Businesses often use hardware and software that still needs x86 to run properly.
Microsoft’s new Surfaces are all business. Credit: Microsoft
Microsoft switched the Surface Pro tablet and both sizes of Surface Laptop from Intel and AMD’s processors to Qualcomm’s Arm-based processors last summer, part of a renewed hardware and software push to make the Arm version of Windows a thing. That ended a few years of a bifurcated approach, where the Intel and AMD versions of Surface PCs were the “main” versions and the Arm variants felt more like proof-of-concept side projects.
But if you work in a large organization or you’re an IT administrator, the bifurcated approach continues. Microsoft announced some business-only versions of the Surface Pro tablet and the Surface Laptop last year that continued to use Intel processors, and today it’s announcing two more, this time using Intel’s Lunar Lake-based Core Ultra CPUs.
The refresh includes a new Surface Pro tablet and both 13- and 15-inch versions of the Surface Laptop, updated with most of the same design tweaks that the Qualcomm versions of the devices got last year (for example, a slightly larger 13.8-inch screen on the smaller version of the Surface Laptop, up from 13.5 inches). Generally, they have similar dimensions, weights, and configuration options as their Arm counterparts, including an OLED display option for the Surface Pro.
Officially, Microsoft refers to the devices as the Surface Pro 11th Edition for Business and the Surface Laptop 7th Edition for Business, the same generation numbers it uses for the Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon versions it sells to consumers.
Why the business-specific branding? Microsoft’s x86-to-Arm app translation layer, now called Prism, is capable of running many legacy apps, and it has become much more common for developers to release both x86 and Arm-native versions of their Windows apps. But Windows and x86 processors were closely intertwined for decades, and lingering compatibility issues remain. Companies and other large organizations are more likely to have made large investments in obscure software or hardware that uses specialized drivers, things that can’t be translated automatically by Prism and whose developers are less incentivized to prioritize niche features like Arm compatibility.
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The Lunar Lake processors include a neural processing unit (NPU) fast enough to qualify for Microsoft’s Copilot+ PC label, which unlocks a few AI and machine learning-related features that aren’t available on most Windows 11 PCs. At this point, many of those features are still in preview, including the overhauled Windows Recall, a feature called Click To Do that “identif[ies] text and images on your screen that you can take actions with,” and an updated Windows Search that tries to do a better job understanding plain-language queries. For now, at least, it’s worth noting that the Snapdragon Copilot+ PCs are all getting these features first, and so far, Intel and AMD PCs have gotten them weeks later.
All the devices offer one of four possible Core Ultra CPUs (the 236V, 238V, 266V, and 268V); integrated Intel Arc graphics; 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage; and either 16GB or 32GB of RAM. Some of the Qualcomm Surface devices offer as much as 64GB of RAM, but the Lunar Lake chips top out at 32GB.
Microsoft is also launching a $200 Surface USB4 Dock for all Surface devices. It appears to be a slightly streamlined, somewhat less-capable version of the Surface Dock 2, with up to 65 W of power delivery, two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, an HDMI port, and an Ethernet port. The dock can connect to up to two external 4K displays using its USB-C and HDMI ports.
You can buy them, but it will cost you
Some of Microsoft’s past Surface PCs for businesses have been difficult for regular people to buy, or they’ve only been buyable through third parties with a significant price premium over the regular models. Those desperate for x86 Surface PCs can buy these new ones direct from Microsoft’s Small Business store, but they’ll cost you more than comparable Qualcomm-based Surfaces.
The Surface Pro 11th Edition for Business starts at $1,500, $500 more than the normal starting price of the Surface Pro 11th Edition. This configuration gets you an LCD display, a Core Ultra 5 236V with 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD, the same as the $1,000 version of the Surface Pro. Adding the OLED display to the Intel Surface Pro also requires stepping up to a 512GB SSD and Core Ultra 7 CPU—that version starts at $1,900.
The 13.8-inch version of the Surface Laptop 7th Edition for Business also starts at $1,500, and the 15-inch version will run you $1,700—both starting prices are also $500 higher than similarly specced consumer models. The baseline configuration also includes a Core Ultra 5 CPU, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. For these PCs, at least, you can upgrade the CPU, RAM, and SSD independently without having to pay for multiple upgrades just to get the one you want.
All of these devices are available to pre-order now and will release on February 18.
This article originally stated that individuals wouldn’t be able to buy the new Surface PCs for businesses. Individuals can in fact purchase them on Microsoft’s small business site, which it keeps separate from the regular Surface store. This article was updated at 2:30 pm on January 30 to correct the error and to add pricing and availability information.
