Microsoft plans to unveil new Surface devices in late March. Sources familiar with the plans said that the company will unveil the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6, which are aimed at business and commercial customers, on March 21. It calls them AI PCs («AI PC»).
The devices will be equipped with new Intel Core Ultra or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-based processors that feature the latest neural processors (NPUs) to enhance AI capabilities. They are said to be roughly on par with the iPad Pro and MacBook Pro in terms of efficiency and performance, transmits Engadget.
The Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 are expected to be among the first devices to support the upcoming Windows 11 AI features. Along with support for the Copilot feature on the device, these features will include live signatures and real-time translations, zooming and upscaling for games, updated Windows Studio effects, and something that (at least for now) is called AI Explorer.
The latter feature may be what distinguishes AI computers from ordinary ones. AI Explorer will apparently work in any application and will allow you to search for documents, web pages, images, and chats using natural language. It is believed that this feature will create a history of everything you do on your computer and make it searchable. The tool is able to understand the context and offer tasks based on what is displayed on the screen. AI Explorer is also expected to support text-based image editing. These AI features are likely to come as part of the 24H2 update for Windows 11, which will be released this fall.
As for what else we can expect from Microsoft’s next laptops, both are said to have all-day battery life. Surface Pro 10 is expected to have an OLED screen with anti-reflective coating and HDR support. It is rumored to have an ultra-wide-angle webcam on the front and an NFC reader.
It is believed that Surface Laptop 6 will receive a more significant redesign compared to its predecessors. In addition to thinner bezels and rounded corners, it is expected to have a tactile touchpad, a dedicated key for Copilot, and an updated port group. It will also be the first Surface Laptop with an Arm processor (in addition to Intel models). The Intel-based versions of Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10 are expected to ship in April, and the Snapdragon — versions in June.
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