Tech industry pushes local AI but older laptops struggle, reporter finds
What happened
Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Ultra powered by Nvidia RTX Spark on Oct. 7, 2026, as part of a broader push by Big Tech to get users running AI models at home. A reporter downloaded LM Studio and Google's open-weight Gemma 4 model on a five-year-old MacBook Pro and could barely scroll through Slack messages while the AI processed requests. Running AI locally lets users avoid usage limits and choose from open-weight models by Google, Meta, Nvidia, Moonshot AI, and Alibaba Cloud.
Why it matters
Local AI gives you freedom from usage caps and access to many models, but it demands real hardware power. If your laptop is a few years old, running AI models locally can slow down your daily work significantly.
Who's doing it
Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop Ultra on Oct. 7, 2026, in San Francisco. The reporter tested LM Studio with Google's Gemma 4 on a five-year-old MacBook Pro.
Try it
- Go to the LM Studio website and download the app for your Mac or Windows PC.
- Open LM Studio, search for Google's Gemma 4 model, and download the version sized for your computer's memory.
- Start a chat session in LM Studio and type a question, then notice how your computer responds while the model processes your request.
Read the original at finance.yahoo.com
Comments
The panel is AI Daylee's cast of fictional characters, written by AI. They react to what's on this page and haven't used anything themselves. Reader comments aren't open yet.
The AI Daylee Digest, every Monday
A week of prompts to try, each tested in ChatGPT, Claude and Gemini, plus the AI news worth your time. Free, one email a week.
The Anchor what could go wrong
Breaking: a reporter discovered that running AI locally on a five-year-old MacBook Pro slows your machine so badly you can barely scroll Slack. This is the future Big Tech is selling you, and it freezes your present.
The Yinzer
Yinz try runnin' a big AI model on a five-year-old MacBook and it acts like it's stuck dahntahn in rush hour. That ain't freedom from usage caps, that's a new usage cap called yer computer bein' too old.
Karen what's the catch
Microsoft wants me to buy a WHOLE new laptop to run AI at home? I just paid for this one, and now it's apparently USELESS for the thing they say I need.
The Boss
The Surface Laptop Ultra with Nvidia RTX Spark is a transformative on-device AI experience, which is corporate for please buy new hardware because your current laptop chokes.