MICROSOFT OPENS PREORDERS FOR $6,000 SURFACE RTX SPARK DEV BOX

Microsoft has opened preorders for the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, a desktop computer aimed at developers working on local artificial intelligence projects, with shipping due to begin in November. The device is priced at around $6,000, according to the company, with one report putting the exact figure at $5,999 and another at $6,000. It was announced alongside the Surface Laptop Ultra and forms part of Microsoft's Project Zenith range of devices. The Dev Box runs on Nvidia's Arm-based RTX Spark platform, using the RTX Spark N1X chip, and includes 128GB of unified memory and 2TB of removable storage. Microsoft says the machine can run AI models "exceeding 120B parameters", making it suited to tasks such as testing AI models, prototyping AI agents, and running AI coding tools directly on the device.

The Dev Box has an anodised aluminium chassis that also functions as a heatsink, with a design that one report compared to the top vents on an Xbox Series X. Its port selection includes two USB-C connections, one USB-A, Ethernet, DisplayPort 2.1 and HDMI 2.1b. The machine ships with a developer-focused version of Windows 11 Pro, pre-loaded with tools including Visual Studio Code, Git, GitHub CLI, GitHub Copilot and Python, with one report also listing WSL and Node among the preinstalled software. Microsoft and Nvidia have said they see AI working seamlessly across cloud and local hardware as central to the future of computing.

The price positions the Dev Box above Nvidia's own DGX Spark mini PC, which launched at $3,999 and has since risen in price, with one report citing a current cost of nearly $7,000 for a 128GB model. One report attributed rising PC prices generally to shortages of memory chips and other components. Reports suggested the cost is likely to limit the Dev Box's appeal largely to enterprise customers rather than individual buyers. Shipping is confirmed to begin in November.