The Verdict: Microsoft Surface Laptop 4
The surface laptop 4 is the ideal demonstration of what a slim, portable and no-fuss Windows laptop can be. Its a sleek piece of hardware built to work hand in glove with the operating system, and has none of the irritating pre-installed software often found lurking on third-party Windows laptops. It is an as near-to-perfect Windows experience as you can find.
There are more powerful laptops in our list of the best laptops in 2021, which wed recommend if you know youll need something with more performance, but for everything short of gaming and heavy image and video-processing tasks, theres no better recommendation than the surface laptop 4.
Microsoft Surface Pro Vs Microsoft Surface Laptop: Storage
While the advent of cloud applications and storage make it more convenient than ever to store important files online, there are occasions where users will need to install a local copy of a program or download a file to their device so they can work on it offline.
Most of the long-term storage drive options for the Surface Pro X, Surface Pro 7, and Surface Laptop 3 are very similar. All three use solid-state drives . However, the capacities of these drives vary. While the Surface Pro 7 and Laptop 3 each have four SSD options , the Pro X only has three .
The other key memory spec to keep in mind is the computers short-term storage :
- The Surface Pro X can have either 8GB or 16GB of RAM
- The Surface Pro 7 can have 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB of RAM and
- The Surface Laptop 3 can have 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of RAM.
For both short- and long-term memory, the Surface Laptop 3 has the best specsthough both Pro models are pretty good too.
Best Use Cases For Surface Pro
Heres where it gets interesting: the Surface Pro line can be used as a general-purpose laptop like the Surface Laptop line, but it really shines as a portable work PC for remote workers or those who travel frequently. Overall, the Surface Pro series is best for someone who wants to work and unwind on the go. With features such as support for LTE connectivity, speakers with Dolby Audio, dual far-field microphones, and cameras with up to 4K video, youll be able to hop on a video call and collaborate with your team anywhere.
But portability is the Surface Pro series main selling point, and so if you need an ultra-lightweight 2-in-1 PC option, get a Surface Pro 7 or Pro X.
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Microsoft Surface Go 2
Good for: Frequent travelers and consumers with basic needs.
Youd hope a laptop named the Go would be a good travel companion, and thats exactly what you get here. Its a 10-inch detachable that has somewhat modest specs, but it should be sufficient if your computing mostly revolves around simple tasks, such as browsing the web or editing Office documents.
Theres an Intel Pentium processor , 4 gigabytes of memory, and 64GB of solid state storage. If youre familiar with Chromebooks, thats a good way to think of the Surface Go 2: modestly powerful but sufficient for everyday use. And because its a detachable, you can physically detach the screen to make it easier to unwind with a bit of Netflix.
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A Uniquely Tall And Vivid Display
The Surface Laptop 4 packs lots of detail and brightness into a vivid 13.5-inch display. With a resolution of 2256 x 1504, the Laptop 4 has a unique 3:2 ratio that sets Microsofts laptops apart and gives them some unique advantages over the competition.
This type of display is notably taller than the wide-screen panel youll find on most 13-inch laptops, and is handy for squeezing more of your documents and spreadsheets on the screen at once. The Laptop 4s big display was especially useful for multitasking, as we frequently split the screen between two documents at once while being able to see both clearly.
It might not seem like a big difference at first glance, but putting the Surface Laptop 4 side by side against the MacBook Pro reveals about an extra inch of vertical real estate on Microsofts PC. And unlike Apples notebooks, the Laptop 4 has a responsive touch display that made it easy for me to pinch to zoom into webpages, tap to jump between browser tabs and doodle poorly in Paint.
Complementing the Laptop 4s big, colorful display is a solid pair of built-in speakers, which pack Dolby Atmos support for positionally accurate sound. This made it easy to get immersed in the massive superhero battles of Avengers: Endgame, as we could hear the satisfying oomph of punches, weapon blasts and explosions coming from different directions. And when it was time to actually do some work, conference calls and Slack notifications came through clearly.
Surface Laptop 4 Price And Availability
Screen: 13.5-inch PixelSense touchStorage: 512GB SSD Ports: 1 x USB-C, 1 x USB-A, combi audio jack, Surface ConnectConnectivity: Wi-Fi 6 802.11ax, Bluetooth 5.0Camera: 720p IR WebcamWeight: 2.79 pounds Size: 12.1 x 8.8 x 0.57 inches
The Surface Laptop 4 starts at $999 . That price will get you the starting 13.5-inch configuration with an AMD Ryzen 5 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
If you want to go up to a 15-inch model, you’re looking at a Surface Laptop 4 price of $1,299 . That starting configuration gets you an AMD Ryzen 7 processor, 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD.
That means the biggest difference between the 15- and 13-inch Surface Laptop 4, at the entry level is the CPU. The AMD Ryzen 5 4680U is a 6-core, 12-thread part, where the Ryzen 7 4980U is 8-core, 16-thread. So, the 15-inch is going to be a bit better at heavily multi-threaded workloads like video editing. Everything else is basically the same.
The 15-inch laptop does technically have a higher resolution, but it’s the same pixel density. It’s 201 PPI on either laptop, so there’s not going to be a noticeable difference either way you go. Still, a bigger laptop screen is a bigger laptop screen.
You can also upgrade the rest of the laptop’s hardware if you need a bit more power. And, oddly, the higher configurations feature Intel hardware instead of AMD. The most powerful Surface Laptop you can get is the 15-inch model with an 11th-gen Intel Core i7 processor, 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD for $2,399 .
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How Much Will The Surface Laptop 5 Cost
Depending on how many of the improvements mentioned above make it to the final product, the price of the Surface Laptop 5 could vary somewhat. The current Surface Laptop 4 already starts at $999, so one could argue Microsoft cant afford to push the entry barrier much higher. But with a high refresh rate display and Thunderbolt support, its certainly possible wed see that price increase at least to some extent with the Surface Laptop 5. Of course, we wont know for sure until Microsoft announces it, and thats not happening so soon.
And thats about all we can say about the Surface Laptop 5 right now. Even though its the next Surface device due for a refresh, its still a few months away, and its early to know anything about it at this point. There havent been any rumors or reports regarding the device, either. If you need a new laptop in the meantime and cant afford to wait, check out our list of the best 15-inch laptops you can buy today. There are plenty of great options from other brands, as well as Surface.
What Is The Microsoft Surface Laptop 3
The Surface Laptop 3 is the third generation of Microsoft’s midrange Apple MacBook challenger, following the original Surface Laptop in 2017 and the Surface Laptop 2 in 2018. The Surface Laptop 3 comes in two flavors: A 13.5-inch model with a price tag that starts at $999 and a 15-inch model starting at $1,199. Both models are currently available at Microsoft retail stores and via Microsoft’s website. The new laptops are also available at Amazon and other third-party vendors.
Additional resources
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Microsoft Surface Pro Vs Microsoft Surface Laptop: Collaboration Features
Whether you choose the Surface Pro or Laptop, youre going to have access to a lot of handy collaboration features. Every device in the Surface line is designed with Microsoft Teams and Office in mindso you can expect them all to work well with these important team collaboration tools.
Additionally, all three of the devices being compared here have cameras and microphones for capturing live video and conducting video conferences. Here, the Surface Pro devices have a slight edge in camera quality over the Surface Laptop 3. Where the Microsoft laptop has a forward-facing camera that captures 720p HD video, the Surface Pro X and Pro 7 both have a front-facing camera that captures 1080p HD video. The Surface Pro 7 also has a rear-facing 8.0 MP camera, while the Pro X has a 10.0 MP rear-facing camerathe laptop only has the single, front-facing camera.
Combined with the portability of the Surface Pro, these rear-facing cameras make Surface Pro devices more ideal for employees who need to capture high-resolution images while on the job.
For example, site surveyors and safety inspectors who need to document photographic evidence for their reports would likely prefer the Surface Pro to the Surface Laptop for this reason.
Surface Laptop Studio Vs Surface Laptop 4 Pricing
Current Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 pricing sees 13.5-inch devices start at $800 via Microsoft, while upgrading to 15 inches means a $1,050 starting price. Top-spec models range from $1,500 to $1,550, with incremental pricing depending on your chosen configuration. The Surface Laptop Studio starts at $1,400, while investing in higher-end models could cost as much as $2,900. The full breakdown of Surface Laptop 4 and Surface Laptop Studio prices follow, via current Microsoft Store pricing in 2022:
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What I Like About Surface Laptop
The Surface Laptop is really nice. It’s the equivalent of getting into a $90K car for the first time and realizing why your Honda is a third of the cost. And once you try that luxury, it’s hard to go back to anything else as you start to notice design flaws everywhere.
Compared to the Surface Pro these are the things that are better with the Surface Laptop:
As I wrote in my review, Surface Laptop is about having the best-balanced Windows 10 experience, and I think it delivers. It’s not the fastest laptop, it lacks ports, and it’s not a value compared to what HP and Dell are making, but you are getting top notch quality, and precision engineering like PC users have never seen.
Surface Laptop : Release Date Price And Everything We Expect
Microsofts Surface family has long been one of the most well-known brands in the PC space. Among them, the Surface Laptop line is probably the most standard . While other Surface devices have more unique or uncommon form factors, the Surface Laptop series is just that a series of laptops. Thats not to say theyre bad, though. The Surface Laptop 4 is a fantastic premium laptop, and one of the best Surface devices available today. But with other Surface devices recently getting a refresh, what can we expect from the Surface Laptop 5?
Its a valid question because the Surface Laptop 5 is likely the next Surface launch in line. The Surface Pro and Go families were refreshed in October, and we got a brand-new line, the Surface Laptop Studio, at the same time. Only the regular Surface Laptop hasnt been upgraded in over half a year. Suffice it to say, theres a lot of potential for it to evolve because of that.
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What I Like About Surface Pro
In my Surface Pro review, I noted that the Surface Pro is close to perfect. Microsoft achieved what it always wanted with the Surface Pro in this fifth generation. There are quite a few standout features that I adore about Surface Pro compared to Surface Laptop, including:
I could also add the corny but somewhat accurate “cool factor” of the Surface Pro. Microsoft’s 2-in-1 design is now iconic.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio Review: Price And Availability
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio starts at $1599/£1449/AU$2399 with an i5 processor and 256GB SSD, up to $3099/£2879/AU$4649 for the i7 processor and 2TB SSD version. The model that I tested came with an i7 Processor, 512GB SSD drive and a NVidia 3050 Ti GPU, and was priced at $1999.99/£1899/AU$3149.
The three main positions for the Surface Laptop Studio
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Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio Review: A True 2
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is a fancy foldable laptop and looks great, but its solid build comes at a premium price
The Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio is a great 2-in-1 laptop that is truly convertible, but it is not for the faint of wallet.
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Fold-over design works very well
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Rather expensive for the level of performance
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Microsofts own laptops have often set the example for how to design and build the best laptop, and the Surface Laptop Studio is no exception. It has an innovative design that really works as a 2-in-1 device. These devices that combine the functions of a laptop and a tablet are usually compromises, offering some of the benefits of both, but with downsides like awkward folding, increased weight and general clunkiness. The Surface Laptop Studio doesnt have most of these issues. It is easy to switch from laptop to tablet and is very usable in both configurations. But it still has one compromise: the price.
First Things First What Is A Surface Laptop
Its a laptop, duh. No really, it is.
The long version answer is this: It is Microsofts take on a premium and ultra-stylish ultraportable. It is relatively portable, weighing around 1.25kg and measuring about 14.47mm thick. It has a keyboard covered with luxurious Alcantara – the same material used in Microsofts Signature Type Cover keyboard for the Surface Pro – which makes it standout from the rest of the ultraportable notebooks in the market. It also comes in four colors – platinum, cobalt blue, graphite gold, and burgundy – but only platinum is available in Singapore. Hopefully, Microsoft will make the other colors available at a later date.
Check out our hands-on of the Surface Laptop here.
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Can You Wash Alcantara
A soft bristle interior brush is all thats need for alcantara cleaning.Using light pressure work your interior brush over the misted area in back and forth motions. Once you have worked the product onto the surface grab a fresh microfibre cloth and wipe away the dirt that was trapped within your alcantaras fibres.
Microsoft Surface Laptop Studio Review: Verdict
The Surface Laptop Studio is a quite awesome laptop that looks great and performs well. The folding screen works well to make it usable in both laptop and tablet mode, without adding much in the way of weight or bulk: you really dont see the hinge until you move the screen.
The problem is the price. The laptop itself is expensive considering the spec. You can pick up a Dell XPS 13 with a similar spec for less. And thats before you start adding the cost for the accessories: the Surface Dock and Surface Slim Pen 2, both of which are really required to get the most out of this very capable laptop.
So, if you want a device that can work as both a laptop and tablet without too much bulk, the Surface Laptop Studio is a great pick. However, most users would be better off deciding if they want a laptop or a tablet and saving money by picking one or the other.
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Surface Laptop Vs Surface Book Price And Release Date
You can pre-order the new Surface Laptop today for $999 for a Core i5 model, with the device starting to ship on June 15 in the US.
Itll also be release on June 15 in the UK, but itll cost £979 for the same Core i5 configuration with 4GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Pre-orders are now live.
Meanwhile, the Surface Book is available now starting at £1449 for the 128GB storage, Core i5, 8GB RAM model. Prices clear £3000 for the top-end Performance Base version.
Microsoft Surface Lineup: Quick Summary
The Surface Pro 8 is a Windows 11 Pro 2-in-1 PC with a detachable keyboard, but it’s definitely not for people who want a conventional laptop. It retains the same design as the last few generations but the internals have been updated including Intel’s 11th generation Core processors.
The Surface Pro X is a look at a more premium 2-in-1. It’s designed for always-on connectivity and includes cellular connectivity thanks to its platform developed by Microsoft alongside Qualcomm.
The Surface Go 3 is a 10.5-inch touchscreen tablet that, at first glance, looks like a smaller Surface Pro, but it’s a little more portable and has less powerful processors – such as the Intel Core m3 and Pentium. Microsoft is targeting Apple iPad users and Chromebook users with this device, as it’s the smallest Surface available and the cheapest.
The Surface Laptop 4 is a traditional clamshell laptop, still with a touchscreen. It’s available in 13.5 and 15-inch versions and is an upgraded version of the Laptop 3, with new internals including Intel’s 11th generation Core processors.
The Surface Laptop Go is a more budget-oriented version of the Surface Laptop. It has a smaller 12.4-inch display and less powerful specs but still retains the premium design of its pricier sibling.
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