Microsoft unveils $1,000 Surface Laptop with Snapdragon X chip, Copilot+

AI PCs are here and they are cheaper than you may have expected – the Microsoft Surface Laptop starts at $1,000 and comes in two sizes (13.8” and 15”) and it is a thin, light, portable and yet powerful device that showcases all of Windows 11 AI smarts (as well as third-party AI features).

Microsoft has a whole blog post introducing the new brand of “Copilot+ PCs”. These are AI-focused devices that have at least 40 TOPS on tap, so that they can run many AI tasks locally (good for latency and, of course, privacy). Redmond has partnered with Samsung, Acer, Asus, Dell, HP and Lenovo, all of which have introduced their takes on a Copilot+ PC – laptops, all of them, and all powered by the Snapdragon X chip from Qualcomm.

The new Microsoft Surface Laptop with a Snapdragon X chipset

The Surface Laptop is powered by either the Snapdragon X Elite or the Snapdragon X Plus. The former has a 12-core CPU, the former 10-core. However, both chips deliver 45 TOPS of AI compute power, earning them the Copilot+ badge.

The $1,000 model is the 13.8” version with the X Plus chip, of course. We will talk about prices in more detail at the end of this post, but let’s just say that switching to the X Elite chip is a $400 upgrade. Well, $200, actually, because of how memory configurations work out. The $1,000 X Plus laptop comes with 16GB of RAM and 256GB storage, a 16/512GB X Plus laptop is $1,200. The X Elite version has 16/512GB configuration as minimum, so only half of the $400 premium is due to the chip, the other half is for the storage upgrade.

Both the 13.8” and 15” variants have 3:2 touchscreens with 201ppi pixel density. Their dynamic refresh rate goes up to 120Hz and they are protected by Gorilla Glass 5.

The 13.8” model weigh 1.34kg (2.96lbs) and measures 16.5mm thick (0.69”) with a 54Wh battery (up to 20 hour endurance). The 15” laptop is 1.66kg (3.67lbs) and 18.3mm thick (0.72”) with a 66Wh battery (22 hour endurance). Charging is done at 39W and 65W, respectively.

The laptops’ enclosures are made out of 67% recycled materials, including 100% recycled aluminum (which has been anodized for a more durable surface finish). The smaller one is available in four colors (Sapphire, Dune, Black, Platinum), while the larger one only gets two (Black, Platinum).

For connectivity, both have two USB-C ports which are USB 4 and DisplayPort 2.1 compatible. There is a single USB-A 3.1 port, a headphone jack and a microSD card slot. Additionally, there is a Surface connect port for the Surface Dock. Wireless connectivity features Wi-Fi 7 (be) and Bluetooth 5.4. Besides wired and wireless headphones, you can also use the Omnisonic Speakers with Dolby Atmos support.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop has a dedicated Copilot button, so let’s have a look at some of the AI features that are tied to it. Recall is a handy timeline that helps you remember that document, website, application or other that you need.

With Cocreator you can give a rough outline – a sketch and a text description – and the Snapdragon X chip and a small local AI model will create a beautiful image for you, no cloud services involved. Alternatively, you can use the Restyle Image app to take an existing image and transform it into one in any art style that you can think of.

There’s more – the AI compute power of the Snapdragon X chips can be used by third-party applications like Adobe Photoshop, DaVinci Resolve Studio, CapCut, Cephable, LiquidText, djay Pro and more.

Third-party apps using the NPU for acceleration

The Microsoft Surface Laptops are available for pre-order now, shipping will start on June 18th. As promised, here is a more detailed look at the prices – note that the 15” model is available only with a Snapdragon X Elite chip, the 13.8” one also has a cheaper X Plus version.

RAM capacity starts at 16GB, but there is a 32GB option and even a 64GB one, though that is a pre-order exclusive and is not available in all regions (at least for now). Storage is a removable SSD up to 1TB. Head over to Microsoft’s website for a closer look.

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