Microsoft updates Surface Laptop & Pro with new chip, more RAM, and a higher price tag

Microsoft has just lifted the covers from the brand-new Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch, both of which retain the same design as their respective predecessors, but add a new color to the mix and get updated innards as well. And oh, did I mention that they are also pricier? Yeah, that too. You can blame that on the ongoing industry-wide memory crisis, all thanks to AI. Duh!

Starting with the upgrades, the most notable change is Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X2 Plus processor, which is said to deliver up to a 17% speed boost at Office productivity workloads, 60% faster graphics performance, and 95% faster local AI inferencing courtesy of the NPU. The updated Qualcomm chip will also be easier on the battery uptake, with Microsoft touting energy efficiency gains of up to 18% on its latest machines.  Importantly, the baseline memory capacity has climbed up to 16GB, and there’s no 8GB RAM option available this time around, though the storage still starts at 256GB.

On the second-generation Surface Pro 12-inch tablet, Microsoft is serving a 25% brighter display, which now climbs all the way up to 500 nits of peak brightness. Microsoft says it also lasts an extra hour per charge, and optional 5G support has been thrown into the mix, as well. The tablet now comes in a new black shade, and ships with a new (and pre-installed) Microsoft Ink Canvas app for sketching, annotating, and a few AI-powered tricks in tow.

Here’s a quick look at the specs of the Surface Pro 12-inch:

The Surface Laptop 13-inch (2nd Edition), on the other hand, also gets a brighter screen, up to 22.5 hours of battery life, and a new black color option to go with the peppy lavender shade. The second-gen Surface Laptop starts at $1,199, while the 12-inch Surface Pro will now set you back by $1149.99, hitting the shelves starting October 13 in the US. Check out the full deets of the new 13-inch Surface Laptop below: