Forget RTX Spark: The Surface Laptop Ultra’s magnetic USB-C charger is a game-changer that makes Apple’s MagSafe look obsolete

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra — (Image credit: Future)

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.

The trip test

During my hands-on time with the Surface Laptop Ultra, the magnetic connection immediately proved its worth.

The pull: If you catch your foot on the cable while walking past a desk, the cord snaps away cleanly and instantly — exactly like MagSafe. There’s zero drag on that 4.5-pound aluminum chassis, meaning your pricey investment isn’t going to go flying.
The fit: The magnets align that socket superbly, and pull the cable into a satisfying, strong, secure fit that doesn’t feel wobbly no matter how much I jostled it.
The brick: Furthermore, the included 140 watt charging brick is remarkably small and light, and it features a magnetic USB-C port on its end as well, creating a completely seamless travel setup.

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!

Mag (not so) Safe from the competition anymore

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 uncompromised flexibility that the Cupertino crew simply can’t match.

The machine attached to the port

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra magnetic USB-C — (Image credit: Tom's Guide)

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.

And all this proves a point I constantly hammer home: you can have all the AI teraflops in the world, but sometimes the greatest innovation is just making sure we don’t accidentally yank our laptops off the table.

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Jason brings a decade of tech and gaming journalism experience to his role as a Managing Editor of Computing at Tom's Guide. He has previously written for Laptop Mag, Tom's Hardware, Kotaku, Stuff and BBC Science Focus. In his spare time, you'll find Jason looking for good dogs to pet or thinking about eating pizza if he isn't already.