Microsoft just dropped a bombshell at Computex 2026 by unveiling the most powerful device ever to bear the Surface name. The newly announced Surface Laptop Ultra is a direct answer to Apple and its dominant MacBook Pro lineup. Built in a deep partnership with NVIDIA, the new flagship laptop runs Windows on Arm and completely redefines professional computing.
Ever since the Surface division came into existence, I’ve always wondered why they didn’t go all in and make an ultra-powered device. As the MacBook Pros started gaining rave reviews from YouTubers, I started waiting for Microsoft’s response, and now we finally have it. Surface Laptop Ultra is arriving in stores this fall, 2026.
Surface Laptop Ultra N1X brings 128GB unified memory and a mini-LED display The hardware specifications for the Surface Laptop Ultra are absolutely staggering. The chassis weighs less than 4.5 pounds (~2kg) and houses a prominent dual-fan cooling system designed to prevent aggressive thermal throttling during heavy rendering workloads. Microsoft is offering the sleek device in Platinum and Nightfall color finishes.
Opening the lid reveals a beautiful 15-inch mini-LED PixelSense Ultra touchscreen. The panel features a sharp 2880 by 1920 resolution at 262 pixels per inch. The screen hits an incredible 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, easily making it the brightest display Microsoft has ever shipped on any device.
Personally I think this is a massive flop. Are there really people who want a [likely] more expensive and heavier MacBook Pro that runs Windows?
What I think most people need and want is just a small laptop with a moderately powered Snapdragon, just enough to browse the web, watch videos, and run lighter games.
Who is this for?
Windows no, linux maybe. 15 inches is too big though.
Too big, too heavy, too powerful. Honestly I’d prefer a Snapdragon 870 tablet if I could install Linux on it.
Technically Xiaomi Pad 6 meets these criteria, but unlocking the bootloader is a gargantuan pain in the ass. Hopefully I’ll manage by the end of this year…
You’re only saying too powerful because of the price I’m assuming? For me if this was in a 14inch chassis, it’d meet most of my checkboxes, especially if it has half decent gaming performance. Don’t know how good fex is though.
If only the world’s largest game publisher, owner of Activision Blizzard, Bethesda, Minecraft, and Xbox, would port their games to this Microsoft machine. Too bad this will never happen because Microsoft and that publisher, whose name escapes me at the moment, don’t cooperate.
I mean, of course. If it was extremely powerful at a low price, then hell yeah. But personally I ain’t paying double premium for that performance.
Fex is making decent progress every week, so I wouldn’t worry about it too much.
The original surface line is a cool 2 in 1 idea. Then they come up with the surface book with dedicated graphics card in the base, okay liked it… Then they got the idea to make the surface a laptop… That’s where they lost the plot.
Very cool devices, but the Intel-based ones are kind of pointless. They overheat during tasks like watching YouTube or Netflix. Surface Pro X was very nice, with its only downside being Windows. Not sure about the new X Elite ones.
This time it surely will work!
Microsoft don’t build laptops or desktops or phones, they build operating systems, get back to that and build one that offers people a little privacy, ability to configure and freedom from subscription and information begging.
Dekstops - no. Phones - not anymore. But Microsoft does in fact ‘build’ laptops and tablets, with this new Surface Ultra being one of them.
Admittedly, ‘build’ may not be the right word, since Microsoft’s input is very limited. The same is true for a lot of OEMs though.
At the very least, Microsoft did help Qualcomm with designing SQ1 and SQ2 for the Surface Pro X gen 1 and gen 2.
Personally it’s my favourite device ever made by Microsoft, and among my favourites in general. If only we could install Linux on it. Even the newer SQ2 is on the slower side, and just barely manages a mostly smooth experience on Windows 11.
I was writing as to where their focus should be not where it actually is, I dread to think where their focus actually is.
20-core NVIDIA Grace CPU (Arm architecture, co-developed with MediaTek)
Yeah, good luck with that
MediaTek processors have become pretty competitive in recent years. They’re no longer the shitty, awfully slow mobile CPUs that you want to avoid at all costs.
It will last exactly 6 months and die.
