Microsoft is positioning its new Surface Laptop Ultra as a direct competitor to Apple's MacBook Pro, marking a significant shift in the company's approach to high-end computing. The device will run on Nvidia's RTX Spark chip and offer up to 128GB of unified memory, targeting creators, developers, and AI builders who need substantial computing power.

The Laptop Ultra represents Microsoft's first attempt to follow the MacBook Pro formula by maintaining the traditional Surface Laptop design while packing significantly more power. Previous high-end Surface devices like the Surface Book and Surface Laptop Studio featured convertible designs that limited their appeal to professional users seeking straightforward, powerful laptops.

Microsoft has equipped the Laptop Ultra with comprehensive connectivity options including USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, an SD card slot, and headphone jack. The device features a 15-inch PixelSense display with up to 2,000 nits of peak brightness and what the company calls "the largest" haptic trackpad ever included on a Surface device. The Laptop Ultra will sit above the regular Qualcomm Snapdragon-based Surface Laptops in Microsoft's product lineup when it launches later this year.