Microsoft refreshes Surface for Business lineup, starts AI PC upsell at $1,499

Microsoft has rolled out another round of Surface for Business laptops starting at $1,499 and featuring Intel's latest mobile processors. The new Surface Pro for Business (12th Edition) and Surface Laptop for Business (8th Edition) refreshes, announced on Tuesday, are built around Intel's latest Core Ultra Series 3 processors and Microsoft's increasingly relentless Copilot+ PC push. Redmond HQ'd Microsoft is pitching the machines as enterprise-grade AI workhorses capable of running local AI models and Windows AI experiences" without constantly leaning on the cloud. At the top end, the new 13-inch Surface Pro can be configured with up to 64 GB of RAM, 1 TB of removable SSD storage, optional OLED panels, and 5G connectivity. Microsoft says the onboard NPU can deliver up to 50 TOPS of AI processing performance for local Copilot features, image generation, transcription, and video enhancements. The new Surface Pro does not radically reinvent anything, sticking with the same kickstand-and-detachable-keyboard design Microsoft has been shipping for years. However, the company says the 13-inch PixelSense Flow display now supports HDR, adaptive color, a 120 Hz refresh rate, and up to 600 nits of brightness. The Surface Laptop line now comes in 13-inch, 13.8-inch, and 15-inch configurations, with Microsoft heavily emphasizing battery life, AI-assisted video calls, and hybrid work features. The devices include WiFi 7 support, multiple USB-C ports, haptic touchpads, and optional anti-glare privacy displays, designed to make shoulder-surfing slightly harder for the stranger sitting next to you on the train. Under the hood, the new Surface Laptops can be configured with Intel Core Ultra X7 processors, which Microsoft claims deliver up to 35 percent better graphics performance than Apple's MacBook Air with M5 silicon and more than 90 percent faster performance than the older Surface Laptop 5. Those figures, naturally, come from Microsoft's own testing. None of this comes particularly cheap. The new Surface Pro for Business starts at $1,949.99, while maxed-out configurations climb north of $3,000 - and that's before you buy the keyboard add-on. Surface Laptop for Business systems are a bit less expensive, with the 13-inch model going for $1,499 and a model with 8 GB of RAM due out later this year for just $1,299. That lands barely a month after Microsoft quietly raised Surface pricing amid ongoing memory shortages and broader component cost pressures. Some Surface models jumped by several hundred pounds overnight as RAM pricing continued to spiral upward, driven by AI infrastructure demand outpacing memory supply across the industry. So far, the AI PC era appears to involve rather a lot of expensive laptops and considerably less evidence that customers were asking for them. (R)