Microsoft Build is officially kicking off today at 12pm ET / 9am PT / 5pm BST, but Redmond jumped the gun and announced the Surface Pro 11, Surface Laptop 7 and a ton of new Copilot features coming to what is called Copilot+ PCs yesterday. Translation: laptops powered by Snapdragon X Elite for now (until Intel gets involved later this year).
From our time testing these processors, we know they will play a key role in powering the AI smarts we're sure to hear more about later today. Not only that, but in benchmarking, it seems likely that Microsoft could finally be in a position to beat the likes of the M3 MacBook Air on raw performance.
In terms of how that power is used, Microsoft also announced a slew of new Copilot features, including Recall search that is able to go through a whole history of your files and interactions to pull out what you're looking for with simple prompts, alongside Cocreator for image generation and even AI-generated in-game hints for Xbox Game Pass titles.
We're still digesting everything that happened yesterday, so keep your eyes locked on this live blog for all the news and insight into this new hardware and Copilot improvements — as well as when the main event begins and Satya Nadella takes to the stage!
Microsoft Build 2024 livestream
What's been announced (so far)
Surface Pro 11: Looks like the Pro 10 is staying exclusive to the business people, and we're getting the good stuff in the Surface Pro 11. This is the first Surface to give you an OLED display, and you can pick from either a Snapdragon X Plus or X Elite. Pricing starts at $999.
Surface Laptop 7: Alongside this, the Surface Laptop 7 is a more modest upgrade hardware-wise. You're still getting the same display options as Laptop 6, and the same aluminum shell. The main difference is that Snapdragon choice.
Copilot+ PCs: These are only just two of what Microsoft is touting the new line of Copilot+ PCs — the next generation AI PCs. You can see more about what Asus, Acer, Dell, HP and Lenovo have up their sleeves for this.
Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7 specs
Even though Build doesn't technically start until tomorrow, Microsoft is hosting a special press event in Seattle today, where it will likely unveil the consumer versions of its latest Surface hardware. These will set the stage for the flock of software announcements coming over the next few days. What will really be important is Microsoft's adoption of the Snapdragon X Elite chips that, it says, can go toe-to-toe with Apple's M3 MacBook Air.
Unfortunately, today's event is not being streamed, so there's no way to watch it live. However, Tom's Guide computing editor Alex Wawro is on the ground and will be feeding the latest news back to us as it happens. It's scheduled to start at 10am PT / 1pm ET / 6pm BST. Stay tuned to this blog as we'll keep it updated with all the latest news coming out of Seattle as it happens.
ARM-ed and dangerous
You may have noticed a clutch of devices coming to market recently utilizing ARM processors rather than CPUs. This architecture is the realm of Qualcomm and it’s heavily tipped we’ll see new consumer-grade Surface Pro and Surface Laptops running with the Snapdragon X Series of chips.
It’s not just Microsoft, either. Over the course of Build, we’re also expecting to see Snapdragon laptops from the likes of Dell, Samsung and Lenovo. And Qualcomm’s aim with these devices is to make them run AI-based applications faster and better than ever before. With the Qualcomm AI Engine, Snapdragon X Elite can run generative AI models with over 13 billion parameters on-device. There’s no wonder this is being called the start of a new generation for Windows devices...
Boosting battery life
One key area where the Snapdragon chips are almost certain to win out over Intel’s Meteor Lake processors is in battery life. My colleague Tony Polanco wrote about this in-depth after attending the Snapdragon Summit and seeing firsthand a comparison with Intel’s 13th gen processors.
In Tony’s words, the Snapdragon X Elite performed 54% faster than the Intel Core Ultra 7 155H in the Geekbench 6 CPU benchmarking test. Furthermore, it consumed 65% less power in single-threaded performance and 60% less in multi-threaded performance. The test, performed on an Asus Zenbook 14 OLED (UX3405) laptop also showed a 53% faster performance for Qualcomm’s chip in multi-threaded performance than what Intel could muster.
Not only could Windows laptops start to see some real longevity with this, they could pose a real threat to Apple’s incredible MacBook Air. Which currently sits atop our best laptops guide.
Copilot taking over
If there’s one area of Windows that we can absolutely expect Microsoft to go big on, it’s Copilot. Given the entirety of Google’s I/O keynote was consumed by AI announcements regarding Gemini, Microsoft has a bit of a mountain to climb.
The really interesting thing will be how much Microsoft makes available to users for free and how much it locks behind the $20/month paywall of Copilot Pro. Given that OpenAI’s barnstorming new GPT-4o is rolling out now as a free update, I’d like to hope that Microsoft gives us a fair whack of new features up front and for free. Of most use would be deeper ties with much-used Microsoft products like Word, Excel and Outlook — but we’ll have to wait and see.
Starter for 10
Before we get swamped in AI, Windows and Copilot, lets just take a step back into hardware territory and look specifically at the Surface Pro 10. While Microsoft arguably invented the hybrid 2-in-1 category with its Surface Pro devices, the lineup has failed to excite tech nerds of late. Or, as my colleague Alex puts it: “[Surface] has been boring, moribund and in dire need of a serious redesign for years.” Yikes.
So we’ve already seen the Surface Pro 10 for Business and it’s not exactly inspiring a whole load of confidence. It’s got an identical design to its predecessors with measurements running 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches and weight tipping in at 1.94 pounds. Port-wise, there are two Thunderbolt 4/USB4 ports, a Surface Connect port and a Surface Keyboard port.
The design changes we’re hearing about include a brighter display with a new anti-reflective coating and a lower resolution model that drops the screen to 2160 x 1440 from 2880 x 1920 — which could mean a lower price.
Finally, it’s been rumored the new Type Cover will get a Copilot shortcut key that matches the one found on the Surface Laptop 6 keyboard. Which will mean AI assistance is only a button press away.
Tomorrow's Build 2024 opening keynote
Microsoft is hosting an in-person event at Seattle today, but the actual Build opening keynote isn't happening until tomorrow. This is the livestreamed showpiece, hosted by Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella that'll officially kick off the conference for 2024.
The keynote is slated to start at 9am PT / 12pm ET / 5pm BST tomorrow and will run for approximately two hours. Nadella will be joined on stage by Kevin Scott, Microsoft's CTO and EVP of AI and Rajesh Jha, the company's VP, Experiences and Devices.
As for what to expect, Microsoft promises we will "learn how this era of AI will unlock new opportunities, transform how developers work and drive business productivity across industries."
Surface Laptop 6
Microsoft's Surface Laptop 6 was technically unveiled during a company livestream held back on March 21, but like the Pro 10, we should hopefully get a consumer version confirmed today.
The first thing to point out and it looks an awful lot like its predecessors but with one noticeable difference: these will also be some of the first Surface computers to ship with a Copilot key on the keyboard. The Surface Laptop 6 comes with either a 13.5-inch or 15-inch touchscreen with 201 pixels per inch (PPI).
If rumors are to be believed, the non-business version of this machine will ship with the mid-tier Snapdragon X Elite chipset. Pricing will be the most interesting reveal regarding this machine. Costs for the base-level 13-inch enterprise edition started out at $1199 while the top-tier 15-inch model (with an Intel Core Ultra 7/64GB/1TB config) maxed out at $2999. Let's see how hard Microsoft's latest laptop will hit our wallets today.
A surprise appearance?
That AI will be a big part of Build this year is in no doubt, but what's not known is just how much Microsoft will tip its hat to the work that's been going on at OpenAI. And whether or not that'll include an appearance by Sam Altman himself.
Tom's Guide AI Editor, Ryan Morrison, believes it's a possibility. Let's not forget, Altman was head of AI at Redmond for a short while after being sacked by OpenAI's board last year. He's also pals with Bill Gates.
"I wouldn't be surprised if we see OpenAI CEO Sam Altman or CTO Mira Muratti pop up at some point during Build. It is Microsoft money that paid for most of underlying technology created by the ChatGPT-maker," Ryan told me.
"With their appearance I think we'll see the announcement of GPT-4o, as well as the impressive voice and vision capabilities, coming to Microsoft Copilot in the coming weeks.
"This would also make sense of the fact OpenAI didn't launch a ChatGPT desktop app for Windows. Microsoft may have asked them to hold off at least until they launch the same features in Copilot for Windows."
MacBook killer incoming?
I know the phrase "MacBook killer" is thrown around a lot, and it never really materializes into anything more than being slightly better in one key aspect. But from what we've seen in benchmarks of Qualcomm's reference design, we're starting to think something special is coming later today.
We're confident that in this media-only event, Microsoft will be busy showing us just how performant the new Surfaces are — alongside the promises of a long battery life. Stay tuned for more!
What about Snapdragon X Plus?
Of course, Snapdragon X Elite is only half the story — Qualcomm also surprised us at the beginning of the month with an entry-level version of its laptop silicon.
The Snapdragon X Plus has some key differences, but one important similarity to X Elite. The core count is down from 12 to 10, and there is no Dual-Core Boost frequency available. This will mean you won't see those extra fast speeds during complex tasks.
However, you still get the same NPU with 45 trillion operations per second (TOPs), and even with this downgrade in speed, it still puts up a fight against M3 in our testing.
My prediction is we'll see the Surface Pro 10 offered in both X Plus and X Elite varieties, while the Laptop 6 will stick to the top tier chip.
Here we go!
Our Computing senior editor, Alex Wawro, has arrived at Microsoft HQ for the hotly anticipated Surface event! Given the promotional material around the campus, it's fair to say the Redmond crew are pretty excited about what's coming.
Take your seats
We're just roughly 15 minutes away from the big event, and we're all getting settled in ready for every announcement! Be sure to check in here live for every piece of news as it happens.
Just as a reminder of what we're anticipating — we expect this to be the first real debut of Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus. Microsoft looks set to announce a supercharged version of the Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 with these new arm-based chips.
We're less than ten minutes away from the event starting, and the lights are beginning to dim as folks walk to their seats. The crowd in this small theater on the Microsoft campus is mostly media and Microsoft execs, all dressed in West Coast business casual.
Microsoft communications rep Frank Shaw has taken the stage now and is welcoming the audience in. Hi Frank!
"We're going to have a news-packed couple of days, starting in about a minute," says Frank. He's letting us know after this little presentation we'll have a chance to walk next door and check out some live demos. So new hardware, too?
And here we go!
Microsoft chief Satya Nadella is onstage to talk about Windows and AI!
Nadella is now onstage talking up a new "platform shift" that "starts with Copilot" in which AI is a more integrated part of our day-to-day lives. Here we go!
"Copilot is empowering every person and every organization on the planet to be more productive, more creative," Nadella says.
"It's pretty early still on this platform shift. The fundamental driving force behind this AI wave, that we have to stay grounded on, are these [things called] scaling laws," says Nadella as the phrase SCALING LAWS appears behind him onstage. Must be a big part of today's presentation!
To make Windows PCs a core part of the coming AI era, Nadella says Microsoft is debuting a new level of AI-ready PCs: Copilot + PCs.
"We're bringing real joy and a sense of wonder back to creation on the PC" says Nadella while hyping up how Copilot and AI will transform the way you work on these new AI-focused Copilot+ PCs. And of course, we're going to hear about all the hardware partners making them!
Now Microsoft exec Yusuf Mehdi has taken the stage to talk about Copilot+ PCs...could it be time for new consumer-grade Surface devices???
Mehdi is talking up how these new Copilot+ PCs are capable of "40+ trillion operations per second" and are up to "58% faster than MacBook Air M3", so it's clear what the battleground is today!
"I'm excited to share that GPT-4o, with voice and vision capabilities, will soon be available on Copilot" says Mehdi.
Okay now we're watching an extended demo of Minecraft...
Minecraft running with Copilot's help, using GPT-4o to identify what was happening on screen!
"Imagine you're working away or having fun and just talking to Copilot naturally," says Mehdi. "It really is going to be a whole new way of experiencing the world." This is the promise of these new Copilot+ PCs -- Windows machines running Copilot in a way that enhances your day-to-day use.
Mehdi is clearly working towards a Surface hardware reveal, but he's dragging the tease out. Now he's running a sizzle reel of email behind him as he talks up how Copilot can help reduce the day-to-day hassle of things like using email or shopping...
Okay now Mehdi has welcomed Microsoft's Carolina Hernandez out to demonstrate the new Copilot feature Recall.
Okay so Hernandez is telling us how Recall recently helped her shop for clothes with her grandmother by, for example, allowing her to search the history of dresses she'd recently looked at. A key detail here is that she could use natural language to search for the dress.
Now we're hearing about how Recall can help at work if, as Hernandez is relating, you do something like forget where you put a presentation. She's telling us a nice story about how she lost a PowerPoint, then found it using Recall by telling Recall (using her voice, it sounds like) that she needed a PowerPoint in which there was a purple chart.
Using Copilot AI, Recall was able to find the relevant presentation and surface it pronto. Seems neat!
"Recall is just one of the many features we're going to show you that is only possible because of the Copilot+ architecture" says Mehdi. Huh!
...okay now we're just watching a Copilot+ PC sizzle reel....
Hype reel complete and now we're getting a walkthrough of how Recall works. Padding, or a good reminder that Build is a developer conference?
We're being told that you will be able to control which data on your PC is seen and stored by Recall. So you can use the new "Windows Semantic Index", "built and stored entirely on your device", to seek and find content on your PC more quickly and intuitively than traditional search.
Now we're hearing there will be integration with Xbox as well, so we can look forward to Copilot features like tips and hints in games, and maybe more!
Okay now we're hearing reps from Intel, Qualcomm and AMD say they're "all in!" on Copilot+ PCs in a marketing video. Get ready....
"By default all Copilot+ PCs are Secured Core PCs" says Mehdi. "Today we're debuting Copilot+ PCs with the Snapdragon X SoC!"
Now he's comparing the new Snapdragon X Windows PCs as being capable of beating Apple's M3 MacBook Air in some *very specific* ways, like "23% faster than Air M3 in peak multithreaded performance", etc.
Still, sounds neat!
Microsoft's Brett Ostrum onstage to talk devices! Surface logo up top!
Surface Pro and Surface Laptop, the first of the new Copilot+ PCs!
Okay now we're getting a sizzle reel for these new Surface devices, with still no sign of a numeral anywhere....
Microsoft's Adrienne Brewbaker is up onstage now to walk us through the new devices, starting with the Surface Laptop.
"The new Surface Laptop has nearly double the battery life of Surface Laptop 5" says Brewbaker. Promising if true!
Microsoft's Oyin Shenbanjo is onstage now with some laptops on a table, including the new Surface Laptop and a new MacBook Air M3 with the "same specs", both with Adobe Photoshop "running natively" for a live demo of how much cooler the Surface with Snapdragon X (no word on which yet, of course!) is.
Shenbanjo is demonstrating how much faster and smoother Photoshop feels to use on the Surface Laptop, showing us with exaggerated gestures how it feels smoother and faster to zoom on the Surface vs. the MacBook. This is the power of AI at work.
Now we're getting a promo reel for how DaVinci Resolve has gotten better with new features that take advantage of the NPUs which are in Copilot+ PCs (...and MacBooks).
"Complex editing made quick and simple with AI" is how Shenbanjo just closed out the demo of new Adobe features powered by the NPU (on new Copilot + PCs!)
Next up, we're getting a Live Captions demo.
Okay Live Captions demo over...time to talk Surface Pro!
New Surface Pro comes with an OLED display option that supports HDR!
New Surface Pro Flex Keyboard detachable keyboard accessory being sold alongside it, with a built-in Surface Slim Pen cubby for storage.
New Copilot feature called Cocreator being announced now, all about image creation it looks like...
...we're still getting demos of how Copilot+ PCs will get access to new features like Cocreator in Paint (helps edit images in a requested way as you work) and better editing features in the Photo app.
Okay Copilot demos are over with...
"Surface is committed to Copilot+ PCs...Surface Laptop and Surface Pro are just the start" is something I just heard, so I guess this is the future of Microsoft PCs for the foreseeable future.
Okay yeah we're watching another sizzle reel of tech execs, this time of companies like Dell, HP and Samsung saying they're "all in" on AI PCs.
Okay now Mehdi is closing by showing us Copilot+ PCs (read: laptops) coming from Acer, HP, Lenovo, Samsung and more....
...and we're closing with the news that Copilot+ PCs go on sale today, starting at $999, with the first devices expected to hit store shelves June 18. And that's all folks, show's over!
Which device(s) start at $999, and what hardware are they packing inside? We'll be here all day doing demos and interviews to find out, so stay tuned!
We're going hands-on!
Here are some early photos before we get some proper hands-on time with both the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7. Keep it locked to Tom's Guide for our impressions!
Preorders now live for Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7
Keen to pick one up? Pre-orders are available right now for the June 18 release date! Pricing for both starts from $999, but wait...the keyboard costs HOW MUCH!?
No, your eyes are not deceiving you. The Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen is $449. Look, I get it's cool — the variability of typing angles and being able to use it when disconnected from the Surface is great. But that is an eye-watering price!
Anyway, here's where you can preorder the main devices:
- Microsoft Surface Pro 11: From $999 @ Microsoft
- Microsoft Surface Laptop 7: From $999 @ Microsoft
Microsoft announced numerous Windows laptops that will utilize the Snapdragon X Elite chip to aid AI programs like Copilot.
One device is the HP OmniBook X. You can read our hands-on preview of this laptop, which launches on June 18th like the Surface Pro 11.
Welcome back!
Microsoft Build is actually here now — we swear yesterday wasn't the main event, even though it was significant! Let's flash back to what has been announced so far.
- Copilot+ PCs: A sea of new laptops sporting Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite are coming in with this new standard for AI computing — 40+ TOPs of performance on the NPU. My guy Tony has gone hands on with HP Omnibook and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x from this new lineup.
- Surface Pro 11: Microsoft is spearheading a lot of this effort with two new systems of its own. First, the new Surface Pro — sporting the arm-based processor and even coming with a gorgeous new OLED display. Price starts at $999, and we've gone hands-on already.
- Surface Laptop 7: The update here is more minor in hardware aesthetic than the Pro 11, but the innards are Snapdragon-ified. Price starts at $999.
Pre-orders are open now with a release date set for June 18. Now, it's time to find out a little bit more about the software that will run on these machines.
During the main event of Build, we're expecting Satya Nadella to kick off a keynote of significant AI updates. We already saw some of the Copilot features with Recall and Cocreator yesterday, but more is anticipated as part of the new Windows 11 update.
As always, keep it locked to Tom's Guide, as we will be reporting live!
How is the Surface Pro 11 different to Surface Pro 9?
So for the consumer side of the Surface lineage, we're skipping a number. And with this jump comes a huge jump in not just performance (thanks to Snapdargon X Elite), but also in display tech and user experience.
From OLED tech to a completely revamped keyboard dock, take a look at our face-off to see exactly what you're getting.
Copilot+ PCs are not just Snapdragon X Elite...
As Microsoft discussed on stage, Copilot+ PCs are being worked on by not just Qualcomm, but AMD and Intel too. It's just Snapdragon X Elite that has got there first.
Intel Core Ultra was a step in the right direction, but with just 10 TOPS coming from the NPU, it's nowhere near the 40+ TOPS. But the next gen Lunar Lake will remedy this in the third quarter of this year.
Computing Editor Dave Meikleham has the full scoop!
Will Sam Altman make an appearance?
In case you've been living under a rock over the past week, OpenAI announced GPT-4o — a new multi-modal AI that brings huge upgrades to usability and conversational AI.
During the Surface event yesterday, Microsoft did confirm that this new version of the model is coming to Copilot. So the question has to be asked: will we see Altman come out to explain more about how this model will bring huge features to Windows 11.
Though, they may need to sort that whole Scarlet Johansson thing first...
Copilot+ PCs are all available to pre-order on Best Buy
Keen to pick up a Copilot+ PC packing Snapdragon X Elite? Pre-orders are available in a whole lot of places. Best Buy is offering the widest range so far, so let's go through what the retailer has.
- Microsoft Surface Laptop 7: From $999
- Microsoft Surface Pro 11 (with IPS display): From $999
- Microsoft Surface Pro 11 (with OLED display): From $1,499
- Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x: From $1,199
- Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge: From $1,349
- Dell XPS 13: From $1,499
- Dell Inspiron 14 Plus: From $1,099
- HP OmniBook X: From $1,199
Let's talk about the new Copilot features
Yesterday's event wasn't just about the AI-centric laptops. Microsoft also had a lot of demos around how Windows 11 will use this additional performance in a vastly expanded Copilot.
From Recall giving you a huge way to search contextually through all your files and even aid in an agentic way by heading to websites, to Cocreator generating AI imagery based on what you draw in Paint, there's a lot on offer.
Scott Younker has a full breakdown on these four new tools.
Microsoft Build 2024 livestream has just been posted!
No, this isn't a leak of the whole thing! That would be some weird feat of time travel, as the event is live (wouldn't put that past some advanced version of Copilot though). But the YouTube stream link is available. We'll bookmark this at the top of our page, so you can watch along with out insight.
OK, maybe we won't see Sam Altman at Build
Statement from Scarlett Johansson on the OpenAI situation. Wow: pic.twitter.com/8ibMeLfqP8May 20, 2024
Look, I know that I pondered whether OpenAI's Sam Altman will make an appearance at Build 2024 — since Microsoft did announce that GPT-4o is coming to Copilot.
But this whole thing with the Sky voice in GPT is some deep water for OpenAI to be in, so it may make more sense for Redmond to just focus on the software and keep to its own presenters.
For context, OpenAI turned off allowing use of the Sky voice due to similarities with Scarlett Johansson's performance in the movie "Her." But we went further down the rabbit hole, as the company apparently reached out to Johansson for permission to use her voice, which she denied, and the team just did so anyway with someone very similar.
It's a sticky situation, and no doubt more will come out now that both Scarlett and OpenAI have released statements.
Microsoft talked up the Snapdragon X platform during yesterday's press briefing but Qualcomm's processor isn't the only one made for handling AI tasks on device.
Intel has announced it's launching Lunar Lake chips by the third quarter of this year. Lunar Lake is coming to over 80 laptop designs spanning 20 laptop manufacturers that will power the 40 million AI PC CPUs. These Lunar Lake laptop processors have been developed to get the most out of new Copilot+ PCs.
