The Surface Laptop Ultra is a true MacBook Pro competitor for Windows--if only it weren't for the lack of battery life. The brightest laptop display ever made. MacBook-like design and build quality. Magnetic USB-C port is clever. Battery life can't compete with the MacBook Pro. Some very popular games aren't supported yet. Lower-tier RAM options limit AI capabilities.

The Dell Laptop Buying Guide UK: Which Dell Laptop Should You Buy? When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra is part productivity machine, part AI workstation. But can you afford it? Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra is a new class of device, combining efficient productivity, powerful graphics, plus AI capabilities, all for a price that seems totally unrealistic in the 2026 economy. Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra and its newfangled Nvidia RTX Spark chip characterize what many would call a new axis of productivity: AI. With it comes an old, familiar feeling of FOMO, or the fear of missing out. For decades, the equation has been simple: A faster CPU means applications run faster. A faster GPU equates to higher frame rates in PC games. Now there's AI, which means memory matters. Memory is shared between the Arm CPU and powerful RTX GPU inside the Nvidia Spark N1X chip powering the Surface Laptop Ultra, and more memory means the ability to load more powerful AI models. As regards the Surface Laptop Ultra model that Microsoft shipped us, my first impression was one of disappointment, as it came with just a "measly" 32GB of memory (along with its whopping $3,699 price tag).

Microsoft Surface Ultra is a portable AI supercomputer powered by Nvidia's RTX Spark chip

Look Up Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable @Home Trending Now Mashable Selects Say More Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net All Series Alex Perry is a tech reporter at Mashable who primarily covers video games and consumer tech. Alex has spent most of the last decade reviewing games, smartphones, headphones, and laptops, and he doesn't plan on stopping anytime soon. He is also a Pisces, a cat lover, and a Kansas City sports fan. It doesn't always feel like Microsoft and Apple are heated rivals in the laptop space these days, but now and then, we get a glimpse of what used to be. In this case, Microsoft just debuted its own take on Apple's MagSafe mechanism for charging laptops.

The Dell Laptop Buying Guide UK: Which Dell Laptop Should You Buy? When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. Microsoft, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo have initial Nvidia-powered laptops up for pre-order. If you've been following the high-end hardware news in 2026 then I'm sorry. But possibly the most exciting thing to land in some time is Nvidia's Spark RTX, an Arm-based chip that's now going into consumer laptops, headlined by the Surface Laptop Ultra .

Mashable's Best: E-readers, robovacs, laptops, earbuds, smart home and more Mashable @Home Look Up Trending Now Mashable Selects Say More Top creators, ranked Gift Ideas For Everyone On Your List Creator Playbook In My Bag AI at School Safety Net All Series Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra is an AI supercomputer dressed as a laptop Microsoft says its laptop is very powerful. What are you going to do about it? Stan is a Senior Editor at Mashable, where he has worked since 2007. He's got more battery-powered gadgets and band t-shirts than you. He writes about the next groundbreaking thing.

Our gifting experts are obsessively searching for holiday gifts that are unique, thoughtful and suitable for any budget. Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra finally has a starting price (you should sit down) The Surface Laptop Ultra is an AI powerhouse, with Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip and up to 128GB of unified memory - and it's priced for power users. Kyle Kucharski is a Brooklyn-based writer and Senior Editor at ZDNET. The new Surface Laptop Ultra launches Oct. 18. It's thoughtfully designed but very pricey.

The Dell Laptop Buying Guide UK: Which Dell Laptop Should You Buy? When you purchase through links in our articles, we may earn a small commission. The new Surface Laptop Ultra is built for local AI, but its power draw and unknown battery life raise doubts about its practicality. Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra is powered by a Mediatek CPU and Nvidia's powerful RTX Spark SoC, which is mainly designed to run local AI models on the user's lap. Five competing laptops--from Dell, HP, MSI and more--will offer additional options.

The Microsoft Windows and Surface event will take place in San Francisco later today, beginning at 10AM PT (1PM ET), and there's a lot we expect to see. It's certainly going to be a very AI-focused event. According to Microsoft, it will center on a "conversation on how local AI will shape the next chapter of the PC." It will be broadcast live on Microsoft's YouTube channel, and is expected to run for about an hour. To make things convenient, we've also embedded it here in this article below.

NVIDIA is once again claiming it will redefine PCs with its RTX Spark, the company's first major Arm-powered chip built for massive AI models on Windows laptops and desktops. The Surface Laptop Ultra, which was announced in June, is one of the first devices powered by RTX Spark, and from the brief glimpse we got earlier this year, it appears to be a direct competitor to Apple's powerful MacBook Pro. It sports a 15-inch mini-LED screen with up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness, a massive trackpad and all the ports you want. But we still don't know how much the Surface Laptop Ultra will actually cost, and there's no concrete release date yet. I'd bet the company is saving up those crucial details for next week's event.