Surface Laptop Ultra: Who Is This Actually For?

About this video

Kevin reviews Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop Ultra, a premium laptop for demanding AI and creative work that Microsoft provided for review and that he gets to keep. It has a powerful NVIDIA GPU and 64 gigabytes of memory shared between processor and graphics, intended to run larger AI models locally so work can be done without internet, without uploading files to a data center, and with free tools instead of monthly subscriptions. He runs three tests. First, offline in LM Studio with Google’s Gemma 4 E4B model and Wi-Fi off, he attaches a PDF holiday cookie box launch plan for the Kevin Cookie Company and dictates a prompt with Windows+H asking for a three-bullet summary and a table of action items, owners, and deadlines using only the document. It correctly shows Maya’s recipe deadline as October 22nd and does not invent a deadline for Jordan’s delivery plan; a follow-up calculates about $4,800 revenue from selling all 200 boxes at $24 per box in about 15 seconds, while correctly noting net profit cannot be calculated because labor and operating costs are not specified. Second, in ComfyUI with the Z-Image-Turbo model he generates a Kevin Cookie Company storefront image, with the sign spelled correctly. Third, using the LTX 2.3 image-to-video template in ComfyUI, he turns that image into a five-second, 1920 by 1080, 25-frames-per-second video (about 125 frames). Plugged in on best performance it took 2 minutes 31 seconds; on battery the same job took 2 minutes 34 seconds — just three seconds longer — and used about 3% of the battery, going from 99% to about 96%. His verdict: you do not need this much power just to summarize a document, but it helps for image and video generation, demanding creative apps like DaVinci Resolve, and development needing NVIDIA CUDA support. Caveats: it runs Windows on Arm, so some programs use a compatibility layer and certain plugins or accessories may not work; results came from his 64-gigabyte model and settings; and it starts at $2,600, which he calls overkill if you mostly use email, Office, and online AI.

Key takeaways

• The Surface Laptop Ultra runs AI locally — document chat, image generation, and video generation — with an NVIDIA GPU and 64 GB of shared memory on Kevin’s review model.
• In his offline test, Gemma 4 E4B in LM Studio summarized a PDF accurately, refusing to invent a missing deadline or an uncalculable net profit.
• Battery performance nearly matched plugged-in in his test: the same 5-second video took 2:34 on battery versus 2:31 plugged in, using about 3% battery.
• It starts at $2,600, so Kevin says it is overkill for email, Office, and online AI, but may make sense for demanding local AI, creative work, and CUDA development.
• Check software before buying: Windows on Arm means some programs rely on a compatibility layer and certain plugins or accessories may not work.

Episode details: published October 16, 2026 · 8:07 long. Summary written by Self Growth Videos from the episode itself. Business results and any income figures mentioned are Kevin Stratvert’s own claims, shared for education — they are not typical or guaranteed.

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