How to watch Microsoft announce the next Surface Pro and Surface Laptop

News
By Sean Endicott
published

Microsoft will announce a new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop this week.

Surface Pro 9
(Image credit: Windows Central)

What you need to know

  • Microsoft will hold an event on Thursday, March 21, 2024 at 9 AM PDT (12 PM ET) to announce the next Surface Pro and Surface Laptop.
  • Both new Surface devices will run on Intel Core Ultra 5 or Intel Core Ultra processors, which feature neural processing units.
  • The Surface Pro 10 for business and Surface Laptop 6 for business are commercial-focused devices that feature the same external designs as the Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5, respectively.
  • Microsoft will unveil consumer-focused Surface hardware later this year, including a Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 that run on Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors.

Microsoft will announce new Surface hardware on Thursday, March 21, 2024. The Surface Pro 10 for business and Surface Laptop 6 for business will both be unveiled at the event that starts at 9 AM PDT (12 PM ET). Both new Surface devices are commercial devices and have refreshed internals compared to their predecessors but feature the same general designs as the Surface Pro 9 and Surface Laptop 5, respectively.

To watch the announcements, you can open the dedicated page for the event. If Microsoft puts the event on YouTube or another platform after the event wraps up, we'll add that here as well.

The Surface Pro 10 for business and Surface Laptop 6 for business should start shipping in April. Consumers will be able to buy the devices as well, but it's probably worth waiting for Microsoft to announce its consumer-focused hardware in May.

What to expect

Surface Pro 9

The new Surface PCs will have the latest chips from Intel but are primarily an internal refresh. (Image credit: Windows Central)

Our Senior Editor Zac Bowden outlined what to expect from Microsoft's spring 2024 Surface PC announcements. There will be two waves of devices, the first of which will be announced this week. A consumer-focused Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 will be announced later this year, likely in May.

The Surface Pro 10 for business will have an anti-reflective screen, support HDR content, and have a new ultrawide camera. The PC will also have a built-in NFC reader, which is an interesting addition. Microsoft will also offer a 64GB of RAM configuration of the Surface Pro 10 for business, which is a first for the Surface Pro lineup. The Type Cover for the Surface Pro 10 will have a dedicated Copilot button, which will soon be standard on PCs.

The Surface Laptop 6 will also have a Copilot button on the keyboard, configuration options up to 64GB. There will also reportedly be an option for a version with a CAC smart card reader.

ARM-powered Surface Pro and Surface Laptop?

Surface Laptop 5

Microsoft's new Surface hardware will feature near-identical external designs when compared to predecessors. (Image credit: Future)

While we already know that this week's announcements are for commercial devices, some may be disappointed to see a lack of hardware powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processors. Microsoft has consumer-focused Surface hardware on the way later this year that will run on those ARM chips, but you'll have to wait a bit.

Microsoft will hold an event in May (exact date pending) for its consumer-focused Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6. In addition to running on a customized Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, both those PCs have refreshed designs. Between the new internals and design improvements, these could be the largest jumps in a single generation we've seen in Surface products for years.

Microsoft Surface sales

With new Microsoft Surface hardware on the horizon, you can get last year's Surface PCs at a discount. While the new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop devices that ship this year will be better than previous models, not everyone needs the latest and greatest tech.

Surface Pro 9 | $1,539.99 now $1099.99 at Best Buy

Surface Pro 9 | was $1,539.99 now $1099.99 at Best Buy

The Surface Pro 9 builds on a decade of 2-in-1s from Microsoft to create the best Surface the company has ever made. This bundle comes with a Surface Pro Keyboard and saves you $440 on the model with an Intel Core i5, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

View Deal
Surface Pro 9 | $1,099.99 now $933 at Best Buy

Surface Pro 9 | was $1,099.99 now $933 at Best Buy

This Surface Pro 9 has a lower price and more modest specs than the one listed above. This deal only gets you the Surface Pro 9, however. You'll need to have a keyboard already or be happy to use the Surface Pro 9 as just a tablet. This model has an Intel Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

View Deal
Sean Endicott
Sean Endicott
News Writer and apps editor

Sean Endicott brings nearly a decade of experience covering Microsoft and Windows news to Windows Central. He joined our team in 2017 as an app reviewer and now heads up our day-to-day news coverage. If you have a news tip or an app to review, hit him up at sean.endicott@futurenet.com.

6 Comments Comment from the forums
  • Arun Topez
    Commercial devices only? I was really looking forward to upgrading my SP6 to SP10, but clearly Microsoft doesn't care about consumers anymore. Why release the consumer version later with the same name but potentially different design? They need to remember that consumers ARE commercial workers, this is why Apple does well because they know how to market to both at the same time. I'm gonna have to start looking for alternatives, Surface isn't the same brand anymore and further reason why Panos jumped ship. Customers will jump ship too with Microsoft's incompetence. It just sucks because they have great hardware design, they just suck at marketing and selling.
    Reply
  • naddy69
    "Commercial devices only?" Because Microsoft is - and always has been - focused on business users. Corporations. OF COURSE the business products are going to be first in line.

    "This is why Apple does well because they know how to market to both at the same time. " And Microsoft is NOT doing well?

    Also, Apple has no business-specific products. Apple is a consumer-focused company. Apple markets nothing to businesses. Both are doing well, focusing on their respective core markets.

    "They need to remember that consumers ARE commercial workers". Yes, they know this. They also realize that the last thing most office workers want to do is go home and continue to use a Windows PC. Most consumers have moved on to much easier to use things, like phones and iPads.

    18 wheel truck drivers are consumers too. Do you think they take the kids to school in the Kenworth truck? Or do they have a Toyota at home for personal use?
    Reply
  • Arun Topez
    naddy69 said:
    Also, Apple has no business-specific products.
    Which exactly was my point that you clearly missed. Apple actually does great in the commercial space in addition to the consumer space, because as Satya once said "We want users to WANT to use Windows and our devices, not just have to use them", which is exactly what Apple has nailed. Businesses consist of consumers, and the best way to win in BOTH the consumer and commercial space is to win over consumers who then request their workplaces to get those very devices they love. At my workplace for example, they offer both Macs and commercial Windows PCs, and most workers pick the Macs because the commercial PCs are low-specs and bulky and slow, whereas the Macs run smoothly and most of the Microsoft-specific stuff is on the web anyway. Same with apps (e.g. Slack), MS were leaders in this space before, but lots of competitors have come into the game as consumer-commercial mixed apps, and again taking marketshare away from Microsoft. There was a time when Microsoft actually did market to consumers well, which is exactly why they dominated many corporations. They don't now as much as you think they do.
    Reply
  • svengollie
    Arun Topez said:
    Commercial devices only? I was really looking forward to upgrading my SP6 to SP10, but clearly Microsoft doesn't care about consumers anymore. Why release the consumer version later with the same name but potentially different design? They need to remember that consumers ARE commercial workers, this is why Apple does well because they know how to market to both at the same time. I'm gonna have to start looking for alternatives, Surface isn't the same brand anymore and further reason why Panos jumped ship. Customers will jump ship too with Microsoft's incompetence. It just sucks because they have great hardware design, they just suck at marketing and selling.
    Sure Apple does well, like people in Arkansas need to be beconvinced to wear a Red hat, its built in. Apple ites....tip over for the fruit marketing company. Its not for me personally for many reason both B2B tech work experience and geographical loyalty, yes big rich company, but look at rhe Camry, its very "popular" and void of driving experience but sells well and most toyota vehicle are made for the soulless....Microsoft people are in general so much more enjoyable to do business with, Panos was generally hated for lying to the team and having another design done at Pegatron, that is the single tipping point thst caused Marty to leave and recruit dozens and dozens of great HW engineers to Meta.
    Reply
  • Sean Endicott
    Arun Topez said:
    Commercial devices only? I was really looking forward to upgrading my SP6 to SP10, but clearly Microsoft doesn't care about consumers anymore. Why release the consumer version later with the same name but potentially different design? They need to remember that consumers ARE commercial workers, this is why Apple does well because they know how to market to both at the same time. I'm gonna have to start looking for alternatives, Surface isn't the same brand anymore and further reason why Panos jumped ship. Customers will jump ship too with Microsoft's incompetence. It just sucks because they have great hardware design, they just suck at marketing and selling.
    Microsoft can't release a laptop with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite before Qualcomm launches that processor. The next Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 has what is arguably the most exciting processor in the Windows space for years. Microsoft needs to wait a few months to be able to ship PCs with those CPUs.

    Panay did a lot of things, but I honestly think his vision finished its course.
    Reply
  • naddy69
    "Which exactly was my point that you clearly missed. Apple actually does great in the commercial space in addition to the consumer space, because as Satya once said "We want users to WANT to use Windows and our devices, not just have to use them", which is exactly what Apple has nailed. Businesses consist of consumers, and the best way to win in BOTH the consumer and commercial space is to win over consumers who then request their workplaces to get those very devices they love. "

    But it's too late for that. People ARE forced to use Windows PCs at work, and have been for decades.

    Besides, none of this matters, which is the point that you missed. Microsoft has never been stronger than right now. Even though consumers are generally not interested in MS (because MS has no consumer products) and MS is generally not interested in consumers (which is why they have no consumer products), MS is The World's Most Valuable Company.

    This is easy math to do. It is not a coincidence that MS has thrived ever since killing all of their money-losing consumer products. Windows phones, music streaming, MP3 players, dual screen Android phones, etc. All were losing boatloads of money. You don't become The World's Most Valuable Company by losing billions on products that are not selling.
    Reply