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.
The same people buying the high end MacBook pros I would assume . I guess people working with 3D rendeding and AI workloads?
I would assume those people will look at Microsoft’s track record of supporting ARM hardware, realize that the vast majority of Microsoft’s own software still does not run on ARM natively (14 years after Surface RT launched!), and buy a MacBook Pro instead.
I didn’t feel it’s such a dire situation. I’m curious what MS software is still not ported? I’d assume it’s more obscure administrative or programming stuff? I thought all of office, etc is ported. The x86 emulation seems good enough for any other stuff where max performance isn’t needed. I think AI is the main workload they are targeting here which I’m pretty sure would work great. But yeah maybe some 3d programs haven’t been ported to arm yet.
Every single game except Microsoft Solitaire Collection of the Windows Store.
Other than that, the only ARM platforms Microsoft Gaming Studios support are Nintendo Switch, iPhone, and Android.
Most non native games run okay under the emulation layers, and more arm games are coming out now with so many arm platforms coming online.
That’s not the point. The point is commitment of Microsoft to its own platform and that’s lacking ever since the release of the first Surface RT over a decade ago.
Apple doesn’t just not port Apple Chess because it would run okay under emulation. Of course they ported everything. For years Microsoft didn’t even port VS Code despite the fact that even back then it was based on Chromium which already worked fine on ARM platforms.
Surface RT came out in 2012, VS Code in 2015, and the ARM port only in 2020! Madness! https://devblogs.microsoft.com/cppblog/visual-studio-code-c-extension-arm-and-arm64-support/
Also people who need a workstation at more than one place I’d say.
The weight might be a problem here. MacBook Pros weigh about 1.5kg, while the new Surface Ultra is going to weigh just a little over 2kg, which is almost as much as gaming laptops. Would anyone want to carry this around?
It depends on the use case. If one wants to avoid having i.e. two workstations at two different places and having instead a beefy laptop.