A few weeks ago, we tested out Microsoft’s Surface Book 2, a hybrid laptop with a great build and some pretty solid internals. This time around, we have with us the Surface Laptop, its thinner, lighter, productivity-focused sibling. As competition in ‘ultrabook’ territory heats up, does Microsoft’s home-grown device do enough to earn your attention? Let’s find out.
The walkaround
Microsoft has not been in the habit of compromising on build quality with their devices, and the Surface Laptop is no exception. It’s a sleek slab of metal, which, despite its diminutive proportions, is easy to open with one hand. Once opened up, you’re greeted by a 13.5-inch touchscreen display with a 2256X1504 resolution, that is capable of popping out some very vibrant colours. The touch sensitivity here is also excellent and you can comfortably rely on it to get around the UI when you don’t feel like using the trackpad.
It also uses a 3:2 aspect ratio, which is perfect for productivity and allows for fitting two windows on each half of the screen perfectly. This does mean watching video produced small bars on the display but we didn’t have much trouble with that. Above the display is the camera hardware, which is serviceable for the odd Skype call. It is also very good at facial recognition, making signing in with Windows Hello a walk in the park.
Microsoft Surface Laptop back view
The bottom half of the Surface Laptop is also well-engineered. Though it has a very thin chassis, the keyboard displays almost no flex and provides a solid typing experience. The trackpad is not the largest, considering this is a small device, but it does the job, and Windows precision drivers ensure that flying through the operating system is no tough task. Surrounding that trackpad is Microsoft’s most talked-about design choice on the Surface Laptop.
The entire palm rest area is covered in plush alcantara, lending it a premium look. It also feels extremely comfortable over long sessions, and while some people expressed concerns that the material may stain or get damaged over time, we found it to hold up pretty well during the entire review period. Those with sweaty palms may manage to damage the finish over time, but it is a lot more durable than it looks.
Microsoft Surface Laptop keyboard view
The other highlights of the Surface Laptop are its speakers. The small device pumps out sound which seems disproportionate to its size at first, until you realise Microsoft has used some clever engineering to put the speakers underneath the keyboard, allowing for better drivers to be used.
Overall, we were very impressed with the Surface Laptop’s design and build quality, however, it does have an Achilles Heel, and that is noticeable the moment you glance at its sides. For all its great qualities, the Surface Laptop suffers in the IO section. The device only features a single full-size USB port, a headphone jack, and in a rather bizarre choice, a mini DisplayPort. There is no USB Type-C or Thunderbolt capability to be found here, which would have been a far more versatile port to include in a device of these proportions. The Surface Connector used for charging does provide some expandability, but this feels like a glaring omission. Interestingly, Microsoft has neglected to fix this in the second generation Surface Laptop, which released internationally recently.
Side view of Microsoft Surface Laptop
On the inside
The Surface Laptop is not as powerful as the Book 2, but it’s pretty fast at day-to-day productivity tasks. We reviewed the middle variant with an Intel Core i5 7300U chip, 8 GB RAM, a 256 GB SSD and Intel HD Graphics 620. The i5 variant is also available with a 128 GB SSD, while the top of the line i7 version keeps the 256 GB storage and ups the video performance with Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640. There are no dedicated video card options available here, so this is not a device to buy with gaming in mind.
That said, general performance left nothing lacking. Even with multiple windows running side by side, one of them being the notoriously resource-hungry Google Chrome, with multiple tabs open, the Surface Laptop breezed along. Battery life was also excellent, and we regularly got over 7 hours without resorting to aggressive battery management. Frugal users should be able to stretch it even further.
Is it worth buying?
The Surface Laptop is one of the best Windows-powered alternatives to the MacBook Air, and it demands a premium price for that privilege. The official sticker price usually hovers a little over ₹ 1 lakh, but online retailers sometimes offer deep discounts that bring the price down under the 1 lakh mark. At that price, the Surface Laptop makes for a great everyday productivity machine that offers superb build and a premium Windows experience for anyone looking to get a device right away. For anyone else who can afford to wait and pay a bit more, it might make sense to wait for the second generation version — which features more powerful eighth generation Intel processors — to make it to India.
Specifications
Dimensions: 12.13” x 8.79” x .57” (308.1 mm x 223.27 mm x 14.48 mm)
Screen: 13.5” PixelSense™
Display Resolution: 2256 x 1504 (201 PPI)
Aspect ratio: 3:2
3.4 million pixels
Surface Pen4 enabled
Touch: 10 point multi-touch
Corning® Gorilla® Glass 3
Memory: 4GB, 8GB, or 16GB RAM
Processor: 7th Generation Intel® Core™ i5 or i7
Graphics: Intel® HD 620 (i5)
Intel® Iris™ Plus Graphics 640 (i7)
Battery: life Up to 14.5 hours of video playback
Software: Windows 10
Sensors: Ambient light sensor
Camera, Video and Audio: Windows Hello face sign-in camera
720p HD camera (front-facing)
Stereo microphones
Omnisonic speakers with Dolby® Audio™ Premium
3.5mm headphone jack
