From PC World: For years, consumers have wondered if Microsoft would ship a gaming laptop. We have an answer, at least from the Surface side of the house: No.
Brett Ostrum, the corporate vice president of Surface Devices at Microsoft, told PCWorld that Microsoft doesn’t feel obligated to ship a gaming laptop with the Surface brand attached. It was a timely question, as Microsoft is navigating the role of Surface devices in this new era of budget laptops — dictated by the Apple MacBook Neo and the Dell XPS 13 — versus the stratospheric prices Microsoft charged for the recent Surface Laptop and Pro for Business. It’s the “K-shaped” economy arriving for the PC.
Gaming laptops, of course, are on the upwardly-climbing slope of that “K,” as more companies design products that appeal to wealthier buyers with more disposable income. So why wouldn’t Microsoft jump at the chance to sell a product with a higher profit margin?
The answer, according to Ostrum, is that Microsoft doesn’t need to lead the laptop market in the same way as other laptop makers try to do. Microsoft has always tried to encourage the Windows ecosystem, and the Surface devices have been examples of what that ecosystem can do. It’s certainly been a point of criticism; Microsoft’s Surface devices have been left unchanged for generations, though the additions of the smaller Pro and Laptop and the addition of the Surface Laptop Ultra have introduced additional variation.
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