At its Windows and Surface event on Wednesday, Microsoft detailed its personal computing plans, focusing on agentic AI features for Windows and the new Surface Laptop Ultra. The company showcased the Surface Laptop Ultra, which it teased earlier this year, calling it the most powerful Surface laptop yet. It runs on NVIDIA's RTX Spark system-on-a-chip (SOC), and NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang appeared with Microsoft counterpart Sayta Nadella during the San Francisco event.
Microsoft emphasized making Windows the most secure platform for AI agents, using a hybrid approach that runs AI both locally and in the cloud. Copilot will be able to carry out actions based on local files with user permission, running AI models locally while tapping into cloud compute. Starting this fall, users can take thousands of quick actions directly in Windows search, such as switching on dark mode, taking screenshots, adjusting volume, and sending texts.
Microsoft introduced a "Get Started" tool to help users set up AI agents, including Portable Computer, which runs locally without using Perplexity cloud credits, and Muse as a native Windows app. The Surface Laptop Ultra features a 15-inch mini-LED display with up to 2,000 nits of brightness, a 3:2 aspect ratio, a trackpad 30 percent larger than the seventh-gen Surface laptop, and weighs less than 4.5 pounds. It has 2.5 times the thermal capacity of the seventh-gen 15-inch Surface Laptop and is positioned as a Mac Book Pro competitor.
Source: Engadget · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing