Microsoft preparing Lunar Lake Surface and Surface Pro laptops for 1Q25, says report – new Surface Laptop Studio and an 11-inch Surface also on the horizon

Microsoft Surface Pro (2024)
(Image credit: Tom's Hardware)

The Surface and Surface Pro lineups will get Lunar Lake models in 2025, a report from Windows Central claims.

Citing his sources, Windows Central senior editor Zac Bowden claims Microsoft is set to launch a slew of new Surface devices, including Lunar Lake-powered Surface and Surface Pro laptops, a new Surface Laptop Studio model sporting a Snapdraon X Plus, and a new Surface device with an 11-inch screen.

The Lunar Lake variant of the latest Surface Laptop 7 has been anticipated since October when a model sporting the Core Ultra 7 268V was spotted on Chinese e-tailer Goofish. Intel's Lunar Lake will also make its way to the Surface Pro 11, the report alleges. These Lunar Lake models will be pretty much the same as their Snapdragon counterparts, except for sporting an anti-reflective display, a feature that the previous Surface Laptop 6 and Surface Pro 10 had. Bowden believes that the Lunar Lake Surface Laptop could even sport 5G connectivity.

These new Surface devices would be Microsoft’s first Copilot+ PCs powered by Intel CPUs and will arrive in the first quarter of 2025, the report says. If true, then that may mean Microsoft plans to reveal these Lunar Lake laptops at CES in January.

Bowden says Microsoft is also working on a Copilot+ version of the Surface Laptop Studio. Although the Surface Laptop Studio 2 only came out last year, it’s in need of an upgrade because it uses one of Intel’s 13th Gen CPUs based on Raptor Lake, and those were already out of date by then. Raptor Lake has already been succeeded thrice over, by Raptor Lake Refresh, Meteor Lake, and now Lunar Lake.

It’s unclear to Bowden what processor Microsoft will choose for the new Surface Laptop Studio, but since it’s a Copilot+ PC, that means there are not a ton of options. It may use a Lunar Lake-based Core Ultra 200 CPU, but AMD’s Ryzen AI 300 APUs powered by Strix Point are also on the table, as are Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X processors. Depending on how far out this Surface Laptop Studio is, Microsoft may even choose processors set to launch in 2025 like Panther Lake.

There’s also a new Surface device in the works, with a screen size of 11 inches; it’s apparently similar to the Surface Laptop Go but more premium. According to the report, Qualcomm has scored this one, as Microsoft is using the Snapdragon X Plus for the upcoming Surface device. The cut-down version of Qualcomm’s high-end Snapdragon X Elite chip, the X Plus ranges from 8 to 10 cores rather than 12 and is equipped with a much weaker integrated GPU, but still has the same NPU capable of 45 TOPS and is more optimal for devices with reduced thermal headroom.

The new Surface Laptop Studio and the upcoming 11-inch Surface are expected to land in 2025 as well, but Bowden says they could arrive as late as fall.

Matthew Connatser

Matthew Connatser is a freelancing writer for Tom's Hardware US. He writes articles about CPUs, GPUs, SSDs, and computers in general.

  • Notton
    Lunar lake is the perfect match for a surface type thin and light.

    Although the 11 inch model is more interesting to me.
    Finally, back to the good old size of the OG.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    I think something like Strix Halo would actually be perfect for the Surface Laptop Studio. The current SKUs with the dGPU seem to have the capability to cool between 80W-110W so it seems like it would be a great fit given it's already premium priced.
    Reply
  • Mama Changa
    thestryker said:
    I think something like Strix Halo would actually be perfect for the Surface Laptop Studio. The current SKUs with the dGPU seem to have the capability to cool between 80W-110W so it seems like it would be a great fit given it's already premium priced.
    Top tier Halo has TDP 130W, that cooling would be marginal at best. It's not desined for thin and light, gaming class and worksation class laptops. You have Strix Point in the 17-54W TDP range for thin and light. Halo would be a disaster in Surface laptop.
    Reply
  • thestryker
    Mama Changa said:
    Top tier Halo has TDP 130W, that cooling would be marginal at best. It's not desined for thin and light, gaming class and worksation class laptops. You have Strix Point in the 17-54W TDP range for thin and light. Halo would be a disaster in Surface laptop.
    Given that I literally said what the current Surface Studio Laptop can dissipate, Microsoft's history of not using the top SKUs and there being multiple Strix Halo SKUs that would fit in fine makes this response really stupid.
    Reply
  • DS426
    Yeah... this will be a sweet laptop, but I can't go for Microsoft laptops since they like to follow Apple in having an excessively closed hardware ecosystem, namely having almost no AMD presence. Sure, Surface Laptop 3 and 4 had AMD options, but where is that presence today? There was some level of justification to it prior to AMD being extremely competitive, but here we are today.

    Also, Pat G. said Lunar Lake was a niche product... so the Surface Laptop is a niche product??
    Reply