Perplexity’s new agent runs entirely on your GPU — with one expensive catch
Running an LLM on your PC is easy enough, but putting an agent to work there is a different story. The post Perplexity’s new agent runs entirely on your GPU — with one expensive catch appeared first on The New Stack .
Perplexity has launched a new agent called Portable Computer, which runs entirely on your Nvidia GPU, but with a significant cost requirement. This local version of Perplexity's Computer agent is now available in the Perplexity app for Windows users with compatible Nvidia GeForce RTX or RTX PRO GPUs. The catch is that you'll need a GPU with at least 24GB of VRAM to use the agent.
Perplexity has adapted the model runtime, orchestration, security, and hardware integration for this Windows platform, while ensuring the user experience remains consistent. The agent bundles together PPLX 27B, Qwen 3.8 27B, a built-in browser, tool calling, and Perplexity's proprietary SPACE sandbox. This approach differs from other local model running applications like LM Studio or Ollama, as it provides the model with autonomy over multistep work.
Beyond the model, Portable Computer also includes connectors for various Windows applications, such as Microsoft Outlook, OneDrive, Word, Google Drive, Gmail, Slack, and GitHub. These connectors allow the agent to access external services, enabling it to process local files without sending documents to a cloud model. When the agent determines that a task requires more computational power than the local model can provide, it can escalate to Perplexity's cloud models.
Perplexity isn't suggesting that a 27-billion-parameter model running on a desktop GPU can handle everything. Instead, it has implemented a hybrid architecture where the agent can escalate to cloud models when necessary. When cloud support is required, the user is prompted for permission before any data is sent off the machine. This approach can be particularly beneficial for organizations handling sensitive or regulated data, as it allows the local agent to process source code or financial records without uploading them to a hosted model.
Portable Computer is currently available for Perplexity Pro ($20/month) and Max ($200/month) plans, across individual and enterprise subscriptions, with Nvidia DGX Station support coming later. The main challenge lies in transforming local agents from developer passion projects into enterprise-ready tools. By integrating Portable Computer into Windows, Perplexity has gained a significant user base, which is crucial for making this technology enterprise-ready.
Written by urgent.news from The New Stack's reporting — not their text. Machine-written — may contain errors; check the original before relying on it.
