Microsoft has detailed the Surface Laptop Ultra, a 15-inch machine built around Nvidia’s new RTX Spark chip. Preorders are open, and it launches on 16 October. Pricing starts at $2,599, per The Verge. Gizmodo rounds that to $2,600.
This is Windows answer to the MacBook Pro. Brett Ostrum, Microsoft’s corporate vice president of Surface, told The Verge that the 2024 Copilot Plus PC push, which started with Qualcomm chips, “was really aimed at MacBook Air”. Existing chips couldn’t reach MacBook Pro-level compute, he said, so Microsoft worked with Nvidia on the platform for several years.
What’s inside
RTX Spark is Nvidia’s first Arm-based PC chip line, and the Surface Laptop Ultra is its debut platform. Microsoft says the chip pairs an efficient CPU with an RTX GPU and delivers up to one petaflop of AI compute (1 petaflop of FP4 performance, per Gizmodo). The company pitches it at local AI agents, creative apps and gaming, with on-device processing for work that shouldn’t go to the cloud.
The rest of the hardware:
| Spec | Surface Laptop Ultra |
|---|---|
| Display | 15-inch PixelSense Ultra touchscreen, mini-LED, up to 2,000 nits peak in HDR |
| Thickness and weight | Under 18mm, under 4.5 lb (2 kg) |
| Cooling | New thermal system with up to 2.5x the thermal capacity of the Surface Laptop 15-inch (7th Edition); two fans, side vents that double as speakers and exhaust |
| Charging | Magnetic USB-C port |
| Finishes | Platinum and Nightfall |
Gizmodo adds that the screws for internal access sit under the rubber feet, and that the laptop uses the force-feedback haptic touchpad Microsoft has rolled out across the recent Surface Laptop and Surface Pro line-up. Microsoft says the weight is slightly below that of a 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Gaming and price context
Microsoft named gaming in its keynote and said the laptop runs Gears of War: E-Day at a solid frame rate. Gizmodo reports that RTX Spark laptops will also run the next Call of Duty without emulation. Microsoft is also bringing Advanced Shader Delivery to all Nvidia RTX GPUs, a feature aimed at smoother first launches on PC.
The $2,599 figure is the base configuration. Gizmodo says RTX Spark laptops will be expensive as a class: HP’s recently leaked OmniBook Ultra 16 starts at $3,200. Higher memory tiers will cost more, though we haven’t seen a full configuration and price list, and neither source gives UAE pricing or availability.
For comparison, Google’s Googlebook range starts at $899, a very different tier of the market.
When does the Surface Laptop Ultra launch?
Preorders opened on 7 October, and the laptop launches on 16 October. The sources cover the US launch only.
How much does it cost?
The base configuration starts at $2,599. Prices rise with memory and other options, and Microsoft hasn’t published UAE pricing in the material we reviewed.
What chip does it use?
Nvidia’s RTX Spark, an Arm-based chip combining a CPU and RTX GPU, rated at up to one petaflop of AI compute.
