Microsoft opens Surface Laptop Ultra preorders ahead of Oct. 16 availability

Microsoft lists the laptop with a 15-inch display, up to 128 GB of unified memory, up to 20 CPU cores and up to 6,144 GPU cores. Those are the company’s product specifications, not independent test results. The published Surface specifications also describe a device built around NVIDIA’s RTX Spark chip.

Microsoft says RTX Spark can run AI models with more than 120 billion parameters locally. That is a company claim about the models the hardware can support; it does not show how quickly a particular model will run or how the laptop will perform on a range of tasks.

The preorder announcement is not the same as general availability. The laptop has an October availability date, while the Dev Box has a broader November U.S. shipping window. Neither product was available to buyers at the event.

The speed comparisons come from vendors

Microsoft said its commissioned tests found RTX Spark PCs achieved up to 2.1 times faster time to first token than a 16-inch MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro chip and 64 GB of memory. The company said it used preproduction devices for that comparison.

NVIDIA reported up to 4.3 times faster AI image generation and 6.2 times faster AI video generation in specified workloads. Those results, too, are vendor-reported comparisons. The cited material does not establish independent verification of the figures or show how they translate to performance across other software and tasks.

Independent tests of retail Surface Laptop Ultra devices covering AI, CPU and graphics performance, battery life and thermals are not established in the available coverage. Buyers therefore have Microsoft’s product specifications and vendor comparisons, but not independent retail-device results to confirm the performance claims.

Copilot and Search have different rollout schedules

Microsoft described Copilot features that could use context from a user’s PC, take actions with permission and draw on local models as well as cloud AI. The company expects those hybrid-intelligence capabilities to begin rolling out to Copilot+ PCs in the coming months. They were announced at the event, not presented as generally available.

Windows Search has a separate timetable. Microsoft said new taskbar Search actions would start rolling out to Windows Insiders in the experimental channel on Oct. 7. Inline Copilot answers in Search are opt-in and are planned for select markets later this year. Engadget’s coverage of the Search changes describes features with that distinct schedule.

Microsoft said Microsoft Execution Containers, a policy-based system for containing agent activity, are generally available on Windows 11. It also said Meta’s Muse app for Windows is coming soon with the system integrated. Those announcements establish different availability statuses; they do not independently demonstrate how the containment controls perform across agents and uses.

The event paired new PCs with a wider Windows pitch

The Surface products were one part of the presentation. Microsoft also described Windows features for combining computing on a PC with cloud AI, while NVIDIA supplied the RTX Spark hardware behind the local-computing pitch. The event brought Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella, NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang and Windows and Devices chief Pavan Davuluri onstage.

Huang described the companies’ effort as a reinvention of personal computing, telling Engadget, “We have reinvented the computer as we know it.” That statement captures the event’s ambition, but does not verify the performance or security claims made for the products.

For buyers, the next evidence will come from independent testing of retail laptops and the range of applications they support. For Windows users, Microsoft has not specified which devices and markets will receive the new Copilot features first or when the broader rollout will be complete.