Microsoft's Surface Laptop Ultra with RTX Spark is finally here to take on the MacBook Pro

Published Oct 7, 2026, 2:48 PM EDT Jon is a seasoned journalist who has written definitive coverage of consumer tech at publications like Engadget, Android Authority, and BetaKit. He's an expert on making tech accessible ranging from mobile and PCs to emerging platforms like wearables. When he's not writing, he's going on adventures with ihis family and is an avid photographer. After months of teasing, Microsoft and Nvidia are finally ready to offer prices and release dates for the first RTX Spark PCs. Microsoft is starting by opening pre-orders for the Surface Laptop Ultra ahead of its October 16 launch. The 15-inch portable workstation and gaming machine starts at $2,599 for a version with an 18-core Grace CPU, a 5,120-core Blackwell RTX GPU, and 24GB of unified RAM (32GB is an option). You'll want to move to the 20-core model if you want the touted high memory ceiling, however. It starts with 32GB of RAM, but scales up to 128GB in its most powerful form. At Microsoft's Surface and Windows event, the company repeatedly drew comparisons to the MacBook Pro and claimed RTX Spark is between 2.1 times to 6.2 times faster in AI tasks than a MacBook Pro with an M5 Pro chip. Like its Apple rival, it can also maintain performance while on battery power. All models get a unique Magnetic Connect adapter that connects to a USB-C port, but can break away if you trip over the cord. Effectively, it's Microsoft's answer to Apple's proprietary MagSafe connector. You'll also find haptic trackpad and a 2,000-nit touchscreen with Dolby Vision HDR support. You'll find three USB-C ports, one USb-A port, HDMI, and a full-size SD card reader. The Surface Laptop Ultra will be joined by a wave of RTX Spark systems from Asus, Dell, HP, Lenovo, and MSI. While they haven't shared full details as of this writing, you can expect similar configurations. Surface Laptop Ultra hands-on: A beast with a catch AI and some games are the star attractions I got hands-on time with the Surface Laptop Ultra and other RTX Spark computers at IFA 2026, and came away impressed — with concerns. Microsoft's device very much looks and feels like the Windows equivalent to a MacBook Pro, and that's a compliment. It's well-built and wonderfully minimalist. It has large, comfortable keys, and the giant, high-quality trackpad wouldn't be out of place on a Mac. Performance, as you'd expect, is the cornerstone. Nvidia showed the Surface and other laptops handling 90GB Unreal Engine 5 environments, 60GB AI models, and other duties that Windows PCs with conventional memory can't always handle. Games like Arc Raiders and Doom: The Dark Ages ran well, too, even if Nvidia wasn't producing benchmarks. Microsoft is promising RTX Spark support for "hundreds" of games at launch, with titles like the Call of Duty series following in time. The issue, as before, is broader app compatibility. While you can run many apps through Windows' Prism emulator, full performance will be limited to ARM-compatible software, particularly those tuned for RTX Spark. That works for mainstream pro apps like Photoshop and games like Gears of War: E-Day, but you might take a hit with specialized apps and unoptimized games. Microsoft is clearly betting that the speed of the Surface Laptop Ultra will prompt stronger support.