It’s that time of year when the top tech firms show off their latest and greatest ahead of the holiday season. Apple revealed its iPhone 15 and new Apple Watches last week, Amazon is expected to show off new Echo devices on Wednesday, and Microsoft is hosting a “special event” on Thursday, where we’ll likely see new Surface laptops and perhaps an update on its AI efforts.
Hardware rumors point to a Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Laptop Go 3, and Surface Go 4.
Surface Laptop Studio 2
WinFuture reports that the Surface Laptop Studio 2 will feature a brighter display, a 13th Gen Intel "Raptor Lake" chip, and an Nvidia GeForce RTX 4060 GPU. It will also be the first Surface device with 64GB of RAM.
In our 2021 review of the Surface Laptop Studio, we found it to be packed with innovative features and said it "presages a new breed of laptop for creative pros who are pen-input devotees." Performance, however, left something to be desired.
Surface Laptop Go 3
As for the Surface Laptop Go 3, XDA-Developers predicts "more of a refresh than a proper update." Look for 8GB of RAM here too and 256GB of internal storage, up from 4GB of memory and a 128GB solid-state drive on the base version of the Surface Laptop Go 2. It’ll probably have a 12th Gen Intel Core i5.
Surface Go 4
The Surface Go 3 didn't quite stack up against Chromebooks and the iPad when we tested it, though we did dub it the best budget Windows 2-in-1 tablet. According to Windows Central, the Surface Go 4 won't look much different than the previous version, but it will—unsurprisingly—feature a more powerful processor, and include "an updated internal design with replaceable components and UFS storage."
It could get more expensive as Microsoft drops the version with 4GB of RAM for just the 8GB flavor, Windows Central says. And despite rumors of an ARM-based Surface Go 4, this 2-in-1 will run an Intel N200 chip.
Don't Forget About AI
Microsoft has gone all in on AI recently, from a huge investments in ChatGPT maker OpenAI and its own Bing AI chatbot to features like Copilot, an AI assistant that’s designed to be smart enough to write emails, create PowerPoint presentations, and author entire business proposals. According to Windows Central, Friday's event will include a discussion "about how artificial intelligence in Windows can be enhanced with dedicated hardware," and we may see AI features for Photos, Paint, and the Snipping Tool.
How to Watch Microsoft's 'Special Event'
In short, you can't. At least not live. Microsoft’s event begins at 10 a.m. ET on Sept. 21. It won’t be livestreamed, but you can watch a replay starting at 1 p.m. ET. PCMag will be on site to bring you all the news as it happens.
Someone who probably won’t be there? Panos Panay, who recently announced his departure from Microsoft after 19 years. He most recently served as EVP and chief product officer, and became a staple at Surface events, where his presentations often took a turn for the dramatic. Since he’s reportedly leaving Microsoft for Amazon, it’s unlikely he’ll be on stage this week singing the praises of Surface and other Microsoft products.