Microsoft builds MacBook Pro rival with NVIDIA-powered Surface Laptop Ultra

Post by [deleted] » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:09 PM UTC

expedition32 wrote: post #91

ramesh31 wrote: post #74

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>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.

How do you use an Apple device without taking part in their ecosystem?

Post by DennisP » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:14 PM UTC

vrganj wrote: post #89

Does it run Linux well? That's the only reason not to get a MBP. Personally, I got a HP Zbook G1A, which is HP's take on an MBP based on (x86, but unified memory!) Strix Halo. Battery life could be better, but pretty happy otherwise. Local LLM perf is great and I get to run an OS that doesn't drive me crazy.

Post by pathartl » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:19 PM UTC

threetonesun wrote: post #71

lnenad wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

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. Ev…

Back when Macs were suffering under poor Intel chips there were valid competitors in battery life and size and weight from Dell. Except they ran Windows, and the trackpad was never as good as a Mac, and you'd find yourself searching for driver updates for things like the built in camera, which also wasn't very good because Dell doesn't have an entire division building amazing tiny cameras for phones. Microsoft maybe…

Post by shlewis » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:28 PM UTC

jauntywundrkind wrote: post #111

shlewis wrote: post #37

I will never buy a Surface device ever again. I've been using an SL4 for the last four years with Linux on it, thanks to the surface-linux kernel. It's awful. It feels like it's actively refusing to work properly with Linux. Fair - it's not for Linux, and clearly that is expected with a Microsoft device. I've recently had to call their support for missing rubber feet. I figured I could get the replacement mailed(that…

I wonder how much Microsoftisms are going to be thrown into the Surface Ultra. Surface-linux has done a ton of work to get some support, but yeah: they are quite the special devices: > In contrast to other devices, however, some newer Surface devices route their keyboard and touchpad input via this controller. Unfortunately, every new Surface device requires some (usually small) patch to enable support for it, since…

Post by bryanlarsen » Mon, Jun 01, 2026, 2:30 PM UTC

lnenad wrote: post #65

a_vanderbilt wrote: post #61

For many, the appeal of a Mac is that it isn't running Windows. I'm not seeing how this won't be a repeat of the OG ARM Surface, just with a higher spec'd GPU.

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. Ev…