Microsoft's new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop are Arm-based AI-ready Copilot+ PCs

Microsoft has announced a new lineup of Windows laptops and portable devices called Copilot+ AI PCs. These new bits of hardware feature built-in NPUs that will power a suite of AI features in Windows 11, running natively on local hardware. With a long list of partners, including Dell, Lenovo, Samsung, HP, Acer, and ASUS, Microsoft has also lifted the lid on its own Copilot+ AI PCs, the 11th edition Surface Pro and Surface Laptop.

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Microsoft's 11th Edition Surface Pro for 2024 is one of the first Copilot+ AI PCs, image credit: Microsoft.

These new devices are set to compete with Apple's new M4-powered iPad devices and current M3 Macbook offerings. The new Surface Copilot+ AI PCs sport the latest Qualcomm Arm-based Snapdragon X chips. The flagship Surface Pro ships with an OLED display, the Snapdragon X Elite processor, up to 32GB of LPDDR5x memory, and, in a very welcome move, a removable PCIe Gen 4 SSD.

With AI at the heart of Microsoft's vision for Windows, the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices include the Qualcomm Hexagon NPU with 45 TOPS of AI performance. Microsoft classifies an AI PC as featuring at least 40 TOPS of AI performance. This makes the new Snapdragon X-powered Copilot+ AI PCs and Surface devices some of the first single-chip Windows 11 devices to run Copilot locally.

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Microsoft's 11th Edition Surface Laptop for 2024 is one of the first Copilot+ AI PCs, image credit: Microsoft.

This includes:

• Recall - Find things you've seen on your device by using semantic search with a few descriptive clues you remember. Scroll timeline to find previous snapshots and use screenray helps you discover and do your next step.
• Live Captions - Instantly translate any live or pre-recorded video in any app or video platform from 44 languages into English.
• Windows Studio Effects - Creative filters, Portrait light, Eye contact: teleprompter, Portrait blur, Voice focus
• Cocreator - Create images in Paint through drawing and text prompt to cocreate with your device.

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Although the 13-inch 2880 x 1920 (267 PPI) 120 Hz OLED panel on the Surface Pro isn't at the level of Apple's groundbreaking display on the iPad Pro, it does feature an impressive SDR peak brightness of 600 nits and HDR peak brightness of 900 nits. The big difference between the OLED and non-OLED models is the display, with the non-OLED model also shipping with the Snapdragon X Plus processor as opposed to the Elite. The new Surface Pro 2-in-1 laptop's battery life is 14 hours for video playback and 10 hours for active web usage.

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The new Surface Laptop features similar specs; you've got the Snapdragon X Plus or Snapdragon X Elite, with room for up to 64GB of LPDDR5x RAM. Available in 13.8-inch and 15-inch models, battery life is a big thing here, with up to 22 hours on the larger model and 20 hours on the smaller 13.8-inch variant.

The new Surface devices are expected to ship by June 18th, and Surface Pro pricing starts at $999.99 USD, while OLED model pricing starts at $1499.99 USD.

• Read more: Microsoft intros Copilot+ PCs for 'AI PC' era: Copilot+ AI PCs need 16GB RAM, 256GB SSD, NPU
• Read more: Acer introduces new Swift 14 AI laptop: powered by Qualcomm's new Snapdragon X, Copilot+ ready
• Read more: Dell unveils new Snapdragon X-powered laptops, the first of the Copilot+ AI PC wave
• Read more: Microsoft's Copilot AI will run locally on AI PCs that have at least 40 TOPS of NPU performance