HDMI 2.1b ports are also included. The device has 2 TB of removable storage, and this module can be replaced later. According to the product page, no other parts of the computer can be replaced. Buyers will not be able to choose a different processor or shared memory configuration.
The Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is part of the Project Zenith family and runs Windows 11 Pro customized for developers. Visual Studio Code, Git, GitHub CLI, and GitHub Copilot come preinstalled on the computer. WSL, Python, and Node are also included. WSL makes it possible to run Linux tools within Windows. The other programs help with writing code and managing projects.
The device is a larger and more expensive version of NVIDIA’s DGX Spark artificial intelligence computer, which previously went on sale for $3,999 (about 6,800 manats). The 128 GB version of the DGX Spark now sells for nearly $7,000 (about 11,900 manats). Shortages of RAM and other components have driven up computer prices. Because of its high price, the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box appears to be more accessible to large companies.