ZDNET’s key takeaways
- The new Surface Laptop Ultra launches Oct. 18.
- It’s thoughtfully designed but very pricey.
- The Ultra marks a shift in where PCs are headed.
Microsoft announced a launch date for its new Surface Laptop Ultra: October 18th, with a starting price of $2,599 for the lowest-tier configuration (and going up to $6,000 from there). It dropped the news at a showcase event in San Francisco on Wednesday, attended by Satya Nadella and Jensen Huang, the CEOs of Microsoft and Nvidia, respectively.
Also: I tried the Surface Laptop Ultra at Computex, and it’s clear: Microsoft means business
I first saw the Surface Laptop Ultra at Computex in Taiwan earlier this year, armed with Nvidia’s new RTX Spark processor that runs Windows on ARM, up to 128GB of unified memory, and a premium aluminum body.
Up close, it’s a gorgeous machine, with a 15-inch HDR display at 2,000 nits, a large haptic touchpad, thoughtful design elements (nearly invisible cooling vents, rounded edges), and a magnetic USB-C port called “magnetic connect” that snaps the charger into place. It looks like a Surface, yes, but it feels like the next stage in its evolution.
The other five RTX Spark laptops from Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and MSI were also at the event, all of which I first saw at Computex and have similarly premium features: OLED displays, haptics, up to 128GB of unified memory, and similarly sky-high price points. But the Surface Laptop Ultra was the darling of the show with its own dramatic sizzle reel and focus in live demos.
All of these laptops are built for AI power users, creators, and developers. While they can certainly run games, they aren’t explicitly marketed as gaming laptops. Instead, demos showcased complex workflows in Blender, ComfyUI, and Photoshop, running large local models that previously would have needed to run on the cloud.
Windows evolves
Microsoft’s positioning of the Surface Laptop Ultra as the leader of the RTX Spark pack allows it to own the narrative of the next evolution of powerful Windows devices. All this memory is made not just for what’s considered “frontier” today, but future-facing workflows, especially with the emphasis on Windows’ “hybrid intelligence,” which aims to make the cloud-to-local transition more seamless.
Also: I saw the first Nvidia RTX Spark laptops – these 4 models will lead the new ultrabook boom
In that vein, these are future-facing devices: the first generation of a new brand of AI-first laptops that are both a response to existing competitors and an indication of where PCs are headed. It’s no surprise that many of the aforementioned features are also core components of Apple’s MacBook Pro, to which the Surface Laptop Ultra is certainly a response.
Sure, Apple’s design language is present when you look at the Surface Laptop Ultra, but you could say that about almost any modern PC. What’s more interesting is how intentional the doubling down is. Microsoft says it spent several years developing this laptop, showcasing multiple design iterations at the event, and emphasizing a “get it right” approach that I’d say is certainly evident in the final product.
In that sense, the Surface Laptop Ultra is also a risk for Microsoft. The resources devoted to this flagship device are not inconsequential, and as much as it communicates important brand positioning, it also needs to sell.
But RAM and storage are as expensive as ever, and dropping $6,000 on a laptop is only possible for a certain subset of the consumer market. These laptops ultimately speak to a niche power user, and Microsoft and Nvidia have their work cut out for them when it comes to communicating these products to the right demographic.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra, as well as the other five RTX Spark Windows PCs, are available for preorder today starting at $2,599, with general availability on Oct. 16th.
