Calvin Wankhede / Android Authority
Summary
- Perplexity has unveiled a new locally-operated AI tool called “Portable Computer.”
- This tool employs compact, efficient models like Qwen 3.8 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning.
- Locally completed tasks will not incur token expenses, although the tool can access cloud models when necessary.
After the success of its agentic AI tool “Personal Computer,” Perplexity has rolled out an option for users keen on operating their AI agents without relying on external servers.
Today, the company introduced “Portable Computer,” its local-first AI agent developed in collaboration with NVIDIA. The tool operates entirely on the user’s device, ensuring that data remains private and is not transmitted to the cloud.
The Portable Computer utilizes small models such as Qwen 3.8 and NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning. Perplexity asserts these models are capable of executing complex tasks and function well on local hardware, making them ideal for this new initiative.
Despite operating locally, the tool can still facilitate web searches and advanced reasoning using state-of-the-art models. Should a task require such functions, the agent will seek user approval before proceeding.
Importantly, tasks conducted on the user’s machine will not incur any token costs, an advantage for those needing to perform extensive operations without the risk of overusing tokens or facing additional charges.
The Portable Computer is designed to work with NVIDIA’s DGX Spark platform and supports Qwen 3.8 or PPLX 27B—a refined iteration of the Qwen 3.8 model. Support for the NVIDIA Nemotron 3.5 Lightning model and NVIDIA RTX GPUs is also forthcoming. Users subscribed to Perplexity Pro or Max can set up Portable Computer on their NVIDIA DGX Spark systems starting today.
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