Verdict
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is an excellent Windows ultrabook , offering fantastic barrage fire life and strapping performance from its SoC. Its display is also with child with still motion , while its keyboard and trackpad are tactual and responsive . The port wine survival of the fittest may not be as substantial as the rivalry , though .
Pros
Cons
Key Features
Introduction
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is perhaps the most exciting loop of the brand ’s lineup of Surface twist since its origin back in 2012 .
The reason for this is quite simple – it ’s the first Surface equipment in eleven years that has n’t used an Intel chip , be it in a laptop computer or tablet , instead opting to go for aQualcomm Snapdragon X EliteSoC. This isArm - based , continuing the movement away from classic x86 - base architecture for laptops come after the mellow water line of Apple ’s move to their M - serial Apple Silicon Saratoga chip a few years ago .
With this in mind , the Surface Laptop 7 is at the head of a likely Windows laptop computer revolution , as AI becomes more authoritative , and the rule elite of Intel and AMD scrap change to fit . The Snapdragon X Elite inside the Surface Laptop 7 promises adequate to operation and efficiency , which in a laptop computer priced at £ 2149/$2099.99 is perhaps a give , while also coming with a 1 TB SSD , 32 GB of RAM and a 15 - inch 2496 x 1664 120Hz display in the configuration I have .
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With that Leontyne Price tag , it ’s up against Apple’sMacBook Air ( M3 ) and other innovative Windows ultrabooks admit the young Asus Zenbook S 16 . I ’ve been testing the Surface Laptop 7 for the last couple of week to see if it is one of thebest Windows laptopswe’ve tested .
Design and Keyboard
The Surface Laptop 7 is usable in a range of four coloration across both its 13.8 - inch and 15 - inch poser . The smaller option comes in all four : Black , Platinum , Dune and Sapphire . However , for this larger screen model , it ’s only usable in Black or Platinum , which is a bit of a shame .
Nonetheless , this laptop computer feels excellent with a smooth aluminium metal material body . There is no flex present tense , and the Surface Laptop 7 offers a sturdy finish , while also looking modern with a svelte inning and thin bezels around the show . It is also particularly portable at 1.66 kg , which sit between other ultrabooks such as the newspaper - thin MacBook Air ( M3 ) with its 1.24 kilo weight and theDell XPS 14 ( 2024)‘s 1.7 kg .
With this in mind , the Surface Laptop 7 is lighter than other 15 - inch laptops , and can easily be stow into a bag for jaunt .
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For an ultrabook that sits at just 18.29 mm thick , the Surface Laptop 7 also bundles in a reasonable selection of inputs , particularly compare to previous Surface example include theMicrosoft Surface Laptop Go 3 . The left side feature a combo jak , as well as a USB - A , and a distich of USB - C porthole , while the right hand side is home to Microsoft ’s proprietary magnetic charging porthole and a microSD card reader . That ’s not big .
I ’m used to modern ultrabooks sacrificing their selection of stimulation in the lookup of being report thinly , although against other selection , including some earlier MacBook Pro choices , the Surface Laptop 7 is missing out . There is n’t a full - sized HDMI port , while a curious USB - A embrasure feels like a missed opportunity considering how ubiquitous the connector remains in 2024 .
Elsewhere , the 65 percentage layout keyboard is tactile to type on and feels fantastic . It ’s one of the best I ’ve used in a laptop computer at any damage point , let alone on an ultrabook where it should help to justify the higher Leontyne Price ticket .
The keyboard also has Microsoft ’s new Copilot key , which opens a window where the AI assistant lives . It ’s much like the AI push button found on theLogitech Signature AI Edition M750mouse . There is a colour of backlighting on the subprogram row which offer a decent amount of luminousness , although the backlighting on the MacBook Air and Asus ZenBook S 16 is better across all key .
The trackpad , for a laptop computer of this size , it ’s orotund and antiphonal . It feels bland to use and is n’t hassle by any jitteriness . This is also a tactile trackpad , so you’re able to simply exploit for commands such as highlighting schoolbook or an image , or bringing up the right click menu , with relative ease .
As for the point of sustainability , Microsoft makes a plenty of the Surface Laptop 7 ’s credentials , claiming it to be made of a minimum of two - third gear recycled content , include the laptop ’s Al admixture build , which is 100 percent recycled .
It ’s packaged minimally with no charge card wrap used around the laptop itself , although the ballyhoo transcriber has a small amount of credit card ring the small power brick .
Display and Sound
For its screen , the Surface Laptop 7 volunteer a 15 - inch 2496 x 1664 120Hz selection , work the benefit of a mid - range screen size of it and solid resolution alongside smooth motion . In my testing , it proved to be bright with excellent people of color truth when watch episodes of Clarkson ’s Farm on Prime Video or LG ’s OLED demonstration footage for example , with the higher refresh charge per unit help even basic productiveness work load to feel more reactive .
My testing indorse that up for the most part , with my tintometer measuring 100%sRGBcoverage , raise the panel can display mainstream colours well , while its 85%Adobe RGBand 96%DCI - P3ratings mean you could also employ the Surface Laptop 7 for more colour - sensitive workloads as both resolution are above our needed layer of 80 pct . It also run as a touchscreen , and offered accurate trailing there .
A pinnacle luminosity of 527.4 nits means the Surface Laptop 7 ’s display bid some vibrant images , going hand in deal with its support for Dolby Vision IQ – that ’s strange for a laptop computer , although HDR support is most welcome , and a most - consummate colour temperature of 6400K. With this in mind , there are some caveats to the 15 - column inch screen , with a middling 1250:1 line ratio and with its black level going from a seemly 0.13 out of the boxful to a meagre 0.43 at peak brightness . Against other ultrabooks with OLED panel from the likes of Dell and Asus , the Surface Laptop 7 falls short in some place .
The build - in speaker unit in the Surface Laptop 7 are decent , offer solid book and a decent soundstage too , for swallow yourself in your preferent line on Spotify . In addition , they have serious consistency and do n’t sound tinny , while there is also a surprising amount of depressed end .
Performance
It ’s on the front of performance and what ’s inside the Surface Laptop 7 where things get especially exciting . As opposed to choose for a classic x86 poker chip from either Intel or AMD , Microsoft has slotted Qualcomm ’s top - grade Snapdragon X Elite inside , which is a 12 core/24 thread SoC that offers surprisingly snappy performance .
Alright , its result in some vivid benchmark such as Geekbench 6 and Cinebench R23 are n’t as strong as comparably - priced Windows ultrabooks with more ‘ received ’ processors indoors , but for a first generation of subdivision - based Windows ultrabooks , it ’s impressive . Multi - core grievance here are tight than you might expect , even if single - core CPU performance is n’t there quite yet .
It ’s also worth remembering how far Arm - base Windows has total in only a unforesightful period of time of time . My previous experience of the Arm Windows experience was with a basicSamsung Galaxy Book Gowhich serve up up weak performance by any standards in the sense of both the SoC’sCPU and GPU components .
By equivalence , the Surface Laptop 7 feel antiphonal and strong in everything from day - to - 24-hour interval workload to some level of more acute tasks .
It also manages to do this while remain virtually silent , even under intense loads in the likes of Geekbench 6 . This is remarkably standardized to Apple Silicon MacBooks , even if its results where it weigh are n’t quite as strong .
Test Data
If there is one chink in the Snapdragon X Elite ’s armour , it would be its graphical horsepower . In start the 3D Mark Time Spy bench mark , its sub-2000 resulting score is far behind other pick include theMSI Prestige 14 AI Evo C1Mand other Windows ultrabooks from Dell , too .
You get 32 GB of DDR5 RAM here to furnish headroom for those intensive job , while the 1 TB SSD in my sample provides enough headroom for installing lots of apps , while its 3646.5MB / s reads and 2918.79MB / s writes are decent enough to allow for moderately quick access to data .
Software
Unlike the Arm - base Windows laptop of honest-to-goodness , the Surface Laptop 7 run full - rich Windows 11 where cheesy pick used to opt for a much weaker version of Microsoft ’s o .
Against other maker ’ oblation , Microsoft ’s gadget lack any real bloatware , be it any undesirable anti - virus software system or manufacturers ’ tool for allow for you to register the product with them or for support intent . This is brisk to obtain .
The big thing with the Surface Laptop 7 is its effectuation of Microsoft ’s own AI , Copilot . After all , this laptop computer is being push as the first Copilot+ PC . A lot of this is down to the addition of the co-pilot key on the bottom run-in of the Surface Laptop 7 ’s keyboard , which was hailed as the first new standard samara on a keyboard for over three decades . It but acts as a backwash push button for the Copilot AI system , land up a windowpane where you may involve it all personal manner of things , such as to save some school text for you or ask it for data .
In accession , generative AI has also been baked into Windows apps . This go for tasks such as such as adding filters to picture assume in the Photos app , or adding an interesting backdrop .
The Photos app also adds an Image Creator , where you’re able to give the organisation a prompt and it ’ll generate an image for you with reasonable accuracy , although they are still bundle with the authoritative AI queerness . Alongside this , Microsoft Paint has a office called ‘ CoCreator ’ where you could apply AI as a aid hand for total some more item to your creations in stylus include H2O people of color , an oil painting and even pixel art .
At a system degree however , Copilot is a lot more utile than as a generative AI organization . The most utilitarian function outside of the generative AI - based workload I found was with the Surface Laptop 7 ’s webcam . With this , you could make function of the Windows Studio gist , which can keep you in inning or see you maintain eye liaison even if you are n’t looking at the screen , which is eerie . It ’s a exchangeable feature to that found on webcam including theElgato Facecam MK.2which use Nvidia ’s AI tools for the same effect .
Microsoft’sRecallfeature is still missing however . This would have take screenshots every few mo of use so you could see back and remember things you ’ve appear at , even if you did n’t manually bookmark them in a web browser or take a manual screenshot using the Snipping Tool . It will be available , although only for Windows Insiders .
The other cardinal thing with the Surface Laptop 7 , being limb - found , is its compatibility . As with when Apple locomote from using Intel to Apple Silicon , some apps require porting over to work on Arm , as they had antecedently only work on x86 - free-base system .
The same has had to come about with Windows , although some apps already puzzle out natively with previous Arm - based Windows efforts , but for those that did n’t , Microsoft employed its Prism emulation layer . For the most part , I had little issues with compatibility in run a range of benchmark software , as well as Photoshop and similar apps . The PCMark benchmark app did n’t run in full on Arm - based Windows in my testing , though , and there have been reports that games such as Dirt 5 and some VPN apps also refuse to load from elsewhere , too .
Battery Life
The other major welfare of the Surface Laptop 7 over other ultrabooks with more standard Intel and AMD chips inside is their higher level of efficiency . Arm - based arrangement tend to require less baron to die hard , while also being easier to cool off as they do n’t render enough heat , hence why the Surface Laptop 7 is so slender .
Microsoft made the lofty call of up to 22 hours of battery life on this 15 - inch model with local video playback . I was a little suspicious ab initio , although my testing put that skepticism to rest . In dial the cleverness of the display down to 150 nits and letting a video loop test run , the Surface Laptop 7 hold out for 22 hours and 20 minutes , which is some of the best battery spirit I ’ve ever view in a laptop computer .
In addition , it can also reload its 66Whr cell reasonably quick thanks to keep for 65W dissolute charging . It choose a total of 104 minutes to reload the battery from empty to full , while zero to 50 percent pack just 45 minutes .
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Should you buy it?
The Surface Laptop 7 excels with its fantastic blend of zippy carrying out and unbelievable endurance thanks to the Snapdragon X Elite SoC inside . While it may not be as burly as the competition , the right-down grandness of the chip and its potential difference for Windows is worth its weight in atomic number 79 .
As much as the Surface Laptop 7 ’s Snapdragon X Elite offers the idealistic portmanteau of nippy carrying out and incredible survival . the equipment falls short with its port selection that , while okay , misses out on key choice such as an HDMI stimulation or more USB - A or USB - ampere-second ports .
Final Thoughts
Microsoft ’s Surface Laptop 7 promised the dry land in its marketing material , with high power and efficiency , a responsive exhibit and course - lead battery life-time . For the most part , it delivers on those promises with an ultrabook that looks the part , offers a solid overall display in a competent size and some of the best battery life story we ’ve ever test .
There is a bigger picture here , though – the potency of Arm - based Windows . When execute correctly , it wee for the idealistic Windows experience with the combination of beefy performance , if a petty lacking in graphical oomph , and unrivaled efficiency . That ’s been punishing to come by in the past .
The Surface Laptop 7 may not offer as much power in raw terms as the likes of theApple MacBook Air ( M3)orDell XPS 14 ( 2024 ) , but it does so while being altogether silent and providing unrivalled stamp battery life in a lightweight , portable chassis . We ’re on the precipice of a newfangled dawn for Windows – not from AI , but just from the great power of Arm . For more pick , check out our lean of thebest ultrabookswe’ve screen .
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How we test
Every laptop we survey operate through a serial publication of uniform hitch designed to gauge central factors , including build character , execution , screen timber and battery life .
These let in formal synthetic bench mark and written tests , plus a series of veridical - human beings checks , such as how well it runs pop apps .
FAQs
Yes and no . While the Surface Laptop 7 has a antiphonal touchscreen and support haptic gestures on its touchpad , it is n’t a pad of paper in the sense that the screenland is detachable or the laptop is convertible .
In short , yes . The Surface Laptop 7 is part of Microsoft ’s longstanding lineup of Surface Laptop equipment , which brings the Surface experience of tablets into a more ceremonious mannikin gene .
Full Specs
