Low res non HDR panel with a large bezel, same specs as any other modern laptop, no removable tablet, $1000 starting price for 128gb of storage and 4gb of ram.
How utterly f*ing boring and disappointing. All 3 previous "Surface" devices have been interesting and cool, even if the Surface Studio was a niche thing for artists it still did its job really well. This is just another laptop with absolutely zero to distinguish it from any other. Bleh.
yea, a $1k laptop should not have 4 gigs, that's a joke. Just get an XPS 13/15, much more sensible choice, and you're not even limited to w10, crappy, hamstrung and never updated MS drivers and design problems. I certainly was happy to throw my Surface Pro 2 away...
Hey, being designed by a lousy producer of spyware comes at a price premium.
Besides its "for students" you know, them poor souls who have to be sunken into debt for life to afford "prestigious" education. What's a couple more grands for a "prestigious" device to go along.
I wonder about pen support, it seems pretty much pointless unless it can do "tablet mode".
It's the everything that is ridiculous. This should come with Windows 10 Pro, not Windows 10 S. 128GB of storage are you joking? Why is that even a thing? The standard should 8GB, 256GB storage as a base model. And at $999 with no dedicated GPU, this is a complete waste of money.
Yep. This is why it should be way cheaper. If it was a 600-700 laptop, I could fathom 4GB. But it starts at 1k. There's just so many superior value propositions out there.
Exactly. I've been researching laptops for the last two weeks and there are dozens of laptops that offer better performance/specs for the same or better price.
For instance, the Acer Swift 3/5. 8gb of RAM, 256gb SSD, Kabylake i5 for $600/$750, respectively.
There's the Lenovo 710s/510s. Keyboards are a bit wonky but otherwise very solid options as well at $700/$775 respectively. Not to mention both come with much better GPUs than the IHD graphics. (Iris 540/R7 M460)
Even the XPS 13 is a better deal, offering an i5 and 8gb of ram (though a measly 128gb of storage) for ~$920 atm. For ~$1350, you can get one with the Iris 640 graphics and 256gb of storage.
Microsoft must be nuts to think that any sane person would buy the Surface laptop for that price. It seems that they're catching on to Apple's game and want to do the same. Absolutely ridiculous.
Yeh. 4GB? They can't be serious. As for Windows 10S? Hmmm. I've resisted switching to Apple, but Microsoft is giving justification for a switch. If you are going to ape someone else's strategy you need to be better, but I guess that is nothing new with them. 10S is a non starter, so does this mean they are working toward a subscription? I'm not sure why I am trolling this anyway, since I've been shopping the XPS 15.
Free upgrade to Pro on the Surface Laptop. Right there in the article. They just want people to try Win S with it's fast boot and instant resume.
Anyway, yes, the base model should have been 128GB SSD with 8GB of RAM. Not 4. That's my only gripe, outside of the pricing in general - but it's a premium-build flagship like all of the other high-end Surface devices. Not a surprise.
I understand the temptation, I recently made the switch 3 years ago. I'll give u the speech I wish I could have given myself. There are a lot of base productivity flaws with OS X when you come from the MS ecosystem. A ton of things you take for granted every day in the windows world, are ass backwards or simply not there on OS X. Window management, folder creation, copying, overwriting, keyboard shortcuts. For instance you have the buy an app to overwrite and combine folders lol. There will be a significant adjustment period if you are a power user. Now, there are apps to address many of the shortcomings but they too come with their own glitches and it will take a lot of googling, configuring and App Store purchases to get things dialed in to where you can actually work as fast and multi task like you can in Windows. No touch screen either.
Now for the hardware considerations. The latest MacBook Pro is absurdly priced, the Mac mini is slow, and Mac Pro is ancient and slow and even more absurdly priced. Probably the Best Buy is the iMac, but it isn't portable. SInce jobs has died, Apple has slid downhill significantly. OS Upgrades have been bug ridden, and clearly a regression towards consumers vs professionals. It seems every version they take something away from developers and add more IOS features. Little things like forcing you to visitthe Mac store before allowing updates. iTunes is a core OS component, its rediculous. The prices go up and up. Be prepared for 30-100 dollar dongles, and dongles all over your desk. no more cheap amazon versions. Buying cheap Apple cables just don't work, or only work for short periods. You wind up having to pay for quality cables, particularly if you wish to use a 3rd party display.
As of now, I tempted to go back to windows. It would be a painful switch, but having access to the latest hardware at same prices is just getting harder to ignore when Apple keeps doing minor iterations, jacking prices and making decisions like taking away my headphone jack and magport and escape key.
If Apple prices came down 35 percent I'd say the switch would be perhaps worth it, but as of now I'd say stick to windows, and I'll likely be coming back soon. I refuse to buy the new MacBook, it is a downgrade in many respects and costs almost 1000 more than previous version. Absurd. MS will eventually get it right and you will always have better hardware at better prices than in the Apple ecosystem.
Though if they are heading towards the Apple way of doing things they could start holding users at hostage pricing premiums there too, a frightening thought.
It should be pretty darn apparent for all of you, by looking at the latest products targeting this particular segment of the market, that specs mean nothing. Design, brand and overall and the overall package is everything. Consumers of this segment worry more about the keyboard, screen, light weight, colors and simplicity (clean design) of the device. If you nail all of these, then you're golden.
If they went with better specs, then it's going to create more confusion for the intended market. This is for the consumer that doesn't want all the bells and whistles of previous Service offerings.
Would I buy one? Heck no. Does it appeal to me? Not in the slightest. Would it my wife want one for her home office? Most probably yes.
You nailed it. They're not going after spec hounds, techies, or gamers. I sure as heck wouldn't spend that kind of coin on something so mild. But I know I'm not the target audience, and I can respect the reasons someone might want one, to a degree. They are really premium devices, I can see a lot of business users wanting one.
Good point well made. But I think most people in that category would pick a Mac -- and rightly so. If you're going to pay a premium for form over function, may as well get a good device.
One thing that I think is easily overlooked when looking at specs in the laptop space is that the input devices, etc., matter quite a bit.
Comparing to desktop computers where it really doesn't matter what the system might come with because you can easily replace your input devices and monitor at will, I think it's easy to have a perspective that discounts the importance of these things when looking at laptops.
With a laptop, you're stuck with the keyboard, trackpad, screen for the life of the device. If MS has done a really good job in these areas, then that counts for something beyond raw specs.
The BBC and NHK have been talking about and testing 8K/16K technology for many years. In 2010 the BBC did an 8K broadcast of a concert to NHK TV. For viable broadcasting that will appeal though, the pressure is to skip 8K entirely - to the average consumer human eye, it's not enough better than 4K to warrant the investment.
"large bezel" "low res", not sure about that. This laptop takes on the boring laptop market and provides an awesome touch screen. Looking at this machine, I don't know what to compare it to - the only thing I can think of is the HP Spectre x360 trumps this thing in every way - 8gb ram, 4k display, 256gb SSD, full windows home, touch screen that flips all the way around, all for 1200 msrp. It looks like HP may be announcing the intel 7000 series versions soon considering they have a sale on the spectre right now. If the Surface Laptop was priced at 800, then I think it'd make more sense.
Not true, I agree the x360 is a better device, but the battery is a key selling point of the Surface laptop and you ignore it entirely. MacBook levels of battery life is a key feature for many and it promises to match it. The x360 isn't nearly as good in that department.
Yep, but... once upgraded to Win 10 Pro... will it keep that promised 14h battery life? I think I've noticed somewhere that MS was talking specifically about W10s, being much lower resource than full W10. Maybe I got it wrong.
There are quite a few lacunae in the hardware specifications, but the screen is not bad at all. Did you notice that the aspect ratio is 3:2 TALLER I have better than 20-20 vision but I now find full HD on a 14" laptop slightly inferior to a 15". The screen is only 100% sRGB. When taken with the memory, processor, and lack of ports, storage and networking indicates that it is not intended for regular photo editing. The planned target is Ms word & PowerPoint. As lilmoe & alexvrb dais it's not for enthusiasts.
Whine a little more. You aren't stuck with 128Gb and 4Gb of ram. No other device comes with a 3:2 aspect ratio, 100%rgb, color calibrated screen. Plus arguably the best trackpad in the windows laptops. I would say that is a huge difference between any other.
People have been asking for a Surface that isn't top heavy like the Surfacebook, and with lower weight. Personally I don't see another competitor that can match this laptop. All others have serious flaws, like the Lenovo keyboard, the lap scortching HP. Dell XPS is the only contender, but it is stuck with a 16x9 screen, and track pad basically sucks.
If you watched the rollout you'd be tirelessly prompted about what distinguishes it from other laptops....to say absolutely zero differences just destroys your credibility.
If you're willing to spend big on a notebook, you can get Dell XPS 15, with 4k display, 32Gb of RAM, 512Gb SSD and 1050GTX for $2,099. Oh, yes, and it comes with Win10 Pro.
That's one of my top choices, but it's also a 2100 dollar 15" when you're comparing to a 13.5 inch that starts at 1000 (granted top spec can get to 2200 too).
There is no denying that for the money, the XPS15 is one of the best options out there, but that's not the target market. This thing is all about portability and basic ease of use. 1.25kg compared to 2kg for the XPS15. It's even lighter than the XPS13. Plus as bad as it sounds, the XPS has a big Dell logo on the lid, that will put a lot of people off. (I had this very experience with my maxed out XPS15 9550, someone saying "Oh, I can't believe you use a Dell...")
Brand hungry people will just buy a Macbook, if they are that image conscious they aren't going to run around proclaiming they bought a Microsoft laptop. Even on TV where Microsoft sponsors the program half of the analysts use their Surface Pros to prop up their Apple products.
Although if you're thinking of using an external GPU (eGPU) with the Dell XPS 15/13, it only supports ½ the full bandwidth (20Gbps instead of the 40 Gbps full bandwidth) of Thunderbolt 3. That's because the XPS line (the 2-1 XPS13 being the only exception) only runs 2 x PCIe 3.0 lanes for its TB3.
If eGPU is high on your list of what's important with TB3, go with the 2016 15" MBP because it's perhaps the only one (or one of the few) where the 4 x PCIe 3.0 lanes goes directly to the CPU:
"To get the most out of an eGPU setup, you should start with a computer that is a good Thunderbolt 3 host. From the limited resources we’ve gathered to date, the Late 2016 15″ MacBook Pro is currently the best host for external GPU implementation. We found Apple attached the PCIe lanes directly to the quad-core i7 CPU in the newest 15″ MacBook Pro laptops."
Again, you can upgrade to Pro for free. So if you buy this device and you ARE a technically inclined user (this might not be your cup of tea anyway but OK) you aren't stuck with the limited OS. Personally if I was responsible for support at a company, I'd mandate all users must run Windows S unless they can pass a PC literacy test. ;)
The full Windows upgrade is only Temporarily free.
That they are ever going to make you pay to upgrade to full Windows on $1000 laptop is absurd, especially given they are Microsoft FFS. It's not like they have to pay someone $50 for the full license.
Windows S should really only be on cheap netbooks.
I want to love this product, I actually do. But Microsoft has made some very strange decisions here.
The Surface Pro 4 is cheaper, and comes with a full version of Windows, and has a nicer display. Also, it's a detachable tablet, but every bit as good as a laptop when used as one.
If you want a traditional clamshell laptop, Dell and HP are making some very nice laptops right now. The HP Spectre X360 for example is cheaper than this Surface Laptop, has excellent build quality, brilliant display, great touchpad, Windows Hello and everything this Surface has, but also runs real Windows and has not one but two Thunderbolt 3 ports (as well as a legacy Type A port).
Every Surface device until now has been a trail blazer, for better or for worse. Sure, they had some early missteps, but with the Surface Pro 4, they hit a home run. But this? How is this device unique? Between the Surface Pro 4 and the Spectre X360, this device fills an extremely tiny niche.
All the Surface Pro 4 needs is a soft update, upgrade the processor to Kaby Lake and put a couple of Thunderbolt 3 ports there instead of the mini DP while keeping the one USB Type A. That's it. Instead we get this Surface Laptop? Why?
Because the Spectre x360 overheats and can't really be used on your lap. I know because I returned 2 of them. The extra 1.x inches on the Surface laptop is really nice when the Surface 4 is a little small. The Surface laptop won't be top heavy and need a kickstand, which really is uncomfortable if you use it on your lap or when travelling on flights. This Surface laptop can run real Windows and has a much better trackpad than Surface4. But the biggest difference compared to others is that this has a 3:2 like the Surface4 which is a huge upgrade from 16x9.
With the free Win 10 Pro upgrade, Win 10 S isn't a problem. The problem is the hardware. 4 GB RAM is a joke. Worst though is the lack of ports. Too bad, because otherwise this easily beats the overrated Dell XPS 13.
What is Microsoft smoking? Proprietary charging, one USB 3.0 (at least full size) port, and just take a look at what you get for those big price jumps between the models. This is for people with too much money burning in their wallets.
Try using the right shift key. Bet you can't without looking. Most people return the laptop just for that reason, never mind the screen is not that great.
It's a pain at first but I got used to it in a month or so. I only type at about 80 wpm though. Maybe you guys have a problem with that at higher speeds.
Both the yoga 710 and 910 are excellent value for money.
Windows 10 S can be unlocked to Windows 10 Pro, and on the Surface Laptop, that unlock will be free for the first year.
So I have to ask this after the year does it just revert back to useless mode leaving you with a platform that no longer runs your programs and holds your system for ransom until you enter a subscription plan or a pro key.
I'm pretty sure it's similar to the free Windows 10 upgrade for W7 and 8 users. You had a year to sign up for a free W10 license on older machines, and if you didn't get it within that year you had to pay a small upgrade fee.
I don't think Microsoft is planning on charging a subscription fee for Windows in the future -- rather, they'll make the S version free, and charge users to upgrade to the full non-Store-based version.
Oh Microsoft is definitely looking at the subscription model, just like they did with Office. Get the stripped down basic version (s) for free, or pay $x.xx annually to have the "full" version.
As someone who had both a Thinkpad 600 and a Alcantara steering wheel, I'm expecting a worn and peeling palmrest after a year or two of ownership. I wonder what the replacement policy is for these things.
I love my Surface Pro 4, and feel the Surface Book and Surface Studio are both awesome products, if very pricey. That said, I find this laptop very underwhelming. While other Surface products at least gave you unique features and form factors, this does nothing to raise the bar IMHO. It's "just another ultrabook". Not enough here to justify that asking price, and there's plenty of alternatives I'd take for less money.
OK Microsoft. After this you better knock the Surface Pro 5 out of the park. For me, I'll be tempted to trade up if it has USB 3.1, better battery life and a full SD card slot.
Raven Ridge is far from ready. It would take some time, until you actually can buy Ryzen based notebook, and most of them will be bottlenecked by slow single channel RAM.
Proprietary connector and no USB-C / Thunderbolt in a premium device in 2017? The omission of this in Surface Book was already concerning but now it's a no-go. Forcing you to lock-in with peripherals. no thank you. i rather get something with usb-c and a usb-c dock. HP x360 spectre /elitebook for sure superior to this.
Only good thing is the display but then let's be honest, I woudl run it docked 80%+ of the time anyway.
Love the fact it is a 3:2 screen. I will likely buy it for that reason alone as there is not much competition there. But this could have been a perfect laptop IF -it started with 8gb ram -usb-c ports -fanless m5 processor choice -higher ppi display from the Surface Book
4 gigs of ram in 2017? Unusable "ZWindows", which doesnt let you install 80% of your apps? Unusable. OS that forces devs to develop and pay for their apps to be "allowed"? Unusable. ~2K resolution and HD graphics? Lap for 1000$+ to work in powerpoint? Unusabl..oh wait, you cant use powerpoint, you cant install it for free anymore. Unusable. And what totally made me rage - "flagship premium class laptop" - LPDDR3 memory. In 2017.
Microsoft, go kick your balls with your worhtless OS-iOS-parody and lame notebooks.
Curious to see the battery life benchmarks. The i5 Kaby Lake version of the Dell XPS 13 has a 60Whr battery (versus 44Whr in the Surface Laptop) and WiFi benchmarks from laptopmag.com rates the Dell at 13-14 hrs. Not to mention the Dell only has a 1080p panel, while the Surface laptop is pushing 1.6x the pixels.
So, it's a Chromebook Pixel (with an amusingly lower resolution screen), but instead of recognizing that a purely cloud-based laptop that cost so much was frankly ridiculous and targeting it specifically at Chrome app programmers, they're aiming a rather expensive device at college students, who would probably take a Macbook over this given the option, and most who can afford it already have.
Microsoft could have stolen Apple's iMac Pro/Mac Pro thunder with a workstation, but they instead chose to make a very marginally more powerful 12" Macbook in a ridiculously competitive market that has products like the Razer Blade Stealth.
It'd be hard to pick between this and a 13-inch MacBook Pro. I don't know whether an HD 620 would be able to handle 3.4m pixels smoothly, but even if so 128GB/4GB is ridiculous for this type of device so the price actually starts at $1300 if not $1600. The 13-inch MBP starts at $1500 and comes with Iris 540 and 256GB/8GB.
If Windows 10 S is as seamless as it sounds, it could be a boon to all PCs. That being said, it's completely unacceptable for any but the cheapest devices to come with S only, and not Home/Pro as well. S should come free with any other version of Windows 10, and it should support dual boot. These are burning questions we need answers for.
I really don't get why the display needs to be touch; it'd have been much better if it had a higher resolution and wide color gamut. This might not be a deal breaker but when you start considering all but the entry offering, it's hard not to see the display as a weak point.
Whatever its shortcomings as a first gen device or due to Microsoft's ignorance, it's fantastic to finally see such a premium, high-end, highly integrated Windows device in a traditional laptop form factor.
What display on a laptop is better? No one else has 3:2 aspect ratio, 100%rgb, and color calibrated. If you are doing editing and relying on wide color gamut you attach a monitor that can do that. No one does critical work on a laptop screen.
It's hard to say. MBP's display has a higher resolution and wide color gamut, but it's also a tiny bit smaller and has an aspect ratio of 16:10, and not 3:2.
To me, it's not about editting or critical work, but about making the most out of a small laptop screen. Wider screens are only better for video, all other content - web pages, documents, etc. scales great on narrower screens. It's the height of the screen that matters more than the length, and so having a 13" 3:2 screen is like having a 15" 16:9 screen, which obviously fits in a smaller, lighter laptop.
How is it you make a WiFi only device and in all the marketing material fail to disclose what chip-set it's using? Marvell Avastar world class worst performing terrible WiFi/Bluetooth that's how...
Never thought I'd see the day that Microsoft "out-Apple" Apple... Apple gets to abuse their customers as they're a captive audience where nowhere to go. 1. Alcantara is a wear item and should not be used on a non detachable keyboard 2. 4 gig of soldered ram on a $1000 laptop in a windows 2017 laptop is ridiculous. 3. No ability to upgrade the ssd 4. Too limited ports. 5. Good screen ratio but too low res when compared to the higher ppi competition 6. Cost is about on par with Apple with likely typical horrible PC resale rates. 7. Trying to create a iOS walled garden in windows is crazy at these price points=do it in a special classroom edition with a core M3 CPU and sell it for less.
Gee. It's almost like Apple AND MS AND Google all imagine there's a demand out there for computers that aren't optimized for the needs and desires of the extremely technical...
I wonder what could have made them all so deluded about the human race?
Okay, it's not that bad. USB-A is welcome, as is a SD card reader. The headphone jack goes without saying. DisplayPort though? You're far more likely to see a HDMI cable out in the wild. At least one USB-C port (ideally two) would have been nice, and another USB-A 3.2 port.
Is Microsoft just Stupid or what? Older people remember, they did this with the "Internet" too, lol?Really, not supporting out in 2015: Intel Alpine Ridge chip-set that adds about $5.00 to price? A Thunderbolt 3 HUB has charging, can daisy chain 6 items, storage, internet and one being a 4k display? Making there New $1,000 and up tablet products already obsolete! Somewhat like the forgotten Louisiana Hurricane; Good job Brownie...
Except there is no SD card slot. There's only a single USB port, a charging/dock connector, a headphone jack, and an mini-DP port.
So really, there's only one data port unless it is docked, forcing most people to use a USB hub. A USB hub isn't horrible, but carrying one somewhat negates the benefit of such a thin light-weight laptop.
If you are carrying a USB hub, then that means you are also carrying a bunch of usb devices. So the 2oz usb hub probably doesn't negate the benefit of a thin light weight laptop.
Anybody else thinking of the surface rt when you read about it? Windows 10s can only run stuff from the windows store. Windows rt could only run stuff from the windows store. Either way it wasn't much you could really run on it. Anybody else get that same deja Vu sense here?
In the 2017, if MS is not using a PCIe 3.0 x4 for their NVMe drive...oh wait, never mind...they just told us that they want $999 for 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Here's hoping they at least went with super fast drives and we're looking at EVO 960 speeds.
Hum. I paid 1200 € for my rMBP in 02-2015 (Mid-2014 model) - also with an i5, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD. I don't quite see the point, to be honest.
The surface book had me hooked, but with its old-ish connectivity and flat out old CPU it was a no-go at its price point. A refresh might have done them better than this
I'd be happy with a screen at that resolution, but the very limited number of ports is a dealbreaker. I would want at least 2x type A and minimum 1 type C ports (if charging over this port, add a second). This Win10S concept needs to be put in the garbage where it belongs or in the ultra-low-cost netbook/tablet class of devices. "Free upgrade for 1 yr" is not a redeeming feature, especially if it turns out that it reverts back to paperweight-mode when the year runs out. Like others have said, 4GB is a joke at this price point and 128GB storage is probably what I'd consider the bare minimum.
Basically, if you're going to ape anyone, MS, ape the non-2-in-1 version of the XPS 13 and put in the 3:2 panel and lose its big bottom bezel (I don't care if it has no webcam at all, but I'm sure others do so put it in the top edge where it belongs). This is what I would liked to have seen...
No one hates the Surface laptop except a few enthusiasts who don't understand they aren't the target audience and they represent a very small minority in this market.
One big factor is price point. Chromebook are not selling anything close to what Microsoft is asking for. Second, this is the first laptop with Windows 10 S. It is not proven and the last Windows w/ app version was a big disappointment (Windows RT). For me, i don't understand why would you need so much hardware to run app. Might as well install Windows 10 Pro.
I thought the Chromebook Pixel got a lot of ridicules back in the day. Now Microsoft seems to be making a competitor to a 4 year old concept that was hardly a success itself (and that one had similar memory for a lower resource OS, more ports, and higher resolution display).
I feel the same way. My guess is that laptop manufacturers want you to get a gaming laptop if you want to do gaming (even low end ones). This is why they forgo having any CPU w/ Iris Pro. Make more money for them.
I admit I am a spec-hound most of the time, but I think in this case, MS really could have upped the value proposition by including a Thunderbolt 3 port in addition to the USB-A. By going with the Core i5-7600U and i7-7660U they've got 12 lanes from the CPU and with the HM/QM175 providing another 16 lanes, one would think they wouldn't run out of PCIe lanes for TB3, NVMe storage plus the lanes needed for webcam, keyboard, SDXC slot, et al. The screen is nice, but Apple's P3 display will probably still outclass it in terms of image quality (I will be looking forward to any head to head comparisons in the future). I agree with everyone here that MS should have started with at least 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It finally dawned on Apple to do this when they made 8GB on the MBA standard last year. They still haven't gotten the memo that 128GB was appallingly small in 2016 and isn't getting any more tolerable. Still, I applaud MS for trying to raise the bar/push the envelope.
According to a forbes article, windows 10 s currently doesn't support chrome or firefox and you are forced in to using bing. I get that this laptop can upgrade to windows 10 pro for free for a year but going off on a tangent, windows 10 s sounds like a much worse Chrome OS. I mean Edge browser & bing vs Chome browser & google, which is superior? hmmmmmmm
Chromebooks are decent for what they are. But 10s at least has an app store.
Big question is what the update situation and maintenance is like. If its standard patch Tuesday madness and forces reboots and stuff i think chromebooks wont be threatened at all. Plus are there going to be $200 10s machines?
I can't stand 16:9 displays so I am glad this is now an option. No, its not a good value for the money, but please tell me where else I can get a laptop with a screen that isn't taller than 16:9? I'd consider this for that reason alone.
Looks nice. Disappointed in ssd sizes. 256 should be the minimum. And ports. More really is better. Guess I'm not the target market but I feel like I should be.
In 2007 a laptop with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of hard disk seems a bit short-sighted. Wait, what? We're in 2017 already? What are they thinking, seriously? Windows 10 takes 30GB, I grab 64GB of images and videos on any single one-week vacation: do we seriously need to start worrying again about running out of disk space in 2017? On a 1Kusd laptop?
You are expected to be a O365 fan and pump month after month of $$ into Microsoft. Use up your data too. Oh wait it will probably have broken one drive using up 2x the space because of temp files.
Wait for the inevitable Black Friday sale, when the 8/256 version will be $900. Microsoft is coming in with a high price for the parents shopping for their college freshmen children. Typing this on my HP Spectre x360 8/256 2560x1440 OLED Iris Pro i7 (plus pen capable, not that I need it) that I got for $1000 last Black Friday, which seems be equal to or superior to the $1599 Surface in every way (I guess Kaby Lake will have better battery life), including tablet use if you want that.
I dont understand why manufacturers are building small screen high resolution units with scaling @ 200%, as soon as you connect external displays the scaling is over the top!
Nobody so far has pointed out that while many programmers and unix users (/Mac) may be used to VIM and EMACS and thus may not miss equal sized arrow keys, end, home, page/up/down, pause/break etc, I as a Windows user that does editing outside of programming IDE's, do miss them. I don't really miss a numpad however because it would make portable too wide to be truly portable and those dedicated / * - + -keys could (and ARE) remapped into other keys for example in my Acer Swift 3 and many other laptops. But when doing other than just calculator-form editing you really need all the standard keys and lacking dedicated home, end etc can't be forgiven and I'm amazed at edu-buyers if they buy this without those keys. (Then again, no doubt said edu-buyers use vim,emacs,latex etc so they don't need keys, I bet next MBP will have punctuation and numbers behind modifier because some nuthead thinks the object is to make most portable portable instead of a balance of functionality, future proofness, reliability and portability and trust - which is having certainty that there's no backdoor remote-management technology with a side-channel built in to the firmware unless you personally go into the firmware to enable such. A nice addition would be firmware based IP access control for the built in NIC's so if you can't quite trust the OS you could atleast white list allowed IP's such that if you have a 4G/LTE built-in, there's ability to have additional firewall on top of the OS firewall).
Another keyboard thing I'd like to see happen is invention of keyboards that don't smell when taken out of box after shipping and being stored in sealed plastic for months. There's already food/utensil grade plastic that doesn't smell and eg. cloth as alternative to foam-type materials which leach smell that binds to plastic. (probable 2nd source of intense new in box keybord smells).
After doing a little research the Microsoft Surface Laptop does come with power and memory. The best surface laptop includes 6th Gen Intel Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM /dGPU.
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Frenetic Pony - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Low res non HDR panel with a large bezel, same specs as any other modern laptop, no removable tablet, $1000 starting price for 128gb of storage and 4gb of ram.How utterly f*ing boring and disappointing. All 3 previous "Surface" devices have been interesting and cool, even if the Surface Studio was a niche thing for artists it still did its job really well. This is just another laptop with absolutely zero to distinguish it from any other. Bleh.
Hubb1e - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
It's the 4GB of ram that is frankly ridiculous. Remember that a large portion of that is used for video memory on the iGPU.nagi603 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
yea, a $1k laptop should not have 4 gigs, that's a joke. Just get an XPS 13/15, much more sensible choice, and you're not even limited to w10, crappy, hamstrung and never updated MS drivers and design problems. I certainly was happy to throw my Surface Pro 2 away...ddriver - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Hey, being designed by a lousy producer of spyware comes at a price premium.Besides its "for students" you know, them poor souls who have to be sunken into debt for life to afford "prestigious" education. What's a couple more grands for a "prestigious" device to go along.
I wonder about pen support, it seems pretty much pointless unless it can do "tablet mode".
quiksilvr - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
It's the everything that is ridiculous. This should come with Windows 10 Pro, not Windows 10 S. 128GB of storage are you joking? Why is that even a thing? The standard should 8GB, 256GB storage as a base model. And at $999 with no dedicated GPU, this is a complete waste of money.ddriver - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
But... but... its a "surface"!Gasaraki88 - Friday, May 5, 2017 - link
But you can upgrade to Pro for free...anananananantechhh - Friday, May 5, 2017 - link
Yep. This is why it should be way cheaper. If it was a 600-700 laptop, I could fathom 4GB. But it starts at 1k. There's just so many superior value propositions out there.legonate416 - Monday, May 8, 2017 - link
Exactly. I've been researching laptops for the last two weeks and there are dozens of laptops that offer better performance/specs for the same or better price.For instance, the Acer Swift 3/5. 8gb of RAM, 256gb SSD, Kabylake i5 for $600/$750, respectively.
There's the Lenovo 710s/510s. Keyboards are a bit wonky but otherwise very solid options as well at $700/$775 respectively. Not to mention both come with much better GPUs than the IHD graphics. (Iris 540/R7 M460)
Even the XPS 13 is a better deal, offering an i5 and 8gb of ram (though a measly 128gb of storage) for ~$920 atm. For ~$1350, you can get one with the Iris 640 graphics and 256gb of storage.
Microsoft must be nuts to think that any sane person would buy the Surface laptop for that price. It seems that they're catching on to Apple's game and want to do the same. Absolutely ridiculous.
Wineohe - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Yeh. 4GB? They can't be serious. As for Windows 10S? Hmmm. I've resisted switching to Apple, but Microsoft is giving justification for a switch. If you are going to ape someone else's strategy you need to be better, but I guess that is nothing new with them. 10S is a non starter, so does this mean they are working toward a subscription? I'm not sure why I am trolling this anyway, since I've been shopping the XPS 15.Alexvrb - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Free upgrade to Pro on the Surface Laptop. Right there in the article. They just want people to try Win S with it's fast boot and instant resume.Anyway, yes, the base model should have been 128GB SSD with 8GB of RAM. Not 4. That's my only gripe, outside of the pricing in general - but it's a premium-build flagship like all of the other high-end Surface devices. Not a surprise.
Devo2007 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Well, the Surface Studio is a $2999 desktop with 8GB of RAM, so this isn't too surprising from Microsoft... Ha haSarah Terra - Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - link
I understand the temptation, I recently made the switch 3 years ago. I'll give u the speech I wish I could have given myself. There are a lot of base productivity flaws with OS X when you come from the MS ecosystem. A ton of things you take for granted every day in the windows world, are ass backwards or simply not there on OS X. Window management, folder creation, copying, overwriting, keyboard shortcuts. For instance you have the buy an app to overwrite and combine folders lol. There will be a significant adjustment period if you are a power user. Now, there are apps to address many of the shortcomings but they too come with their own glitches and it will take a lot of googling, configuring and App Store purchases to get things dialed in to where you can actually work as fast and multi task like you can in Windows. No touch screen either.Now for the hardware considerations. The latest MacBook Pro is absurdly priced, the Mac mini is slow, and Mac Pro is ancient and slow and even more absurdly priced. Probably the Best Buy is the iMac, but it isn't portable. SInce jobs has died, Apple has slid downhill significantly. OS Upgrades have been bug ridden, and clearly a regression towards consumers vs professionals. It seems every version they take something away from developers and add more IOS features. Little things like forcing you to visitthe Mac store before allowing updates. iTunes is a core OS component, its rediculous. The prices go up and up. Be prepared for 30-100 dollar dongles, and dongles all over your desk. no more cheap amazon versions. Buying cheap Apple cables just don't work, or only work for short periods. You wind up having to pay for quality cables, particularly if you wish to use a 3rd party display.
As of now, I tempted to go back to windows. It would be a painful switch, but having access to the latest hardware at same prices is just getting harder to ignore when Apple keeps doing minor iterations, jacking prices and making decisions like taking away my headphone jack and magport and escape key.
If Apple prices came down 35 percent I'd say the switch would be perhaps worth it, but as of now I'd say stick to windows, and I'll likely be coming back soon. I refuse to buy the new MacBook, it is a downgrade in many respects and costs almost 1000 more than previous version. Absurd. MS will eventually get it right and you will always have better hardware at better prices than in the Apple ecosystem.
Though if they are heading towards the Apple way of doing things they could start holding users at hostage pricing premiums there too, a frightening thought.
ComeOnNow - Wednesday, May 17, 2017 - link
LOL, All MSFT has ever done is 'ape Apple's strategy'. Badly. (Heck, they inserted Apple's freaking SOURCE CODE in 'Windoze Media')DanNeely - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
When did 200 DPI become low res?lilmoe - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
It should be pretty darn apparent for all of you, by looking at the latest products targeting this particular segment of the market, that specs mean nothing. Design, brand and overall and the overall package is everything. Consumers of this segment worry more about the keyboard, screen, light weight, colors and simplicity (clean design) of the device. If you nail all of these, then you're golden.If they went with better specs, then it's going to create more confusion for the intended market. This is for the consumer that doesn't want all the bells and whistles of previous Service offerings.
Would I buy one? Heck no. Does it appeal to me? Not in the slightest. Would it my wife want one for her home office? Most probably yes.
Alexvrb - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
You nailed it. They're not going after spec hounds, techies, or gamers. I sure as heck wouldn't spend that kind of coin on something so mild. But I know I'm not the target audience, and I can respect the reasons someone might want one, to a degree. They are really premium devices, I can see a lot of business users wanting one.Meteor2 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Good point well made. But I think most people in that category would pick a Mac -- and rightly so. If you're going to pay a premium for form over function, may as well get a good device.twtech - Thursday, May 11, 2017 - link
One thing that I think is easily overlooked when looking at specs in the laptop space is that the input devices, etc., matter quite a bit.Comparing to desktop computers where it really doesn't matter what the system might come with because you can easily replace your input devices and monitor at will, I think it's easy to have a perspective that discounts the importance of these things when looking at laptops.
With a laptop, you're stuck with the keyboard, trackpad, screen for the life of the device. If MS has done a really good job in these areas, then that counts for something beyond raw specs.
sc14s - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
"low res", lolI think I found the MS hater. "OMG ITS NOT 8k PANEL WTF"
MrSpadge - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
8k is so yesterday. Today we're all demaning 16k, didn't you get the memo?mapesdhs - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
The BBC and NHK have been talking about and testing 8K/16K technology for many years. In 2010 the BBC did an 8K broadcast of a concert to NHK TV. For viable broadcasting that will appeal though, the pressure is to skip 8K entirely - to the average consumer human eye, it's not enough better than 4K to warrant the investment.JimmaDaRustla - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
"large bezel" "low res", not sure about that. This laptop takes on the boring laptop market and provides an awesome touch screen. Looking at this machine, I don't know what to compare it to - the only thing I can think of is the HP Spectre x360 trumps this thing in every way - 8gb ram, 4k display, 256gb SSD, full windows home, touch screen that flips all the way around, all for 1200 msrp. It looks like HP may be announcing the intel 7000 series versions soon considering they have a sale on the spectre right now. If the Surface Laptop was priced at 800, then I think it'd make more sense.Laerai - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
Not true, I agree the x360 is a better device, but the battery is a key selling point of the Surface laptop and you ignore it entirely. MacBook levels of battery life is a key feature for many and it promises to match it. The x360 isn't nearly as good in that department.nikon133 - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
Yep, but... once upgraded to Win 10 Pro... will it keep that promised 14h battery life? I think I've noticed somewhere that MS was talking specifically about W10s, being much lower resource than full W10. Maybe I got it wrong.drajitshnew - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
There are quite a few lacunae in the hardware specifications, but the screen is not bad at all.Did you notice that the aspect ratio is 3:2 TALLER
I have better than 20-20 vision but I now find full HD on a 14" laptop slightly inferior to a 15".
The screen is only 100% sRGB. When taken with the memory, processor, and lack of ports, storage and networking indicates that it is not intended for regular photo editing. The planned target is Ms word & PowerPoint.
As lilmoe & alexvrb dais it's not for enthusiasts.
Dug - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Whine a little more. You aren't stuck with 128Gb and 4Gb of ram.No other device comes with a 3:2 aspect ratio, 100%rgb, color calibrated screen.
Plus arguably the best trackpad in the windows laptops.
I would say that is a huge difference between any other.
People have been asking for a Surface that isn't top heavy like the Surfacebook, and with lower weight.
Personally I don't see another competitor that can match this laptop. All others have serious flaws, like the Lenovo keyboard, the lap scortching HP.
Dell XPS is the only contender, but it is stuck with a 16x9 screen, and track pad basically sucks.
Tylanner - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
If you watched the rollout you'd be tirelessly prompted about what distinguishes it from other laptops....to say absolutely zero differences just destroys your credibility.anananananantechhh - Friday, May 5, 2017 - link
Trade off for that 1080p display is 15 hours of video playback. The real problem for me is the price, which should be about 30% less.galta - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
If you're willing to spend big on a notebook, you can get Dell XPS 15, with 4k display, 32Gb of RAM, 512Gb SSD and 1050GTX for $2,099. Oh, yes, and it comes with Win10 Pro.tipoo - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
That's one of my top choices, but it's also a 2100 dollar 15" when you're comparing to a 13.5 inch that starts at 1000 (granted top spec can get to 2200 too).DeeCeeTee - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
There is no denying that for the money, the XPS15 is one of the best options out there, but that's not the target market. This thing is all about portability and basic ease of use. 1.25kg compared to 2kg for the XPS15. It's even lighter than the XPS13. Plus as bad as it sounds, the XPS has a big Dell logo on the lid, that will put a lot of people off. (I had this very experience with my maxed out XPS15 9550, someone saying "Oh, I can't believe you use a Dell...")fanofanand - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Brand hungry people will just buy a Macbook, if they are that image conscious they aren't going to run around proclaiming they bought a Microsoft laptop. Even on TV where Microsoft sponsors the program half of the analysts use their Surface Pros to prop up their Apple products.MykeM - Friday, May 5, 2017 - link
Although if you're thinking of using an external GPU (eGPU) with the Dell XPS 15/13, it only supports ½ the full bandwidth (20Gbps instead of the 40 Gbps full bandwidth) of Thunderbolt 3. That's because the XPS line (the 2-1 XPS13 being the only exception) only runs 2 x PCIe 3.0 lanes for its TB3.Here's the list from Dell:
http://www.dell.com/support/article/en/en/frdhs1/Q...
If eGPU is high on your list of what's important with TB3, go with the 2016 15" MBP because it's perhaps the only one (or one of the few) where the 4 x PCIe 3.0 lanes goes directly to the CPU:
http://i.imgur.com/w8VunTq.jpg
"To get the most out of an eGPU setup, you should start with a computer that is a good Thunderbolt 3 host. From the limited resources we’ve gathered to date, the Late 2016 15″ MacBook Pro is currently the best host for external GPU implementation. We found Apple attached the PCIe lanes directly to the quad-core i7 CPU in the newest 15″ MacBook Pro laptops."
https://www.google.ca/amp/s/egpu.io/macos-pascal-d...
stephenbrooks - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
"it’s a version of Windows 10 which will only work with apps in the Windows Store"So not for programmers then? (assuming I don't want to upload every test build to the Windows Store)
im.thatoneguy - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
I assume they mean UWP apps even sideloaded. Although without a Visual Studio for Windows Store yet...Alexvrb - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Again, you can upgrade to Pro for free. So if you buy this device and you ARE a technically inclined user (this might not be your cup of tea anyway but OK) you aren't stuck with the limited OS. Personally if I was responsible for support at a company, I'd mandate all users must run Windows S unless they can pass a PC literacy test. ;)CommandoCATS - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Very much like the 6000SUX, the S in Windows 10 S stands for sucks.cycomiko - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Man, I was excited when I saw this. Looks great. Ok price.But then this windows 10s garbage. Dead in the water. Dammit, don't they ever learn? I may as well buy friggen ipad if I wanted locked down garbage.
stk2002 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
You can upgrade to windows 10 pro for 50$.stk2002 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Or for free until 2018.skavi - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
You can upgrade it to Windows 10 Pro for free.guidryp - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
The full Windows upgrade is only Temporarily free.That they are ever going to make you pay to upgrade to full Windows on $1000 laptop is absurd, especially given they are Microsoft FFS. It's not like they have to pay someone $50 for the full license.
Windows S should really only be on cheap netbooks.
aryonoco - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
I want to love this product, I actually do. But Microsoft has made some very strange decisions here.The Surface Pro 4 is cheaper, and comes with a full version of Windows, and has a nicer display. Also, it's a detachable tablet, but every bit as good as a laptop when used as one.
If you want a traditional clamshell laptop, Dell and HP are making some very nice laptops right now. The HP Spectre X360 for example is cheaper than this Surface Laptop, has excellent build quality, brilliant display, great touchpad, Windows Hello and everything this Surface has, but also runs real Windows and has not one but two Thunderbolt 3 ports (as well as a legacy Type A port).
Every Surface device until now has been a trail blazer, for better or for worse. Sure, they had some early missteps, but with the Surface Pro 4, they hit a home run. But this? How is this device unique? Between the Surface Pro 4 and the Spectre X360, this device fills an extremely tiny niche.
All the Surface Pro 4 needs is a soft update, upgrade the processor to Kaby Lake and put a couple of Thunderbolt 3 ports there instead of the mini DP while keeping the one USB Type A. That's it. Instead we get this Surface Laptop? Why?
Dug - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Because the Spectre x360 overheats and can't really be used on your lap. I know because I returned 2 of them.The extra 1.x inches on the Surface laptop is really nice when the Surface 4 is a little small.
The Surface laptop won't be top heavy and need a kickstand, which really is uncomfortable if you use it on your lap or when travelling on flights.
This Surface laptop can run real Windows and has a much better trackpad than Surface4.
But the biggest difference compared to others is that this has a 3:2 like the Surface4 which is a huge upgrade from 16x9.
nicolaim - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
With the free Win 10 Pro upgrade, Win 10 S isn't a problem.The problem is the hardware. 4 GB RAM is a joke. Worst though is the lack of ports.
Too bad, because otherwise this easily beats the overrated Dell XPS 13.
ET - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
In what ways do it easily beat the XPS 13?fanofanand - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
In what way is the XPS 13 overrated?Holliday75 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
In what way does the Surface laptop easily beat the overrated XPS 13?MamiyaOtaru - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
by not having a cinematic short display. So tired of 16:9. Otherwise, can't think of muchtaisingera - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
What is Microsoft smoking? Proprietary charging, one USB 3.0 (at least full size) port, and just take a look at what you get for those big price jumps between the models. This is for people with too much money burning in their wallets.Pino - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Lenovo Yoga 910 with i7, 4k screen,16GB RAM and 512GB SSD for $1350 is way better:http://www.bestbuy.com/site/lenovo-yoga-910-2-in-1...
8steve8 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
ew, 16:9 in a laptop is bad. look how big that bottom bezel is.Dug - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Try using the right shift key. Bet you can't without looking.Most people return the laptop just for that reason, never mind the screen is not that great.
arayoflight - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
It's a pain at first but I got used to it in a month or so. I only type at about 80 wpm though. Maybe you guys have a problem with that at higher speeds.Both the yoga 710 and 910 are excellent value for money.
rocky12345 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Windows 10 S can be unlocked to Windows 10 Pro, and on the Surface Laptop, that unlock will be free for the first year.So I have to ask this after the year does it just revert back to useless mode leaving you with a platform that no longer runs your programs and holds your system for ransom until you enter a subscription plan or a pro key.
gerz1219 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
I'm pretty sure it's similar to the free Windows 10 upgrade for W7 and 8 users. You had a year to sign up for a free W10 license on older machines, and if you didn't get it within that year you had to pay a small upgrade fee.I don't think Microsoft is planning on charging a subscription fee for Windows in the future -- rather, they'll make the S version free, and charge users to upgrade to the full non-Store-based version.
fanofanand - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Oh Microsoft is definitely looking at the subscription model, just like they did with Office. Get the stripped down basic version (s) for free, or pay $x.xx annually to have the "full" version.at80eighty - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
ITT: once again the nerd brigade losing their minds over a product not targeted at themlmcd - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
This just in: local comment section dwellers only care about their own opinionsat80eighty - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
we are collectively an Onion article unraveling itselfHolliday75 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
That explains the burning sensation and tears running down my face.Varezhka - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
As someone who had both a Thinkpad 600 and a Alcantara steering wheel, I'm expecting a worn and peeling palmrest after a year or two of ownership. I wonder what the replacement policy is for these things.Tams80 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Alcantara is lovely. On something that's touched a lot it remains lovely; for about a year.gipper51 - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
I love my Surface Pro 4, and feel the Surface Book and Surface Studio are both awesome products, if very pricey. That said, I find this laptop very underwhelming. While other Surface products at least gave you unique features and form factors, this does nothing to raise the bar IMHO. It's "just another ultrabook". Not enough here to justify that asking price, and there's plenty of alternatives I'd take for less money.OK Microsoft. After this you better knock the Surface Pro 5 out of the park. For me, I'll be tempted to trade up if it has USB 3.1, better battery life and a full SD card slot.
guidryp - Tuesday, May 2, 2017 - link
Well you do get a keyboard area covered in fuzzy alcantara. That is kind of unique. Not sure it is good-unique.Lolimaster - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Wait, a dual core in 2017 Ryzen land? Let me laugh xDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDDddedzieba - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Why are you trying to encode video or raytrace scenes on an ultraportable laptop?Holliday75 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Because he wants to do it at Starbucks.tyaty1 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Raven Ridge is far from ready. It would take some time, until you actually can buy Ryzen based notebook, and most of them will be bottlenecked by slow single channel RAM.beginner99 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Proprietary connector and no USB-C / Thunderbolt in a premium device in 2017? The omission of this in Surface Book was already concerning but now it's a no-go. Forcing you to lock-in with peripherals. no thank you. i rather get something with usb-c and a usb-c dock. HP x360 spectre /elitebook for sure superior to this.Only good thing is the display but then let's be honest, I woudl run it docked 80%+ of the time anyway.
WorldWithoutMadness - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
So this is MS answer to chrome os chromebook pixel as a reference device to win10s.CedarWind - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Love the fact it is a 3:2 screen. I will likely buy it for that reason alone as there is not much competition there.But this could have been a perfect laptop IF
-it started with 8gb ram
-usb-c ports
-fanless m5 processor choice
-higher ppi display from the Surface Book
Sliderpro93 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
4 gigs of ram in 2017? Unusable"ZWindows", which doesnt let you install 80% of your apps? Unusable.
OS that forces devs to develop and pay for their apps to be "allowed"? Unusable.
~2K resolution and HD graphics? Lap for 1000$+ to work in powerpoint? Unusabl..oh wait, you cant use powerpoint, you cant install it for free anymore. Unusable.
And what totally made me rage - "flagship premium class laptop" - LPDDR3 memory. In 2017.
Microsoft, go kick your balls with your worhtless OS-iOS-parody and lame notebooks.
lightsout565 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Curious to see the battery life benchmarks. The i5 Kaby Lake version of the Dell XPS 13 has a 60Whr battery (versus 44Whr in the Surface Laptop) and WiFi benchmarks from laptopmag.com rates the Dell at 13-14 hrs. Not to mention the Dell only has a 1080p panel, while the Surface laptop is pushing 1.6x the pixels.Inteli - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
So, it's a Chromebook Pixel (with an amusingly lower resolution screen), but instead of recognizing that a purely cloud-based laptop that cost so much was frankly ridiculous and targeting it specifically at Chrome app programmers, they're aiming a rather expensive device at college students, who would probably take a Macbook over this given the option, and most who can afford it already have.Microsoft could have stolen Apple's iMac Pro/Mac Pro thunder with a workstation, but they instead chose to make a very marginally more powerful 12" Macbook in a ridiculously competitive market that has products like the Razer Blade Stealth.
Cliff34 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Agreed. Why would anyone spend so much money for a cloud-based device?Dug - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Because you can actually install windows 10 on it for free. Unlike a Chromebook.yhselp - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
It'd be hard to pick between this and a 13-inch MacBook Pro. I don't know whether an HD 620 would be able to handle 3.4m pixels smoothly, but even if so 128GB/4GB is ridiculous for this type of device so the price actually starts at $1300 if not $1600. The 13-inch MBP starts at $1500 and comes with Iris 540 and 256GB/8GB.If Windows 10 S is as seamless as it sounds, it could be a boon to all PCs. That being said, it's completely unacceptable for any but the cheapest devices to come with S only, and not Home/Pro as well. S should come free with any other version of Windows 10, and it should support dual boot. These are burning questions we need answers for.
I really don't get why the display needs to be touch; it'd have been much better if it had a higher resolution and wide color gamut. This might not be a deal breaker but when you start considering all but the entry offering, it's hard not to see the display as a weak point.
Whatever its shortcomings as a first gen device or due to Microsoft's ignorance, it's fantastic to finally see such a premium, high-end, highly integrated Windows device in a traditional laptop form factor.
Dug - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
What display on a laptop is better? No one else has 3:2 aspect ratio, 100%rgb, and color calibrated.If you are doing editing and relying on wide color gamut you attach a monitor that can do that.
No one does critical work on a laptop screen.
yhselp - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
It's hard to say. MBP's display has a higher resolution and wide color gamut, but it's also a tiny bit smaller and has an aspect ratio of 16:10, and not 3:2.To me, it's not about editting or critical work, but about making the most out of a small laptop screen. Wider screens are only better for video, all other content - web pages, documents, etc. scales great on narrower screens. It's the height of the screen that matters more than the length, and so having a 13" 3:2 screen is like having a 15" 16:9 screen, which obviously fits in a smaller, lighter laptop.
Death666Angel - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
1k for a Microsoft laptop should at least get you Win 10 Pro and a Thunderbolt port. 128GB SDD / 4GB RAM is also kinda ridiculous.Gunbuster - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
How is it you make a WiFi only device and in all the marketing material fail to disclose what chip-set it's using? Marvell Avastar world class worst performing terrible WiFi/Bluetooth that's how...Pneumothorax - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Never thought I'd see the day that Microsoft "out-Apple" Apple...Apple gets to abuse their customers as they're a captive audience where nowhere to go.
1. Alcantara is a wear item and should not be used on a non detachable keyboard
2. 4 gig of soldered ram on a $1000 laptop in a windows 2017 laptop is ridiculous.
3. No ability to upgrade the ssd
4. Too limited ports.
5. Good screen ratio but too low res when compared to the higher ppi competition
6. Cost is about on par with Apple with likely typical horrible PC resale rates.
7. Trying to create a iOS walled garden in windows is crazy at these price points=do it in a special classroom edition with a core M3 CPU and sell it for less.
yhselp - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Dude, Core m3 costs as much as the i5-7200U in the Surface Laptop. Just sayin'.name99 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Gee. It's almost like Apple AND MS AND Google all imagine there's a demand out there for computers that aren't optimized for the needs and desires of the extremely technical...I wonder what could have made them all so deluded about the human race?
Holliday75 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Because there are more of those idiots then there are of our idiots.Tams80 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
What's with that joke of a port selection?Okay, it's not that bad. USB-A is welcome, as is a SD card reader. The headphone jack goes without saying. DisplayPort though? You're far more likely to see a HDMI cable out in the wild. At least one USB-C port (ideally two) would have been nice, and another USB-A 3.2 port.
[email protected] - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Is Microsoft just Stupid or what? Older people remember, they did this with the "Internet" too, lol?Really, not supporting out in 2015: Intel Alpine Ridge chip-set that adds about $5.00 to price? A Thunderbolt 3 HUB has charging, can daisy chain 6 items, storage, internet and one being a 4k display? Making there New $1,000 and up tablet products already obsolete! Somewhat like the forgotten Louisiana Hurricane; Good job Brownie...MadMax - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Except there is no SD card slot.There's only a single USB port, a charging/dock connector, a headphone jack, and an mini-DP port.
So really, there's only one data port unless it is docked, forcing most people to use a USB hub.
A USB hub isn't horrible, but carrying one somewhat negates the benefit of such a thin light-weight laptop.
Dug - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
If you are carrying a USB hub, then that means you are also carrying a bunch of usb devices.So the 2oz usb hub probably doesn't negate the benefit of a thin light weight laptop.
MrPoletski - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Ah, the Surface Laptop.Soon to be coined the 'Slaptop'
SaolDan - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
the Slaptop. i like that. as in the laptop that feels like a slap in the face.tipoo - Monday, May 8, 2017 - link
I'm more a fan of "Carpeted Surface"Timelord003 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Anybody else thinking of the surface rt when you read about it? Windows 10s can only run stuff from the windows store. Windows rt could only run stuff from the windows store. Either way it wasn't much you could really run on it. Anybody else get that same deja Vu sense here?Sebolains - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Anyone know how fast the PCIe NVMe SSD is? Or how many lanes it uses? I'm glad they went for NVMe over a SATA SSD, though!Zdigital2017 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
In the 2017, if MS is not using a PCIe 3.0 x4 for their NVMe drive...oh wait, never mind...they just told us that they want $999 for 4GB of RAM and 128GB of storage. Here's hoping they at least went with super fast drives and we're looking at EVO 960 speeds.jvl - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Hum. I paid 1200 € for my rMBP in 02-2015 (Mid-2014 model) - also with an i5, 8 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD. I don't quite see the point, to be honest.The surface book had me hooked, but with its old-ish connectivity and flat out old CPU it was a no-go at its price point. A refresh might have done them better than this
hybrid2d4x4 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
I'd be happy with a screen at that resolution, but the very limited number of ports is a dealbreaker. I would want at least 2x type A and minimum 1 type C ports (if charging over this port, add a second). This Win10S concept needs to be put in the garbage where it belongs or in the ultra-low-cost netbook/tablet class of devices. "Free upgrade for 1 yr" is not a redeeming feature, especially if it turns out that it reverts back to paperweight-mode when the year runs out. Like others have said, 4GB is a joke at this price point and 128GB storage is probably what I'd consider the bare minimum.Basically, if you're going to ape anyone, MS, ape the non-2-in-1 version of the XPS 13 and put in the 3:2 panel and lose its big bottom bezel (I don't care if it has no webcam at all, but I'm sure others do so put it in the top edge where it belongs). This is what I would liked to have seen...
lmcd - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Can someone please tell me how the Chromebook Pixel didn't get this much hate?vladx - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
No one hates the Surface laptop except a few enthusiasts who don't understand they aren't the target audience and they represent a very small minority in this market.Cliff34 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
One big factor is price point. Chromebook are not selling anything close to what Microsoft is asking for. Second, this is the first laptop with Windows 10 S. It is not proven and the last Windows w/ app version was a big disappointment (Windows RT). For me, i don't understand why would you need so much hardware to run app. Might as well install Windows 10 Pro.Varezhka - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
I thought the Chromebook Pixel got a lot of ridicules back in the day.Now Microsoft seems to be making a competitor to a 4 year old concept that was hardly a success itself (and that one had similar memory for a lower resource OS, more ports, and higher resolution display).
Shadowmaster625 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Why is it so hard to find gaming benchmarks of a Iris pro 640?vladx - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
Iris Pro 640 should be around Nvidia 940M performance-wise, so it should do well in most games at 720p and even 1080p for MOBAs.Cliff34 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
I feel the same way. My guess is that laptop manufacturers want you to get a gaming laptop if you want to do gaming (even low end ones). This is why they forgo having any CPU w/ Iris Pro. Make more money for them.tipoo - Monday, May 8, 2017 - link
It's Iris Plus 640, maybe that's why you didn't find it..Zdigital2017 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
I admit I am a spec-hound most of the time, but I think in this case, MS really could have upped the value proposition by including a Thunderbolt 3 port in addition to the USB-A. By going with the Core i5-7600U and i7-7660U they've got 12 lanes from the CPU and with the HM/QM175 providing another 16 lanes, one would think they wouldn't run out of PCIe lanes for TB3, NVMe storage plus the lanes needed for webcam, keyboard, SDXC slot, et al. The screen is nice, but Apple's P3 display will probably still outclass it in terms of image quality (I will be looking forward to any head to head comparisons in the future). I agree with everyone here that MS should have started with at least 8GB of RAM and 256GB of storage. It finally dawned on Apple to do this when they made 8GB on the MBA standard last year. They still haven't gotten the memo that 128GB was appallingly small in 2016 and isn't getting any more tolerable. Still, I applaud MS for trying to raise the bar/push the envelope.Meteor2 - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
No Type-C? Really?! F'off Microsoft.dumbnub - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
According to a forbes article, windows 10 s currently doesn't support chrome or firefox and you are forced in to using bing. I get that this laptop can upgrade to windows 10 pro for free for a year but going off on a tangent, windows 10 s sounds like a much worse Chrome OS. I mean Edge browser & bing vs Chome browser & google, which is superior? hmmmmmmmandrewaggb - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
Chromebooks are decent for what they are. But 10s at least has an app store.Big question is what the update situation and maintenance is like. If its standard patch Tuesday madness and forces reboots and stuff i think chromebooks wont be threatened at all. Plus are there going to be $200 10s machines?
jmunjr - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
I can't stand 16:9 displays so I am glad this is now an option. No, its not a good value for the money, but please tell me where else I can get a laptop with a screen that isn't taller than 16:9? I'd consider this for that reason alone.sorten - Wednesday, May 3, 2017 - link
I guess they won't be giving these away at Build. I wish they would revive that tradition.andrewaggb - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
Looks nice. Disappointed in ssd sizes. 256 should be the minimum. And ports. More really is better. Guess I'm not the target market but I feel like I should be.yankeeDDL - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
In 2007 a laptop with 4GB of RAM and 128GB of hard disk seems a bit short-sighted.Wait, what? We're in 2017 already? What are they thinking, seriously?
Windows 10 takes 30GB, I grab 64GB of images and videos on any single one-week vacation: do we seriously need to start worrying again about running out of disk space in 2017? On a 1Kusd laptop?
Gunbuster - Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - link
You are expected to be a O365 fan and pump month after month of $$ into Microsoft. Use up your data too. Oh wait it will probably have broken one drive using up 2x the space because of temp files.finbaar - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
What is the purpose of the Surface line of devices? Understand that and you will understand why this is $1000 for i5, 4gb RAM and 128gb storage.Notmyusualid - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
No wonder Bill Hicks hated people from marketing -...no dual core should be marketed as a 'high-end' / i7 CPU in 2017. Hyper-threaded, or not.
tipoo - Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - link
Thank Intel naming. Now even 5 watt dual cores that used to be Core M are rolled into Core i.AncientGem - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
Waiting for Surface Phone.tommyboy32927 - Thursday, May 4, 2017 - link
Hianananananantechhh - Friday, May 5, 2017 - link
Seems like the ultimate mobile computer of 5 years ago. For now I'm waiting impatiently for the Surface Pro 5.AdlerAdemov - Friday, May 5, 2017 - link
Are those laptops some kind of joke?cremefilled - Saturday, May 6, 2017 - link
Wait for the inevitable Black Friday sale, when the 8/256 version will be $900. Microsoft is coming in with a high price for the parents shopping for their college freshmen children. Typing this on my HP Spectre x360 8/256 2560x1440 OLED Iris Pro i7 (plus pen capable, not that I need it) that I got for $1000 last Black Friday, which seems be equal to or superior to the $1599 Surface in every way (I guess Kaby Lake will have better battery life), including tablet use if you want that.SolMiester - Sunday, May 7, 2017 - link
I dont understand why manufacturers are building small screen high resolution units with scaling @ 200%, as soon as you connect external displays the scaling is over the top!avfx - Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - link
Nobody so far has pointed out that while many programmers and unix users (/Mac) may be used to VIM and EMACS and thus may not miss equal sized arrow keys, end, home, page/up/down, pause/break etc, I as a Windows user that does editing outside of programming IDE's, do miss them. I don't really miss a numpad however because it would make portable too wide to be truly portable and those dedicated / * - + -keys could (and ARE) remapped into other keys for example in my Acer Swift 3 and many other laptops. But when doing other than just calculator-form editing you really need all the standard keys and lacking dedicated home, end etc can't be forgiven and I'm amazed at edu-buyers if they buy this without those keys. (Then again, no doubt said edu-buyers use vim,emacs,latex etc so they don't need keys, I bet next MBP will have punctuation and numbers behind modifier because some nuthead thinks the object is to make most portable portable instead of a balance of functionality, future proofness, reliability and portability and trust - which is having certainty that there's no backdoor remote-management technology with a side-channel built in to the firmware unless you personally go into the firmware to enable such. A nice addition would be firmware based IP access control for the built in NIC's so if you can't quite trust the OS you could atleast white list allowed IP's such that if you have a 4G/LTE built-in, there's ability to have additional firewall on top of the OS firewall).Another keyboard thing I'd like to see happen is invention of keyboards that don't smell when taken out of box after shipping and being stored in sealed plastic for months. There's already food/utensil grade plastic that doesn't smell and eg. cloth as alternative to foam-type materials which leach smell that binds to plastic. (probable 2nd source of intense new in box keybord smells).
avfx - Tuesday, May 9, 2017 - link
Sorry that comment was to article not to SolMiesterRichard Arnoldussen - Wednesday, May 10, 2017 - link
After doing a little research the Microsoft Surface Laptop does come with power and memory. The best surface laptop includes 6th Gen Intel Core i7, 512GB SSD, 16GB RAM /dGPU.microsoft-outlook-support - Wednesday, August 23, 2017 - link
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