It's not a valid comparison. Up until this (theoretical) machine, the playing field wasn't equal. Windows laptops in general couldn't really compare in many aspects with Macs since M1 (outside of gaming), batteries were horrible due to bad efficiency, performance wasn't amazing even with the best SKUs, and the distance between the vendor and Microsoft was always impacting different aspects of the finished product. Even with the ARM Surface, the ecosystem still wasn't ready for ARM, the performance was lacking. If this device doesn't cost an arm and a leg, it will offer something that is really the first instance of a Windows device that's a better choice than an M-Macbook in many ways (at least on paper).

ARM Windows laptops are a pretty different scenario now than when the Surface came out. They have pretty seamless x86/64 emulation built in similar to when Apple started their Mac transition to ARM. In contrast the OG ARM Surface didn't run any existing Windows software.

Most people could pick up a modern Windows ARM laptop and everything they do would work just fine, just potentially with less heat and longer battery life than their older Windows laptop.

The primary annoyances would be Windows itself and its ad and engagement driven UI reminding you about Copilot and Edge every chance it gets.

>For many, the appeal of a Mac is that it isn't running Windows

Pretty much. I broke down and finally bought my first Windows machine in over a decade to play Subnautica 2. It was so infuriating to use I returned it a week later. You literally have to hack it with shell commands to bypass Microsoft login now. Never again.

Honestly I was ready to mock this thing out of existence, but I think you're on to something as there is a contingent that wants the Macbook Pro style laptop to run Linux and I think they'd be happy to settle with a copycat.

Alas, it is a laptop from Microsoft so hardware support in Linux is probably going to be painful as always.

Hard to say whether you'll get the Macbook Pro experience though.

That's what the Surface was supposed to be. It's Microsoft's example design for the other OEMs to strive for.

I’d wait for some actual reviews before celebrating. Because I just doubt this is as good as they are hyping. And it will still run the same windows ad ridden broken OS.

With 128gb memory this thing is going to cost a fortune.

But they pretty much just copied the MBP (and added USB-A)

A lot of enterprise customers still buy windows workstations. When I worked in an IT dept, Dell XPS and Windows Surfaces were given to C levels who asked for Macs but were told they wouldn’t be supported into the windows ecosystem (exchange, office, Active Directory etc). Sadly after all these years the MDM story for macs is still trash.

Microsoft has always made great hardware, often with partners or acquisitions. If they don't run (traditional) Windows - like the phones - they are really good; if they do run desktop Windows we've gone from useable-but-handicapped to completely unacceptable IMO. They also tend to be side projects within MS; I'd suspect this thing saw the light of day because it was sold as a way to pump more AI at their mostly captive audience.

Apparently 300 GB/sec so basically on par with the M5 Pro but half the M5 Max.

It'd be alright with Linux, probably better than a MBP if you're working heavily with AI (but no other reason to buy it TBH).

https://www.cpu-monkey.com/en/cpu-nvidia_n1x

It might be more of a Linux problem than a chip problem…

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"world makers", quite sober ;)

Most commenters here are focused on the Microsoft hardware, but the article mentions systems from several other manufacturers using the same hardware. Some of them, Dell and Lenovo in particular, have good Linux support.

Nvidia has also supported Linux well in general, so let's hope there's an attractive Linux option soon!

Personally I'd be just as happy with a small form factor desktop with the same hardware.

CUDA support is another reason, if you have a particular need for that.

At this point I don't know what the performance delta would need to be between "fastest I can get that lets me run linux" and "fastest I can get with windows" other than massive.

I genuinely do not want to deal with windows that much.

Fortunately since my computing needs are met by a fast x86/GPU I don't have to make that choice.

Yeah I feel like I just read an advertisement someone adapted from marketing materials.