Surface Laptop Ultra hands-on: A beautiful beast powered by NVIDIA's RTX Spark

When we first caught a glimpse of the Surface Laptop Ultra back in June, I was struck by how normal it seemed. Even though Microsoft claimed it was the most powerful Surface Laptop ever, it really looked like a straightforward MacBook Pro clone, even more so than the Surface Laptop (or the Laptop Studio, which nobody talks about anymore). There aren't any weird hinges or flashy Surface features — just pure premium laptop by the looks of it. 

After spending a bit of time with it today, I can confirm that remains the case. At the same time, it feels better than any other Windows laptop I've held before. And given its $2,599 starting price, it damn well better be.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

There's nothing ostentatious about the Surface Laptop Ultra, but for the AI developers who want a powerful and portable system that can hold up to 128GB of RAM, it could be their dream machine. Even before I got my hands on it, the Laptop Ultra exuded a sense of quality. Its aluminum case glowed amid the studio lights, its screen was surprisingly bright and its overall aesthetic was clean. Think of it like a sturdy and minimalist Volvo, compared to a flashy BMW or Audi.

Beyond just looking great, its keyboard has just the right amount of tactile feedback, something I've always appreciated about Microsoft's keyboards. It's massive haptic touchpad feels smooth and responsive. It's a heavy machine, coming in under 4.5 pounds, but that's par for the course with 16-inch workhorses. It's still lighter than Apple's 16-inch MacBook Pro, and it feels just as sturdy.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

I've yet to see the Surface Laptop Ultra in action doing tons of AI work, but researchers I talked to at Microsoft's launch event seem particularly excited about it. Aidan Pinero, an AI researcher and Master's student at UCSC Silicon Valley, said he was excited to finally have a Windows system that could run large AI models. He's been jealous of his friends running MacBook Pros with 128GB of RAM, and he's looking forward to having the same amount of flexibility with Windows thanks to NVIDIA's RTX Spark platform.

If it's not obvious from the Surface Laptop Ultra's $2,599 price and AI focus, this isn't really a system meant for average computer users. And the same could be said of all of the upcoming RTX Spark machines. Microsoft highlighted hybrid intelligence — i.e. using both local and cloud-based AI tools — at its San Francisco event today, something only AI developers will really care about.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

While Microsoft and NVIDIA's CEO's patted each other on the back for reinventing PCs, it really seems like they're responding to the sea change that started six years ago with Apple Silicon. RTX Spark is built on Arm processors, relies on fast unified memory and also bundles powerful NPU and GPU hardware, all like Apple's latest processors. 

But so far, the benefits around RTX Spark and the Surface Laptop Ultra are really meant for developers and power users, whereas Apple Silicon delivered immediate benefits for everyone buying a new Mac. Perhaps that's something we'll see trickle down from high-end RTX Spark systems, but who knows how long that will take.