Microsoft has opened pre-orders for its first laptop built on NVIDIA's RTX Spark platform, the Surface Laptop Ultra, with shipments scheduled to begin on October 16. The base model is priced at $2,599, positioning it below comparable HP devices that start at $2,999. The entry configuration includes an 18-core NVIDIA N1X CPU, a 5120-core Blackwell GPU, 24 GB of unified memory and a 512 GB SSD. Customers can upgrade to 128 GB of unified memory, a 20-core CPU, a 6144-core GPU and a 1 TB SSD for $5,899. The 15-inch mini-LED display delivers up to 2,000 nits of brightness and supports touch input. Weighing 4.5 pounds, the device offers triple USB-C ports, a USB-A port, HDMI, a full-size SD card reader and a 3.5 mm headphone jack. It uses magnetic USB-C charging instead of the Surface Connect port. Microsoft emphasizes the large memory pool for running local AI models without cloud reliance, and demonstrated 60 FPS performance in Gears of War: E-Day. HP's RTX Spark laptops start at $2,999 for a 14-inch model and $3,199 for a 16-inch version, with higher-end configurations reaching $4,499 and $4,999 respectively. While HP offers OLED displays and higher refresh rates, Microsoft's lower entry price creates an initial cost advantage, though final specifications and performance comparisons depend on exact configurations.