The Surface Laptop: A Symphony of Design and Technology

I've had the pleasure of owning several laptops over the years, and one that stands out in my mind is the Microsoft Surface Laptop. It was a beautifully designed device that showed off Microsoft's capabilities in terms of hardware and software integration. The idea of having a computer manufacturer like Apple, which excels at creating operating systems and hardware, working together to produce a seamless experience for users is something that Microsoft has mastered with the Surface Laptop. However, it wasn't just the design or technology itself that made this laptop special; it was also the frequent sales and discounts offered by Microsoft, making it possible to get a high-quality 13-inch Surface Laptop with a Core i5 processor for under $800.

The Surface Laptop 3: A New Generation of Performance

Microsoft added a 15-inch version of the Surface Laptop, which posed a significant challenge due to increased competition in this space. Many creative professionals and semi-pros rely on laptops that can handle tasks such as photo editing with Adobe Photoshop, video editing with Premiere Pro, or playing games at high levels. The 15-inch model was more expensive, making it harder to find affordable options for users who wanted a good balance of performance and price. However, Microsoft has addressed this by introducing AMD-based models, starting from the base $999.99 price point, which is significantly lower than the Intel Core i5 equivalent.

The Surface Laptop 4: A Leap Forward in Performance and Battery Life

Microsoft's latest iteration of the Surface Laptop line is the Surface Laptop 4, and it's a significant improvement over its predecessor, the Surface Laptop 3. One of the standout features of this new version is better battery life. According to Microsoft, the AMD-based models can last up to 19 hours on a single charge, which is a substantial increase from the previous model. Interestingly, the company claims that the AMD models will have the best battery life, although it's essential to note that every manufacturer makes exaggerated claims about their products' capabilities.

The Surface Laptop 4 Design: A Familiar yet Improved Experience

One of the aspects that hasn't changed is the screen design – it remains a 3x2 aspect ratio display, which has been one of the highlights of this laptop line. This configuration provides more vertical screen space, making it ideal for reading documents or working on spreadsheets. The ports have also remained the same, with only USB-A and USB-C, no thunderbolt options are available. However, Microsoft has introduced its own magnetic plug system, which is similar to Apple's MagSafe technology but not as reliable.

The Surface Laptop 4: Putting it Through Testing

As I write this article, I'm in the process of setting up my new 15-inch Surface Laptop 4, 1699 model. This device boasts an AMD Ryzen 7 processor from the older generation Zen 2, paired with 16 GB of RAM and a 512 SSD storage. For comparison, I can opt for an Intel Core i7 model, which is current-gen but will cost me $100 more. The laptop's performance, battery life, and gaming capabilities will be put to the test in my upcoming benchmarks. I'll report back on the results, providing insight into how this Surface Laptop 4 holds up against its predecessors and competing devices in the market.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enmicrosoft surface laptop 4 is here i've got one of the very first models and i'm going to tell you what surprised me about it so microsoft surface pro that's the tablet with the detachable keyboard always gets all the attention it's kind of the flagship but i've always thought the surface laptop is really the secret hero of that line now when the surface laptop was introduced a few years ago it was a very competent nicely made 13-inch laptop it was a little weird in that it had an alcantara fabric wrist rest that's something you don't see in laptops very often but it was nicely designed and you had microsoft doing the hard work and the software that's kind of like how apple makes the operating system and the hardware for the max you get some good synergy that way but more importantly i like the surface laptop because it was frequently on sale and if you got a good discount from the microsoft store when they had one of these you know occasional price cuts you get a very nice 13 inch surface laptop with a core i5 for under 800 for the surface laptop 3 microsoft added a 15 inch version and that was a little bit of a tougher case to make in the 15-inch space there's a lot more competition for these sort of creative pro or semi-pro laptops where you may be doing photoshop or editing in premiere or doing some 3d designing and you know maybe playing games and also it was much more expensive you really didn't get that sense that you could get a good bargain on that 15-inch surface laptop although again it was a very competently made uh perfectly nice laptop and they even had some amd models well now for the surface laptop 4 microsoft is really stepping up on the amd side so you can get both intel and amd versions now the least expensive right now at 9.99 is the 13 inch model and that has an amd processor if you trade up for a few hundred dollars you can get into an intel core i5 the 15 inch model starts more expensive 12.99 again amd but then you leapfrog a bit between intel and amd and what i have right here is the 16 1699 version it's got an amd ryzen 7 but that's the older generation zen 2 not zen 3 and it's got 16 gigs of ram and a 512 ssd that's what i would call a standard walk in the door configuration for a really professional level 15-inch laptop you can get the same configuration but with an intel core i7 a current gen and 11th gen intel core i7 for a hundred dollars more and maybe that's something to look at now one of the big things microsoft is claiming about this new version of the surface laptop line is that it's going to get better battery life and interestingly they're saying it's the amd models that are going to get the best battery life if you get a 13 inch amd version microsoft says you can get up to 19 hours of battery life and that's a lot better than the surface laptop 3 where battery life is really kind of one of the weak spots in the 15 inch amd version they say 17 and a half hours now of course a laptop manufacturer is always going to give you the best possible case battery life we of course are going to do our own testing and find out how long this guy will last generationally going from surface laptop 3 to surface laptop 4 there are not really a lot of huge changes the screen remains the same and for me that's always been one of the highlights this was one of the first laptop lines to really embrace a three by two aspect ratio display now a lot of laptops are still 16 by nine that's wider that's kind of like an hdtv great for watching movies maybe not great for office work and now that we're all working from home you want kind of a more you know work friendly screen so three by two gives you a lot more height so if you're reading let's say a document on screen or working on a spreadsheet that goes up like this you really get a lot more useful screen real estate from a 3x2 display the ports are the same you get a regular usba and a usbc no thunderbolt also no lte options on this even though that is an option on a lot of the other surface products just not the surface laptop and of course here's one fun bit if you missed the magsafe connection on apple laptops where the power plug would connect magnetically if you tripped over they would just pull out microsoft is one company that keeps that concept alive they have got their own magnetic plug and it actually plugs in right down here there you go it snaps in and if you walk by and trip over the cable it just pops right out now gonna say it's hard to put in sometimes it pops out by itself sometimes so compared to magsafe it is not nearly as good but i appreciate it because i'm always tripping over laptop cables now i have literally just taken this 15 inch surface laptop for out of the box so i'm looking forward to setting it up doing a bunch of benchmark testing on it battery testing doing some gaming maybe doing some photo and video editing so stay tuned and we will report back to you with what the performance is like in this 1699 version of the surface laptop 4.microsoft surface laptop 4 is here i've got one of the very first models and i'm going to tell you what surprised me about it so microsoft surface pro that's the tablet with the detachable keyboard always gets all the attention it's kind of the flagship but i've always thought the surface laptop is really the secret hero of that line now when the surface laptop was introduced a few years ago it was a very competent nicely made 13-inch laptop it was a little weird in that it had an alcantara fabric wrist rest that's something you don't see in laptops very often but it was nicely designed and you had microsoft doing the hard work and the software that's kind of like how apple makes the operating system and the hardware for the max you get some good synergy that way but more importantly i like the surface laptop because it was frequently on sale and if you got a good discount from the microsoft store when they had one of these you know occasional price cuts you get a very nice 13 inch surface laptop with a core i5 for under 800 for the surface laptop 3 microsoft added a 15 inch version and that was a little bit of a tougher case to make in the 15-inch space there's a lot more competition for these sort of creative pro or semi-pro laptops where you may be doing photoshop or editing in premiere or doing some 3d designing and you know maybe playing games and also it was much more expensive you really didn't get that sense that you could get a good bargain on that 15-inch surface laptop although again it was a very competently made uh perfectly nice laptop and they even had some amd models well now for the surface laptop 4 microsoft is really stepping up on the amd side so you can get both intel and amd versions now the least expensive right now at 9.99 is the 13 inch model and that has an amd processor if you trade up for a few hundred dollars you can get into an intel core i5 the 15 inch model starts more expensive 12.99 again amd but then you leapfrog a bit between intel and amd and what i have right here is the 16 1699 version it's got an amd ryzen 7 but that's the older generation zen 2 not zen 3 and it's got 16 gigs of ram and a 512 ssd that's what i would call a standard walk in the door configuration for a really professional level 15-inch laptop you can get the same configuration but with an intel core i7 a current gen and 11th gen intel core i7 for a hundred dollars more and maybe that's something to look at now one of the big things microsoft is claiming about this new version of the surface laptop line is that it's going to get better battery life and interestingly they're saying it's the amd models that are going to get the best battery life if you get a 13 inch amd version microsoft says you can get up to 19 hours of battery life and that's a lot better than the surface laptop 3 where battery life is really kind of one of the weak spots in the 15 inch amd version they say 17 and a half hours now of course a laptop manufacturer is always going to give you the best possible case battery life we of course are going to do our own testing and find out how long this guy will last generationally going from surface laptop 3 to surface laptop 4 there are not really a lot of huge changes the screen remains the same and for me that's always been one of the highlights this was one of the first laptop lines to really embrace a three by two aspect ratio display now a lot of laptops are still 16 by nine that's wider that's kind of like an hdtv great for watching movies maybe not great for office work and now that we're all working from home you want kind of a more you know work friendly screen so three by two gives you a lot more height so if you're reading let's say a document on screen or working on a spreadsheet that goes up like this you really get a lot more useful screen real estate from a 3x2 display the ports are the same you get a regular usba and a usbc no thunderbolt also no lte options on this even though that is an option on a lot of the other surface products just not the surface laptop and of course here's one fun bit if you missed the magsafe connection on apple laptops where the power plug would connect magnetically if you tripped over they would just pull out microsoft is one company that keeps that concept alive they have got their own magnetic plug and it actually plugs in right down here there you go it snaps in and if you walk by and trip over the cable it just pops right out now gonna say it's hard to put in sometimes it pops out by itself sometimes so compared to magsafe it is not nearly as good but i appreciate it because i'm always tripping over laptop cables now i have literally just taken this 15 inch surface laptop for out of the box so i'm looking forward to setting it up doing a bunch of benchmark testing on it battery testing doing some gaming maybe doing some photo and video editing so stay tuned and we will report back to you with what the performance is like in this 1699 version of the surface laptop 4.\n"