Microsoft announced a series of new Surface devices yesterday that will start shipping on October 5, right alongside Windows 11. The Surface Laptop Studio, the Surface Pro 8, and the Surface Go 3 will all ship with Windows 11 (the latter will actually ship with Windows 11 Home in S Mode), but commercial users will get to choose between Windows 11 Pro and Windows 10 Pro.
The company explained its OS choices for commercial customers on a support page spotted by Tero Alhonen yesterday, and it all comes down to simplifying the work of IT admins.
The ability to get the OS version they need directly from Surface frees IT admins and partners from having to compile driver packs and re-image devices before distributing them to their users via Autopilot or Azure Active Directory domain join (AADJ). This simplified IT process includes delivery of shrink-wrapped devices already configured with the firmware and drivers built and tested for the OS you choose. Plus, customers will be able to download bare metal recovery (BMR) and .msi files from the Surface Recovery Image Download page
Windows 11 will be officially released on October 5, and many other PC manufacturers in addition to Microsoft will also launch new PCs running Windows 11 out of the box. However, it’s safe to expect many organizations to adopt a wait-and-see approach in the coming months, and there’s no rush to upgrade to Windows 11 as Windows 10 will continue to be supported throughout 2025.
Even though the US Microsoft Store already has online listings for the Surface Pro 8, Surface Go 3, and Surface Laptop Studio for Business, it’s not possible yet for commercial customers to purchase these devices directly from the online Microsoft Store. All of them will also soon be available for purchase via authorized Microsoft Surface resellers, and you can learn more on this page.
