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Perplexity's new agentic Portable Computer runs AI locally.
Local AI is faster and cheaper than cloud-based models.
But you'll need some beefy hardware for Linux or Windows.
Perplexity has unveiled a new version of its Personal Computer agent, released in February, that aims to eliminate some of the drawbacks of using AI in the cloud. Known as Portable Computer, this new option relies on local AI models to handle your agentic requests and assignments without the usual online overhead.
Also: I gave Perplexity's agentic AI 5 complex tasks to run on my Mac - and I'll do it again
Debuting on Tuesday, Portable Computer offers access to all the standard AI commands, features, and tools through which Perplexity's agent can carry out tasks with little or no intervention on your part. The key part here is that the models, your files, and your work all stay on your machine. You control if and when the AI needs to hop online to achieve its mission. As always, you can still connect to external services like Google Drive, Gmail, Slack, and GitHub to incorporate your cloud-based files and information.
Cloud vs. local AI
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