Microsoft and Nvidia launch Surface Laptop Ultra starting at $2,599

Microsoft has unveiled the Surface Laptop Ultra, an aluminium flagship notebook powered by Nvidia's new Arm-based RTX Spark processor, starting at $2,599.

Preorders opened on Wednesday following a joint company event in San Francisco, with shipments scheduled to begin on 16 October, said Pavan Davuluri, Microsoft's executive vice president of Windows and devices.

What hardware is inside the Surface Laptop Ultra

The base $2,599 configuration includes an 18-core central processor, 24 gigabytes of unified memory, and 512 gigabytes of storage. The top-tier version reaches $5,899.99, packing a 20-core processor, 128GB of unified memory, and a 1-terabyte solid-state drive.

Both configurations feature a 15-inch HDR touchscreen capable of 2,000 nits peak brightness, a haptic feedback trackpad, three USB-C ports, an HDMI port, one USB-A socket, a full-size SD card slot, and a magnetic USB-C charging connector.

By moving to Nvidia silicon, Microsoft is attempting to run artificial intelligence workloads directly on consumer hardware rather than routing every task through its cloud data centres. Windows 11 has been adjusted to let users isolate coding agents inside dedicated execution containers, with native setup support for open-source OpenClaw agents. Meta will also introduce a Windows version of its Muse AI assistant for the device.

Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang said the computer can deliver up to one petaflop of computing power, comparing its local performance to Nvidia's $250 million DGX-1 data centre system from 2016.

"I think today is the day we'll start talking and thinking about the frontier ecosystem taking maybe slightly different contours two years from now, five years from now, 10 years from now," Microsoft chief executive Satya Nadella said during the presentation.

Why Nvidia is taking on Intel in PCs

The machine represents Nvidia's most direct challenge yet to Intel's core business. Windows PC processors have historically been divided between Intel and Advanced Micro Devices.

Intel's Client Computing Group recorded $32.23 billion in revenue in 2025, essentially flat compared to $32.31 billion in 2023. Over the same two years, AMD expanded its client revenue from $4.65 billion to $10.64 billion, increasing its share of the pair's combined market from 13 per cent to 25 per cent.

Nvidia is stepping into that opening from a position of financial strength, though client PCs remain a secondary priority for it. Nvidia's gaming segment generated $16.04 billion in fiscal 2026, representing just 7 per cent of its $215.94 billion in total corporate revenue. For Intel, client processors remain the core financial engine.

High memory costs keep prices steep

The biggest barrier to mass adoption remains cost. Rising memory prices recently led Nvidia to lift the price of its standalone DGX Spark desktop by roughly 75 per cent to $6,950.

At a starting price above $2,500, the Surface Laptop Ultra sits firmly in the luxury workstation tier. The architecture's broader impact on Intel's market share will likely depend on whether high-volume computer manufacturers such as Dell, HP, and Lenovo introduce their own RTX Spark laptops at more accessible price points.