At an event in New York City on Thursday, Microsoft has announced two additions on the PC surface line. Both the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop arrive with Copilot+ PC authentication. The program, which was announced in May 2024, aims to identify business -centered devices designed exclusively for the company’s AI platform.
This is a bid to integrate Microsoft’s AI play deep into Windows 11 Experience. A new surface arrives in the flood after COPILOT+ PC, including coes, Asus, Dell, HP, and Lenovo. Copilot+refers to include a nerve processing device (NPU). This allows many functions such as live translation, super RES, recall, studio effect, etc. on devices.
Both devices have either Intel Core Ultra (Series 2) or Snapdragon X processor. Earlier this month, at CES, Qualcomm announced that it would bring a 4nm Snapdragon chip to the midrange system. The extension and low price of battery life are the main advantages of processors than the Intel options. In fact, Qualcomm promises the use of “multiple days” at a single rate compared to Intel’s 22 hours. However, the main trade -off is a decline in system performance, but Surface Corporate VP Brett Ostrum tells TechnicCrunch and that Copilot Performance needs to be affected.
Copilot is a big focus on both configurations. In the case of Snapdragon, it means a 8 -core processor with a specially designed NPU designed to manage AI workloads. On the other hand, the Intel core chips in Series 2 are said to improve up to 28 % of CPU performances and 98 % graphic spinning.
In the latter half of this year, Surface Laptop for Business will get a 5G option for the first time. This connection is the key to play that combines local AI calculation and cloud -based processing.
Most of the current generated AI platforms need more resources than consumer devices, so they need to be offloaded to remote servers. However, with the release of Deepseek this week, the spotlight has returned lightly and has become more concentrated on on -devices. China’s AI startup strategy includes the “distillation” version of the R1 AI model that can be executed in the laptop. Similarly, Apple is based on a small model that can run the Apple Intelligence platform locally.
Microsoft is clearly interested in providing more devices AI experience. However, as with Apple Intelligence, many Copilot processes require more powerful hardware than they are currently packed in laptops. Adding 5G is a bid to create a certain level of connection to guarantee that the Copilot query will not be blank because it cannot be accessed to remote servers.
Surface Pro for Business has a 13 -inch display with OLED options and a built -in NFC reader for using a security key containing Yubikey. The Surface laptop has a 13.8 -inch and 15 -inch option.
Both Intel core models start with $ 1,500. This is a premium of $ 400 than the Snapdragon device mainly for consumers. However, it can be deployed for business as needed. On the other hand, the 5G version of the Surface laptop will be available in the latter half of 2025. The price will be announced at a later date.
This line also has a new USB4 dock of $ 200. The hubs include two USB-C, one USB-A, Ethernet, and HDMI ports. Along with Surface Laptop and Surface Pro, we will arrive on February 18.