A prototype Surface Laptop allegedly sporting one of Intel’s new Lunar Lake chips was put up for sale online.
Windows Central spotted the since-deleted listing on Goofish, a Chinese second-hand marketplace. The images in the listing show what looks a lot like the Surface Laptop 7 that Microsoft released earlier this year sporting Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite chips. (I haven’t had a chance to review the Surface Laptop yet, but I did write about the new Surface Pro with the Snapdragon X Elite, which you can check out here.) However, the prototype on Goofish features Intel’s Core Ultra 7 268V chip.
Unfortunately, it’s not entirely clear whether this is actually a Surface Laptop 7 variant with an Intel chip or a prototype of a new version of the Surface Laptop. The laptop does sport “prototype – not for sale” etched on the bottom. As The Verge notes, it’s easy to fake a CPU listing in Windows, but the etched label suggests this is likely a real prototype.
Elsewhere, the listing noted that the Intel Surface Laptop could go on sale in 2025, potentially pointing to an announcement at CES.
It’d make sense for Microsoft to launch Intel-equipped Surface laptops, especially now that the chipmaker has options that meet the criteria for Copilot Plus PCs. As good as the Snapdragon X Elite is, Windows on ARM still has its issues and for some people, x86 chips remain king.
Microsoft previously released the Surface Pro 10 and Laptop 6 sporting Intel’s Meteor Lake chips, aimed at businesses, ahead of the new Copilot Plus Surface Pro and Laptop. However, those devices don’t support new Copilot Plus features because the Meteor Lake neural processing unit (NPU) doesn’t meet Microsoft’s criteria.
Ultimately, it seems likely that Microsoft will launch Intel-equipped Surface devices in the near future, judging by this prototype. If there’s a Surface Laptop, there’s likely a Surface Pro on the way as well. What remains to be seen is whether the Intel version will be widely available or limited to businesses like previously Intel-based Surfaces. Moreover, it remains to be seen whether this is a new version of the Surface Laptop or just a variant of the latest model with new internals.
Images credit: Goofish (Via: Windows Central)
Source: Windows Central, The Verge
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