Microsoft Corp revealed pricing and availability for a new flagship laptop built on Nvidia Corp chips, saying that the machine outperforms a comparable Apple Inc model on some AI tasks.
The Surface Laptop Ultra can return prompts from locally run artificial intelligence (AI) models twice as fast as Apple’s MacBook Pro M5, Microsoft executives said on Oct 7 during an event in San Francisco. The device can generate videos six times quicker than the comparable Apple device, the executives said.
The Ultra, which will begin shipping soon, will start at US$2,599 (RM10,618), about US$400 (RM1,634) less than a 16in, entry-level version of the MacBook Pro.
Microsoft is working to maintain the dominant position of its Windows operating system in the age of AI. Apple’s desktop computers have seen a wave of demand for their effectiveness in running AI models.
The new Surface device is based on an Nvidia chip for Windows laptops that will power both general-purpose and AI computing. This sets up a new vector of competition between Nvidia and leading makers of general-purpose PC processors, Intel Corp and Advanced Micro Devices Inc.
Nvidia chief executive officer Jensen Huang joined Satya Nadella, his Microsoft counterpart, on stage to discuss development of the new PC chip. "We’ve reinvented the personal computer completely,” Huang said.
Other PC makers like Dell Technologies Inc and HP Inc that use the Windows operating system have also developed devices with the new Nvidia chip.
During the event, executives made the case for using Windows for AI-related work. Developers can save money and boost security by using computing power on the device in front of them rather than paying a cloud provider. They also pointed toward Windows security features for monitoring and controlling the actions of AI agents.
In time, developers and users will expect AI tools to be powered by a combination of local hardware and cloud services, Nadella said.
In the summer of 2024, Microsoft kicked off a marketing blitz with partners like Qualcomm Inc for AI-optimized PCs. They promised AI features embedded on-device, facilitated by more powerful chips built on Arm Holdings Plc designs.
But the launch was dogged by privacy concerns around one of its flagship features, which was meant to provide a useful record of actions users had taken on a device.
Industry analyst Gartner said earlier this year that surging memory costs would likely delay AI PCs becoming a majority of shipments until 2028. – Bloomberg
