Customer Ratings & Reviews

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.

This may not be the most spec'd out laptop Microsoft offers, but don't let that fool you. This Surface 4 can easily hold its own and has exceeded my expectations. My primary use with this laptop is for video editing and publishing, mostly for youtube. So anytime I'm testing out a new computer, it's one of the first things I do, because the amount of processing that occurs has pushed some of my past computers to their limits. This Surface 4 handled video processing with ease. Coming from a macbook, this Surface is able to process my videos faster and quieter. While it did cause the fan to kick on, it was mild and didn't sound like a jet engine going off. Even during the uploading and publishing phase it handled it quite nicely. I also decided to use this to convert old analog video to digital, another long process that takes some power. Again, it was able to handle the conversion process with ease, not a hiccup at all. Outside of all that, there isn't really anything else that pushed it. In fact, nothing else I've done, or currently do, has been able to slow it down or cause the fan to kick on at all. One other thing I really enjoy with this Surface 4 is that because it is a Microsoft product, I was able to connect it with my xbox and controllers seamlessly. Even better, because I do have an Xbox Game Pass Ultimate subscription, I could use this for gaming. I'm definitely more of a casual console gamer than a pc gamer, but this fills that gaming urge whenever I feel the need and can't get to my console. If there's one negative I do have with this laptop, it's the lack of inputs. You get 1 standard usb, 1 usb-c, a headphone jack and the proprietary power input. It would have been nice to have additional inputs so you don't have to manage your devices or get extra adapters. I like to connect an external monitor, which this laptop handles no problem, but that right there takes up the usb-c input leaving just 1. You'll either need a lot of Bluetooth devices or adapters with extra inputs. But speaking of inputs, I do really like the fact that Microsoft uses a magnetic power plug. Makes it easy to take on and off but best of all less worry about tripping on the cord and pulling the laptop with it. And the power cord and brick is sleek and surprisingly not all that large like they can be. Overall, I honestly don't have any complaints about the Surface 4. The touchscreen works great, picture looks really good, keyboard has a good feel to it along with backlighting. Touchpad requires a tad too much pressure to click for my liking, but that's something I can get used to. Battery wise seems to be really good as well. I've had this laptop for a week now and on days I'm not doing a lot of video editing, the battery has lasted almost all day. I would easily recommend this Surface 4 to anyone looking for a new laptop.

These are my go to laptops for most of my clients and myself. I have only had 1 of these give me a fit, however it was promptly replaced by Microsoft and all is well. The fit and feel of this device is great and I would put it up against a Macbook Pro any day. Although improvements have been made on being able to self service this device it is not for the faint of heart, however that is the state of the art on any of the laptops of this class. I typically do not suggest purchasing an extended warranty, however if you are purchasing a higher end device I suggest that you consider it. I am referring to on 2K or more. This a solid solution for a road warrior and when teamed with a dock you have a great office solution as well.

Microsoft has continued to improve the surface laptop line and now has the addition of choice between Intel processor and AMD Ryzen, both in multiple specifications. My unit is the Intel core i5 with 8gb ram and 512gb SSD. First impressions on the unboxing proved that this looks and feels like a premium product. I have the sandstone finish and it is a nice change from the constant silver/metallic finishes of almost all brands out there. In the box are the computer, proprietary charger, and paperwork. Upon initial startup, I found that the laptop, via Cortana, made the process painless and was quite fast. Transferring 280 gb of data (files, music etc.) was surprisingly fast compared to my 4 yr. old core i7 Lenovo product (no knock there as it has been a workhorse). Once the laptop was set up to my specs, I put this produce through multiple simulations and processing abilities and to my surprise, was able to handle everything with ease. The 11th gen i5 processor is truly a step up from the previous version and quite a bit faster than last year’s iteration (I have a laptop with i5, 10th generation). Even with the additional processing power, the battery life is stellar and every bit was is reported in the spec sheet. I was pleasantly surprised to see this much processing power in this product and so much so that I am going to purchase another for my business needs. My only negatives to this laptop are the screens bezels are a bit wide and dated compared to other manufacturers. I would also like the ability to increase the RAM on this but unfortunately, this is not possible. I also will never understand proprietary chargers. While the USB C can charge the laptop, it is not as fast as the Microsoft charger that is different than all other manufacturers. In the era of thunderbolt USB-C, and warp charging from other manufacturers via USB C, I do not get the need for yet another unique charger. I know this is personal preference but the tech is there to charge all devices (phone and computers) with only one type of charger. The fruit computers have this issue as well. I would also love to see this computer have a thunderbolt USB C which it unfortunately does not. Not a huge cost increase to the manufacturer and would be appreciated by every purchaser. All in all, I would recommend this laptop, mostly because of it’s processing power ability. The price is right for what you receive and with just a few tweaks, this could be an outstanding laptop on every level. I do not think you will be disappointed in this offering.