It's been rumored since at least April that Microsoft would upgrade its Surface and Surface Laptop. Well, today, at its AI and devices event in Redmond, Washington, Microsoft officially unveiled the two devices. While the looks are familiar, both devices have all-new hardware underneath that makes them incredibly powerful devices that blow away their predecessors.
Surface Laptop
Microsoft has opted for Snapdragon X processors in the Surface Laptop. The smaller 13.8-inch model is available with the Snapdragon X Plus and the Snapdragon X Elite, while the larger 15-inch model comes exclusively with the Snapdragon X Elite. No matter which model you choose, RAM options are 16GB, 32GB or 64GB, while storage options include a 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB SSD.
According to Microsoft, when using the Snapdragon X Elite, the new Surface Laptop is up to 85 percent faster than the Surface Laptop 5. Microsoft is really aiming the Surface Laptop as a MacBook Air killer, touting up to 22 hours of battery life for the 15-inch model (66 WHr battery) and 20 hours with the 13.8-inch model (54 WHr). You also get Wi-Fi 7, which isn't available on any Apple MacBook (Air or Pro).
The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop weighs a smidge under 3 pounds, while the 15-inch model is 3.67 pounds. In the hands-on area, I got a chance to manhandle both machines, and I was impressed not only with the weight of both but how they felt in my hand. The 13.8-inch, however, was my favorite due to its form factor.
Surface Pro
The Surface Pro also gets a Snapdragon X makeover, and is available in two versions. The regular Surface Pro comes with a Snapdragon X Plus processor and a 13-inch 2880 x 1920 IPS PixelSense display. It's also limited to 16GB of LPDDR5x and can be equipped with up to a 512GB SSD. But the real star of the show is the Surface Pro with OLED. The model has a brilliant 13-inch OLED panel with a 2880 x 1920 resolution and 120Hz refresh rate. Seeing the two side-by-side, there's no contest that the Surface Pro OLED has the superior display of the newly announced tablets.
As a higher-end machine, the Surface Pro OLED has 16GB and 32GB RAM options, and adds a 1TB SSD option at the top of the range for those that need more storage. While both laptops weigh 1.97 pounds, the OLED model has a slightly larger battery (53 WHr versus 47 WHr).
The Surface Pro also has available a new Flex Keyboard, which not only works when attached to the tablet, but also when detached. The wireless connection lets you place the Surface Pro wherever you want without being constrained by the physical keyboard. The touchpad incorporates a customizable haptic touchpad, which I was able to play around with a little bit in the demo area. The touchpad is also 14 percent larger, which is a huge boon as I always found the older touchpad to be a bit on the smaller side for my tastes.
The new Surface devices are available for preorder right now via Microsoft.com with a starting price of $999.
