Microsoft unveils the Surface Laptop Ultra, with an NVIDIA RTX Spark superchip for local AI and graphics

Microsoft has opened pre-orders for a new model in its Surface family: the Surface Laptop Ultra, presented by the company itself as "our most powerful Surface laptop to date". The announced price is $2,599.99 and, for now, it is only available to reserve (pre-order), with the page not specifying a firm release or shipping date.

The most striking detail of the announcement is the processor: Microsoft has opted for the NVIDIA RTX Spark superchip, a combination of NVIDIA AI acceleration, Blackwell RTX graphics and an NVIDIA Grace CPU with up to 20 cores, all with up to 128 GB of unified memory shared between CPU and GPU (the company clarifies in a footnote that how much of that memory is actually addressable by the GPU depends on configuration and workload type, and is always less than the total). It is a different bet from the norm in Surface laptops, traditionally built on Intel, AMD or Qualcomm chips, and it positions this model as a machine explicitly designed for local AI and 3D graphics rather than as a general-purpose laptop.

On the artificial intelligence front, Microsoft highlights that NVIDIA CUDA accelerates AI workloads, including local agent workflows with models of up to 120 billion parameters. That figure deserves some qualification: the page itself notes that it is based on theoretical FP4 TOPS taking advantage of the sparsity feature, in other words a technical limit calculated on paper and not necessarily sustained performance verified in real-world use. The underlying message is clear: run agents and models directly on the device, without depending on the cloud, saving the latter for larger workloads and keeping sensitive data on the machine itself.

On design and build, Microsoft talks about its largest thermal system to date, with bigger fans that move more air at lower speed and which, according to the company, deliver up to 2.5 times the thermal capacity of the 15-inch Surface Laptop (8th Edition). The machine weighs less than 4.5 pounds (just under 2.05 kg) and measures under 18 mm thick, and will be available in two finishes: Platinum and a new shade called Nightfall. Among the physical novelties is what Microsoft describes as the world's first integrated magnetic USB-C charging port, combining the convenience of a magnetic connector with the versatility of standard USB-C, plus a precision haptic touchpad described as the largest ever built into a Surface. On connectivity, it includes three USB-C ports, one USB-A, HDMI, an SD card reader and a headphone jack.

The display is a 15-inch touchscreen, and Microsoft presents it as the brightest it has ever made, with Dolby Vision IQ support and 100% coverage of the DCI-P3 colour space, designed for creative work that demands colour accuracy. According to a note on the page itself, peak HDR brightness reaches 2,000 nits measured on a 10% window with HDR content, a figure the company compares with other commercially available laptops as of October 2026 (clarifying that sustained and SDR brightness is lower). On the gaming side, the machine includes ray tracing, NVIDIA DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex, with a 120 Hz refresh rate.

On storage, the Surface Laptop Ultra supports up to 2 TB of SSD, and Microsoft stresses its durability credentials: internal orientation guides, published repair guides, available spare parts and expandable storage, with the stated goal of keeping the device useful for longer. On security, it relies on the Secured-core PC standard, Windows Hello authentication (face, fingerprint or PIN) and device encryption, explicitly targeting organizations that work with proprietary code, AI models, customer data and intellectual property.

Alongside the launch, Microsoft is offering a trade-in promotion of up to $1,000 when buying a new Surface Laptop Ultra and handing over a used device, valid between 7 October and 23 November 2026, only through the online Microsoft Store in the United States and Canada, with strict conditions on the state of the device handed in (it must power on, hold a charge, have no damage and not be password-protected) and subject to assessment by a third party, Teladvance.

The Surface Laptop Ultra slots into a broader family that now also includes the Surface Pro, the "standard" Surface Laptop and a new Surface RTX Spark Dev Box described as designed for "frontier developers", also available to pre-order. This suggests Microsoft is reorganizing its Surface range around different levels of AI compute, with the Laptop Ultra as the top of the line aimed at creators, developers and local AI workloads, and the Dev Box as an even more specialized variant for development.

A caveat about the limits of this report: the content downloaded from Microsoft's official page includes a frequently asked questions section with the question headings (for example, whether it is a "Copilot+ PC", what its battery life is, or whether it includes Microsoft Office), but does not retain the text of the answers, which on the original site expand on click. It is therefore not possible to offer those specific details here without risking making them up, and they have been left out. Nor does the available text mention a general availability date beyond the pre-order, or pricing for configurations other than the announced base variant.