Everything announced at Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra event – The Verge

The first Nvidia RTX Spark laptops cost up to $7,000

2026-10-07T15:12:02-04:00

The 15-inch Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

The first array of laptops powered by Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip are designed to compete with high-end MacBook Pros - and they've got some high-end prices to match.

The flagship Surface Laptop Ultra and RTX Spark laptops from Dell, Lenovo, MSI, HP, and Asus start as low as $2,599 for configurations with an 18-core CPU, 24GB of unified memory, and 512GB of storage. That's close in price to a similarly specced 14-inch MacBook Pro with M5 Pro chip, though Apple includes 1TB of storage. But the prices for both RTX Spark and Apple laptops of course go much, much higher.

Of the pricing we've seen so far, a kitted-out Asus ProArt P16 RTX Spark …

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Microsoft is giving Copilot more control over Windows and your files

2026-10-07T16:26:53-04:00

At today's Windows and Surface event, Microsoft showed off an upgrade to its Copilot AI system that will give it access to local files on your PC and the ability to take actions across the OS. It's part of an idea Microsoft is calling "Hybrid Intelligence," where apps and tools rely on a mix of local and cloud AI models to accomplish tasks efficiently.

To show off how Hybrid Intelligence works, Jacob Andreou, Microsoft's EVP of Copilot, walked through a video demo onstage asking Microsoft's Autopilot tool to help with filing taxes. Andreou told the AI agent that he got an email from his accountant and asked Autopilot to get her what she nee …

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How Microsoft built its MacBook Pro competitor

2026-10-07T15:25:37-04:00

Before Microsoft releases a laptop to the public, it needs to put the device through its paces. That all happens inside a windowless, warehouse-like lab on the company's Redmond, Washington, campus, where the team developing Surface devices programs robots to press their buttons thousands of times, pelts devices with radio waves from giant antennas, and builds contraptions that drop objects from increasingly daring heights to see whether the products can hold up.

Its latest laptop, the product I'm here to see, really needs to hold up. The Surface Laptop Ultra isn't just another high-end config of the Surface Laptop, it's the debut platform …

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The Surface Laptop Ultra finally has a release date — and a starting price of $2,599

2026-10-07T14:41:45-04:00

Months after revealing its Surface Laptop Ultra, Microsoft has announced that the Nvidia RTX Spark-equipped device will launch on October 16th. Pricing starts at $2,599 for the base configuration, featuring an 18-core CPU, 24GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage.

The Surface Laptop Ultra ships with a 15-inch HDR touchscreen display with up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness, along with a larger trackpad that supports haptic feedback. The device uses Nvidia's new RTX Spark chip, an Arm-based processor with up to 128GB of unified memory. Both Microsoft and Nvidia are positioning RTX Spark laptops at the very premium end of the laptop market, designed …

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Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is available for preorder for $5,999

2026-10-07T15:30:04-04:00

Microsoft's Nvidia-powered Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is available for preorder now and is slated to ship in November for just about $6,000. It's pricier than the DGX Spark mini PC Nvidia launched last year, but PC prices have been climbing due to shortages of RAM and other components.

The Dev Box's flat, 3D-printed anodized aluminum chassis doubles as a heatsink and resembles the top vents on an Xbox Series X. It was introduced alongside the new Surface Laptop Ultra and runs on Nvidia's Arm-based RTX Spark platform and 128GB of unified memory. With that much memory, along with a 100-watt thermal envelope and Nvidia's Tensor cores, you could …

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Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Ultra has built-in magnetic USB-C charging

2026-10-07T14:53:06-04:00

Microsoft has created a magnetic charging solution for its Surface Laptop Ultra that uses USB-C. After scrapping its proprietary Surface Connect magnetic charging on its smaller Surface devices last year, the Surface Laptop Ultra has a charging cable that attaches magnetically to the right side USB-C port.

During Microsoft's Windows event on Wednesday, Windows and Surface chief Pavan Davuluri said that you can just "bring the connector close, and it snaps right into place." It's still a proprietary solution, but the USB-C port it slots into still works for video, data, and other USB-C connectivity like you'd expect. Microsoft is calling it …

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Windows and Surface live blog: On the ground at Microsoft’s event

2026-10-07T15:22:10-04:00

We're in San Francisco today to hear what's next for Windows and Surface. Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, and Windows and Surface chief Pavan Davuluri will all be holding a "conversation on how local AI will shape the next chapter of the PC."

Microsoft and Nvidia have been working together on the new RTX Spark platform, which is focused on boosting local AI models, creative apps, and even gaming on a series of new laptops. Nvidia's GPU expertise is getting squeezed into laptops like the Surface Laptop Ultra, and we're about to find out exactly what it's capable of.

Microsoft has also been on a mission this year to try …

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