Microsoft revealed the specs and pricing for its new Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box at a San Francisco event on Wednesday. The San Francisco reveal happened during the city's Tech Week.
Nvidia announced in June that it secured agreements with Microsoft and other PC makers to build AI and agent ready Windows PCs using its RTX Spark chip. Specific details on those machines were scant at the time.
Laptop pricing starts at $2,600
The new Surface Laptop Ultra arrives in two base models starting at $2,600 and $3,700. Prices increase with options for extra memory and storage up to $5,900. Microsoft stated that the highest end device is already out of stock.
Microsoft also debuted its RTX Spark chip workstation called the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box. It starts at $6,000 and includes Microsoft development tools like VS Code, GitHub Copilot CLI, WSL, and PowerShell 7.
Both the new laptop and workstation are built to run AI models locally on device for free. They feature the CPU, GPU, unified memory, and enhanced cooling required to handle local AI processing.
A revamped Windows 11 runs on the devices
The devices run a revamped Windows 11 version featuring Execution Containers. According to the company, this feature simplifies sandboxing AI agents for users.
Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella announced that the Execution Containers feature will be available for all Windows 11 users. Nadella noted that having a model alone is not enough and requires orchestration, external memory, and action spaces.
Nadella stated that Microsoft is enabling this capability for its own applications and apps from any developer. He described that capability as the future focus of the Windows platform.
The hardware targets developers directly. Microsoft is offering up to $1,000 off for buyers who trade in a MacBook Pro, targeting a device popular among Silicon Valley developers and AI agent enthusiasts.
Microsoft also promised that the powerful graphics processing inside the Surface PCs supports content creation, video processing, and gaming.
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Dell joined Microsoft by announcing details for its Dell XPS 16 Creator Edition PC on Wednesday. That Dell PC is available for preorder now with a delivery expected later in October at Best Buy for $3,800.
Dell takes preorders now for delivery later in October.
