I went to San Francisco to see Microsoft’s latest Surface laptop and hear about its plans for Windows. The company is pushing on two fronts: more powerful computers for people who create things, and more control over AI tools that can take actions on your behalf.
Microsoft showed off their Surface Laptop Ultra, which they calls their most powerful laptop yet. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang was among the speakers at the launch, and inside the computer is a new NVIDIA chip called RTX Spark, built for graphics and AI tasks.
This laptop is basically Microsoft’s answer to Apple’s MacBook Pro - it’s aimed at video effects artists, game developers, graphic designers and others whose work requires serious computing power. With a starting price of about $2,600, you’ll want a reason to put that performance to use.
There’s a big, bright Mini LED touchscreen, a large haptic trackpad and improved speakers. There’s no shortage of ports: HDMI, USB-C, a headphone jack, USB-A and a full-size SD card slot.
Then there’s the magnetic charging port. It also works as a regular USB-C connection for accessories, which Microsoft says is a first.
On the Windows side, Microsoft outlined protections for increasingly capable AI agents. These are tools that can do things for you, which makes their access to your computer an important part of the equation.
Microsoft’s approach is to give agents their own permissions and security rules, controlling what they can access and how they use it. Think of installing an AI agent like you would an app.
Users would also be able to see what happened, including whether an agent tried to do something it wasn’t allowed to do. Those features are mostly for businesses right now, though they could eventually reach everyday Windows users.
The Surface Laptop Ultra goes on sale October 16.