Updated
Updated · IOL · Sep 9
Core Group Launches Copilot+ Surface PCs in South Africa, Previews 128GB Surface Ultra
Updated
Updated · IOL · Sep 9

Core Group Launches Copilot+ Surface PCs in South Africa, Previews 128GB Surface Ultra

3 articles · Updated · IOL · Sep 9

Summary

  • Core Group unveiled Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro and Surface Laptop for Business in Sandton, starting South Africa’s rollout of Copilot+ PCs aimed at commercial and enterprise users.
  • Up to 50 TOPs of on-device AI processing from Intel Core Ultra and Snapdragon chips underpins the push, which Microsoft says cuts latency while addressing data-privacy concerns and cloud subscription costs.
  • A live credit-risk demo showed offline risk modelling, document translation and e-signatures running locally through NPUs, positioning the devices as tools for sensitive business workloads.
  • Surface Ultra was previewed as a higher-end addition for creators and developers, with expected NVIDIA RTX graphics, up to 128GB unified memory and petaflop-scale AI compute.
  • The new Surface for Business devices and accessories are now rolling out through authorized commercial resellers across South Africa.

Insights

With one petaflop of local AI power, will the Surface Laptop Ultra finally dethrone Apple's MacBook in the premium creator market?
Can Microsoft's powerful new AI laptops truly eliminate expensive cloud costs, or is this just a ploy to force costly hardware upgrades?