Microsoft has unveiled its new Surface Laptop Ultra, featuring an Nvidia AI chip, with a starting price of $2,599. The device, available for preorder now and shipping on October 16, includes the world's first magnetic USB-C port, similar to Apple's MagSafe, along with two standard USB-C ports. The laptop aims to bring more AI capabilities to consumer devices, allowing users to run AI workloads locally without relying on cloud services.
The Surface Laptop Ultra sports a 15-inch display and weighs 4.4 pounds. It can be configured with up to 128 gigabytes of unified memory and deliver up to one petaflop of computing power. The laptop includes the Blackwell RTX Spark GPU, which Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang described as having the processing power of Nvidia's 2016 DGX-1 data center server.
Microsoft is also partnering with Meta to introduce a version of its Muse AI agent for Windows. The company is updating the Windows 11 device setup experience to help users get started quickly with open-source OpenClaw AI agent software. Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella hinted at the evolving role of distributed computing in the tech industry.
Despite its popular Windows operating system, Microsoft is not among the top six PC vendors in unit shipments. The company is trying to solidify its role in the AI space, although its models are less popular than those from OpenAI and Anthropic. Microsoft introduced the Copilot+ PC standard in 2024, requiring neural processing units for AI performance, but has since simplified its product naming to focus on the Surface brand.