# Surface Laptop Ultra takes on MacBook Pro > Microsoft's new flagship Windows laptop with Nvidia's RTX Spark N1X chip promises gaming, AI and content creation, but battery life still lags behind Apple. - Title: Surface Laptop Ultra takes on MacBook Pro · WIRED | Shortify - Summary: Microsoft's new flagship Windows laptop with Nvidia's RTX Spark N1X chip promises gaming, AI and content creation, but battery life still lags behind Apple… - Keywords: surface laptop ultra, microsoft, nvidia rtx spark n1x, windows laptops, macbook pro, laptop review, ai performance, gaming, display technology, Surface, Laptop, Ultra - Source: WIRED — https://wired.com/review/microsoft-surface-laptop-ultra - Author: Luke Larsen - Published: 2026-10-16T13:00:00+00:00 - Read time: 3 min - Topics: surface laptop ultra, microsoft, nvidia rtx spark n1x, windows laptops, macbook pro, laptop review, ai performance, gaming, display technology ## Microsoft's new flagship arrives The Surface Laptop Ultra is Microsoft's most powerful laptop yet, debuting the Nvidia RTX Spark N1X superchip. It aims to handle on-device AI, gaming, content creation and nearly anything else. ## A different approach from Studio Unlike the 2021 Surface Laptop Studio, which was a laptop-tablet hybrid, the Ultra is a straightforward clamshell laptop designed for people who need extra performance for gaming, content creation or AI workflows. ## Slim but substantial At four point four pounds, the Surface Laptop Ultra is lighter than the sixteen-inch MacBook Pro but slightly thicker.It appears thinner than it actually is thanks to inventive side vents that are hard to photograph. ## Design details impress The keyboard is fantastic and the extra-large touchpad has haptic feedback. Rounded screen corners give a modern look, though some apps don't account for them well and nearly cut off elements of the Title Bar. ## Audio stands out Four speakers hidden under the underside vents sound fabulous, loud, rich and full with a hint of bass. The audio quality is perhaps only second to the sixteen-inch MacBook Pro and fifteen-inch MacBook Air. ## Ports and connectivity The laptop includes HDMI, USB-A, a headphone jack, an SD card slot and three USB four Type-C ports. ## Magnetic USB-C is clever Microsoft engineered the USB-C port to be magnetic, a neat bit of innovation. Only the USB-C port on the right side has this magnetic feature, but all USB-C ports deliver power. ## Display aspect ratio advantage The three to two aspect ratio display provides more vertical space, handy for documents, spreadsheets and websites. ## Brightest screen ever made With one thousand three hundred forty-four dimming zones, the display is the brightest laptop screen ever made. ## Screen reflectivity is a problem The screen is highly reflective, noticeably more so than a MacBook. Even with brightness fully maxed, the reviewer found themselves staring at their reflection when viewing websites with dark backgrounds. ## Nvidia N1X chip explained The Nvidia N1X is a first-of-its-kind chip in Windows laptops. It comes in two configurations: an eighteen-core system with five thousand one hundred twenty GPU cores and a twenty-core system with six thousand one hundred… ## Gaming performance is mixed The N1X is capped at eighty watts, limiting in-game frame rates. The Surface Laptop Ultra delivers up to twenty percent faster frame rates in games like Cyberpunk two thousand seventy-seven than the M five Max… ## Popular games missing at launch A list of high-profile multiplayer games aren't compatible yet due to anti-cheat systems, including PUBG, Valorant and League of Legends. Nvidia says support is coming. ## AI is where it shines The Surface Laptop Ultra is around twenty-five percent faster than the Dell XPS fourteen at generating text in lighter AI models. But running larger models locally is very slow without more raw GPU compute. ## CPU is the weak point The N1X is twenty to twenty-four percent slower in CPU benchmarks in both single-core and multi-core performance tests. Switching to Performance Mode makes a twenty percent increase in single-core performance. ## Price matches MacBook Pro For two thousand nine hundred ninety-nine dollars, you get twenty-four GB of RAM and a terabyte of storage. ## Battery life is the problem The Surface Laptop Ultra lasted only twelve hours in a local video playback test.The MacBook Pro offers a full nine or ten more hours of battery life, a major disadvantage for the Surface Laptop Ultra. ## Best non-MacBook option now If you want to dabble in gaming, content creation and AI workflows, the Surface Laptop Ultra is probably the best laptop you can buy that isn't a MacBook Pro. > if you want to dabble in gaming, content creation, and AI workflows, it's probably the best laptop you can buy that isn't a MacBook Pro. ## Key takeaway The Surface Laptop Ultra is Microsoft's most powerful laptop yet, with a bright display and strong AI performance, but it cannot match the MacBook Pro's battery life.