Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 13.5in

A stylish and well-made laptop, but Microsoft is charging too much for the undoubted privilege

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PRICE As tested, £1,416 (£1,779 inc VAT) from microsoft.co.uk

Microsoft has worked hard over the years to turn the Surface brand into M something meaningful. Buy any Surface product and you know it will meet certain standards of quality, from its screen to its build, from its webcam to the keyboard.

This philosophy is something it has in common with Apple, but where the two differ is styling. In particular, colour options: a Surface Laptop buyer has four to choose from, whether that's the familiar-if-dull platinum silver finish, the classy jet black or the more daring light-green sage or peachy sandstone. Choose platinum and you can enjoy the Alcantra fabric topping on your palm rest, while the others stick with metal.

There's even a choice of sizes here. While I tested the 13.5in edition of the Surface Laptop 5, if you prefer a 15in screen then almost all of this review still applies. Although the 15in version is only available with Core i7 chips, and prices start at £1,299 rather than the £999 of the smaller edition.

Don't get overly excited by that sub-£1,000 price. Compared to rivals, you don't get much for your money. A Core i5-1235U processor is fine, but 8GB of RAM and 256GB are stingy. Worse still, if you want a 512GB SSD then you have to pay £1,269, while doubling the RAM to 16GB costs £1,499. That's with the same Core i5 chip!

Speed vs need

The good news is that you'll be buying a laptop that should last for many years in terms of speed. I tested a £1,779 "for Business" system with a Core i7-1265U chip rather than the Core i5-1235U of the £999 machine, and the i7-1265U also superior to the i7-1255U in the consumer version. However, with a mere 100MHz between them the only time you'll notice the difference is when benchmarking.