Microsoft just announced a brand new $1,000 ultra-slim and ultra-light laptop called the Surface Pro X, and it's a huge shift for the company

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Microsoft announced a new member of the Surface family, called the Surface Pro X, that's ultra-light and ultra-slim.

Microsoft's new Surface Pro X isn't black magic. For the Pro X, the company is using a processor from chipmaker ARM that's significantly more power efficient than anything from Intel. It'll be the first Microsoft-made laptop that runs Windows 10 on an ARM processor, marking a big change for the company.

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The new Surface Pro X is available to pre-order starting on Wednesday, and will be widely available on November 5th starting at $1,000.

ARM chips are the power behind portable devices like the iPad and smartphones. In fact, the chip in your smartphone or tablet is most likely based on ARM's processors, and they're the key to such lengthy battery life on the Surface Pro X.

With that in mind, it's natural to question what kind of performance you'd be giving up in exchange for such a slim design and such long battery life. It's hard to tell without actually using the devices, but Microsoft claims it has "three times more power per watt" of power than the Surface Pro 6," Microsoft hardware boss Panos Panay said during the event.

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For most people, Microsoft's new ARM-based laptop promises to combine the immense power of the devices like the iPad Pro with the the Windows 10 operating system and your typical Windows 10 apps. That means web-browsing, writing emails, and anything else you'd do on an iPad along with full Windows 10 apps like Microsoft's Office Suite.

ARM chips have only been compatible with the Windows 10 operating system and apps since late 2017. It's a big bet for Microsoft, and it's beating Apple to the punch, at least for laptops that run full desktop operating systems. If it can pull off a good ARM-based Windows 10 laptop, Microsoft will be able to boast devices with designs and battery life that the competition will struggle to match.

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