Customer Ratings & Reviews

Presentation: Opening the package containing the Surface 4 laptop helped me enjoy the upscale packaging that I’m sure Microsoft was aiming for. The employees took there time to make sure every inch of the boxing process was perfect. I took my time to live that moment longer. Setup: After removing and opening the Surface 4 laptop out of the box I was greeted by Cortana (Microsoft’s personal voice assistant). Cortana walked me through the initial setup and all I had to do was speak and she took care of the setup. The choice to click and manually make the selections is also available. Appearance: The Surface 4 laptop feels great to handle and weighs less than 5 pounds. I decided on the aluminum Matte black color and it looks fantastic. I don’t see it attracting fingerprints on the housing unless filthy hands get to it but it will be more for my personal use with school. For now I do Zoom meetings for school and the 720p front facing camera is perfect for it. The Surface 4 is equipped with a 15 inch crisp, and clear HD display that’s made for just about anything in touchscreen. Movies look amazing and browsing the web in 2496x1664 resolution detail make all the online shopping experience better and safer because I’m at the comfort of my home. This is faster than my other laptop from a well known company and it weighs less. Negatives: Where are the ports Microsoft? -No HDMI (not everyone do casting) the HDMI comes handy when and if I’m doing a presentation and easier to setup in my opinion. -Only 1 USB port can work but a backup would be nice. -Not a 2 in 1. It’s a touchscreen laptop and if it was designed to fold into a tablet I think it would make it more comfortable to have the option. Positives: -The Surface 4 laptop is fast. This is faster than my 2 years old laptop but I’m not sure it’s 70% faster. -The battery holds the charge for a good duration of the day depending on what I’m doing on the laptop. -Facial recognition is also a big deal to me. I’m seeing that feature more but I appreciate having it. -Keyboard keys are responsive to touch and smooth by not sticking when pressed. -Touchscreen is there when I need it. It’s a bonus to have especially when browsing. -Atmos Dolby surround sound makes watching a movie on the surface 4 laptop better when you don’t have your Surface buds nearby. -Fast charger. It comes with a magnetic fast charger that fully charge in about 2 hours. Other Mentions: For the tech gurus out there I know the specs might be a big deal. 512GB SSD 8GB RAM AMD Ryzen processor Which is enough for what I’m using it for. If the Surface 4 can’t handle the task I’ll hop on my desktop but for now it fits my need. Small things can make this Surface 4 closer to perfect but I think Microsoft is on the right path elevating there products.

Worked ok for awhile then it slowed way down paid to much money for it

/////////// First Impressions and Features /////////// The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 15” is definitely a premium laptop. It is one of the rare laptops where its hardware and software come from under the same roof. It shares the look and feel of its predecessor, and I have no issues with that at all. This is my first Surface Laptop (I currently own a Surface Pro 3, still kicking!). It is equipped with a Ryzen 7 8 core/16 thread APU, 512GB SSD and 8GB DDR4 RAM. The unit feels premium and sturdy, the hinge that holds the screen upright is very strong, and the backlit keyboard is probably one of the best keyboards I’ve ever typed on in a portable laptop. The cool metal feels smooth on your palms as you type and the touchpad registers all single and multi-touch gestures without a hitch. The panel is a touchscreen and I feel that it won’t be utilized very much, but it does become very handy when you need it. Trying to buy that elusive gpu online before everyone else? With a touchscreen, you are now the fastest ‘add-to-cart’ online shopper this side of the Mississippi! Contrary to what most others say about the thick bezels, I actually appreciate them. Where else are you going to hold the screen to open it up or make tilt adjustments without touching the panel itself? It’s one of those things that we take for granted as we prioritize looks over functionality. Ok, maybe they can be shrunk down a tad...but it doesn't bother me. One of the most satisfying aspects of the Surface Book is the display’s 3:2 aspect ratio, with a resolution of 2496x1664. From a general use and productivity standpoint, the vertical real estate gained allows the natural viewing of websites, documents and the like. Think about it. Most physical documents are printed in portrait, so there is a welcoming familiarity once you begin using the laptop. It is most definitely refreshing. The I/O is sparse on the laptop, having only a single USB-C, USB-A and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The only other means of connectivity is the Microsoft proprietary charge port that can also double as an I/O port with their proprietary dock. The limited amount of I/O helps keep the laptop thin, as evident in other laptops designed today, and the only way to expand I/O is to purchase a separate docking station or USB hub. The USB-C can also double as a charge port as well if you have a means of charging it that way. I own a monitor with a USB-C connection that acts as both a 65W charger and hub. This is a perfect complement to the Surface Laptop 4. /////////// Processing Performance /////////// A big omission is the use of the newest Ryzen 5000 Series mobile processors for this latest generation of Surface Laptop. This is an automatic star deduction in my book. Microsoft pinned the last generation’s Ryzen with the latest silicon to come from Intel. That being said, the Ryzen 7 4000 Surface Edition mobile processor is still a great everyday mobile APU. It is an 8 core/16 thread 7nm that should satisfy most users and their processing needs. The CPU core speeds will behave differently on battery versus when plugged in, and I’ve provided a table of the tests I ran for each power mode using Cinebench R23: <<- On Battery, 4 Modes ->> Battery Saver (Single 2GHz, Multi 1.4GHz) Recommended (Single 2GHz, Multi 1.6GHz) Better Performance (Single 2.9GHz, Multi 2.4GHz) Best Performance (Single 4.2GHz, Multi 2.9GHz) <<- Plugged In, 3 Modes ->> Recommended (Single 3.95GHz, Multi 2.5GHz) Better Performance (Single 4.3GHz, Multi 2.4GHz) (dipped as low as 1.5GHz in Multi, thermal throttling?) Best Performance (Single 4.3GHz, Multi 2.7GHz) (dipped as low as 1.3GHz in Multi, thermal throttling?) A couple of things to note. Maybe I’m stating the obvious here, but if you’re looking for top performance out of this laptop, you’re going to have to plug it in. When plugged in, the base single core speeds are increased almost by 100%. The laptop does not need to worry about battery conservation and can allow the cores to run full blast. The other thing I noticed is that when plugged in and running multi-core tests, the speeds start off strong but begin to taper off. I took note of the temps during testing and the core temps held under 70 degrees C, so I don’t know if it’s thermally throttling or something else relating to its TDP. When running off the battery, the speeds and performance are expected; the APU is intentionally limited to conserve battery. Still at Best Performance, you can squeeze out a single core speed of about 4GHz, which is impressive. /////////// Graphics Performance /////////// The Ryzen 7 Mobile is baked in with Radeon graphics. The graphics had no trouble running games like Roblox. I had my daughter give it a test run (she plays on my desktop PC with a dedicated GPU, for reference) and she gave it two thumbs up. I know, Roblox isn’t a demanding game, but it’s nice to know she can Roblox on-the-go on a PC rather than on a smartphone. So I took it to the other extreme and installed Shadow of the Tomb Raider for another test run. Running the in-game benchmark tool, I was able to squeeze out 13fps. This is with all graphics settings set to the lowest setting. During the benchmark, the APU shot up 91 degrees C! Terrifying. For my last test, I decided on a middle ground with Halo MCC. This was actually playable! Frame rates were around 30-40fps and the APU temps were hovering around 67 degrees C. Not bad at all. I had the laptop plugged in while gaming and did notice that the laptop became warm to the touch with the fans quietly spooled up, but nothing to be alarmed about. /////////// Battery Performance /////////// Ultimately if you decide to go with the Ryzen APU, you reap the benefits of the 7nm process which equates to lower power consumption and ultimately longer run times. This will be evident as you begin to configure your Laptop 4 with either Intel or AMD. If you go Intel, your battery times are reduced by as much as two hours. Intel Tiger Lake uses a 10nm process on their mobile chips which results in more power use. The Intel chips are fast in both processing and integrated graphics and may have advances in their silicon process, but you lose out in runtime. And it costs more, too. From the standpoint of costs and battery life, Ryzen would be the way to go. Just something to think about. Speaking of battery life, Microsoft states a battery life on this 15” Ryzen model to about 17.5 hours. We don’t know how they arrived at that number, but my regular use brought about 11-13 hours with the battery set to Recommended mode. That’s essentially a full day before reaching for the wall charger. You can easily mitigate battery usage by reducing screen brightness as well as disabling keyboard backlighting and turning off Bluetooth if you’re not already using it. Also, the more applications you have running in the background, the more battery will be consumed. /////////// Summary /////////// At its price point, it will have to trade blows with Dell, Lenovo and even the upcoming Samsung for ultra portable PC laptops, and many may find the other brands more visually appealing if we consider all their models comparably equipped. It boils down to preference and what is value priced at the moment. But again, there is something to be said about a company that designs both the hardware and the software of a device and even collaborates with chip makers like AMD to make a premium product, and so I recommend the Surface Laptop 4 15” Ryzen Edition as a buy. It’s a shame that Microsoft didn’t go with the nextgen of Ryzen processors. Apple is at the forefront of hardware and software, with their new M1 chip being all the rave at the moment, and is another alternative to the Surface Laptop 4 if you don’t mind running MacOS. Another avenue would be gaming laptops that offer much more performance at the same price point, but are larger, heavier and will need to be plugged in most of the time. I recommend that you think about your daily use cases and make a decision on a certain type of laptop from there.

This is an excellent laptop with an interesting form factor that will take me some getting use to. I really enjoy the lightweight sleek look of this laptop especially with the 15" screen size. If you are looking for a wonderful work or play laptop, I feel like this is the perfect hardware combination with the 8GB of RAM and the 512GB SSD paired with a beefy Ryzen 7 processor. I use Adobe for photo and video work and this laptop handles the sometimes intense processing tasks just fine. One thing I did notice was no thunderbolt port which i feel like should come standard nowadays it opens up lots of options. I also noticed the lack of ports on this laptop which isnt necessarily a bad thing because I dont tend to use many usb ports but if you like to connect up lots of things, just know you may need an external port replicator of some sort. The battery life on this has been stellar and I'm very happy to say I have yet to run it down in between charges like I tend to do on my other laptops with sub optimal batteries. One thing to note is the battery does not appear to be removable and I dont beleive the RAM is removable or upgradeable either. So if you want the 16GB of RAM, get it up front because there is no adding any additional or swapping it from what I have read thus far. All in all, I love this laptop, I think it has great speed, is built well, and provides excellent power with excellent battery life. I would highly recommend it.

Bought this back in April when my old laptop died my first day on a new job. I would normally prefer more memory (at least 16 GB) and storage (at least 1 TB), but for work purposes, the 8 GB of RAM and the 512 GB SSD are plenty. As with Apple computers, there's something to be said for the same company making both the hardware and the software. This Surface laptop performs smoothly, with none of the problems you'd expect to encounter when the OS has to accommodate a zillion different possible configurations of hardware and software. Good keyboard action, too—and excellent battery life. The inclusion of both USB-A and USB-C ports (one each) is a nice touch—no need for an adaptor to use existing backup drives. I would suggest three minor improvements, though: 1. Oddly enough, now that Apple has switched to USB-C charging, Microsoft has implemented something similar to Apple's old MagSafe charger. It's not as sturdy, though. Whereas Apple's MagSafe required considerable force to accidentally disconnect, it seems the slightest movement will disconnect Microsoft's charger. That's probably a good thing insofar as it protects the cable from damage, but it can be inconvenient if you're working away under the assumption that your battery is charging when you've really got only 15% left. 2. The lack of an indent at the front of the computer, combined with the Windows/Surface logo being four squares, makes it harder to tell where to open the lid. 3. A keyboard backlight would be helpful. Microsoft—who knew?

I bought a Dell XPS but returned it, low resolution screen and so heavy. Exchanged for this, best decision I ever made. This computer is so well made, sturdy and at the same time thin and light, not sure how they did it, but they did. The screen is beautiful, battery life is great, such a joy to travel with this. Only slight is that I wish it had thunderbolt port instead of just USB C and USB A

Gets the job done most of the time for school, other than the keys being somewhat difficult to feel and read in certain lowlight situations without backlighting on max as well as issues detaching the screen from the keyboard. Overall a decent laptop

Very nice laptop. Slick design with big monitor. Despite the latest model SSD, it seems a bit slower on booting when comparing with acer laptop I have. Battery varies depending on what you're doing. It does last longer than my LG gram laptop however.

After having this computer for about two weeks I have been thoroughly impressed. I am coming from a work computer to a significant upgrade. The screen is great which is why I went with this laptop in general (I look at photos all day). It has handled everything I have thrown at it so far. My only complaint or issue, is the charge cable. The cable itself is great and even comes with an extra USB in the brick, which is great for charging my phone. The magnetic part is extremely weak and a small bump usually disconnects it from the laptop. The bottom of the laptop is also curved so I almost always have to lift the computer up and look to reattach the charger. Aside from this little nuisance it has been great.

Great Laptop!!! Happy with my decision would. Great battery life, large screen, able to zoom in when needed.

Great laptop. Does everything I need it to do. Of course the ports are VERY limited but there are ways around that.

Great awesome I ordered two of them. They’re fast nice and very well-made

Full disclosure - I'm a Mac guy, but I purchased this because I had an immediate need for a 15-16" laptop and didn't want to wait for Apple to come out with an "M" version of the 16" Macbook Pro. That said, this is a solid machine and a good value. Strong points are: 1) Pleasing design. Very solid with little screen flex. 2) Excellent display. Most laptops at this price point have 1920x1080 resolution. The Surface Laptop bridges the gap between standard HD and UHD+ with minimal cost penalty. 3) The Ryzen processor is more than adequate for my needs (email, multiple browser tabs, reasonably complex spreadsheets, light photo editing). 4) Good keyboard/key travel. I don't see any deal-breaker negatives, but rather a few weaknesses: 1) The touchpad is about as good as I've used on any Windows PC, but does not compare favorably with Apple. Sensitivity is erratic across the width of the pad. 2) Weirdness in how it adapts screen brightness to ambient lighting. Too many adjustments with the slightest change in ambient. Yes, this can be disabled, but Macs do a much better job. 3) Would be nice to have Thunderbolt support for the USB-C ports. 4) User settings strewn all over the place in Settings, but that's a Windows issue not unique to this laptop. 5) Matte black finish is a major fingerprint magnet. Overall, a good, competitive machine.

Light and easy to carry. Battery lasts a good amount of time. Love that its touch screen

Clean lines, light, easy to use. Not enough ports, really, but otherwise a good investment.

Its good, have all the features I needed for my work and my school

Laptop is sleek, fast, and has a nice touchscreen. When it arrived the colors were very vibrant and almost fake looking, but you could change that in the settings. Had to exchange the first laptop that arrived because it had a squeaky touchpad, but this one seems to work fine.

Love my Microsoft Surface Laptop 4! It's super lightweight and the clarity is superb. I would definitely buy again. The only thing is if you buy a Microsoft computer they should give you the Microsoft office software....

Minor issues so far - the screen fades in and out and I believe I have fixed that, time will tell. Nice screen size and et up right out of the box was very easy.

Microsoft surface 4 laptop is a great machine but requires additional equipment to make it work like a table top