Microsoft’s most powerful Surface laptop ever goes on sale this Friday. The Surface Laptop Ultra, built around Nvidia’s new RTX Spark chip, starts at $2,599 and ships on October 16, alongside a wave of RTX Spark PCs from other makers. Pre-orders have been open since Microsoft’s October 7 event in San Francisco.
What Is RTX Spark?
RTX Spark is a new Arm-based system-on-a-chip from Nvidia, designed for Windows PCs. According to Engadget’s coverage of the launch, its graphics capability is comparable to a GeForce RTX 5070, with support for ray tracing, DLSS, and Nvidia Reflex. That is notable for a thin laptop chip, and it is the reason Microsoft keeps pitching this as a machine that is fast even away from the wall plug.
Microsoft demoed Gears of War: E-Day running on the laptop, and said Call of Duty will arrive on the system later this year. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang also appeared on stage with Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at the event.
Prices and Launch Lineup
Pricing confirmed so far:
- Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: $2,599.99
- Microsoft Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a mini PC for heavier AI work: $5,999.99, in a configuration with 128GB of memory
- HP OmniBook Ultra 16: $3,199.99
- ASUS ProArt P16: price published, also shipping October 16
Dell, Lenovo, and MSI also have RTX Spark machines on pre-order, but had not published specific model pricing at the time of writing. Everything in the first wave is listed for October 16.
Windows Is Changing Too
The hardware came with software. Microsoft used the same event to announce Windows 11 changes aimed at AI agents, including features to help run agents more securely, plus work on Prism, the layer that lets older x86 apps run on Arm chips. Engadget also noted that Microsoft appears to have designed the Surface Laptop Ultra with repairability in mind, which is rare at this price tier.
Who Is This For?
At $2,599 and up, this is not a mainstream laptop. It is aimed at people who want strong graphics, long battery performance, and local AI tools in one thin machine, such as developers, creators, and gamers who travel. Whether Windows on Arm handles every app and game you use is the real question, and independent reviews will answer that in the days after launch.
The Bottom Line
The Surface Laptop Ultra is the first big test of whether Nvidia can bring its graphics power to Arm-based Windows PCs at scale. With six launch partners shipping the same day, Friday is shaping up as a major moment for Windows hardware this fall. Wait for reviews if you are cautious, since pre-orders are open but real-world results are not in yet.
You can see configurations and order details on Microsoft’s official Surface page.
For more on the AI chip race driving this, read our coverage of AMD crossing $1 trillion and Qualcomm’s AI-first Hexagon NPU.
