Microsoft unveils Surface Laptop Ultra with Nvidia chip for $2,599

At a presentation in San Francisco, Microsoft unveiled the Surface Laptop Ultra, the most powerful and most expensive laptop in the Surface family. The base version costs $2,599 (about CZK 56,600). When and at what price the device will arrive in Czechia is not yet known.

Microsoft developed the model together with Nvidia. It is a relatively compact device rather than a bulky workstation: less than 18 mm thick and under two kilograms. The laptop will come in the traditional platinum colour and in a new Nightfall finish.

Artificial intelligence right in the laptop

Microsoft positions the new machine as a powerful yet portable computer for people who want to edit video, process photos, work with 3D graphics, develop AI applications or play games after work, wherever they are. At its heart is a new Nvidia chip that combines an efficient processor with RTX graphics. According to Microsoft, it delivers up to one petaflop of computing power for AI. The shared memory can reach 128 GB, so larger models and datasets can be handled on the device itself without relying on the cloud.

For sustained workloads, the laptop has a completely new cooling system: its thermal capacity is, the company says, up to 2.5 times higher than that of the 15-inch seventh-generation Surface Laptop.

Magnetic USB-C and a bright display

The main highlight is a 15-inch touch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra display with a 3:2 aspect ratio, a density of 262 pixels per inch and peak HDR brightness of up to 2,000 nits. It is aimed at professionals who need to judge colour and exposure accurately. The haptic touchpad is more than 30 percent larger than in the previous generation.

Ports have not been cut back: there is USB-C, USB-A, HDMI, a headphone jack and a full-size SD card reader. One special feature is a USB-C port with a breakaway mechanism that works on the same principle as Apple's MagSafe or Surface Connect: if someone trips over the cable, it detaches instead of pulling the laptop off the desk. According to Windows Central, it is the first laptop to offer such a solution on a standard USB-C connector.

Price and timing

For $2,599, buyers get a 15-inch mini-LED display, an 18-core RTX Spark with 5,120 GPU cores and 24 GB of RAM. Pre-orders in selected foreign markets opened on Wednesday, 7 October, and the first units will reach customers on 16 October.

Around Prague, based on reporting by novinky.cz