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Microsoft AI Technology

Microsoft Unveils Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for Business, Its First AI PCs (theverge.com) 37

Microsoft has announced two new Surface devices, the Surface Pro 10 for Business and Surface Laptop 6 for Business, both featuring Intel's latest Core Ultra processors, a dedicated Neural Processing Unit (NPU), and a new Copilot key for AI-powered features in Windows 11.

The devices, which will start shipping to commercial customers on April 9th, have been designed exclusively for businesses and will not be sold directly to consumers. The Surface Pro 10 for Business, starting at $1,199, offers a choice between Core Ultra 5 135U and Core Ultra 7 165U options, with up to 64GB of RAM and a 256GB Gen4 SSD. It also features an improved 13-inch display with an antireflective coating and a 1440p front-facing camera with a 114-degree field of view.

The Surface Laptop 6 for Business, also starting at $1,199, is powered by Intel's Core Ultra H-series chips and is available with up to 64GB of RAM and a 1TB Gen4 SSD. The 15-inch model includes two USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports, while the 13.5-inch model features a single USB-C Thunderbolt 4 port. Both devices have an optional smart card reader and are Microsoft's most easily serviceable Surface devices to date.

Further reading: Microsoft's official blog.
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Microsoft Unveils Surface Pro 10 and Surface Laptop 6 for Business, Its First AI PCs

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  • Is Microsoft slow, or are they just telling lies to show they have an AI strategy for increasing their stock price?

    • It's referencing having an NPU in addition to the usual CPU/GPU. This isn't Microsoft-specific terminology, it's coined by Intel: https://www.intel.com/content/... [intel.com], https://www.tomsguide.com/comp... [tomsguide.com]

    • Now clippy has its own processor and network connection to feed your data to the cloud faster.

    • You were cheated in the 80s; that was not by any means AI, just a bunch of nested IF.
      • You were cheated in the 80s; that was not by any means AI, just a bunch of nested IF.

        Nonsense, you can perfectly build a neural network with IF and GOTO statements: check out this 1983 book [computinghistory.org.uk].

        BTW, artificial neural networks exist since the 1950s [wikipedia.org].

        • A very simple example of a learning system from 1983 (pp. 57-58 of the Dutch translation of Chris Naylor's book [computinghistory.org.uk]. I translated the PRINT and INPUT sentences back to English, so they will be slightly different from the original.):


          10 INPUT "How many variables do you have ? "; V
          20 DIM V(V), V$(V)
          30 PRINT "Give those variables a name."
          40 FOR I = 1 TO V
          50 PRINT "Variable "; I; : INPUT V$(I)
          60 NEXT
          70 INPUT "How many results do you have ? "; Q : DIM Q$(Q), R(V,Q),D(Q),S(Q)
          80 PRINT "Give those results a n
    • Is Microsoft slow, or are they just telling lies to show they have an AI strategy for increasing their stock price?

      And I played 3D games without a GPU. What's your point, that you were able to do slow things on unoptimised hardware? What else can you do? Calculate your tax return with an abacus?

  • Does it run Linux?
    • by HBI ( 10338492 )

      Past iterations of the Surface did. However, they are very much intended for running Windows based OSes and getting Linux on them up and running is less easy than on other machines. One issue is that the firmware has...issues with recognizing the keystrokes that a traditional BIOS would be responsive to. I don't think it's purposeful, it's just a lack of caring much.

      MSFT distributes images of Windows intended for installation atop the Surface rather than making you install from optical or USB. This work

    • WSL2. It's close, and it works sort of. Mounting USB media isn't something Microsoft seems to want to do.

    • Does it run Linux?

      That's not obvious. You wouldn't want to, trust me I've done it. Linux is *NOT* the OS you want to use for a device that dynamically switches context between being a laptop and a tablet with finger and pen operation. And if you're not interested in this use case then this is not a device you should consider buying since you'd be paying a premium specifically for *those* features.

      Linux is good for a lot of things, but pen/touch operation is not one of them.

  • First there were Personal Computers
    Then there were Mobile Phones
    Then there were Smart Phones
    Now everything is an AI computer or phone

    Most current AI feels next to useless to me. I seriously don't get it. Just a hype cycle to sell stuff.

    • by OfMiceAndMenus ( 4553885 ) on Thursday March 21, 2024 @01:12PM (#64334217)
      I was just commenting to a coworker that AI seems useless because it doesn't perform the tasks I would actually use it for.

      In this case, I was scrolling through thousands of pictures on my phone trying to find a specific picture of my dog to show him. If I had been able to say "Ok, Google, show me the pictures of my dog" (or 'a small brown dog' or my dog's name) it would be great. But what I don't want is it sending everything I ask it or any files it works with to the cloud (especially over 4G/5G metered bandwidth), or constantly offering to do things for me that I am quite fine with doing myself, like typing a damn text message or writing web code.
    • Just a hype cycle to sell stuff.

      So, you do understand.

    • by jon3k ( 691256 )
      I think there's real value in these generative "AI" tools. I've used Midjourney to create logos for people that are exceptionally good. Using it to create "stock photos" I think is going to be huge for people. I've also used ChatGPT to write the basis for policies at work for various things. Huge time saver and even though I had to go through and add/remove some things, it almost always thinks of something that I hadn't considered.
    • Most current AI feels next to useless to me. I seriously don't get it. Just a hype cycle to sell stuff.

      Most AI will be transparent to you and you won't even know you're using it.

  • Its nice they both have 64 gig of ram but really a 256gig SSD and 1TB? even a fairly nice Samsung 2TB is about 170 bucks

    • by Targon ( 17348 )
      Tablets(including the Surface), often have storage soldered to the motherboard and not socketed. That makes them impossible to upgrade without replacing the entire motherboard.
      • by Osgeld ( 1900440 )

        well yea thanks for that, which brings me back to why is it so skimpy (since you are having trouble following along, I am asking cause everyone on the damn planet knows you cant upgrade them)

    • they START with just 8 gb of ram and charge criminal amounts for more. $300 more just to go to 16 GB. Reminiscent of Apple, for sure... If you want 64 GB RAM, you're at minimum $2799 for either the tablet or the laptop.
  • Filth unveils trash and more trash, its first scum delivery systems.
  • I typed in some BASIC programs from Chris Naylor's 1983 book "Build your own Expert System: Artificial Intelligence for the aspiring microcomputer" [computinghistory.org.uk] on my 1979 Sharp MZ-80K Personal Computer [ipsj.or.jp] forty years ago.

    So, Microsoft is quite late to the party with their First AI PC in 2024.
    • Nope. 40 years ago you didn't have any hardware acceleration for this.

      • Nope. 40 years ago you didn't have any hardware acceleration for this.

        You must be kidding, my CPU had a whole 2MHz!

    • by gweihir ( 88907 )

      Like with any good scam, you always pretend it is new and revolutionary and has never been done before. None of that is true for the current AI hype/scam, of course, it is just another incremental step from things that have been done before. Obviously, you need to get the money of the gullible idiots (of which there are a _lot_), while they are still incapable to listen to the people with an actual clue.

      Personally, so far I am doing just fine without any artificial moron. But quite often students demonstrat

  • Frankly, Microsoft and Intel should be embarrassed that they are first shipping NPU-capable consumer devices in 2024. Their competitors (Apple, Qualcomm, Samsung, et al) have been delivering AI silicon to consumers for over a decade already.
    • No they haven't. But nice try. Apple didn't introduce a the Neural Engine to its laptops until 2021. Qualcomm only announced general availability of NPUs in its processors last year and no laptops or desktops make use of them. And Samsung doesn't make PC CPUs.

      Anything else you want to pointlessly compare between a mobile phone and an actual working PC?

      • Apple shipped their first Neural Engine in 2013, and ML hardware has been commoditized ever since. It doesn't matter that it took PCs 8 years (or 11 years in the case of Intel) to catch up - most personal computing is done on mobile devices these days, and Intel has not been very competitive in that space.
        • Apple shipped their first Neural Engine in 2013

          Not in a laptop or desktop. Please try and focus on the topic being discussed. Porsche released the first electric car in 1898, that doesn't mean they have any relevance to modern EVs, just like the AI hardware specific to their phones in 2013 had fuck all to do with what is going on now.

          We get it, you like Apple. But please enjoy your sick fetish of praising them for everything regardless of how irrelevant they are in private. It's embarrassing.

          • I don't understand what you are getting at. This has nothing to do with Apple - It's all about Intel and Microsoft claiming to bring something "new and innovative" to market, despite ALL of their competition in this space having already done so.
  • As if their natural stupidity was not enough already.

We all agree on the necessity of compromise. We just can't agree on when it's necessary to compromise. -- Larry Wall

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