Microsoft has unveiled a laptop powered by an Nvidia chip that outperforms the MacBook in a number of AI tasks
The Surface Ultra will combine AI computing in the cloud with on-device data processing
Sales of the Surface Ultra will begin on October 16 / Photo: Microsoft
On October 7, Microsoft unveiled its flagship Surface Laptop Ultra, powered by Nvidia chips, stating that in certain tasks involving on-device AI models, the device outperforms Apple’s comparable model—the MacBook Pro M5, according to Bloomberg. Microsoft executives also announced at the Surface launch event in San Francisco that the new laptop can generate video six times faster than a comparable Apple computer.
Deliveries of the Surface Ultra will begin on October 16, and the laptop is already available for pre-order. The starting price will be $2,599—about $400 less than the base 16-inch MacBook Pro.
Details
The new Surface is built on an Nvidia chip for Windows laptops, which is designed for both everyday use and artificial intelligence tasks. This opens up yet another area of competition for Nvidia with the leading manufacturers of general-purpose PC processors—Intel and Advanced Micro Devices—Bloomberg notes.
Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang joined Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella on stage to discuss the development of a new processor for personal computers. “We have completely reinvented the personal computer,” Huang said.
The Surface Laptop Ultra can be equipped with up to 128 GB of unified memory—shared between the central processing unit (CPU) and the graphics processing unit (GPU). This delivers up to one petaflop of performance for AI tasks—that is, up to a quadrillion computations per second. According to Microsoft, this is enough to run AI models with up to 120 billion parameters locally, without relying on cloud data centers. NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang compared the computing power of the Blackwell RTX Spark chip installed in the laptop to the DGX-1—NVIDIA’s specialized AI supercomputer, introduced in 2016. At that time, the DGX-1 was designed as a standalone server system with eight GPUs and cost $129,000 or more. Now, Nvidia is bringing AI computing on a comparable scale to a laptop.
According to Nadella, when working with the Surface Laptop Ultra, developers and users will be able to save money by utilizing the device’s own computing power instead of burning a cloud provider’s tokens when interacting with AI. The company’s CEO also highlighted Windows security features that allow users to track and control the actions of AI agents.
What Else Did Microsoft Announce?
OpenAI and Anthropic client programs won’t be the only ones available for Windows. Meta will release a version of its popular AI agent, Muse, for Microsoft’s operating system, the company’s executive vice president for Windows and Devices, Pavan Davuluri, said Wednesday, according to CNBC. Microsoft will also simplify the initial setup of Windows 11 to make it easier for users to start using the OpenClaw AI agent.
What People Are Saying in the Market
"Microsoft might just make me switch back to Windows. The Surface Laptop Ultra is practically a MacBook Pro, with comparable specs and performance," wrote Max Weinbach, an analyst at Creative Strategies, on the social media platform X following the laptop's announcement.
Investors showed virtually no reaction to the announcement of a Microsoft laptop featuring an Nvidia processor. Shares of the software developer and owner of the Azure cloud service rose by just 0.09% during Wednesday's trading, while those of the chipmaker fell by 0.74%.
Wall Street views the stocks of both companies positively. According to MarketWatch, 58 out of 59 analysts covering Microsoft stock recommend buying it. Nvidia stock has 69 “buy” recommendations out of 72 ratings.
This article was AI-translated and verified by a human editor
