Microsoft Opens Surface RTX Spark Dev Box Preorders at $5,999

Orders open ahead of November shipping

Microsoft has opened preorders for the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box, with shipping scheduled to begin in November 2026. The Verge lists the price at $5,999; Engadget rounds it to $6,000.

Microsoft says the desktop is designed for developers and engineers running local artificial intelligence (AI) workflows—AI work done on the computer itself. That intended use puts the focus on its development tools and hardware configuration.

The preorder opening follows an earlier announcement. Engadget reports that Microsoft introduced the Dev Box alongside the Surface Laptop Ultra in June 2026. Customers can now place orders, while delivery remains tied to the planned November shipping start.

What the Surface RTX Spark Dev Box includes

The announced configuration includes NVIDIA’s RTX Spark N1X chip, 128GB of unified memory and 2TB of storage. Engadget reports that storage is removable. Based on Microsoft’s product page, the outlet says no other part of the Dev Box can be customized.

For prospective buyers, that makes the announced configuration central to the purchase decision. Removable storage offers some flexibility, but the reported customization restriction limits other hardware choices.

The Dev Box will ship with Windows 11 Pro and preinstalled development software. The included tools are Visual Studio Code, Git, GitHub CLI, GitHub Copilot and Python, giving buyers a software starting point for development work.

The AI capability remains a company promise

Microsoft promises support for running AI models exceeding 120 billion parameters. The supplied reporting presents that capability as a company claim, without test results or workload conditions. It therefore does not establish how those models would perform in practical use.

The immediate decision for developers is whether the announced hardware, included software and customization limits fit their local AI work. Preorders are open, but the next concrete milestone is the scheduled start of shipping in November 2026.