2026 Surface Pro 12 and Laptop 13: New Chip, $50–$100 More

The second-edition Surface Pro 12-inch (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab) starts at $1,149.99 and the Surface Laptop 13-inch (affiliate link to Amazon, opens in a new tab) at $1,199.99, and what the money mostly buys is a new chip and a brighter screen. At 16GB and 256GB, Microsoft’s store charges $100 more than for the first-edition Pro and $50 more than for the first-edition Laptop. Both ship from 13 October.

On paper, a first-edition owner gains a Snapdragon X2 Plus with an 80 TOPS NPU, 500-nit screens in place of 400, and one to two more hours of rated web browsing. Screen resolution, refresh rate, weight and ports do not change, and the 8GB models are gone, so 16GB is now the minimum.

Surface Pro 12-inch, first edition against second

	First edition (2025)	Second edition (2026)
Lowest price, Microsoft Store US	$849.99 (8GB, 256GB)	$1,149.99 (16GB, 256GB)
16GB, 256GB	$1,049.99 (out of stock)	$1,149.99
16GB, 512GB	$1,149.99	$1,249.99
24GB, 512GB	Not offered	$1,449.99
Chip	Snapdragon X Plus, 8-core	Snapdragon X2 Plus, 6-core
NPU	45 TOPS	80 TOPS
Screen	12in, 2196 × 1464, 90Hz	Same
Brightness	400 nits	500 nits
Rated video playback	Up to 16 hours	Up to 15.5 hours
Rated web browsing	Up to 12 hours	Up to 13 hours
Weight, without keyboard	686 g	686 g
Ports	2 × USB-C (USB 3.2)	Same
Colours	Platinum, Ocean, Violet	Platinum, Violet, Black
Charger in the box	No	No

Prices were read on 7 October 2026. Microsoft’s store lists the Pro without a power supply and says any USB-C supply of 27W or more works. Microsoft says the keyboard and Slim Pen are sold separately, and it will sell business buyers an optional 5G model of the new Pro.

Surface Laptop 13-inch, first edition against second

	First edition (2025)	Second edition (2026)
Lowest price, Microsoft Store US	$949.99 (8GB, 256GB)	$1,199.99 (16GB, 256GB)
16GB, 256GB	$1,149.99	$1,199.99
16GB, 512GB	$1,249.99 (Violet on sale at $1,149.99)	$1,299.99
24GB, 512GB	Not offered	$1,499.99
Chip	Snapdragon X Plus, 8-core	Snapdragon X2 Plus, 6-core
NPU	45 TOPS	80 TOPS
Screen	13in, 1920 × 1280, 60Hz	Same
Brightness	400 nits	500 nits
Rated video playback	Up to 23 hours	Up to 22.5 hours
Rated web browsing	Up to 16 hours	Up to 18 hours
Weight	1.22 kg (2.7 lb)	1.23 kg (2.7 lb)
Ports	2 × USB-C, USB-A, headphone jack	Same
Charger in the box	Yes	Yes

What the new chip is claimed to do

Microsoft’s announcement gives four figures against the first editions: up to 17% faster in Office work, up to 18% more efficient battery performance, more than 60% faster graphics, and up to 95% faster AI inferencing on the NPU. Each comes from Microsoft’s own tests, in UL Procyon and 3DMark Steel Nomad Lite, on its own devices. We have run none of them.

The battery ratings are the part you can read off the spec sheet, and they do not all move one way. Rated web browsing rises by an hour on the Pro and two on the Laptop, but rated video playback falls by half an hour on both. Microsoft states the same method for both generations, at 150 nits on preproduction units, so the difference is in Microsoft’s numbers rather than ours. Which figure matters depends on whether your day is a browser or a film.

The new chip also has fewer CPU cores, six rather than eight. Core counts are not comparable across chip generations on their own, and Microsoft’s Office figure is its claim that the newer six-core part is faster.

Copilot+ and the 16GB floor

Microsoft’s Surface Pro and Surface Laptop pages still present Copilot+ PC features for these models, with a footnote that they are “available only on select configurations with 16+GB RAM”. Microsoft’s Windows 11 specifications set the Copilot+ floor at an NPU of 40+ TOPS, 16GB of memory and 256GB of storage. Every second-edition configuration clears all three.

The first editions’ cheapest $849.99 and $949.99 models have 8GB, and Microsoft’s own store footnote rules them out of Copilot+ features. That bears out the point in what an NPU does and what 40 TOPS gates: memory, not the NPU figure, is the requirement those cheaper configurations miss.

The Pro also gets Microsoft Ink Canvas, a pen app for sketching, annotating and generating images, pre-installed. Microsoft says it will also be available from the Microsoft Store for other supported Surface and Windows devices from 13 October, and that its AI features need a Microsoft 365 Personal, Family, Premium or Pro subscription.

Which one, on paper

• If you own a first edition, the gains are the chip, 100 more nits, one or two hours of rated browsing and the option of black. The screen resolution, refresh rate, weight and ports you already have are the ones you would get again.
• If you are buying a Pro now, $1,149.99 buys either a first edition with 16GB and 512GB, in Ocean or Violet, or a second edition with 16GB and 256GB. That is a choice between double the storage and the newer chip, brighter screen and the extra rated hour.
• If you want 24GB, only the second edition offers it at Microsoft’s consumer store, for $200 more than the 16GB, 512GB second edition of either model. Memory is the part you choose once, which is why it is worth spending on before storage.
• If price comes first, the 8GB first editions at $849.99 and $949.99 are the cheapest way into either design, without Copilot+ features. A successor that keeps the screen and body often leaves the older model as the better value, a pattern we set out in when a newer model is not the better buy.

The Verge, reporting on 23 September, compared the new starting prices with the first editions’ launch prices of $799.99 and $899.99 and put part of the rise down to the loss of the 8GB base model. Microsoft’s own 2025 announcement gave those launch prices as $799 and $899. Microsoft gave no reason for the new prices on the pages we read.

Above both sits the 15-inch Surface Laptop Ultra on Nvidia’s RTX Spark, announced on 7 October from $2,599.99.

Questions people ask

How much is the new Surface Pro 12-inch?

Microsoft’s US store lists the Surface Pro, 12-inch (2nd Edition) at $1,149.99 with 16GB of RAM and 256GB, $1,249.99 with 512GB, and $1,449.99 with 24GB and 512GB. It ships from 13 October. Prices read 7 October 2026; no charger is included.

How much is the new Surface Laptop 13-inch?

$1,199.99 with 16GB and 256GB, $1,299.99 with 512GB and $1,499.99 with 24GB and 512GB, on Microsoft’s US store on 7 October 2026. Microsoft’s announcement gives it as $1,199 MSRP; the store charges $1,199.99. It ships from 13 October.

What is the difference between the Surface Pro 12-inch 1st and 2nd Edition?

On Microsoft’s spec sheets: a 6-core Snapdragon X2 Plus instead of an 8-core X Plus, an 80 TOPS NPU instead of 45, a 500-nit screen instead of 400, an hour more rated web browsing, a Black option and 16GB minimum. Resolution, 90Hz refresh, weight, ports and cameras are the same.

Is the Surface Laptop 13-inch 2nd Edition worth upgrading to?

From a first edition, the paper gains are a newer chip, 100 more nits and two more hours of rated web browsing, with the same screen resolution, 60Hz refresh, ports and weight. Microsoft claims up to 17% faster Office work; that is its own benchmark. Buying new, it costs $50 more than the first edition at 16GB and 256GB.

Is the new Surface Pro 12-inch a Copilot+ PC?

Microsoft’s Surface Pro page presents Copilot+ PC features for it, with a footnote that they need 16GB of RAM or more. Every second-edition configuration has 16GB or 24GB and an 80 TOPS NPU, above Microsoft’s 40 TOPS floor. The first edition’s 8GB model does not qualify, Microsoft’s store says.

Does the Surface Pro 12-inch come with a charger?

No. Microsoft’s store says no power supply is included with either edition and that any USB-C supply of 27W or more works; Microsoft’s own 45W charger is $69.99. The Surface Laptop 13-inch includes one, according to its store page.