For over a decade, laptop users have been forced into an annoying ultimatum: either get the safety of a breakaway magnetic charging cable (like Apple’s MagSafe) or the universal convenience of USB-C.
You could never have both, but with the $2,599 Surface Laptop Ultra, Microsoft just shattered that compromise. Dubbed “Magnetic Connect,” the Ultra features the world’s first built-in magnetic USB-C port. It is a massive physical design breakthrough that brings the trip-saving safety directly to a standard port.
Also, not that I’m keeping score, but I predicted this back during my first time testing the Ultra. What can I say? I don’t miss.
During my hands-on time with the Surface Laptop Ultra, the magnetic connection immediately proved its worth.
Seeing the prototypes that led to this moment shows just how much work went into making this happen, and I can only hope this is a new standard that other laptop makers take note of!
The absolute best part is that the port on the laptop is still just a standard USB-C port.
Unlike Apple’s MagSafe, which sacrificed precious port space for a proprietary power connector, Microsoft’s port pulls double duty. If you don’t have the magnetic charging cable, you can still plug in any standard USB-C peripheral, display or third-party charger.
It’s genuinely funny to me that Microsoft packed this laptop with some of the most cutting-edge silicon on the planet, yet the physical port is the thing stealing the show. Some of the loudest cheers from the audience were reserved for this — that’s how big it is.
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