Surface Laptop Ultra Pre-Orders Open With Amazing RTX Power

After months of teases, Microsoft’s biggest, baddest Surface is finally up for grabs. Surface Laptop Ultra is now available to pre-order starting at $2,599, and it’s joined by the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a $5,999 desktop AI machine built for developers who want serious local compute right on their desks.

In a post on the Microsoft Devices Blog, Surface CVP Brett Ostrum calls these “our most powerful Surface devices ever,” and that’s not just marketing fluff this time. Both machines are built around NVIDIA’s RTX Spark Superchip, and they’re the hardware backbone for the Windows hybrid intelligence vision Microsoft laid out today, where your PC handles more of the AI work and the cloud picks up the heavy stuff.

Surface Laptop Ultra ships October 16. The Dev Box follows in November.

Hardware highlights at a glance

Short on time? Here’s what matters:

• Surface Laptop Ultra: NVIDIA RTX Spark Superchip, up to 128 GB unified memory, 15-inch PixelSense Ultra touchscreen with 2,000 nits peak HDR, Magnetic Connect USB-C charging, user-removable storage, and a chassis under 18 mm thin and 4.5 lb
• Surface RTX Spark Dev Box: Same RTX Spark platform in a compact desktop, up to 1 petaflop of AI performance, 128 GB unified memory, and a ready-to-code developer setup out of the box
• Pricing: Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599 MSRP. Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is $5,999 MSRP
• Availability: Laptop Ultra on October 16 from Microsoft.com and select retailers worldwide. Dev Box ships in November, exclusively on Microsoft.com in the U.S.
• Launch promo: Up to $1,000 cash back when you trade in an eligible MacBook Pro

One superchip runs the whole show

We first got a look at this machine back in June, when Surface Laptop Ultra led Microsoft’s big bet on RTX Spark-powered Windows PCs. Now we have the full picture.

Microsoft says it didn’t just drop a fast chip into an existing laptop. The Surface team worked with NVIDIA to optimize Windows for RTX Spark, then designed the entire device around it from scratch. Thermal, acoustic, mechanical, and industrial design teams were all in the room from day one.

Here’s what’s inside:

• An NVIDIA Blackwell RTX GPU with up to 6,144 cores
• An NVIDIA Grace CPU with up to 20 cores
• Up to 128 GB of unified memory shared between the CPU and GPU
• Up to 1 petaflop of AI performance
• Support for local AI models exceeding 120 billion parameters

That last one is the headline for AI builders. Running models that big locally means less waiting on the cloud, more privacy for your work, and access to NVIDIA’s CUDA ecosystem alongside the full Windows AI stack.

One small asterisk: Microsoft notes the GPU can’t address all 128 GB at once. How much it can use depends on configuration and workload. The petaflop number is also a theoretical FP4 figure that uses sparsity, so don’t expect it on every task.

Built to keep that power going

Raw power doesn’t mean much if the laptop throttles after ten minutes. Microsoft says Surface Laptop Ultra uses a new thermal design with up to 2.5x more thermal power capacity than current Surface Laptops, all inside a chassis that’s less than 18 mm thin and under 4.5 pounds.

The 15-inch PixelSense Ultra touchscreen is the brightest and sharpest display Microsoft has ever put on a Surface Laptop. It hits 2,000 nits of peak HDR brightness, which Microsoft says is the brightest peak HDR of any laptop on the market and up to 25% brighter than MacBook Pro with M5 Pro. That’s a pretty direct shot at Apple, and it won’t be the last one.

Heads up for artists, though: the touchscreen is built for touch only. Surface Pen and Surface Slim Pen aren’t supported, so this isn’t the device for pen-first workflows.

A few other nice touches round out the design:

• A touchpad that’s 30% larger than Surface Laptop 8th Edition, with advanced haptics
• User-removable storage you can upgrade, replace, or pull out for security
• Platinum and Nightfall color options, depending on model

Magnetic Connect brings back the MagSafe vibe

This might be the coolest feature of the bunch. Surface Laptop Ultra introduces Magnetic Connect, which Microsoft calls the world’s first built-in magnetic USB-C charging on a laptop.

The included charging cable snaps magnetically onto the right-side USB-C port and pops off easily if someone trips over it. Even better, that port still works like a normal USB-C port for video, data, and accessories when you’re not charging.

And finally, a premium laptop that doesn’t make you live the dongle life. The full port lineup includes:

• Magnetic Connect USB-C port
• Two additional USB-C ports
• HDMI
• USB-A
• SD card reader
• 3.5 mm headphone jack

You can drive up to three 4K displays and pull footage straight off an SD card without an adapter.

Work hard, game harder

Microsoft is pitching Surface Laptop Ultra at creators and developers first. Creative pros get the color-accurate display, GPU acceleration, and plenty of memory for juggling big projects. Developers can run local models with GitHub Copilot for agentic coding right on the device.

But here’s the fun part. The same RTX Spark hardware also makes this a legit gaming laptop. Microsoft highlights ray tracing, DLSS, and NVIDIA Reflex in supported games, plus the growing catalog of titles on Windows on Arm. If you’ve been waiting for an Arm-based Windows laptop that can actually play games well, this could be the one to watch.

Surface RTX Spark Dev Box puts an AI powerhouse on your desk

If Surface Laptop Ultra is the RTX Spark you take with you, the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is the one that stays home. We covered it when Microsoft unveiled the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box at Build 2026, and now it finally has a price and ship window.

The Dev Box packs the same RTX Spark platform into a compact small form factor desktop. It offers:

• Up to 1 petaflop of AI performance
• 128 GB of unified memory
• Support for AI models exceeding 120 billion parameters with large context windows
• Local inference, evaluation, and experimentation at interactive speeds

It’s also part of the Project Zenith family of ready-to-code Windows PCs, so it ships with the tools developers actually use already set up. That includes Visual Studio Code, Git, GitHub CLI, GitHub Copilot, WSL, Python, Node, and more. Less time configuring, more time building.

Local AI agents with guardrails

Both devices tie into Microsoft’s bigger push to make Windows the home base for AI agents. Microsoft Execution Containers keep agents boxed in, and upcoming Windows features will use Microsoft Entra to tell agent activity apart from user activity. Microsoft Agent 365 controls will also extend to local agents running on the device.

In practice, that means you could have GitHub Copilot investigate a broken build and suggest fixes entirely on your machine, then tap Microsoft Dev Box in the cloud only when you need extra capacity. As Microsoft puts it, you get AI development without “spending a cloud token on every step.” Keep in mind that several of these Windows capabilities are described as upcoming, so not everything will be there on day one.

Businesses can also pre-order commercial configurations of Surface Laptop Ultra starting today.

Microsoft wants your MacBook Pro

Microsoft isn’t being subtle here. The company is running a “Break up with your MacBook” trade-in offer that gives you up to $1,000 cash back when you trade in an eligible MacBook Pro toward a new Surface Laptop Ultra.

A few things to know before you box up your Mac:

• The offer runs from October 7 through November 23, 2026
• It’s only available through the Microsoft Store online in the U.S. and Canada
• Your cash back amount depends on the device you buy and the value of your trade-in
• The MacBook must power on, hold a charge, and be in fully working condition with no cracked screen or liquid damage
• You’ll need to mail in the trade-in within 15 days of completing the online process
• It’s limited to one offer per customer and can’t be combined with other deals

Surface Laptop Ultra price and release date

Here’s the bottom line:

• Surface Laptop Ultra: Pre-order now from $2,599 MSRP at Microsoft.com or select retailers worldwide. Availability begins October 16
• Surface Laptop Ultra for Business: Commercial configurations available for pre-order now
• Surface RTX Spark Dev Box: Pre-order now for $5,999 MSRP, exclusively on Microsoft.com in the U.S. Shipping begins in November

$2,599 is a big ask, and that’s just the starting price. Fully loaded configurations with 128 GB of memory will likely cost a lot more. Microsoft hasn’t broken down every configuration in its post, so check the Microsoft Store before you commit.

What to watch next

The big question is real-world performance. Microsoft’s numbers are impressive on paper, but we want to see how RTX Spark handles sustained creative workloads, local AI models, and gaming on Windows on Arm once reviews land around the October 16 launch.

We’ll be keeping an eye on reviews, configuration pricing, and any early deals. In the meantime, catch up on all our latest Microsoft Surface news, including Microsoft’s recent Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch refresh with Snapdragon X2 Plus.