Surface Laptop 4: Microsoft returns to form with solid notebook

Microsoft’s Surface Laptops have delivered once again.

- MARK HACHMAN

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 has significantly improved where it matters—in performance and in battery life. Even though it’s largely unchanged otherwise compared to the Surface Laptop 3 (go.pcworld.com/srf3), and is available in the same 13.5-inch and 15-inch sizes, that stability is not a bad thing given the product line’s tradition of offering a great screen, a great keyboard, and great battery life. Microsoft has hit its mark on all three criteria once again, and the important changes under the hood make all the difference.

Our praise comes with a few qualifications. The product line is expensive. The long battery life is attained with a few tricks. We also don’t know how the Ryzen 7 version we’ve tested here compares to its siblings with an Intel CPU inside. Despite these unknowns, we would still easily recommend buying this laptop.

BASIC FEATURES

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 offers a surprising diversity of exterior design options: size (13.5-inch versus 15-inch models), finish (clad in metal or Microsoft’s signature Alcantara fabric), and color. We’ve listed the available combinations and prices in our original news story announcing the Surface Laptop 4 (go.pcworld.com/ans4).

One thing we appreciate about the Surface Laptop 4 is that there’s really no “gotcha” configuration—they’re all good. Our review unit retails for about $1,500 on Amazon (go.pcworld.com/15az). However, if you’d like to pay a little less for a model with 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage, that’s an option as well.