Running Linux on NVIDIA RTX Spark Laptops: Installation, Performance, and Power Behavior Tested

The MSI Prestige N16 Flip AI Plus is one of the new RTX Spark laptops featuring NVIDIA's ARM-based chip with CUDA support and up to 128 GB of unified memory. Since AI tooling is largely Linux-first, many developers want to know whether these Windows-on-ARM machines can run Linux natively. I attempted a dual boot setup over three days and tested how Linux, WSL, and Windows each perform, and what is limiting Linux GPU performance.

■ Dual Boot Setup
- Trying Omari and Debian, and the hardware support each one provides
- Working around a display output issue during boot and installation
- Adjusting the GPU-reserved memory allocation from Windows
■ Performance Testing
- Token-per-second comparisons for a large model across Windows, WSL, the DGX Spark, and native Linux
- Multi-client throughput tests with vLLM and SGLang
- GPU clock speed and thermal behavior on battery versus plugged in
- The role of the NVIDIA Platform Controllers and Framework device in power management
■ Practical Takeaways
- WSL as a current working option, including its memory configuration
- What would need to change in NVIDIA's Linux driver for native support

This is useful viewing for developers and Linux users considering one of these ARM-based AI laptops, especially anyone deciding between a native Linux setup and WSL. It shows what a real-world installation involves, which performance factors to watch, and what to verify before relying on one of these machines.