Leak reveals Microsoft Surface Laptop 8 powered by Intel Lunar Lake processors
Microsoft went all in with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chipsets earlier this year by offering them exclusively across its new consumer Surface Laptop and Surface Pro releases. These Snapdragon X Plus and Snapdragon X Elite releases coincided with redesigns for the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro range, too.
By contrast, while Microsoft's older Surface Laptop 6 for Business and Surface Pro 10 for Business retained x86 processors, they missed out on their ARM sibling's redesigns. However, an intrepid Redditor has discovered that an Intel Lunar Lake-based refresh could be on the cards for at least the Surface Laptop. Picked up by the likes of Windows Central and VideoCardz, the leak originates from Chinese marketplace Goofish where the device was briefly available to purchase.
Ultimately, we cannot rule out this being an elaborate fake of some kind. With that being said, the leak mirrors a similar one from a few years ago relating to what eventually became known as the Surface Pro 7 Plus. Added to that, the 'PROTOTYPE - NOT FOR SALE' engraving on the device's bottom suggests that the images contained below are legitimate.
At any rate, the so-called Surface Laptop 8 features the same design that debuted earlier this year on the Surface Laptop 7 (curr. $943.95 on Amazon). However, the Snapdragon X platform has been swapped out for Intel's Lunar Lake architecture, which can be seen below with 32 GB of RAM. In short, our recent Intel Lunar Lake analysis demonstrated that the Core Ultra 7 268V trades multi-core CPU performance for improved power efficiency and a much faster iGPU.
Specifically, even triple-A titles like Cyberpunk 2077 are playable at 1080p, which is well beyond the capabilities of the Snapdragon X Elite. Currently, the Lunar Lake-based Surface Laptop is expected to arrive in 2025, although it remains to be seen when at this point. While CES 2025 in January would seem like a possible candidate, we would not rule out Microsoft waiting until the spring as it has done in previous years.
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