Microsoft Surface and Copilot Event: Everything announced including new Surface laptops, Copilot+ PC and more

Microsoft just couldn't wait until its Build developer conference properly starts tomorrow to drop some knowledge bombs. If you missed the event, we rounded up everything Microsoft announced at its Surface and Copilot event.

Did you think today's event was all about AI? Senior editor Devindra Hardwar — who you may remember from live blogging this event an hour ago — argues that the most important thing to come out of the Copilot+ event was the news that Windows for Arm has been rebuilt.

Microsoft says that more apps than ever before will run natively on Arm-based chips. Crucially, though, it's also reworked its solution for running x86 apps, and says that the new emulator under the hood is faster than Apple's Rosetta 2.

Read the full story here.

We knew more computers were coming that would feature a native version of Microsoft’s AI Copilot toolset, but we didn’t quite know how many were set to be announced. It’s practically an AI avalanche. Companies like Dell, Acer and HP have all just announced computers that have adopted Microsoft’s AI software and NVIDIA’s AI hardware. The age of the AI PC is upon us.

We've broken down the many, many AI-infused PCs launched at and around Microsoft's big event right here.

Microsoft has released a pair of promotional videos for its latest Surface devices, the Surface Pro and Surface Laptop.

You can read all about the devices here:

Microsoft's new Copilot+ Surface Pro has an OLED screen and a redesigned keyboard

Microsoft's redesigned Surface Laptop is a Copilot+ PC with over 22 hours of battery life

Last but not least is Lenovo, which has a pair of Copilot+ PCs using Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chip. Our own Sam Rutherford got a chance to check the Yoga Slim 7x out in person before Microsoft's event, though it was a pre-production version that didn’t have any of Microsoft’s new Copilot+ features enabled. Still, if you're interested to read his thoughts on that new machine, you can find his article here.

Next up is HP, which is reviving its Omnibook brand for its first Copilot+ PC. Deputy Editor Cherlynn Low got a chance to check one of these out before the show (and before we knew they were called Copilot+ PCs!). You can read her writeup of it here, or watch the video below:

Next up is Acer, which just announced a new laptop that takes full advantage of Microsoft’s Copilot AI technology, the Swift 14 AI. The Acer Swift 14 AI ships in a light metal chassis and boasts a Qualcomm Snapdragon X processor, an integrated NPU that promises up to 45 trillion operations per second and a 14.5-inch WQXGA touch display. Acer also promises all-day battery life, despite the added power. The laptop will be available in July, with a starting price of $1,100.

Read the full story here.

Now that the event is over, it's time for Microsoft's partners to wrestle for your attention. To get in on the Copilot+ PC action, Dell is releasing one of the biggest portfolios of compatible laptops with a total of five devices. However, unlike other notebook manufacturers, all of Dell’s new devices are revamps of existing models instead of all-new systems, so here’s a rundown of what the company has to offer.

For enterprise customers, Dell will have the Latitude 5455 and the Latitude 7455, which are offshoots of the current Latitude 5450 and 7450 notebooks. Just like their x86-based siblings, the 5455 is a 14-inch clamshell while the 7455 features a 360-degree 2-in-1 design. The big change is that both new models will be powered by Snapdragon X Plus chips, with only the 7455 capable of moving up to Qualcomm’s flagship Snapdragon X Elite processor.

Read the full story here.

Microsoft's Surface Pro strategy has been, shall we say, a little odd lately. The 2022 Surface Pro 9 came in both Intel and Arm configurations, but the Arm-powered device was both slower and significantly more expensive. Then, earlier this year, Microsoft announced and Intel-powered Surface Pro 10, a fine but boring device focused on IT professionals.

Finally, Microsoft has a new Surface Pro that may get the average person in the market for a laptop to sit up and pay attention. The new Surface Pro Copilot+ PC (no more model numbers!) is another Arm-powered device, but Microsoft says that performance will not be compromised this time. In fact, thanks to a re-architected version of Windows 11, Microsoft claims these machines are 58 percent faster than “the fastest MacBook Air” with an M3 processor.

Read the full story here.

To kick off Build 2024, Microsoft announced new Surface devices at its hardware and AI event. Among the new gear is the new Surface Laptop : a redesigned PC with thinner bezels in 13.8- and 15-inch sizes and Qualcomm’s Arm-based Snapdragon X Elite chip. Of course, AI plays a key role on the new device as this is one of the newly-named Copilot+ PCs that run over 40 models locally thanks to updates to Windows 11.

This is actually the second Surface Laptop 6. Microsoft revealed the first one back in March, but that model is basically a Laptop 5 with updated internals for business use.

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Microsoft's Windows on Arm woes may finally be over. As part of the company's new Copilot+ AI PC initiative, which includes new Surfaces and partner systems running Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite chips, Microsoft says it has rebuilt core components of Windows 11 to better support Arm-based hardware and AI. That includes a new kernel, compiler, and most importantly, an emulator named "Prism" for running older x86 and x64 apps.

Read the full story here.

We’ve been hearing rumblings for months now that Microsoft was working on so-called “AI PCs.” At a pre-Build event, the company spelled out its vision for AI PCs.

Microsoft is calling its version Copilot+ PCs, which CEO Satya Nadella described as a "new class of Windows PCs." These include hardware designed to handle more generative AI Copilot processes locally, rather than relying on the cloud. That requires a chipset with a neural processing unit (NPU) and manufacturers such as Qualcomm have been laying the groundwork with chips like the Snapdragon X Elite.

Read the full story here.