Microsoft Surface event: Everything we're expecting to see

Microsoft's got something cooking for us. Let's peek under the lid and see what it is.

On Thursday, Sept. 21, Microsoft is hosting its annual Surface showcase event in New York City. Like last year, we expect it to be full of hardware announcements, but this year's show could also be a little different. That's because Microsoft is going all in on artificial intelligence like the rest of the big tech world.

But let's not dilly-dally and dance around it. Here's what we think we're going to see from Microsoft on Thursday.

Surface products

Much of what we know about this impending event comes from Windows Central, which is reporting based on information from inside sources. With that in mind, let's talk about Surface.

Windows Central is reporting that Microsoft will most likely showcase three new Surface hardware products. Perhaps the biggest one is Surface Laptop Studio 2. The previous model, launched in 2021, was an excellent Windows machine with useful portability and enough horsepower to play high-end video games. The new model is said to have an updated Intel Core i7 processor and at least the option for RTX 4050 and 4060 graphics cards, bringing plenty of power to the table.

Other odds and ends on Surface Laptop Studio 2 include an expanded port selection, including a USB type-A port and a microSD card slot. It'll also supposedly have a brighter display, but not at a bigger size than the 14.4-inch variant already in stores.

Beyond that, expect updates to the Surface Laptop Go and Surface Go product lines. If you don't know the distinction there, one of them is actually a laptop and the other one is a tablet with some optional laptop functionality. Windows Central says the Surface Laptop Go 3 will be updated with Intel Core i5 processors and 8GB RAM at minimum, up from 4GB on the last model.

As for Surface Go 4, the only info Windows Central has is that it'll have more starting RAM (8GB, up from 4GB) and will be easier for people to repair on their own. Aside from that, we don't know much. While there's a lot of interest for a next-generation Surface Pro, Windows Central claims that we won't see a new model on Thursday.

AI

The other major function of the Surface event will be to lift the veil on some of Microsoft's AI efforts.

According to Windows Central, the big thing will be third-party plugins for Microsoft's AI assistant, Windows Copilot. There's not a lot of info about what these plugins might do specifically, but if you look to ChatGPT as an example, they can do almost anything, like generate images or even music playlists based on prompts. Microsoft allegedly has some partners like Adobe and Spotify lined up to demonstrate the capabilities of third-party plugins for Copilot.

Anything other than that, we will have to wait until the event itself. Windows Central reports that other potential products, like Windows 12 and a new Surface Pro tablet, are not likely to be at the event. There may also be some enterprise-grade products and software, but that might be an opportunity to take a bathroom break during the stream more than anything — unless you own a business.