Perplexity’s “Portable Computer” local AI agent arrives on Windows — if your GPU is powerful enough

Perplexity, best known for its AI‑powered search assistant, is bringing its local AI agent platform “Portable Computer” to Windows PCs. The feature runs entirely on the user’s machine and can handle multi‑step tasks — such as research prep, file organization, or script generation — without constantly sending data to the cloud, making it appealing for privacy‑conscious users.

The Windows release is rolling out through the existing Perplexity desktop app, but there’s a big hardware caveat: it currently requires an Nvidia RTX GPU with at least 24GB of VRAM. Portable Computer first debuted on Nvidia’s DGX Spark servers for enterprise customers, and this marks its expansion to high‑end consumer and professional workstations.

Users interact with the agent in natural language, asking it to chain together actions and operate on local files. That could make Windows PCs feel more like autonomous coworkers than static tools, especially in environments where sensitive data cannot leave the premises. For now, though, the steep GPU requirements limit adoption to a niche. How quickly Perplexity can lower the hardware bar or support other platforms will determine how mainstream this kind of local AI automation can become.