Everything was announced at Microsoft’s Windows and Surface event

Microsoft shed some light on its personal computing plans and what it offers developers during a Windows and Surface event on Wednesday. Along with other announcements, we learned more about the company’s vision for how locally running AI agents can change the way people use their PCs.

The company introduced the Surface Laptop Ultra, a laptop it announced earlier this year. It’s said to be the most powerful Surface laptop yet and runs on NVIDIA’s RTX Spark system-on-a-chip (SOC). NVIDIA CEO Jensen Huang even appeared at the San Francisco event to chat with his Microsoft counterpart, Sayta Nadella.

During the event, much of which was surprisingly developer-focused, Microsoft insisted it was working to make Windows the most secure platform for AI agents. The company also discussed a hybrid approach to AI that runs both locally and in the cloud.

Let’s move on to everything Microsoft announced for everyday people at its Windows and Surface event.

Microsoft doesn’t want to be left behind when it comes to agentic personal computing, especially in the wake of Meta’s Muse AI agent quickly finding a large audience and tools like Perplexity’s Personal Computer infiltrating the Mac world. The company has taken some steps in this area. It announced an agentic AI platform called Project Solara earlier this year and recently updated the Copilot app to include more automation. But now, Microsoft is ready to take a bigger step in the field of agentic AI.

For example, with your permission, Copilot will be able to perform actions based on your local files. It will be able to run AI models locally while leveraging the cloud for additional computing power. There is also the ability to generate apps and widgets (Google offers something similar in Googlebooks).

Much like other companies’ attempts to anthropomorphize their AI tools, the Copilot icon now has a face. I’m sure Microsoft really doesn’t want you to call it Clippy 2.0. Please don’t call it Clippy 2.0. I would never do it.

Starting this fall, you’ll be able to perform thousands of quick actions directly in Windows Search from the taskbar, much like Mac users can do in Spotlight. These include enabling dark mode, taking a screenshot, adjusting volume, getting answers to questions, and sending text messages. The company essentially turns search into a Copilot-style chatbot.

Microsoft is looking to make it easier to get AI agents up and running on Windows with a “Get Started” tool. Among the agents that you can use, if you are interested, there is Ordinateur Portable. This will be able to run locally and without burning Perplexity cloud credits. Muse will also be available as a native Windows application.

It will be interesting to see how users react to Microsoft’s introduction of AI agents in Windows, given the backlash against tools like the Recall and Copilot features that the company ended up removing from the operating system. For what it’s worth, I have no interest in agents having access to my personal records (although the company placed the onus of trust during the opening speech, I don’t trust any of them). I will disable all of this as soon as possible.

After revealing the Surface Laptop Ultra earlier this year, Microsoft has revealed much more about the system. He designed the laptop with developers and creators in mind, but maybe other people will be interested too.

The device features a 15-inch mini-LED display with up to 2,000 nits brightness and 3:2 aspect ratio. There’s a giant trackpad that’s 30 percent larger than the one on the seventh-generation Surface laptop. The laptop weighs less than 4.5 pounds and is less than 18mm (0.7 inches) thick. Microsoft claims it has 2.5 times the thermal capacity of the seventh-generation 15-inch Surface Laptop and all-day battery life.

It’s positioned as a competitor to the MacBook Pro, with more ports including USB-A, USB-C, HDMI, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. A magnetic charging option using a standard USB-C port is available. This appears to be Microsoft’s answer to MagSafe.

The laptop runs on NVIDIA’s new Arm-based SOC, featuring GPU capabilities comparable to the GeForce RTX 5070. Microsoft showed Gears of War: E-Day running on the Surface Laptop Ultra and it is stated that Call of Duty will be available on the system later this year. Ray tracing, DLSS and NVIDIA Reflex will be supported.

Perhaps most relevant to Microsoft’s needs, the RTX Spark has a neural processing unit fast enough to comply with its Copilot+ requirements. The SOC has 20 processor cores and can be equipped with plenty of RAM, up to 128 GB of unified memory. The RTX Spark is said to be less power hungry than other AI-focused chips, as it will consume no more than 80W.

It certainly looks like a high-end laptop with plenty of power. It’s great that Microsoft seems to have designed the Surface Laptop Ultra with repairability in mind. A replaceable SSD is also welcome. Price will, however, be a significant barrier for many. The Surface Laptop Ultra starts at $2,599 and pre-orders begin today. It will be available on October 16.

Microsoft also revealed pricing for the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a mini PC designed for heavier AI workloads. It starts at $5,999 and pre-orders are open.