Windows 11 users and Surface enthusiasts had a busy week. Microsoft held an event to showcase the Surface Laptop Ultra, a new Search experience, and a bunch of AI features and integrations across Microsoft services.

Like the original Surface Pro, this week’s Windows and Surface event tried to be a 2-in-1. Unfortunately, just like the first-gen Surface Pro, the event failed to thrive in either of its two categories.

The first 20 minutes of the event felt like a Build session. That’s not a bad thing. Build is an important event for developers. But it’s not aimed at general audiences and is full of technical jargon.

Biggest News of the Week

Anyone who tuned in to the Windows and Surface event hoping for a closer look at the Surface Laptop Ultra would have glazed over at talks of Llama.cpp and Microsoft Execution Containers.

After watching several speakers focus on the technical aspects of AI and development, I assumed the entire event would be like that. Which made the rest of the event confusing.

After filling our eyes and ears with jargon and likely convincing many to stop watching, Microsoft switched gears and showed off a truly useful feature for Windows 11.

The improved Search experience is a consumer-facing feature that is a breath of fresh air to Windows 11. It looks good, is more functional than what it replaces, and according to Microsoft is more efficient while also performing better.

Shortly after unveiling the new Search, Microsoft shared details about the Surface Laptop Ultra. That PC is designed and priced for developers and power users, but it is intriguing to enthusiasts. On top of being the most powerful Surface ever, it has cool features like its magnetic USB-C port.

Microsoft appears confident in the Surface Laptop Ultra. The company’s website now features a banner telling people “break up with your MacBook.”

But the event wasn’t structured in a way that showed the same confidence. The event felt like someone pasted PowerPoint slides from different presentations into a single document.

Who was this event for?

I expected to be frustrated by the Windows and Surface event. I said two weeks ago that Microsoft undercut the event. And I’ve said all year that Surface has lost its identity as a brand.

While I am frustrated, it’s for an entirely different reason than I expected. Microsoft announced interesting things for Windows and Surface. I think the event lived up to its description on YouTube that promised to show "RTX Spark and new experiences designed to unlock more possibilities for developers and builders."

But I don’t think that was shown off in a way that appeals to the masses. The features and devices shown on stage may create buzz, but the event itself did not.

Shopping with Sean

Amazon Prime Big Deal Days came and went, but some of the best tech deals are still live. My top pick is a small discount on the XPS 13 that drops the laptop to $799.99.

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Microsoft's new Surface Laptop Ultra is here. Preorders are live and shipments start next week. The PC packs an RTX Spark processor and has a mini-LED display and a nice range of ports, including the special magnetic USB-C port.

Surprisingly, the Surface Laptop Ultra has the lowest starting price of all the RTX Spark laptops. But Microsoft is pushing to compete with more than just Windows laptops. The tech giant will give you up to $1,000 cash back when you trade in a MacBook Pro and buy a Surface Laptop Ultra.

The cash back you receive would be on top of the trade-in value, not in place of it. Rather than the funds being dispensed at checkout, Microsoft will pay the cash back after receiving and evaluating your device.

"A promotional offer is extra value added to your trade-in when your device and purchase qualify," says Microsoft. "For example, you may receive a promotional bonus in addition to your device's standard trade-in value. The total amount is paid after your device is received and evaluated, not applied at checkout."

If you stack trade-in value with cash back, you can effectively save thousands of dollars on a Surface Laptop Ultra. Of course, that would require you to have a MacBook Pro in excellent condition that has incredibly high specs, all while wanting a Surface instead. I'm not sure how many people will check all those boxes.

Perhaps the bigger news here is that Microsoft specifically made a cash back offer targeting MacBook Pro owners. That's a clear shot at Apple and a sign that Microsoft wants to compete with what are often considered the best laptops on the market.

As you'd expect, the value of your device trade-in depends greatly on the model you're trading in and the condition that device is in. The highest trade-in value I was able to get through Microsoft's website was $2,115 for a MacBook Pro 16-inch (2025) with 128GB of RAM and 4TB of storage.

Interest in the Surface Laptop Ultra has been strong from our readers. It will be interesting to see if that sentiment is widespread and translates to sales.

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Microsoft 365 Family plans now come with 4TB less of OneDrive storage than they did until this week. Microsoft details the change in a support document.

That document frames the change as a positive because it means storage is allocated to users who need it automatically, but the public has had a different reaction. I've received several messages from disappointed users, and other outlets are rightly highlighting consumer outrage. Some people I know have already said they plan to cancel their subscription due to the change.

Regardless of how much storage an individual family actually uses, Microsoft 365 Family now includes substantially less cloud storage than it did before while costing the same amount.

I keep track of the best Microsoft 365 deals and update my piece with discounts regularly. If you know when to hunt, you can get a year of Microsoft 365 Family for $99.99 despite the normal price being $129.99 (the price of Microsoft 365 went up in January 2025). But with the massive 4TB reduction in OneDrive storage, there is no way to retain the value of Microsoft 365 Family. Even if you got it at a discount, you'd be getting less than before.

Considering Microsoft can roll out this change immediately for new and upgraded subscriptions, I understand why some people may hesitate before subscribing to Microsoft 365. Based on the Microsoft support document, Microsoft 365 Family plans will be moved to the shared storage model upon your first renewal on or after May 2, 2027.

Here is the exact phrasing from Microsoft:

"For existing Microsoft 365 Family and Premium subscribers, this change generally takes effect after the first subscription renewal on or after May 2, 2027, unless an eligible plan change occurs earlier."

I interpret that to mean that renewals made before that cutoff should not force you to the shared storage model. If that's accurate, you should be able to stack some time onto your subscription to keep a total of 6TB for a bit longer.

I'd suggest checking with Microsoft before making any purchases. If you receive confirmation from Microsoft that stacking subscriptions delays the change, please let me know. I have also reached out to Microsoft.

Windows Central take

I actually understand Microsoft's argument for having shared storage across a family. I use much more cloud storage than my wife, so it would be convenient to have more than 1TB of storage accessible through my account. My daughter, who is a toddler, only "uses" cloud storage through the photos and videos I back up for her.

But sharing a pool of storage does not make up for reducing the total storage across the plan by 4TB. For my use, I'd be okay with sharing 5TB across the entire family. But any forced reduction in storage is difficult to justify.

Now, during a cost of living crisis, many people will have to look at alternatives to OneDrive or pay to have more cloud storage.

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I love a good wallpaper for my PC, and so do many members of the Windows Central community. When our Editor-in-Chief Daniel Rubino shares a review of a laptop, it's normal to see comments asking how to download his wallpaper.

Microsoft has a similar enthusiasm for wallpapers. Windows Spotlight provides an ongoing stream of excellent images that rotate regularly. The tech giant also creates or commissions wallpapers to go along with major product announcements. Windows 10, Windows 11, and Copilot+ PCs all have their own official wallpapers.

Eagle-eyed viewers of this week's Windows and Surface event spotted what appears to be a new wallpaper from Microsoft. Our Senior Editor was at the event and snapped a shot of the wallpaper displayed across several new RTX Spark laptops.

Unfortunately, Microsoft has not shared the new image, forcing fans to turn to AI.

In response to Bowden's photo, X user @codejake shared a recreation of Microsoft's new wallpaper created with ChatGPT.

That recreation seems to do a fair job of replicating Microsoft's image, though I'm sure there are differences that will become clearer once we get hands on the official wallpaper.

We've seen AI used to create or recreate iconic wallpapers before. Our Senior Editor Ben Wilson used Adobe Photoshop's generative AI to expand a collection of Windows wallpapers.

The legendary Windows XP wallpaper was mixed with the Windows 11 "Bliss" wallpaper by Reddit user "Left_Hovercraft451" earlier this year. I even rocked a color-shifted version of the Bliss wallpaper made to have Windows Central colors for a while.

Until Microsoft shares the new wallpaper, we may have to settle for AI recreations. The first wave of RTX Spark laptops are already available for preorder and will start shipping on October 16, 2026, so we may see the files escape into the wild sooner rather than later.

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