Microsoft has opened pre-orders for the Surface Laptop Ultra, a 15-inch flagship built on Nvidia's RTX Spark chip, starting at $2,599 (about Rs 2.3 lakh). It ships on October 16. At a Windows and Surface event, the company also introduced Magnetic Connect, which it calls the 'world's first built-in magnetic USB-C charging experience'.
How Magnetic Connect works
Surface Connect, Microsoft's proprietary magnetic charger, was dropped from the 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop last year. Magnetic Connect revives the idea on a standard port. A cable attaches by magnet to the USB-C port on the laptop's right side, and the connector detaches if the cable is yanked. Microsoft's Windows and Surface chief, Pavan Davuluri, said users can "bring the connector close, and it snaps right into place."
There are caveats. The cable connector is thicker than a standard USB-C plug, so it won't fit phones or other devices. Only the right-side port is magnetised, though all three USB-C ports accept ordinary USB-C chargers. The port still carries video and data. A 140W magnetic cable and adapter are reportedly included in the box. The 'built-in' qualifier matters, as aftermarket magnetic USB-C adapters have existed for years. What is new is a laptop maker doing it natively.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra specifications
The Surface Laptop Ultra has a 15-inch mini-LED touchscreen, with touch but no pen support. Microsoft says it is lighter than the 16-inch MacBook Pro and has upgradeable storage. The base model has an 18-core RTX Spark chip, 24GB of RAM and 512GB of storage, and configurations go up to 128GB of unified memory. Ports include three USB-C, a USB-A, HDMI 2.1b, an SD card reader and a headphone jack. Microsoft is courting Apple users with up to $1,000 cash back for trading in an eligible MacBook.
What else did Microsoft launch?
Microsoft also opened pre-orders for the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a compact developer desktop priced at $5,999, with shipping expected in November. Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang attended the event. Other manufacturers, including HP with its OmniBook Ultra 16, showed laptops that will use RTX Spark.
On the software side, Microsoft outlined a "Hybrid Intelligence" approach that runs AI models locally with cloud support. Copilot will be able to act on local files with permission, and a redesigned taskbar search will offer quick actions such as adjusting volume, with thousands of actions arriving this fall.
