Microsoft - Surface Laptop - 13.8" 2K Touchscreen - Snapdragon X2 Elite (12 Core) 2026 - 16GB - 1TB Storage - Black

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8 The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2026 spring edition is an excellent machine that sets a mark for high performing PCs. The design, capability, and features of the Surface laptop make it a winner--the screen is gorgeous and well proportioned, the processing speed is high, the working memory is capable of running dynamic programs, and the overall feel of the machine is comfortable. The battery life is also very good--far better than most pcs I have used in the last six years. Admittedly, I have one problem with the Surface--I strongly dislike Windows 11, which is the standard operating system. That said, this is the case for any pc, and so, if one is going to get a pc, one accepts this. (But I reserve the right to complain about how aggravating Windows 11). The Surface is an excellent experience despite the aggravations I may have with this operating system. Functionality: This is a very high powered machine, and I haven't found anything I do to challenge it. It can power through tubby, inefficient photo editing programs and it can hold open dozens of tabs on different browsers without skipping a beat. I am not much of a game player, but a game I do play, which has some nice if not super fast graphics, looks and performs perfectly. I can play a video on an external monitor and edit photos on the laptop at the same time, using a program that chokes my other pc. I have no complaints about performance, though I realize these are not technical tests. Also, this pc has a touchscreen. I don't find that a very useful features in a laptop, to be honest, but it can be nice in some editing applications. It seems that Surface Laptops are no longer compatible with Windows Ink, so that kind of limits why I would ever use a touchscreen. I don't dislike it, I just don't think it's needed, and you end up with fingerprints on your gorgeous screen. On a practical level, it's awesome that the Surface has several ports--one USB A and two USB Cs, and a separate power connection. This makes everyday work much easier, and it's possible to use the computer without always needing extra hubs. To connect to HDMI still will require a dongle, but having three ports makes it possible to use a thumb drive, plug in a camera or a dongle, and still potentially have one free port. This does mean that MS has added a proprietary power cable that plugs into the right side of the laptop. It's magnetically attached, which is nice, but I hate proprietary connection and I was thrilled when my non-pc computer went to a USB C connection. I appreciate not losing a USB C port to a power cord, however, I dislike anything that will be hard to replace if I lose it. It's a sleek connection and it works easily, but the cord could be a little longer. Surface also makes some lofty claims about battery life. While I don't know that it lives up to the claim of 20 hours of video playback for the 13.8 inch model, it is an excellent battery and the best pc performance on battery that I've seen in ages. To put it mildly, my other pcs have had ABYSMAL battery while my non-pc has always had amazing battery, even over the course of several years. The Surface is testing very well. 4 hours of use, not just video playback, resulted in burning about 40% of the available battery. Operating for 1.5 hours with two screens, video playback, word processing, two browser windows with multiple tabs, external Bluetooth mouse and keyboard on, and photo editing software running, burned about 20% of the available battery. TO be clear, my other three-year old pc would have already died. The Surface comes with a bunch of new fancy features, many of which are "AI" powered. I am not really a fan of generative AI or agential AI, but I did look with some care at the privacy policies that are attached to the new features and the computer itself. While I'm still a little leery of anything that Microsoft or any of these large computing powers are pushing in regard to AI, there are some decent assurances in the privacy terms about the way they intend to use personal data. Several of the AI tools are "locally powered" and this makes them more attractive to me--I'm tired of having my personal thoughts and queries turned into data for llms and the like. I also don't like biometrics at all and refuse to use them, so I'm not going to review those capabilities. Microsoft Pluton protections sound good as well, but it's not something I've really "tested;" still, I like that Microsoft is trying to highlight some attention to security at least a little bit. The local AI does power some nice smart features with the camera, allowing for blurring and "cinematic" studio effects, and because these are locally controlled, the battery is not as taxed to take advantage. (Also the camera is a strong performer--far better than my other pc, which was an equivalent price three years ago. It does do better in well lit rooms, however.) There is also a nifty new search feature that uses the local AI to search using more natural language. This raises some questions again about how the machine is watching me, but Microsoft is careful to insist that none of that data ever leaves the local host. I tried the search and, for example, asked for a "photo of a dog," which indeed pulled up lots of my photos of dogs. It also pulled up a few photos of aurora borealis, so that's a bit confusing, but overall the search worked well, and I have to say, much better than windows search usually works. The exterior and interface experience is excellent. Though I don't always think the shell is the most important part of the user experience, the Surface has a very nice aluminum build and is solid. It's not heavy though it's not the tiniest laptop out there, and it does have some heft. It's so sleek it's a little slippery, but though it slid out of my hands and smacked the floor, due to me being a butter fingers, it survived undaunted and didn't skip a beat. The keyboard is pleasant and has a little bit of resistance in the chiclet keys. They are a good spacing, though I'm not totally used to them yet. The touchpad is a strong performer--it's tactile and has a good click, but I also don't have any issue with accidental swipes, though it's a good size. The bottom of the touchpad clearly allows for both right and left clicking. The touchpad has haptic feedback, but I have to admit I don't particularly notice this as different from my other computers. Since I like to use a separate mouse and keyboard often, this is less important to me, but the touchpad still is a good one, and there are certainly terrible ones out there. The screen is excellent, with 2304 x 1536 and a 120HZ refresh rate. Let me tell you, the 13.8 dimension and 3:2 aspect ratios is really nice. This is a little bigger than my previous pc, which has a 13.1 screen that is overly exaggerated in the horizontal dimension. By contrast, the 13.8 works really nicely to allow for windows that feel right--the screen resolution is still very high and the image is crisp, but my applications and internet window are not fighting with the dimensions, an issue I've had with the other pc. It works well for watching media, though it will present widescreen with letterboxing because it does not have the exaggerated widescreen aspect ratio. I do not use my laptop for my primary viewing of films or tv, so I would far rather have a screen that provides a workspace that is more aesthetically pleasing and functional over the film/tv experience. That said, the speakers are also very good and watching on the laptop is still a very pleasant experience. I did have some noticeable audio lag when watching streaming video and using Bluetooth earbuds, I will note. Connectivity is also very easy, and works the way it's supposed to. I had no problem connecting earbuds, switching back to the speakers, and then connecting to a wireless speaker, and going back to the onboard speakers. However, again, there is a noticeable lag in the audio from the speaker, and adjusting the viewing speed would be needed to use the external speaker enjoyably. However, seamlessly moving between these different choices was nice. Again, this is something I've had problems with using my other pc, even though it was also Windows 11. Connecting to the external Bluetooth keyboard and mouse is also a snap, and the machine works easily connected to an external monitor. It mirrors and extends the display without a hitch, and there are less issues matching audio between the laptop and the external monitor than between the laptop and an external speaker. Comparing the large monitor to the laptop screen, however, I notice the superiority of the Surface's display (not too surprising, given that smaller displays always look better and the resolution of the Surface is so high.) To close, I think this is a great computer, and I'm enjoying using it and I think it will be a long term computer for me because the battery is great and the functionality is high. I still hate Windows 11 and onedrive with an absolute burning passion, but this is the best pc I've used in ten years.

The BEST laptop on the market, in my opinion. I've owned the Surface 1 and 2, but was then forced to take my 2 pretty much out of commission as per a new work policy that was implemented. We had to switch to using only work issued DINOSAURS by 'Zell' for the last four years, and only recently were given the choice to use our own devices again. I'd forgotten how much I loved working on a Surface! It's only been a few days, but the difference is noticeable immediately. Starting with just how gorgeous this Surface is. It looks so luxurious and high-end. The feel of it in your hands is like butter. Smooth and substantial, sturdy, and just well made. It's so light and compact, I don't need to carry it in a backpack. It fits nicely into my purse, which is a really nice change. I got the black to match my other devices. It starts up super fast, has such vivid color and the touch pad is just the right amount of sensitive. It's velvety to the touch and I don't have to darn near slam my fingers onto it to get a response! The speed of switching tasks and apps and screens is glaringly noticeable and so refreshing. Plays back video in high quality colors and contrast. The test for me was watching three episodes inna row of Seinfeld and when I watched again on my TV, I was like, it looked better on my laptop!? Lol! The battery literally lasts a full 8 hours of working before I need to plug it in. Still has battery life, so I could go another hour from when the battery saver kicks in. In my work, we use the full Microsoft suite as well as Monday.com. There's no better match than an actual Microsoft laptop to work within their products. Copilot is the only approved AI platform for us, and I just love it. So quick and intuitive and while I don't use AI to do work FOR me, so to speak, I do use it for quick research and let me tell you, the accuracy is by far the best I've used, between my phone, tablet and the Surface's different AI Assistants. I haven't noticed any glaring mistakes or misinformation as I have on other AI. I also frequently utilize AI to search within my files. Speaking of, the storage on this little beauty is enough to last a lifetime! I'm very happy to be back in the saddle with a surface. I would recommend to anyone over a Mac or any other model. This was a great upgrade to my working life!

I just want to start by saying I absolutely love my Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8" inch , and it has over exceeded my expectations. I am in love with the gunmetal color , it is so lightweight and slim , I have a Microsoft surface that is about 5 years old (and still works well) and the difference in the new build is soo much better. The build quality on this newer updated Microsoft surface feels solid and durable, with a clean, sleek design that fits well in my workspace and home. Setup was quick and easy , and it has performed so good without any issues. This Microsoft laptop handles everyday tasks smoothly, everything functions as I expected. I also like that it doesn’t take up much space performs -all in all this laptop is a great balance of quality, convenience, and reliability. Microsoft as always continues to deliver products that are easy to use and built to last. I will definitely always choose Microsoft over any other brand. Overall, I’m very satisfied with this purchase and would recommend this to a friend I am obsessed !

Overall, after about two weeks of mixed use, I think this is the perfect business focused laptop if you're looking for a good, balanced device with powerful meeting capabilities and features, great battery life and productivity. The new matte design/color is an awesome, understated approach, but the keyboard deck suffers from fingerprint/palm print issues and I'm concerned about long-term durability from palm/skin oils and residue. The snapdragon processor provides strong productivity features and performance with camera and audio bonus features to make your next teams or zoom meeting presentation 100%. The camera auto-zooms and pans, and the AI-audio does an excellent job of filtering out background noise - perfect for taking meetings in public spaces (as long as it's not too loud) or in shared WFH spaces. I could easily make it through an entire day of non-continuous business/productivity tasks, with about an hour or so of streaming video. The only downsides/negatives I experienced are an extremely long first boot/setup process - the laptop had to download and install numerous windows updates out of the box. It took me nearly half a day of downloading and installing updates on my gigabit fiber wifi connection before windows was finally fully updated; this included one firmware update and two windows 11 service pack updates. Although these updates are not directly a hardware issue, the fact that this is a new laptop yet needed so many updates out of the box speaks to how old the factory image is from MS.

I wasn't looking very clearly when I grabbed this laptop. I assumed it was a regular ol' laptop, with an intel whatever under the hood. It was when I went to run some benchmarking software to see how hard I could push the integrated graphics that I noticed something was wrong. Instead of the usual x64 CPU benchmarks, I was presented with a Snapdragon benchmark. That's when I started thinking, "did I mess up?" I remember when the first Surface tablets launched. There was a Pro model, which I bought, and there was a non-Pro model that ran on an ARM processor. This wasn't widely advertised, and people bought it and found out that there was limited app compatibility. This almost sunk the brand, but since the Pro had the novelty of a touchscreen tablet running a clean version of windows and pen input(!), they ended up being popular enough to continue iterating on the design. I don't know of anyone that actually kept their regular Surface after understanding what they had purchased compared to the Pro. I was about to give up and get angry that I got the wrong model, when I realized something. I didn't do anything special to install Steam, or the benchmarking software that I had on my Steam account. I had even installed my usual suite of open source productivity tools like Notepad++ for text editing, GIMP for pictures, and Audacity for audio. Everything was working just fine! In fact, after the first startup, GIMP was opening up quicker than on my gaming PC. As it turns out, the installers had picked ARM64 compiled versions of the programs when they were available, and they run incredibly smooth. For x86 and x64 programs, there is a translation layer called Prism that handles most programs with ease. There had been no functional difference between running programs off the Snapdragon X2 12 core processor vs the same program on my Intel desktop. Windows is the exact same. I was convinced, this is a keeper! I use a VPN to connect to my office intranet when I am working from home. So far, I have been unable to find a compatible program that allows me to connect properly. While I was able to install the x64 version of the VPN software that my IT department has provided, it doesn't have the system level resources necessary to run properly. If using a specific VPN, or any other peripheral that has special software designed for an x86/x64 processor, you may want to stick to something with an Intel or AMD inside. Fortunately, I can still connect to my office pc through the web portal. The hardware is pretty slick. It feels like someone took a Surface tablet and made a matching keyboard and trackpad and grafted it on. The trackpad is nice and large. While using it, I noticed that there is a depth to it. Checking the box again, I saw that it was listed as a haptic trackpad. There's definite tactile feedback that makes navigating much easier. I generally hate trackpads, much preferring to pair a bluetooth mouse first chance I can, but I gave this one a shot for the novelty of it. It's pretty cool to be feeling a little bump whenever the cursor hovers over the "Close Window," or being able to click on things without having to actually lift my finger, just pressing in a little harder. I also noticed that the chassis was completely devoid of vents, so no fan noise, but it also wasn't getting very hot. Everything about it feels very premium. I went on a short camping trip to a nearby State Park campground. I downloaded a few movies for entertainment, but forgot the special Surface charger. Yes, Microsoft is sticking with the funky adapter even now. Fortunately, the laptop also charges via USB-C, but I found that I didn't need it at all. After watching a movie the first night, since there was a torrential downpour preventing us from having some campfire fun, the laptop mostly stayed packed away for the whole trip. When I got home after a few days, I was surprised to turn it on from standby to find it still had most of the battery. After my initial shock at using full Windows on an ARM processor, I can pretty much say that this is the way to go for most general use laptops. The internet is going to be the same no matter what device you're on, so the stuff that you're going to be doing specifically on a regular laptop, like spreadsheets, some light image manipulation, and pretending to work on a novel while seated at a table in that funky coffeeshop, you can still do on this laptop just fine. I even ran some retro games that I had installed just to see if they would work. They did, it was fine. Why switch, then? Because the wake from sleep is so much better, as well as the battery life. I have a ton of PCs, from handheld gaming PCs, a server for my home theater, multiple gaming desktop and laptops, but for something on the go like my my upcoming in-town all-day business conference, I'm going to be bringing the Surface so that I don't have to worry about the battery but still get actual work done.