How Does The Surface Laptop Compare To MacBooks And Chromebooks? Here's What The Reviews Say
Microsoft really hopes Surface Laptop appeals to students and coffee-shop-squatters who swear by MacBooks and Chromebooks. The Surface Laptop is thin and angular, its touchscreen takes a backseat to the keyboard and trackpad, it opts for USB 3.0 over new ports that beg for dongles, it defaults to a "streamlined" version of Windows 10 — and, as you may have heard, the inside is covered in soft fabric. In practice, do all these decisions add up to a good laptop? Here's what the reviews say:
The Surface Laptop's Striking Design Is Praiseworthy
It's not entirely fair to say the Surface Laptop looks like an Air. It comes in different colors! It has that fabric! But it's also totally fair: two of the three physical dimensions of the machine are nearly identical to the classic wedge shape we associate with the Air.
As you may gather from the name, it's a laptop. It sports a 13.5-inch touchscreen, comes in four different funky colors, uses "Windows Hello" to let you sign in with your face, and has a keyboard totally covered in classy Alcantara fabric (which, allegedly, wipes clean easily, though I plan to test that).
Its lines look clean and sharp, and the metal appears virtually seamless. It has that jewel-like, sharp-object appeal of the best Apple products.
[Wired]
At 1.25 kg it is incredibly light, slightly lighter than a MacBook Pro. At just under 14.5mm thick it is also slim, making this device portable and easy to hold in one hand.
The Keyboard And Trackpad Don't Disappoint (Thank God)
The keyboard itself is simply excellent, with a satisfying amount of key depth and responsiveness. It's very similar to the Surface Book's keyboard, but the Laptop's feels even more fluid. The large touchpad is smooth as well, and unlike most Windows notebooks, it did a fine job of distinguishing between left and right clicks.
[Engadget]
That Microsoft can make a great trackpad only upsets me more that PC makers like HP and Lenovo still can't get their shit together.
[Mashable]
People Are On The Fence About That Fancy Fabric
The fabricky palm rest stands out as well. It's Alcantara, a suede-like polyester blend used in cars and Louis Vuitton bags that recently became the hot new thing in consumer electronics. Microsoft put it around the keyboard and trackpad, giving your hands a warm, soft place to hang out. I love the look and feel, but worry about the longevity. It started to fray at the edges after just a few days, and I can't shake the feeling that I'll eventually wear through the fabric. (Microsoft assures me this won't happen.) One nice upside: Spills bead up and wipe off easily with a paper towel.
[Wired]
I'm not sure how well the Alcantara cover will hold up to years of Cheetos dust, Red Bull spills, and whatever other gross things it may come into contact with in a dorm room. But I can tell you the edges on my review unit started to fray a little after a week in my bag.
[Mashable]
The big question is why Microsoft used this fabric in the first place. As far as I know, it's simply an aesthetic thing and makes the laptop feel nicer. It certainly makes the laptop stand out and gives you something to talk about when you open it up. That's reason enough, I suppose, and I admit I like the feel of it. But I don't hate the feel of bare aluminum, either. As my colleague Tom Warren says, it would be much easier to just wipe aluminum clean.
Screen, Audio And Ports? All Solid But Not Amazing
The 2,256×1,504 resolution display is a touchscreen, and has the same 3:2 aspect ratio as the Surface Pro. That means it's a bit closer to a square shape than most other laptops, which have a 16:9 aspect ratio. The former is better for reading long text documents and organizing office files, the latter is better for movies and TV shows.
[CNET]
You also won't find any speaker grilles on this laptop — instead the sound comes directly through the keyboard. It's a bit odd at first, especially since you can feel vibrations as your fingers rest on the keys, but the speaker placement makes for a far better audio experience than you'd find on most laptops. The sound is enveloping and detailed, and there's even a bit of low end too. It's ideal for video watching, since it comes right at you.
[Engadget]
It doesn't have a screen that rotates around to become a tablet and it doesn't have the USB-C ports that the rest of the industry is trying to move everybody toward. As a person who dreams of a single cable, that bums me out. As a person who isn't fond of dongles, I get the decision. But because there's no SD card slot, I still have to carry a dongle around for my camera. Annoying.
It's Got Respectable Components And Battery Life
The components inside are about what you'd expect from a premium laptop in this price range: an Intel Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage in the starting configuration ($999, £979 or AU$1,499). That swells to 8GB of RAM and a 256GB SSD in our upgraded review unit ($1,299, £1,249 or AU$1,999).
[CNET]
To tell the truth, I don't know that there's some sort of incredible technical achievement here. It's thin but not that thin, powerful but not wildly so. Microsoft just chose to do the obvious and correct thing with this laptop over and over, even if that thing is a little boring.
The battery falls well short of Microsoft's quoted 14 hours, unless all you're doing is looking at the thing, but I saw a solid nine or 10 hours on most days.
[Wired]
Windows 10 S Is Too Limited For Most People At This Stage
The major difference it has with normal versions of Windows 10 is that it can run only apps from the Microsoft Store, not legacy apps. Microsoft says this will make it perform better over time, since it won't get bogged down by malware and other potentially dangerous software. Windows Store apps also run in a secured container, so you don't have to worry about them doing anything nefarious to your computer without your knowledge.
[Engadget]
Presumably, Microsoft is shipping Windows 10 S by default in an attempt to juice developers to get their apps into the store. Maybe that strategy will work, but I am not optimistic. Switching from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro is free through the end of the year (and perhaps beyond) and takes only a few minutes to do.
Without more apps, 10 S amounts to a mediocre browser and a whole bunch of headaches.
[Wired]
It Ranks With MacBooks And Chromebooks But It's Not A Clear Winner
There's no shortage of cool-looking slim laptops for students or professionals hovering right around the $999-$1,299 mark (including Apple's new lower-cost 13-inch MacBook Pro), and the Surface Laptop really doesn't do anything all that different, aside from its colored fabric covering and the Windows 10 S operating system.
[CNET]
A $999 MacBook Air (2017) gets you more ports and double the RAM, but also a lower non-touch display and punier graphics. The new $1,299 MacBook Pro (non-Touch Bar) is a more comparable machine, and it's got the better specs for the same money (without a touchscreen, of course).
[Mashable]
One criticism of Microsoft's Surface Laptop is its vaulting ambition to outdo Chromebooks and MacBooks at their own game, not quite landing the killing blow against either. For budget educational devices, Chromebooks still win and you can pick up a great one for significantly less than the Surface Laptop.
TL;DR
The future of laptops looks messy, expensive, and bedeviled by dongles, but the Surface Laptop spares you the transition pain. Microsoft built a right here, right now laptop, and a damn good one at that.
[Wired]
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