Microsoft has set release dates and prices for two new RTX Spark devices. The Surface Laptop Ultra will arrive on October 16 with a starting price of $2,599, while the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box is available for preorder at $5,999 and is slated to ship in November. Both sources agree that the devices share Nvidia's Arm-based RTX Spark platform, which Microsoft and Nvidia are positioning at the very premium end of the laptop and mini PC market.
The Surface Laptop Ultra is aimed at creative work, gaming, and local AI tasks. Its base configuration includes an 18-core CPU, 24GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, plus a 15-inch HDR touchscreen and a haptic trackpad. The priciest configuration costs $5,899.99 and includes 128GB of RAM, a 20-core CPU, and 1TB of storage. The Dev Box, by contrast, is built for developers, with 128GB of unified memory, a 100-watt thermal envelope, and optimization for running local AI models exceeding 120B parameters. It ships with developer tools such as Visual Studio Code, Git, GitHub Copilot, WSL, Python, and Node.
The two reports differ mainly on audience and pricing. The laptop starts well below the Dev Box, though its top configuration approaches the Dev Box's price. The Dev Box article also notes that component shortages are pushing PC prices up, which may explain why the Dev Box costs more than Nvidia's earlier DGX Spark mini PC. Both devices are part of Microsoft's push to make RTX Spark hardware available across laptops and developer-focused desktops.