All articles tagged with #surface
Microsoft rolled out cheaper 12‑inch Surface Pro and 13‑inch Surface Laptop configurations with 8GB RAM (down from 16GB) and 256GB storage, starting at $849 and $949; they keep the same Snapdragon X Plus core but won’t support Copilot Plus due to RAM. Even with the cut, these 8GB devices are pricier than the $599 MacBook Neo, highlighting ongoing RAM‑driven pricing in laptops.
Microsoft rolled out six Surface devices this year via press releases rather than a launch event, including Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 for both business and consumer, plus Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, all with price increases of roughly $500–$600 over predecessors. The absence of a dedicated event and a confusing naming scheme has dampened buzz, though Microsoft is bundling a free keyboard with some orders to soften the price hike.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 12 and Surface Laptop 8 ship with Snapdragon X2 Plus/Elite CPUs, promising faster graphics and longer battery life. The Pro arrives in a 13-inch form, the Laptop in 13.8-inch and 15-inch sizes, with Jade and Dune colors for the Laptop and Dune for the Pro. Starting prices are $1,499 (Pro 12) and $1,599 (Laptop 8) with 16GB RAM and 256GB–512GB storage; commercial X2 models arrive later at higher prices. As with last-gen, the update is mainly a chip upgrade with limited design changes, and there’s no X2 Elite Extreme in this cycle.
In December 1970, the Soviet Venera 7 survived a hard landing on Venus after a parachute failure, delivering 35 minutes of descent data and, only after revisiting the tapes, 23 minutes of faint surface telemetry showing a ground temperature around 475 C and about 90 bars of pressure—the first data ever transmitted from the surface of another planet.
Microsoft Build 2026 kicked off with AI at the center: a Surface RTX Spark Dev Box for local AI, developer-focused Windows updates with Coreutils and WSL plus an Intelligent Terminal, Project Solara an Android-based OS for AI agents across devices, an OpenClaw-powered always-on assistant called Scout, seven MAI models led by a first reasoning model, guardrails via Microsoft Execution Containers for OpenClaw, and Majorana 2, a quantum chip promising practical quantum computing by 2029.
Microsoft announced the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a desktop AI workstation built for sustained AI workloads like long-running training, agentic AI pipelines, and local model fine-tuning. It uses NVIDIA's RTX Spark chip with up to 128GB of unified memory, a 100W thermal envelope and low-power ARM CPUs, plus an embedded NVIDIA RTX Blackwell GPU for laptop-like performance; pricing isn’t disclosed and it will ship later this year via Microsoft.com.
Microsoft unveiled the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a compact Surface PC designed for local-first AI development. Powered by Nvidia’s Arm-based RTX Spark chips, it features a 100-watt thermal envelope and 128GB of unified memory to run up to 120‑billion‑parameter models offline, and is preconfigured with Windows 11 Pro and developer tools (Visual Studio Code, GitHub Copilot) with Developer Mode enabled to keep developers in their workflow. Positioned as a successor to Qualcomm’s canceled Snapdragon Dev Kit, the device will ship later this year in the US.
Microsoft unveiled the Surface Ultra, a 15-inch Windows PC touted as the first to run on Nvidia’s main RTX Spark processor, designed for AI workloads with up to 128GB of unified memory and support for AI models up to 120 billion parameters. The device signals a push to redefine the PC for the AI era, with availability later this year (pricing not announced), as Nvidia-powered laptops from other major manufacturers are also planned for release this fall.
Nvidia is set to debut Windows PCs that use Nvidia chips as the main processor, with devices from Dell and Microsoft's Surface line, unveiled at Computex in Taiwan and the Build developer conference in San Francisco, signaling Nvidia’s entry into PC processors and a push for local AI-enabled computation on Windows.
Microsoft hints at a new Surface hardware push aimed at developers, with a curved-display teaser and a note that it’s not a Windows update; Nvidia also teases a “new era of PC” at Computex, fueling talk of Nvidia-powered Surface devices ahead of Build.
Microsoft is slimming its Surface line to a pared‑back lineup centered on the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, while exploring Nvidia’s Arm‑based N1/N1X chips that could power AI workloads and potentially a Surface gaming laptop. The devices that remain are Intel‑powered refreshes with pricing starting around $1,950, a price point that could hinder adoption in business settings. The broader Surface future appears tied to Nvidia partnerships, AI initiatives, and ongoing leadership changes, as Microsoft leans into AI to reshape its hardware strategy, with camera and AI features likely to influence the next phase.
Microsoft rolled out a new Surface lineup (including four models priced from about $1,499–$2,000) with features like a hardware privacy screen and haptic feedback, while signaling big changes in its gaming division and hinting at Valve’s Steam Machine developments. Wall Street remains bullish on MSFT with a Strong Buy consensus and an average target around $560, and the stock edged higher on the news.
Microsoft unveiled refreshed Surface Pro 13-inch and Surface Laptop 13/13.8/15-inch devices for 2026, all powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 chips and rolling out first to business customers with consumer variants and Snapdragon X2 models arriving later. Highlights include higher‑resolution displays (notably the 13.8-inch and 15-inch laptops), an optional privacy screen, updated anti-reflective/glossy panels, and a new haptic-enabled trackpad that leverages Windows 11’s feedback. Prices kick off around $1,499 for the 13-inch Laptop and can reach about $1,949 for the top flagship 13.8-inch and 15-inch models, with some cheaper configurations not Copilot+ PC compatible. Availability is today for business buyers, with broader consumer availability planned for the summer.
Microsoft unveiled Surface Pro for Business and Surface Laptop for Business powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 on the 18A node, with an upcoming Qualcomm Snapdragon X2 to enable on-device AI, signaling a push toward local AI inference for enterprise workloads, while IDC notes a volatile PC market that could pressure pricing and demand.
Microsoft unveiled new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop for Business, adding an optional integrated privacy screen with anti-glare and a refined haptic system for more tactile feedback during drag, resize, and pen work. Powered by Intel Core Ultra Series 3 processors, the devices support on‑device AI and come in 13‑inch, 13.8‑inch, and 15‑inch models; the 13‑inch Laptop starts at $1,300, with Pro from $1,950 and larger Laptops from $1,950, all available now in select markets. The Laptop claims up to 23 hours of battery life and the Pro up to 17 hours, and a 5G option is available on the Pro. Enterprise-focused features aim to improve security and collaboration for organizations.