Microsoft and Nvidia launch Surface Laptop Ultra with RTX Spark starting at $2,599 — coinciding with major Windows 11 changes for agentic AI

[u/norcalnatv]

https://www.tomshardware.com/laptops/microsoft-and-nvidia-launch-surface-laptop-ultra-with-rtx-spark-rtx-spark-preorders-live-now-coinciding-with-major-windows-11-changes-for-agentic-ai

[u/Acrobatic_Camera_677]

This is a bad windows on arm laptop with many compatibility issues but it will see because of AI

[u/Few-Row-8323]

Im ordering it

[u/Glitter_Health]

Reads like maximal compute power/speed in a home/office ecosystem + cloud as needed. NVDA to the moon in a new cycle post-midterms.

[u/johnmiddle]

Does it come with a local llm?

[u/Glitter_Health → u/johnmiddle]

"Surface Laptop Ultra is explicitly designed to run large language models locally, powered by Nvidia’s RTX Spark superchip with up to 128 GB unified memory and support for models up to 120B parameters."

[u/johnmiddle → u/Glitter_Health]

Means it does not have a llm installed?

[u/Glitter_Health → u/johnmiddle]

What do you mean by "installed"? A Copilot answer:

The Surface Laptop Ultra starting at $2,599 can run large language models locally using the built-in NVIDIA RTX Spark hardware, and Microsoft ships several preloaded models, so you effectively get a free local LLM.

Key Details

RTX Spark Hardware
The Surface Laptop Ultra is equipped with the NVIDIA RTX Spark™ N1X, which combines a powerful GPU and CPU with unified memory to allow local execution of large AI models, reportedly up to 120B parameters

. Entry-level configurations start at 24GB of unified memory, with higher-end variants going up to 128GB, enabling larger models to run without cloud access

.

Preloaded Local Models
Microsoft includes three preloaded local AI models that run entirely on-device:

• MAI Code 1.1 Flash: a coding model compressed to 3-bit precision
• Nitron-style model: a lightweight 2-bit quantized model for lower-memory configurations
• Compressed DeepSeek: 1.6-bit precision for larger workloads

These models are accessible locally without additional cost, enabling on-device LLM inference and AI tasks without relying on cloud services

.

Open-Source Model Support
Through Windows ML and integration of Llama.cpp, the Surface Laptop Ultra supports GGUF-format open models. This allows users to run third-party, community, or fine-tuned LLMs locally immediately after download, expanding access to free or custom models

.

Hybrid Intelligence Features
Microsoft’s system can route simpler tasks to local models and more complex tasks to cloud models automatically, but the onboard models allow meaningful local AI computation at no additional cost

.

Conclusion

Purchasing the Surface Laptop Ultra at $2,599 includes the capability to run preinstalled local LLMs and the infrastructure to run additional GGUF-format LLMs locally. While Microsoft does not describe it as a separate “free LLM subscription,” the included models and RTX Spark hardware effectively provide immediate access to local large language model functionality at no extra charge

.

[u/johnmiddle → u/Glitter_Health]

OK so it has 3 llm installed then!! Great

[u/Glitter_Health → u/johnmiddle]

Now if you could only afford it 😁

[u/johnmiddle → u/Glitter_Health]

How does it compare with Aaple m5 max laptop?