Microsoft held a special event in New York City on September 21, 2023, where it announced new Surface devices, new AI features for Windows 11, and more.

New Surface devices Microsoft introduced four new Surface devices at the event: the Surface Laptop Studio 2, the Surface Laptop Go 3, the Surface Go 4 for Business, and the Surface Hub 3.

The Surface Laptop Studio 2 is the successor to the Surface Laptop Studio, which was launched in 2021. It is a powerful laptop that can transform into a tablet or a studio mode for creative work. It features a 14.4-inch PixelSense Flow display with a 120Hz refresh rate, a 11th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, up to 32GB of RAM and 2TB of SSD storage, a Nvidia GeForce RTX 3050 Ti GPU, a Thunderbolt 4 port, and a Surface Slim Pen 2 that attaches magnetically to the back of the device. The Surface Laptop Studio 2 starts at $3,519 AUD and will be available on October 3.

Source: Microsoft

The Surface Laptop Go 3 is an affordable and lightweight laptop that is ideal for everyday use. It has a 12.4-inch PixelSense touchscreen display, a choice of Intel Core i3 or i5 processors, up to 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage, a USB-C port, a USB-A port, and a headphone jack. It also comes in four color options: platinum, sandstone, ice blue, and graphite. The Surface Laptop Go 3 starts at $1,429 AUD and will be available on October 3.

Source: Microsoft

The Surface Go 4 for Business is a compact and versatile device that can be used as a tablet or a laptop with the optional type cover. It is designed for business users who need mobility and productivity. It has a 10.5-inch PixelSense touchscreen display, an Intel Pentium Gold or Core i3 processor, up to 8GB of RAM and 256GB of SSD storage, a USB-C port, a microSD card slot, and a headphone jack. It also supports LTE connectivity and Windows Hello facial recognition. The Surface Go 4 for Business starts at $1129 AUD and will be available on October 3.

Source: Microsoft

The Surface Hub 3 is an interactive whiteboard that can be used for collaboration and communication in various settings. It comes in two screen sizes: 50-inch and 85-inch, both with 4K resolution and touch support. It also has an option to rotate the screen from landscape to portrait mode for different scenarios. The Surface Hub 3 runs on Windows Core OS and supports Microsoft Teams, Office apps, Whiteboard app, Edge browser, and more. It also has a built-in camera, microphone, speakers, and wireless projection capabilities. The Surface Hub 3 will be available in early 2024.

New AI features for Windows 11 Microsoft also announced new AI features for Windows 11 that will enhance the user experience and productivity. One of the main features is Copilot, Microsoft’s new AI assistant that was announced earlier this year. Copilot will be integrated into Windows 11 as a side panel that can be accessed from any app or browser. Copilot will use the context and intelligence of the web, your work data, and what you are doing on your PC to provide better assistance with your privacy and security at the forefront.

Some of the things that Copilot can do include:

  • Organising information from multiple sources into a coherent format
  • Analysing images and providing suggestions for actions
  • Finding flight information on your phone for an upcoming trip
  • Composing texts based on context
  • Generating personalised answers to your questions
  • Summarising unread messages and drafting replies
  • Creating events based on your preferences
  • Shopping online with guidance from Copilot
  • Copilot will also be available in Microsoft Edge as Bing Chat, a conversational interface that will allow you to interact with Bing using natural language. You can ask Bing Chat anything you want to know or do on the web, such as finding information, booking tickets, ordering food, playing games, and more.

Another AI feature that Microsoft showcased was Image Creator with DALL-E-3, an app that can generate realistic images from text prompts using generative AI. For example, you can type “a cat wearing sunglasses” and Image Creator will produce an image of a cat wearing sunglasses. You can also tweak the image by changing the text or using sliders to adjust the attributes.

Other AI features that Microsoft announced include:

  • AI camera lenses in SwiftKey keyboard that can apply filters and effects to your photos
  • AI stickers in SwiftKey keyboard that can create personalised stickers from your selfies
  • Bing Chat Enterprise that can help business users with tasks such as booking meetings, finding documents, and getting insights
  • Tab auto-grouping in Edge browser that can automatically organise your tabs into groups based on topics
  • Text redaction in Snipping Tool that can hide sensitive information from screenshots
  • Image search in Photos app that can find similar or related images on the web
  • Windows Backup that can automatically backup your files to OneDrive or an external drive
  • Windows 365 that can stream your Windows PC to any device
  • Passkey sign-in that can use your face or fingerprint to sign in to websites without passwords

The new AI features for Windows 11 will begin to roll out as part of the next Windows 11 update, which will be released on September 26.