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MicrosoftTwo new Surface devices will be launched later this year. Nvidia The RTX Spark chip supports. At the Microsoft Build conference this week, I had the opportunity to study carefully the Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, both of which have identical chips, but they use Nvidia's RTX Spark in different ways.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface Dev Box

Microsoft has been focusing on the performance of Surface Laptop Ultra, battery life and display screens.

Surface Laptop Ultra looks and feels very similar to 16 in MacBook Pro. There are no deformed chains, detachable monitors or any other techniques — a capped laptop with performance at its core. Microsoft chose the 15-inch mini LED panel with a HDR brightness of up to 2,000 Nit. I saw the peak HDR level in the dark room, and I can confirm it was a very bright monitor. In fact, it's the brightest screen on Microsoft Surface devices.

The touchboard on Surface Laptop Ultra is not only larger than the conventional Surface touchboard, but is also in Windows New tactile support is provided. When you suspend the mouse near the closed button in Windows, you add a subtle touch mode, or when you try to drag, zoom or rotate an object. This is the kind of touch that really changes the device's feeling, and when you drag the slider and interact with the UI element, you notice it in all parts of Windows 11. I hope that other laptop manufacturers will also begin to provide the tactile support for this improvement.

When I first picked up Surface Laptop Ultra, I was surprised by its weight. It feels heavy compared to 15 inches Surface Laptop 7, but apparently weighs in performance and battery lifetime. Andrew Hill, Vice-President of Surface Products, in an interview with The Verge, said: "When we design in order of priority, performance, performance, performance, battery life, battery life, monitor, monitor, monitor, monitor, and make sure that we have done this." “If other trade-offs have to be made, so be it, but let us ensure that we have established the basic principles of genuine concern.”

I witnessed the performance of Surface Laptop Ultra in a variety of missions, including a demonstration that runs a local AI model that consumes a large amount of 128-GB unified memory, while Indiana Jones and Big Round can play.

I also felt the heat dispersion of Surface Laptop Ultra, which had a hot spot above the keyboard. The top part of the touch keyboard and the lower part of the area under the back of the equipment feel warm, but they are not warm enough to make their legs uncomfortable. Microsoft also uses two fans for cooling equipment, and I can barely hear them even when they are almost full.

Within Surface Laptop Ultra, Microsoft also makes it easier to replace components. To be honest, it's like a work of art inside, and clearly marked components are in the black grid. Microsoft did focus on the reparableness of Surface Laptop 7, increasing its iFixit fixability score from 0/10 in 2017 to 8/10 in 2024. I'm curious about the iFixit ranking of Surface Laptop Ultra later this year.

Surface Laptop Ultra also has an amazing number of ports. There are two USB-C ports and one HDMI port on the left, and one USB-C, one USB-A port and one full-size SD card reader on the right. There's another interesting place for a single USB-C port on the right: it's a little broader than two ports on the left.

I asked Hill about the mysterious USB-C port and he laughed that Microsoft would share more information about Surface Laptop Ultra later this year. The laptop lacks the traditional Surface Connect magnetic charging port, so I really wonder if the company has created some kind of USB-C alternative.

It is also noteworthy that Microsoft does not really talk about its Copilot Plus PC plan on Surface Laptop Ultra. Although it still meets all the functions of Copilot Plus PC, Microsoft does not mention the brand in its blog and all initial marketing around the device is targeted at professionals, creators and developers.

Hill told me that Microsoft didn't give up the Copilot Plus PC brand, even though its importance on this Surface device has diminished considerably. Instead, it focuses on the creators and developers of these laptops, especially for local artificial intelligence calculations. "What you have here is an option, you can do a lot of work locally on what you have, and if you want to tear it up and calm down, you're not on rice," Hill said. "Some jobs are better run in clouds, but you can do a lot of work here."

I also had a short tour of Surface RTX Spark Dev Box. It is aimed primarily at those developers who wish to have a powerful micro-PC on their desks and who can use the 128GB unified local running AI task load. Dev Box, made by Microsoft, uses aluminum 3D printer with 1,000 vents on its chassis, representing its 1000 teraflops computational performance.

These vents really remind me of Xbox Series X, and the entire development box looks like a flat version of a Microsoft game. There are two USB-C ports, USB-A, HDMI, Ethernet and headphone plugs on the back. It will operate within the same chip as Surface Laptop Ultra, but Microsoft tells me there are some minor differences, but they have not been fully disclosed.

One of the main differences is that it has a dispersion range of 100 watts, while the dispersion range of Surface Laptop Ultra is as high as 80 watts. This means that Dev Box will be better able to handle ongoing work loads, especially anything using the Nvidia Tensor core. This is mainly an artificial intelligence load, but the Tensor core is also used to upgrade through Nvidia 's DLSS technology, so the game on Dev Box may be a little better than Surface Laptop Ultra.

The biggest problem facing both sets of equipment is pricing. RAMgeddon has pushed up the price of the new Microsoft Surface device that carries the Intel processor, and I doubt that these new RTX Spark equipment will be at the top of the high-end PC price. We will know the answer later this year.

Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge