While Apple may have the first-party laptop market cornered with the MacBook lineup, Microsoft’s Surface laptops have been steadily improving over the past few years, and are now an increasingly appealing option. Last year’s seventh-generation Surface Laptop is currently marked down by $350 on Amazon for the base model, bringing the price down to a tantalizing $849.
Photograph: Brenda Stolyar
Photograph: Best Buy
Microsoft
Surface Laptop (7th Edition, 2024)
While the screen is a somewhat rare 3:2 aspect ratio, it’s an excellent panel for everyday use and productivity. It can reach a decently bright 600 nits, which should be plenty for a quick work call from the park, and it has a 120-Hz refresh rate, which should smooth things out a bit, even if you don’t plan on gaming. It’s a touch panel as well, in case you like to get physical with your Windows, but I’m still not super enthused by the touchscreen support in the Microsoft OS.
Rather than opt for an Intel or AMD processor, Microsoft has gone with mobile chip maker Qualcomm and the Snapdragon line of CPUs. You shouldn’t experience any issues with performance, at least for work and general use, and Windows now has built-in emulation software for programs that aren’t already set up for ARM CPUs, although you may still run into occasional issues with custom applications or third-party software.
The processor is intended to provide strong support for AI applications and usage, but our reviewer Brenda Stolyar wasn’t particularly pleased with the actual results. Companies often try to jam AI into places it shouldn’t be, so some of the features, like AI captioning, work alright, while others, like a feature that changes your eyes to look like they’re focusing on the webcam, had odd side effects.
I spotted two different configurations on sale, with varying availability depending on your color preference. The base model, with the 10-core Snapdragon X Plus, 16 GB of RAM, and a 512-GB SSD, is marked down to $849. The upgraded model, featuring the 12-core Snapdragon X Elite, is marked down by $400, bringing the price to just $1,000. If you’re still not sold on the Surface and ARM experience, make sure to check out our other favorite laptops to see if a different system catches your eye.
