Microsoft - Surface Laptop 4 - 13.5” Touch-Screen – Intel Core i5 - 8GB Memory - 512GB Solid State Drive (Latest Model) - Sandstone

Unpacking: What's in the box: Laptop, power cord, quick start guide. Well packaged, safe from bumps. First impression: On first impression, the laptop is very sleek and light-weight at 2.8 pounds and measuring just 12.1 x 8.8 x 0.6 inches. I got the Sandstone color and it looks great. The touch-pad is a big 4.5 x 3 inches. The keyboard is regular-sized and easy to type on. It doesn’t have the compressed keyboard that you sometimes find on smaller laptops. That’s a big plus for me. The feel of the computer on the wrist while typing is comfortable. My only complaint upon first impression is that there are not enough ports. Only a USB-A, USB-C, and a headphone jack are available. At least one more USB-A port would be a big improvement. Also, there is no SD card reader port, which can be easily remedied by using a card reader. Both are minor complaints because work-around remedies are cheap and easy by using either adapters or a USB hub/splitter. Testing the advertised standouts: • Dolby Atmos® Audio: The theater-like Dolby Atmos audio performed well as long as I didn’t use Firefox. While streaming a movie, the sound would stop after just a few seconds in Firefox. I was using Sling to stream a movie so I got out of the movie and then resumed it and the sound came back on for just a few seconds, then went mute again. After trying this several times, I switched to another browser: MS Edge and it worked fine. Since I prefer Firefox, I wasn’t happy about this issue. However, after doing some research, it appears that this is a known Firefox issue and not a MS Surface issue. There are some patches available that are supposed to fix this, but I didn’t try them yet. Using MS Edge, I watched movies and listened to music on the laptop and thought the sound quality was excellent. When listening to quality music, I noticed the balance of the bass tones and was pleased with the sound. Later, I tested with Internet Explorer and Chrome and the audio was fine. • Sleek, ultra-thin design: I loved the weight and sleek design. I have to agree with this stand out! This is a huge deal for me. I love to travel and this will be a wonderful change for my carry-on bag! • More speed, 70% faster: The speed seemed fine to me, but I don’t really have the ability to test this because I don’t have the other devices with which to compare the speed. • Significantly longer battery life: Although advertised at 19 hours, the battery life lasted 13 hours the first day and 15 hours the next day. It all depends on what you are doing on it. The 15 hr day included watching 2 movies, listening to music, working on documents and spreadsheets, browsing the Internet, and getting on social media. The 13 hour day was about the same (including streaming two movies) except I spent more time during the evening on the laptop. Both days, I started with a fully charged battery and kept the laptop on constantly and didn’t let it go into sleep mode or hibernation. I kept the screen bright. I would say that this laptop would definitely stay charged during a full 9 hour office day with constant use. Still an impressive amount of time! Other features: • The 3:2 display aspect ratio is excellent for office work, making more of my spreadsheets and documents visible. The size of the display was still large enough to also enjoy the movies and videos I watched. • Magnetic Surface Connector for charging: I love this connector. First of all, because it is magnetic, it is so easy to connect. Secondly, the 90 degree angle of the cord makes me feel that the cord will last for a very long time because it won’t be getting bent constantly. Although, I will probably just charge the laptop at night and use the battery during the day, I did keep it plugged in the first day. The cord came unattached once when I was moving the laptop from my lap to a table and not noticing that the cord was getting caught on something, so you’ll need to watch that. I really like that the cord came unattached instead of it getting bent and pulled on. That should make it last much longer. I may never need to replace it at all. • The touch screen worked great and responded quickly. There was no lag time at all that I noticed. I was pleased with the response. • Web cam – I didn’t attend any meetings or use Skype or Zoom during my testing of this laptop, but I did switch the web cam on and found the image quality to be very good. Bottom line: If you are looking for a laptop requiring a lot of storage for image files and numerous ports for peripherals, this probably isn’t the one for you, but if you want a laptop for basic office work (spreadsheets, documents, etc.) or Internet browsing, and social media use, this laptop definitely fits the bill. Its powerhouse battery, sleek design, and light weight make it ideal for most users. The 512GB hard drive and 8mb memory should be plenty large enough to handle your needs. You can easily put it in your backpack and carry it around with you; then take it out at a coffee house, office, meeting room, airport, plane, living room, etc. and feel assured that you will have enough battery to last for a long time.

Feature Overview: • Sleek design, thin, lightweight, powerful and portable for day to day use. Great touch display with max resolution of 2256 x 1504 and amazing graphics/picture quality and sound effects for watching movies. Have it connected to two 32inch monitors via a USB C docking station which also charges my laptop. • Can be charged with the standard MS charger that comes with the laptop or via the USB C connector using a PD charger or docking station. • Amazing battery life, used it for 14+ hrs without having to charge it. • 11th Gen Intel Quad Core/ core i5 processor with 8GB memory is great for day to day work/school use. Didn’t have issues running Teams meetings and multitasking with other tools (Visio, Outlook, Excel, PowerPoint) running in the background. This is not designed for extreme gaming, was a little slow in responding when I tested it on a multi user network game, which is expected from this laptop as this is primarily targeted for productivity and mobility. • 512 GB solid state drive sufficient enough for day to day use as I primarily have all my files on cloud. Boots up pretty fast, took less than 50 seconds during hard reboot and less than 10 seconds from sleep mode. • Light weight good responsive backlit keyboard with large trackpad. Has an headphone jack and an additional USB A port which I used to connect to an external webcam. • Touch screen is very responsive and I used my stylus to edit CAD files. It’s a great entry level laptop for someone who is focused on productivity and portability for day-to-day use. This is my 5th Microsoft Surface/Surface Pro laptop and Microsoft never failed to impress with their next gen laptops. This is a perfect laptop to run school and work applications and is super light for travel, with amazing battery life! Good job Microsoft!

This is my first Microsoft Surface Laptop and I clearly was missing something good. This is an impressive laptop. Starting with the unique Sandtone color this is a nice laptop. At 13.5 inch it is a bit smaller than my usual laptops, but after a short time that is forgotten. The unit is well made and sleek. Sturdy yet lightweight. The keyboard is very responsive to the touch. The keyboard has backlighting that makes the keyboard easy to see. The charging cable took me a quick moment to understand as it is not your traditional charging cable. It utilizes a USB-port to charge. The screen graphics are very good. Colorful and crisp. I don't really play a lot of games, but from a streaming or movie viewpoint it is very good indeed. HD viewing with no complaints. The video color saturation is excellent and the screen plays well with my work programs. This laptop is very responsive and reacts very fast. There are a dew versions of this laptop. Mine is one that runs the Intel i5 processor and it responds quickly and flawlessly. The laptop starts up quickly and operates just as fast when doing its tasks. I have had multiple windows open operating several tasks and I had no hiccups. It comes with 8gb RAM and 512 GB storage capability. Battery life is very good and when you need to replenish it recharges quickly. The Surface 4 comes with two different USB ports A & C, a headphone port , HDMI, and a charging port. The touchscreen is very responsive and works very well. The touchpad is equally as good. This Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is impressive.

Not everyone is a photographer, a graphics artist, or a musician. Some of us bang out spreadsheets, browse the web and want to play video games. Not to say that you can't to amazing and creative things on Windows, but for years that was a dividing line. Those of us who wanted beautiful hardware to go along with the applications that we need to stay productive were stuck admiring the design and materials of the other guys. Well no more... Design: I admit it. I'm a design snob. Is it a crime to want the devices I use every day to look good? While the Alacantra fabric finish was intriguing, I preferred the cool metal aluminum finish as I'm a little more confident that I can keep it looking great for years. The design is incredibly light and thin and the aluminum housing definite has a premium feel. The typing experience is very comfortable with the soft keys. The trackpad seeks like it could be a little larger for my tastes, the pinch and zoom could have made use of a larger canvas, but it's certainly usable and very smooth. The screen resolution is sharp and very impressive. Connectivity: The Surface Laptop comes equipped with a USB-A, USB-C, a headphone jack and a Surface port. I don't often plug anything into my laptop when I'm on the go, and at home I use wireless accessories when possible. One of my monitors even connects wirelessly - a feature that many still don't know about. I do like the versatility of having the USB-A, but pretty frustrated that the USB-C was not Thunderbolt compatible so that I could with a different monitor with even greater resolution. Touch Screen: I have to say that I've never been a big touch screen on a laptop guy. I find it cumbersome to take my hand off a mouse and tap my screen when I can simply navigate my cursor and tap. That said, I do find that the quality of the touchscreen is excellent. The screen does not feel 'plasticy' and the responsiveness when scrolling is terrific. Performance: Benchmarks for the 11th gen I-5 model puts this laptop in the 'above-average' category and for me that's perfect! My biggest PC use is Excel and while a spread sheet isn't exactly a first person shooter at 120 frames a second...let's not kid ourselves...Excel requires some horsepower when you've got a lot of charts, tables, macros, and lookups. I am happy to report that after throwing my most complex files at it the Surface Laptop 4 performed beautifully with minimal load times and excellent processing. Gaming: Though I'm mainly a console gamer, I was excited for this laptop because I wanted to see if I could make use of my X-Box Game Pass and actually play Xbox games on the go! As you can see by the photos I was able to quickly install the new Xbox application and sign in with my Game Pass to download Madden 21. It took a little time for me to adjust to playing on a 13.5" screen vs. a 60" TV, but I was quickly immersed into the gameplay and even played a few games online. As someone who travels I'm very excited to basically take my Xbox with me anywhere I go! Battery: Battery life is apparently better in this model? All I know is that I'm super stoked that I can charge with USB-C. It may not charge as fast as the Surface power brick but knowing that I can charge with a portable USB-C battery pack means that I really never have to worry about battery life. That's a must for any laptop and I'm very pleased.

The Surface lineup has had such a unique, and interesting design that I’ve loved for a long time. But after having the Surface Laptop 4 in hand, I’m having a hard time deciding which I love more. To be honest, at the beginning I got an Apple vibe from it. To add additional context, before the Surface Laptop 4, I hadn’t really had much of a hands on experience with a previous Surface Laptop. In any case, Microsoft really pushed the bar on the Surface Laptop lineup. The brushed aluminum case gives it a beautiful aesthetic, look, and feel. I also assume, whether intentional or consequential, the said case assists the laptop with active cooling. I truly couldn’t say I’ve felt it heat up so much that it would burn my lap or hands/fingers resting on the keyboard. Along the rear of the case, running the length of the display hinge, there's a narrow grille which I can’t say I've felt any wind suggesting it houses a fan inside. Comes with 1 USB Type A, USB Type C, and a 3.5mm aux jack. Pretty basic but is on par with these really thin form factor laptops. The display is really bright and vibrant, videos look really well. This model with the 11th gen i5 and 8gb of ram is very snappy. Does all of your basic tasks really quickly, as well as slightly more CPU intensive tasks like minor video editing (editing video in the Windows default Movies & TV app). I couldn’t install something that would weigh down on the processor like Vega, premiere pro, or after effects but suspect it should handle a bit of either just fine. But, someone is bound to ask this eventually. Can you game on it? The answer is yes, but do not expect to game at ultra settings. Everything I’ve attempted defaults to low or medium settings I included the benchmark result from Gears Tactics for evaluation. The Surface Laptop 4 certainly offers a good amount of processing power. There’s just no expandability, so choosing the right configuration from the start is a must. The device information reveals that there’s 8gb, 8 of 8 “row of chips” of ram. Most certainly soldered ram and non-expandable. My only complaint, at least with the sandstone model. There's an odd banding found on the surface of the laptop. When I’ve compared to the stock images the color seems to be a solid tone all around. But the color on the actual laptop seems to have stains or an unfinished clear coat like color. After ownership for a few days it made me believe these “stains” were finger oils. But I recall, while unboxing, I made a comment about some discoloration. I brushed it off and assumed oils from the packaging process at the factory. Then after wiping it down with a microfiber cloth and seeing no visual difference I came back to the conclusion that it’s in the paint.

All in all I can confidently say that this laptop blows my others out of the water in many different ways. The main reason I am ecstatic about this is because of its speed/processing power, its light weight and its sleek design. First and foremost, this laptop is fast. There was this little voice in my head telling me that touchscreen laptops are not fast... and boy was that voice crushed about 30 seconds after powering it up. And, paired with the 8GB of ram, this laptop is sure going to provide all needed processing power that anyone would desire from a non-desktop. Fast loading is a must and this laptop checks the box. Design and weight are also very important to me. The laptop is thin,, yes very eye catching. I did not feel as if I was handling a fragile piece of equipment either. It feels sturdy and powerful. It's weight is actually much lighter than i was imagining i would be. When i feel super light laptops, my brain tells me they are flimsy, but i did not get that feeling with this laptop. All in all I would recommend this laptop due to its superior design and its higher than expected processing power.

Absolutely thrilled with the new Microsoft Surface Laptop 4! It is THE best Windows laptop on the market currently, nothing even comes close! The other two manufacturer systems, which I also purchased at the same time to test them out all side-by-side for a few days to see which I liked best for day-to-day activity, are already packaged and have been shipped to them. I definitely recommend!

The first thing you notice when unpacking the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is the premium build quality. It’s a surprisingly lightweight, thin, and beautiful laptop with a very solid aluminum chassis. Setup was very easy. As soon as I opened the lid, the laptop turned on and Cortana helped guide me in the setup process. As advertised, you only need one hand to lift the lid. I love that you can use either the USB-C port for charging or the included power adapter that uses a magnetic connection to the Surface Connect port. Being able to use the USB-C port for charging means that I can use any standard USB-C laptop charger in case I misplace my Surface charger. The unit I am reviewing contains some interesting hardware 11th Gen Intel(R) Core(TM) i5-1135G7 @ 2.40GHz with integrated Intel(R) Iris(R) Xe Graphics 13.5" PixelSense 10 point multi-touch display with 3:2 Aspect Ratio (2256 x1504) Surface Pen enabled (4096 levels of pressure) 8GB DDR4 System Memory SAMSUNG MZ9LQ512HALU 512GB NVMe SSD Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 + Bluetooth 5.0 720p Webcam supporting Windows Hello Omnisonic Speakers with Dolby Atmos Microsoft Surface Connect port 1x USB-A 3.2 Gen 1 1x USB-C 3.2 Gen 1 with Power Delivery and DisplayPort 1x 3.5 mm headphone jack I’ve always been interested in new technology so I was very keen on playing around with the new Intel Iris Xe graphics. The keyboard is one of the better keyboards I have ever used on a laptop. The layout is good for typing and the large touchpad is responsive and accurate. The included webcam captures very sharp images and performs well in low light. I tested the microphones using Voice Recorder and I thought my voice came loud and clear. I think this laptop will perform well for video conferencing for those working at home. The Omnisonic Speakers with Dolby Atmos also produced crisp and clear sound. I was impressed with the sound given the space constraint that laptop speakers are subjected to. The PixelSense display is bright and provides rich natural colors and sharp text. This laptop would also be a great choice for entertainment activities such as watching YouTube and Netflix videos (I’m watching the NFL draft on YouTube while writing this review!). I love the 3:2 aspect ratio of the display. Having more vertical space is great for productivity. Web browsers can display more information without scrolling. You can see more rows of a spreadsheet. As a programmer, I really appreciated having more vertical real estate for coding. I like this feature so much that I will probably want all my future laptops to have a 3:2 screen aspect ratio. During my usage, the Surface Laptop 4 felt very snappy and zippy. I haven’t noticed any lagging or sluggishness even with multiple programs and windows opened. I have a Microsoft Access database that I use to keep track of rental payments for some properties that my parents own and it was able to generate reports very quickly. An almost complete workload install of Visual Studio Community 2019 took about 23 minutes from an external SSD which was about 7 minutes faster compared to my older Intel i7 7560U based ultra laptop from 2017. Visual Studio felt responsive and quick when editing and compiling code. Handbrake encoding using the Super HQ 1080p30 Surround Sound preset averaged around 48 fps. By comparison, a Ryzen 3500U based ultrabook averaged around 30 fps and my Intel Core i5-9600K gaming desktop gets about 60 fps using the same preset. However, when using the Intel H.265 10-bit QuickSync encoder, the Iris(R) Xe integrated graphics averaged an astonishing 320 fps that blew away the 208 fps from the Intel i5-9600K. This shows the massive improvement in QuickSync on the new Xe integrated graphics. I was also interested in testing light gaming on the new Xe integrated graphics. I tested DOTA 2 and at the fastest setting it was running at 120 fps at 2256 x 1504. At best quality setting the fps ranged from 35 to 50 fps. It was very smooth and playable. Overall, I’ve been very impressed with the performance of the new Intel i5-1135G7 processor and the new Xe integrated graphics. It’s amazing how far integrated graphics have come in the last few years where ultralight laptops are now capable light gaming systems. The built-in Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX201 adapter was only connecting to my Linksys Wi-Fi 6 AX6000 MR9600 router using Wi-Fi 4 (802.11n) at a link speed of 300/300 Mbps. I have another computer with an Intel Wi-Fi 6 AX200 adapter that reported a link speed of 1.2 Gbps so I’m not sure why I haven’t been able to connect at a higher link speed. Real world transfer speed from my home NAS was about the same so it hasn’t negatively impacted me. The main drawback for me is the lack of user upgradability. The memory is not upgradable. My unit came with 8 GB of memory which is probably the minimum that I would find acceptable on a Windows machine. Having only 8 GB can be a little tight for some tasks. I heard it’s possible to upgrade the internal SSD but that requires removing the rubber feet to reveal some screws and it’s also not recommended to be done by the average end user. I hate having to remove rubber feet to gain access to screws. I don’t want to do anything that might ruin something that looks as beautiful as the Surface Laptop 4. Finally, it would be nice if the USB-C port supported Thunderbolt so that an external graphics card could be attached for those who want to do more serious gaming. In summary, I think the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 is an overall excellent laptop. The light weight and portability would make this a great choice for school or the casual user. It has enough power for light office work, schoolwork, programming, and work at home scenarios (such as video conferencing) as well as light gaming and media consumption. It’s a well balanced computer that many would be happy with.