For the first time since 2019, Microsoft is holding an in-person "special event" in New York City. It's set to kick off on Sept. 21 at 10 a.m. ET and is widely believed to feature a lot of great new Surface devices. Despite the early-week news that former Windows and Surface chief Panos Panay is leaving Microsoft, you should expect other executives, like Yusuf Mehdi, to shell out details about new laptops and Windows tablets from Microsoft coming this fall, like the Surface Laptop Studio 2, Surface Go 4, and Surface Laptop Go, along with updates on AI features like Bing Chat. There might even be surprises in store.
Unfortunately, the event won't be live-streamed, but you can expect Microsoft to publish a recording later in the day. XDA will also be on the ground in New York City for Thursday's event for coverage. But while you wait for the event to start, here's what we're expecting to make an appearance based on previous leaks and rumors.
1 Surface Laptop Studio 2
Topping the list is the most talked about Surface device for this fall: the Surface Laptop Studio 2. Thanks to leaks first seen in the German blog WinFuture, we believe this will likely be the most powerful tablet yet from Microsoft. The Studio 2 is expected to sport up to a 13th-generation Intel Core i7-13800H hybrid CPU and Nvidia RTX 4050 or RTX 4060 GPUs. Such a bump in CPU and GPU performance, along with the hybrid architecture and improved CUDA cores on RTX 40-series graphics, means this Surface will get a heavy multitasking boost, along with improved ray tracing support.
For the first time in a Surface device, we also could see a massive 64GB of RAM onboard. Otherwise, the device looks to keep the same 14.4-inch 2400x1600 resolution 120Hz display as its predecessor. The only physical change to the design could be the addition of a USB-A port and a microSD card slot. All of this comes with a higher starting price, too, since Microsoft will no longer be selling models that only have integrated graphics.
2 Surface Go 4
Also expected is the Surface Go 4, a new iteration of Microsoft's budget-friendly Windows tablet. There hasn't been as much talk about this device, but based on rumors we've heard from Windows Central's Zac Bowden, you should expect mostly a specs bump, rather than any design changes (although there might be slight tweaks, like replaceable SSDs).
Though we hoped that Microsoft might put an Arm-based chip in the Surface Go 4, it's now believed that the device will instead sport an Intel Processor N200 CPU. There's even a chance it might be called the Surface Go 3+ rather than the Surface Go 4 because of how iterative the improvements will be.
3 Surface Laptop Go 3
The third and final Surface device we're expecting to see is the Surface Laptop Go 3, which is yet another device that won't get a major revamp. German Blog WinFuture managed to get its hands on photos of this Surface, too, and it looks pretty identical to the previous version. We're just expecting minor spec bumps here to Intel's 12th-generation CPUs, particularly the Intel Core i5-1235U. The same display and 8GB RAM will also be the default on this model, meaning you can expect another price bump to around $780.
4 Windows 11 features
You can most likely expect Microsoft to talk about the next big update to Windows 11, currently code-named Windows 11 23H2. The update is currently in testing with Windows Insiders, but we foresee Microsoft highlighting AI-centric features like Windows Copilot, particularly third-party plugins. We'll also likely see updates to the Snipping Tool, new AI-powered features in the Paint app and the Photos app, and other various tweaks. Microsoft 365 Copilot could get some focus, too, though mostly for enterprise users right now.
5 AI in Surface
Finally, you'll want to keep an eye out for Microsoft to mention the power that AI could bring to Surface devices. We've already seen that the Surface Pro X and Surface Pro 9 have an NPU for tasks like background blur and eye contact reminders for your webcam in Windows Studio effects, but since a similar NPU could also come to the Surface Laptop Studio 2, there's a big change new features will be announced.
What we're not expecting
That's the bulk of what you'll likelysee at Thursday's event. We're not expecting much more than what we listed here. Don't go in hoping to see the Surface Pro 10 or Surface Laptop 6, for example; these should be announced next spring.
Regardless, we'll be covering the event on the ground in New York, so stay tuned to XDA for live coverage of the event on Thursday.