Microsoft just dropped a bombshell at Computex 2026 by unveiling the most powerful device ever to bear the Surface name. The newly announced Surface Laptop Ultra is a direct answer to Apple and its dominant MacBook Pro lineup. Built in a deep partnership with NVIDIA, the new flagship laptop runs Windows on Arm and completely redefines professional computing.
Ever since the Surface division came into existence, I’ve always wondered why they didn’t go all in and make an ultra-powered device. As the MacBook Pros started gaining rave reviews from YouTubers, I started waiting for Microsoft’s response, and now we finally have it. Surface Laptop Ultra is arriving in stores this fall, 2026.
Surface Laptop Ultra N1X brings 128GB unified memory and a mini-LED display The hardware specifications for the Surface Laptop Ultra are absolutely staggering. The chassis weighs less than 4.5 pounds (~2kg) and houses a prominent dual-fan cooling system designed to prevent aggressive thermal throttling during heavy rendering workloads. Microsoft is offering the sleek device in Platinum and Nightfall color finishes.
Opening the lid reveals a beautiful 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra touchscreen. The panel features a sharp 2880 by 1920 resolution at 262 pixels per inch. The screen hits an incredible 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, easily making it the brightest display Microsoft has ever shipped on any device.
The original surface line is a cool 2 in 1 idea. Then they come up with the surface book with dedicated graphics card in the base, okay liked it… Then they got the idea to make the surface a laptop… That’s where they lost the plot.
Very cool devices, but the Intel-based ones are kind of pointless. They overheat during tasks like watching YouTube or Netflix. Surface Pro X was very nice, with its only downside being Windows. Not sure about the new X Elite ones.
Microsoft don’t build laptops or desktops or phones, they build operating systems, get back to that and build one that offers people a little privacy, ability to configure and freedom from subscription and information begging.
Dekstops - no. Phones - not anymore. But Microsoft does in fact ‘build’ laptops and tablets, with this new Surface Ultra being one of them.
Admittedly, ‘build’ may not be the right word, since Microsoft’s input is very limited. The same is true for a lot of OEMs though.
At the very least, Microsoft did help Qualcomm with designing SQ1 and SQ2 for the Surface Pro X gen 1 and gen 2.
Personally it’s my favourite device ever made by Microsoft, and among my favourites in general. If only we could install Linux on it. Even the newer SQ2 is on the slower side, and just barely manages a mostly smooth experience on Windows 11.
I was writing as to where their focus should be not where it actually is, I dread to think where their focus actually is.
This time it surely will work!
Personally I think this is a massive flop. Are there really people who want a [likely] more expensive and heavier MacBook Pro that runs Windows?
What I think most people need and want is just a small laptop with a moderately powered Snapdragon, just enough to browse the web, watch videos, and run lighter games.
Who is this for?
Windows no, linux maybe. 15 inches is too big though.
Too big, too heavy, too powerful. Honestly I’d prefer a Snapdragon 870 tablet if I could install Linux on it.
Technically Xiaomi Pad 6 meets these criteria, but unlocking the bootloader is a gargantuan pain in the ass. Hopefully I’ll manage by the end of this year…
I kinda want it. Admittedly, not before there is Linux support. And I’d like to see upgradeable internal storage, PTM 750 sheets and all that.
But the reason why is I very much think x86 is a bit long in the tooth and I’m down to replace my desktop with such a device. I’ve been mulling shoving it in my server rack with wake on LAN and using it to stream games with Moonlight since I doubt the x86 emulation is quite good enough yet for things like Elite Dangerous.
Idk, not having an idle power draw exceed 50W is pretty compelling
Admittedly, not before there is Linux support.
It’s still Nvidia hardware. Fuck Nvidia.
I’m sure there are people interested in this laptop, and it’s good to see there indeed are. Although, they’re making it sound like it revolutionizes mobile computing. Perhaps the issue here is with marketing, and not with the device itself?
Oh, for sure, the only revolutionary thing here is I could run an LLM on an international flight. That’s kinda cool, but not life changing.
The only other thing that’s revolutionary is that it’s arm, that’s where things are going anyway, which can be a huge efficiency win. I’ve long been wanting devices that can ramp up to several hundred watts of useful power when needed but idle at closer to 10. That might still be a pipe dream, we’ll see. But I’m for sure hyped about powerful arm chips starting to show up from not Apple
The same people buying the high end MacBook pros I would assume . I guess people working with 3D rendeding and AI workloads?
I would assume those people will look at Microsoft’s track record of supporting ARM hardware, realize that the vast majority of Microsoft’s own software still does not run on ARM natively (14 years after Surface RT launched!), and buy a MacBook Pro instead.
Also people who need a workstation at more than one place I’d say.
The weight might be a problem here. MacBook Pros weigh about 1.5kg, while the new Surface Ultra is going to weigh just a little over 2kg, which is almost as much as gaming laptops. Would anyone want to carry this around?
It depends on the use case. If one wants to avoid having i.e. two workstations at two different places and having instead a beefy laptop.
Yeah, but need and want are 2 different things. While most people might need something simple, a lot will want to have the latest greatest because they’re told it’s the only thing that’ll work for them, because they won’t know any better.
Prove it’s going to be stood high though, expensive Nvidia chip plus expensive RAM and SSD = I’m guessing well over $3k USD.
20-core NVIDIA Grace CPU (Arm architecture, co-developed with MediaTek)
Yeah, good luck with that
MediaTek processors have become pretty competitive in recent years. They’re no longer the shitty, awfully slow mobile CPUs that you want to avoid at all costs.
