Since September last year, or since Microsoft released its intelligent assistant Copilot, a race has been unleashed in the world of AI with which every player in the sector is trying to distance itself from the competition. Less than a year later, Microsoft presented i Surface laptop 7 hey Surface pro 11computers equipped with chips designed to make the most of AI applications.
They are computers designed above all for businesses and for professionals and, contrary to what one might believe, the prices are not completely out of the market especially considering the hardware and software equipment.
What's in the new Surfaces
The main dish is the NPUthe Neural Processing Unit, a processor designed to execute algorithms capable of carrying out calculations in parallel which works alongside normal CPUs (traditional processors) and GPUs (graphics cards).
Without going into technicalities, the NPU is responsible for carrying out large quantities of operations per second and is therefore suitable for supporting the computing activities typical of AI.
There are two chips available: the Snapdragon X Elite and the Snapdragon X Plus, both produced by Qualcomm and capable of high performance reducing consumption up to 60%, claims Microsoft, with benefits also for batteries whose life exceeds 20 hours.
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The Surface laptop 7 it is available in the 13.8-inch and 15-inch versions (only with Snapdragon
The Surface pro 11 it remains anchored to the design with the keyboard that can be purchased separately and, among the new features, it introduces a quad hd ultrawide front camera designed for video calls and, on the back, it has a 10 megapixel camera dedicated to the production of 4k videos.
The processors are always Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite, the latter available in the Surface pro 11 with OLED screen which costs a little more than the one with the LCD screen.
It supports up to three external monitors in 4K and, in addition to Wi-Fi 7, allows 5G connectivity for those who need to work on the move.
Artificial Intelligence
The two Surfaces, which Microsoft has named Copilot + PCare designed above all for the world of work and, consequently, AI features tend to reflect productivity needs.
The function Recall Allows intelligent file searching. A research based on large linguistic models and therefore capable of understanding the natural language of man. For example, to search for a file, you can simply ask Recall to search for a specific phrase or an image portraying a subject (“find photo of green car sent by Mario”) so that the AI ideally scrolls through all the emails sent by a specific person in order to search for the desired photo.
Recall comes performed locally on your computer and you can prevent it from carrying out searches on certain sites to maximize privacy.
Then there is the function Windows studio effects which gives meaning to the Surface cameras: thanks to the available filters you can change the backgrounds taken during video calls, you can adjust the lighting and, with the use of Eye contact, the interlocutor's eyes always remain in the direction of the camera . Voice focus instead, it allows you to reduce background noise by increasing the audio quality of the video conference.
With Live translation each audio or video call can be translated in real time into 44 different languages and, with Cocreator, drawings and images are enhanced by the capabilities of Copilot, Microsoft's generative AI.
Prices and availability
Deliveries of the two Surfaces will begin on June 18, 2024 and, for the moment, they can be purchased in pre-order with prices starting from 1,229 euros up to 2,479 euros.
Respectable costs which, however, remain in line with those of high-end computers produced by the competition.