Perplexity has introduced Portable Computer, a version of its AI agent designed to run primarily on a user’s own hardware. Developed with NVIDIA, the system is launching on the NVIDIA DGX Spark and is intended to keep sensitive files and most AI processing on the local machine.

Portable Computer brings Perplexity Computer’s agent capabilities to on-device computing. Its orchestrator, planner, tool router, scheduler, task queue and local search index all operate locally, allowing the system to analyze files, search documents and code, and carry out tasks without relying on cloud processing.

The system initially supports Qwen 3.8 27B and PPLX 27B, a post-trained version of the Qwen model. NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning, a 30B open model, is also planned for the model picker.

A key feature is the option to move individual tasks to the cloud when local processing is insufficient. Portable Computer can request access to current web information, browser functions, connected applications or more advanced models. Perplexity says users must authorize such transfers before information leaves the device.

The platform also connects with services including Google Drive, Gmail, Slack and GitHub. Local work does not consume Perplexity credits, making repeated on-device processing possible without a per-use charge. Dictation is handled locally as well, using NVIDIA’s Nemotron 3.5 ASR model.

Security measures include isolated sandbox environments for code and tool execution, with controlled access to files and connected applications.

Portable Computer is initially available to Pro and Max subscribers using the NVIDIA DGX Spark. The first release supports Linux, while Windows support is planned. The DGX Spark uses NVIDIA’s Grace Blackwell GB10 platform, combining a 20-core Arm CPU and NVIDIA GPU with 128GB of unified memory.

The launch marks Perplexity’s latest move toward AI systems that can perform complex work without sending all user data to remote servers.

Source : Introducing Portable Computer