Microsoft Launches $2,599 Surface Laptop Ultra to Take on MacBook Pro

Microsoft today announced launch timing and pricing for the Surface Laptop Ultra that it unveiled earlier this year. The 15-inch Surface Laptop Ultra is priced starting at $2,599, undercutting Apple’s $2,999 16-inch MacBook Pro, and it targets the same creator and developer market. Microsoft says it is built for "demanding creative, software development, AI, engineering, and 3D workloads." Microsoft’s new laptop uses an Nvidia RTX Spark chip, which includes an Nvidia Blackwell RTX GPU with up to 6,144 cores and an Nvidia Grace CPU with up to 20 cores.

It supports up to 128GB of unified memory and has a new thermal architecture to support the hardware. The RTX Spark is an Arm-based chip, so the laptop runs Windows on Arm with x86 apps using Microsoft’s Prism emulation. According to Microsoft, the Surface Laptop Ultra is its most powerful notebook to date.

It has the "brightest, sharpest, and most vivid display" Microsoft has used in a Surface device, with peak HDR brightness that’s 25% higher than the M5 ‌MacBook Pro‌’s. The mini-LED display is a touchscreen, and it supports gestures and navigation, but not pen input. The laptop is lighter than the 16-inch ‌MacBook Pro‌, with a large haptic trackpad and upgradeable storage.

It ships in November, if you can afford it. Microsoft’s Surface RTX Spark Dev Box costs an eye-watering $6,000.

Big Tech Microsoft Microsoft’s Surface RTX Spark Dev Box costs an eye-watering $6,000 The developer-focused desktop PC is available to preorder now, and it will start shipping in November. The company announced the desktop PC alongside the Surface Laptop Ultra in June, and like that computer we now know it’ll come at a hefty premium: $6,000.

The Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is specifically designed for local AI workflows and the developers and engineers who run them, Microsoft says. The PC features an austere, anodized aluminum grille on the top, with a port selection that includes two USB-C, one USB-A, Ethernet, DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1b on the back.

Inside, the Dev Box uses NVIDIA’s RTX Spark N1X chip and ships with 128GB of unified memory and 2TB of storage. Storage is removable, but based on the company’s product page, nothing else on the Dev Box can be customized.

Given the ample performance the company is promising — including the ability to run AI models "exceeding 120B parameters" — that likely won’t matter. As one of Microsoft’s Project Zenith devices, the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box also ships with Windows 11 Pro and a selection of developer-focused apps and runtimes pre-installed, including Visual Studio Code, Git, GitHub CLI, GitHub Copilot and Python.

Microsoft even adopted a MagSafe equivalent, adding support for Magnetic Connect. Microsoft says Magnetic Connect is the "world’s first built-in magnetic USB-C charging on a laptop." The device has three USB-C ports, a USB-A port, an HDMI port, an SD card reader, and a 3.5mm headphone jack.

Along with the Surface Laptop Ultra, Microsoft announced the $5,999 Surface RTX Spark Dev Box to compete with devices like the Mac Studio and Mac mini. It is equipped with an Nvidia RTX Spark chip and offers up to 1 petaflop of AI performance with support for AI models up to 120B parameters.

Microsoft is offering a bonus to customers who "break up" with their MacBooks. MacBook owners can get up to $1,000 cash back when purchasing a Surface Laptop Ultra by trading in an eligible MacBook.

The Surface Laptop Ultra launches on October 16. "We’re confident that once today’s creators and developers experience everything Surface Laptop Ultra has to offer, they won’t look back," reads Microsoft’s website.

The Surface Laptop Ultra will directly compete with Apple’s rumored OLED MacBook, which could also have an Ultra name. The MacBook Ultra should feature a touchscreen, M5 Pro and M5 Max chips, and a thinner and lighter design.

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