The Surface Laptop Ultra delivers on most of Microsoft's promises

Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra has managed to live up to most of the tech giant's promises, according to early reviews. The laptop has demonstrated impressive capabilities, from summarizing books and movies to generating images based on user imagination, and running a 70-billion-parameter AI model that would typically be too large to fit on most devices.

Impressively, the Surface Laptop Ultra has also managed to run AAA games at a level of speed and fidelity that was previously thought to be unattainable on ARM systems just a year ago.

Microsoft's aim with the Surface Laptop Ultra is to offer consumers a versatile computer that can cater to all their needs, a claim that doesn't seem too outlandish given the device's impressive performance. The laptop is powered by Microsoft's partnership with Nvidia, utilizing the new Nvidia RTX Spark platform. This strategic move positions the Surface Laptop Ultra as a potential competitor to the MacBook Pro, targeting a high-performance audience that would traditionally opt for either a gaming desktop for leisure or a development laptop for work.

The Surface Laptop Ultra arrives at a challenging time for personal computing. The industry has seen a significant drop, with PC shipments falling by 20 percent year over year in the third quarter of 2026. This decline is not limited to consumer purchases but extends across the board, affecting the entire market. Factors such as the RAMpocalypse, which has led to a surge in consumer prices due to supply chain issues, and an industry increasingly focused on enterprise markets, have contributed to this decline in new hardware excitement for PC enthusiasts.