Microsoft unveils Surface AI laptop starting at $2,600

Microsoft introduced pricing and specifications for its Surface Laptop Ultra at an event in San Francisco, with two base versions starting at $2,600 and $3,700. It also unveiled the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a workstation using Nvidia’s RTX Spark chip that starts at $6,000.

The $3,700 laptop has a more powerful chip. Additional memory and storage options bring the price to as much as $5,900, and Microsoft said the top configuration was already sold out. The company is offering a trade-in discount of up to $1,000 for MacBook Pro owners.

Microsoft says the devices are built to run AI models locally without charge, using processing hardware, unified memory and enhanced cooling. The workstation includes developer tools such as VS Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, WSL and PowerShell 7. The company also says the Surface machines can handle gaming, video processing and content creation.

Both devices use an updated Windows 11 with Execution Containers, which Microsoft says simplifies sandboxing for AI agents. Chief Executive Satya Nadella said the feature would become available to all Windows 11 users, with support extending beyond Microsoft’s own applications to other developers’ agents.

Dell separately detailed its Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition, another Windows AI PC using Nvidia’s RTX Spark chip. Priced at $3,800, it is available to preorder through Best Buy for delivery later in October.