Customer Ratings & Reviews

I recently got this Microsoft laptop, and it has exceeded my expectations in every way. Design and Build: The laptop’s sleek, premium design and lightweight build make it incredibly portable and aesthetically pleasing. The attention to detail is apparent in every element, from the screen bezel to the comfortable keyboard layout. It’s an ideal device for both professional settings and personal use. Performance: Powered by the latest processor, this laptop handles multitasking effortlessly. Whether I’m working with multiple applications, browsing with several tabs open, or even running light design software, I experience no lag. The response time is impressive, making it a reliable option for day-to-day productivity. Display Quality: The high-resolution display is a standout feature, delivering vibrant colors and sharp clarity. Watching videos or editing photos on this screen feels immersive and enjoyable. It’s bright enough for outdoor use, which is a big plus for someone constantly on the move. Battery Life: One of my main concerns was battery life, but I’m happy to report that it easily lasts through a full day of work without needing a charge. I can confidently use it for extended periods without carrying my charger everywhere. Other Features: The laptop includes a range of thoughtful features like a fast SSD, smooth trackpad, and responsive touchscreen (if applicable). These additions enhance the overall experience, making it feel like a premium device worth the investment. Overall Impression: I’m delighted with my purchase and would recommend it to anyone looking for a blend of portability, power, and style. Microsoft has done a fantastic job with this laptop, balancing design with functionality seamlessly. I look forward to using it as my main device for years to come.”

That has been a great laptop for me as I use it daily for school and work (software coding). Its processor's 12 cores are really fast and 16gb ram make things much easier and quick to respond, I've never encountered any lag or freezes. I 100% recommend it.

I absolutely love my Microsoft Surface Laptop—so much so that I bought a second one after accidentally dropping and totaling my first. Despite the mishap, my experience with the Surface has been overwhelmingly positive. The first one I owned had a minor glitch where the screen would occasionally flicker, but it only happened once every couple of months. For me, it wasn’t a big enough issue to justify the hassle of driving somewhere to get it fixed and waiting for it to return. Honestly, it didn’t disrupt my day-to-day use enough to care. If I had to offer one critique, it’d be that the glass on the display is way too reflective. It can be tough to see the screen clearly in certain lighting, which is a bit of a annoyance at times. Beyond that, though, I’ve got nothing but praise. The size is perfect—super portable without feeling cramped—and it’s fast enough to handle some light gaming, which I didn’t expect to care about but ended up enjoying. It even came with a month of Xbox Live, and though I’m not a big gamer, I found myself using it every single day during that month. Overall, it’s a fantastic laptop, and I’m thrilled with my second one. Highly recommend it to anyone looking for a sleek, reliable machine!

THE AI BUTTON IS SUCH A GREAT IDEA!! Asides from the built-in AI feature- If you’re a regular laptop user, this laptop is great for you. Homework or the daily tasks can be completed just fine. Especially with the windows multitasking feature. If you must play games on this, stick to more basic games that are not as complex. I’m assuming Sims 4 or GTA V are too big of a task for this thing oh yeah, it’s also a fingerprint magnet!!

I absolutely love this laptop. I use it for every day uses. I totally recommend. The quality on it is excellent. The speed on it is super fast. It never slows down. There’s more than enough storage for me and the color is so smooth and I absolutely love it. I do not regret my purchase

I was skeptical about the processor at first but I love this computer and have not ran into any issues with apps or anything being compatible. Yeah it doesnt have an OLED screen and the battery might take a hit from that but the computer overall is worth it in my opinion.

I absolutely love this computer! The copilot is awesome and truly revolutionary. This is my second surface computer and I’m loving it!

I love the look of this computer, it’s so sleek and it’s pretty lightweight compared to my old macbook. i haven’t used it much yet because i’m waiting for school to start, but for the basic things like browsing the web and using microsoft word it’s been great. i also like the face ID feature, never seen that in a computer so i thought its pretty neat.

The Surface Laptop - Copilot+ PC seems to be an exciting and promising addition to the lineup. I just picked up the Snapdragon X Elite version with 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD. My initial thoughts - display is plenty bright with great resolution, trackpad and keyboard are excellent, and it includes a decent variety of ports, especially when compared to the MacBook Air. Unfortunately, my display started acting up a few days ago (see photo), so this one's going back. Also, there is a massive hit on battery life running non-ARM apps. If you’re after performance and AI capabilities, the Surface Laptop 7 is worth considering, but make sure you go in understanding what you are getting into with application compatibility and suspect quality control.

At first the computer had seemed like a great computer but then not even a week in with the computer, it was already starting to have screen problems such lags and glitches. The computer was supposed to be the next big thing beating the MacBook but in my opinion it’s not even close to beating the Mac. I should also remind you guys that you should be careful when buying these new Copilot computers since they are the first of their generation so their more like to be faulty.

## TL;DR PROs - Speedy performance, beautiful display, and sleek aluminum exterior - Cool AI image generation/enhancement features that happen locally - Great battery life CONs - Limited local AI features still require an internet connection - Some apps (VPN, anti-virus) may not yet be compatible with ARM processors ## What's new with Copilot+ Surface PCs? How are they different from "regular" PCs? The key difference between the new "Copilot+ PCs" announced by Microsoft and existing PCs is the requirement of a powerful Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with at least 40 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS) performance. This NPU hardware is necessary to run the advanced AI models and features that Microsoft is introducing with Copilot+. This Copilot+ PC's processor uses an ARM architecture for energy efficiency and longer battery life. Existing x86-64 applications are able to run based on Microsoft's emulation technology, but you may initially run into some issues with 3rd-party drivers and VPN clients until updates are made by those vendors. However, if you do most of your work in the browser or in Microsoft Office applications, you should be fine. ## Design The Design of this Microsoft Surface Laptop (7th generation) is similar to last year's Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3, except the bottom is now aluminum to match the top. The fingerprint reader from the Go 3 is nowhere to be found on the CoPilot+ laptop, which is a little disappointing. This particular unit is in the "Dune" color which might resemble a "rose gold" color in certain lighting. It's not as sleek looking like the graphite or even the baby blue color. The keyboard is comfortable to type on although the keys feel a little mushy when pressed. You'll find a dedicated CoPilot key to the right of the spacebar. It really is no different to the CoPilot key on non-CoPilot+ laptops: it still simply launches the cloud-based Microsoft CoPilot AI assistant. The keyboard is backlit with an adjustable brightness. The touchpad works well and is very responsive. The display is colorful but is not OLED, so contrasts aren't as deep as they could be. The display is also a touchscreen, but it does not fold behind the keyboard so it would not be comfortable to use as a tablet. ## AI Features I was excited to hear about the local AI features available on the CoPilot+ PCs, but in practice, I found them a little confusing to find. ### Image Co-Creator The first feature I tried to test out was the new "Cocreator" in Paint. I was surprised to find a "Join the Waitlist" button when trying to use this feature. I clicked to join, and I'm immediately given access with a limit of 50 credits, with no information about when credits are replenished. Do I get more tomorrow or am I stuck with just 50 credits for the life of this PC? I click to the help article which simply states: "You will receive 50 credits to create images when you join Image Creator." That's it, no further details on how to get more credits. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding on my part, but what is the point of the local, AI-enabled NPU processor that is still spending "credits" to produce images from the cloud? Turns out that it was a misunderstanding on my part, as the local NPU image generation doesn't kick-in until you use the "Cocreator" button. It looks basically the same, asking for a prompt and a style to generate the image. The difference is, it won't do anything until you start drawing something first. So, when using the Paint program, the NPU doesn't actually create a new image, it simply enhances something you've already started creating. And don't think you can hop on a plane, turn on Airplane Mode, and create to your heart's content on a long flight: even though the feature uses the local NPU, it still requires internet access to function. ### Photos Now, forget everything I said about the Image Creator in the Paint app, as the Photos app also has a feature with the same "Image Creator" name, however it does NOT use credits, it DOES appear to use the local NPU processor, and it does NOT require you to draw something first. Confused? Yeah, me too. However, the "Image Creator" in the *Photos* app can locally create a *new* image from scratch, while the "Image Creator" in the *Paint* app requires credits to create a new image from scratch from the cloud. It was a confusing user journey to understand what AI capabilities this PC can perform locally, but I eventually got there. You can also use AI to edit photos you have stored in the Photos app. Open a photo, click the "Edit" icon, then select the new "AI" icon. You can add a prompt, but depending on the photo, there is only so much you can do with it. If a face is detected, then you can only change the background of the image and it won't mess with people's faces. ### Live Captions While Windows 11 already offers real-time Live Captions on "normal" (non-CoPilot+ PCs), the dedicated NPU adds the ability to translate these captions in real-time. This can be accessed by pressing the Windows + CTRL + L keys and downloading a language file. I fired up a Spanish YouTube video and was impressed with the real-time translation to English, although it was all one long paragraph (no speaker differentiation). The process does appear to be very efficient, with the NPU averaging between 3-4% utilization while the feature was actively translating Spanish to English. It's also nice that you don't need to specify the source language; only the language you want it to be translated into needs to be set. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated "Translate" app like on your phone, although you could use the Sound Recorder app to record someone speaking, then play it back to get the translation. ### Windows Studio Effects There are some AI-powered effects that you can add to the camera for your video calls: - Standard Blur: This provides an unnaturally blurred background as you've probably seen on your "regular" PC. - Portrait Blur: The blur effect is not as pronounced and appears more like a natural bokeh effect from a DSLR camera. I was most impressed by this effect. - Portrait Light: Brightens your face as if a ring light is in front of you. - Creative Filters Illustrated, Animated, and Watercolor: Less practical as it makes you look like a cartoon. - Eye Contact: Makes your eyes appear so that it appears you're looking directly at the camera, when in reality you're looking at the screen. - Automatic Framing: The wide-angle camera lens zooms in on you and follows you around as you shift to the left or right. ### My Wishlist for Local AI After seeing Apple's implementation of AI throughout iOS and macOS, I wish there were some more offline AI features available on the Surface, such as summarizing incoming emails, creating summary transcripts of meetings, or text generation tools throughout the operating system. To be fair, some of these features are available through Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is a separate subscription service. Also, Microsoft does make their regular Copilot chat assistant available for free and it is only a button press away (as long as you have an internet connection) and perhaps more local AI features will be coming in the future. ## Performance The reviewed configuration of Microsoft's 7th generation of the Surface Laptop features a Snapdragon X Elite processor, an ample 16GB of RAM, and a roomy 512GB of storage. The Snapdragon processor seems to provide very good performance, as Edge and Office applications open almost instantly, and web pages render just as fast. The 16GB of RAM is a good amount for Windows 11, and it allows me to run multiple applications and have multiple browser tabs open at the same time with only the occasional stutter. The 512GB SSD provides ample storage, but only about 410GB was available after installing operating system updates and the offline AI models. You'll get the best performance when using software written for the ARM architecture, which is not very popular at the moment in the Windows space. This laptop can run programs written for the x86 architecture thanks to an emulation layer built-in to the operating system. Performance will take a hit when running x86 software, but you likely won't notice in day-to-day usage. The speakers on this unit are also surprisingly good, especially for spoken content like a YouTube video or a podcast. Not as good as many Bluetooth speakers, but better than I was expecting for a laptop's built-in speaker system. ## Battery Life The Surface Laptop's ARM architecture does indeed appear to be energy efficient. After about an hour of video watching, general web surfing and some AI image creation, I found the battery decreases about 9-10%. I don't know about 20 hours of video playback, but there seems to be enough power to get you through the workday. It comes with a proprietary Surface charging brick and cord, but I found the laptop is able to charge with a standard USB-C charger as low as 30 watts. ## Summary The Surface Laptop's new ARM processor definitely seems to have great performance and the only software compatibility issue I've run into is with my VPN software. The addition of new local AI features like image generation, image enhancement, studio camera effects and live translations is definitely cool, and I hope they expand the local AI feature to more areas like text generation and proofreading. Battery life is also impressive and should be enough to get you through a day of school or work.

This is Microsoft's first laptop with an ARM processor (others being x86 based). This isn't the first Windows computer with an ARM processor, but it's clearly the best. The ARM processor architecture is the same architecture that the new Apple hardware uses (the M chips). ARM isn't a new architecture and has been around for about as long as computers have been. But they've mostly been relegated to low-power hardware like phones. Programs that are meant to run on x86 computers cannot run on ARM computers. To solve that problem, Windows uses a emulator system calls Prism (invisible to the user) to run those apps. You'll never know which apps are being run through this invisible emulator or not. The only downside is you might see some performance loss. However, in my experience, I've at times forgotten this is actually running a Snapdragon ARM processor, and not an Intel one. I have no idea which programs are running through the emulator or not. This Snapdragon X processor also includes an NPU (Neural Processing Unit). And that is what makes this laptop a Copilot+ laptop. The NPU is used exclusively for AI operations run locally on the computer. Microsoft has included a dedicated copilot key on the keyboard to launch the Copilot app, which is really just a browser window pointed to copilot.microsoft.com. Other apps that run AI locally such as Photoshop or Lightroom would benefit from this dedicated chip. Besides that, it's usefulness for AI depends on how gimmicky or useful AI feels to you. But fortunately, the inclusion of this did not cause many cut corners anywhere else. The build quality of this laptop is top-notch, with a beautiful aluminum case, satisfying keyboard and touchpad, and smooth open and closing of the lid. The screen is bright, crisp and the colors are great. Speakers are hidden under the keyboard and are loud and clear. It's much better than what many laptops use (down firing speakers underneath the laptop). It uses facial recognition for Windows Hello, and it's super quick and accurate. I open the laptop, look at the screen, and I'm logged in. I love it! When they say all-day battery life, they aren't kidding. Usually, I like to use a device basically continuously, from full to dead, to see how long it will last. But with this laptop, the battery lasts so long, I've had to resort to Windows battery estimates. In the last 6 days, I've only had to charge it fully twice (with on-and-off usage throughout the week). Using the powercfg /batteryreport command, at the bottom of the report, it gives estimated battery life based on all previous battery usage. Windows estimates this laptop to run 9 hours (!!) on battery, based on how I've been using it (web browsing, playing with AI, watching youtube videos, basic everyday stuff). Now, a couple corners were cut. The first thing I noticed, is this laptop felt like it was charging slowly with the included 39-watt power adapter. Curious, I attempted to charge it with USB-C, which works. So I attached a USB-C meter, and found the laptop would charge at about 55 watts over USB-C, and consequently would charge much quicker. So, it's a bit frustrating they included an anemic charger with this otherwise premium laptop. The other area I noticed seemed to cause some slowness is SSD performance. I'm actually not sure what SSD they included in this laptop, but when I ran Crystal Disk Mark, it topped out at 3500mb/s read and 2500mb/s write performance. That's budget SSD performance, not top-tier SSD performance. Disappointing, but this will only reflect in disk-heavy applications and operations and doesn't hinder day-to-day tasks. I'm in love with this laptop, and the only thing I wish is that it was a 2-in-1 so I could use a surface pen to take advantage of the AI Art features.

----- SUMMARY ----- Verdict: The Surface Laptop 7 is an impressive device that excels in various aspects. Its sleek design, comfortable keyboard and touchpad, and stunning display make it a pleasure to use. The addition of AI features such as Image Creator, Restyle, Windows Studio Effects, Live Captions, and Copilot enhances its capabilities. While the glossy screen may cause some glare and it's not specifically designed for gaming, the Surface Laptop 7 offers exceptional performance and battery life. Overall, it's a well-rounded laptop that caters to a wide range of users, especially those looking for a powerful, portable, and visually appealing device. Pros: - Sleek, contemporary design with thin bezels and rounded corners - Comfortable keyboard and spacious touchpad - Stunning display with a 120Hz refresh rate and wide viewing angles - Modest yet sufficient port selection, including two USB-C ports and one USB-A port - Impressively snappy performance and excellent multitasking capabilities - Exceptional battery life, offering up to 20 hours of video playback on a single charge - AI features such as Image Creator, Restyle, Windows Studio Effects, Live Captions, and Copilot Cons: - Glossy screen may cause glare in certain lighting conditions - Not specifically designed for gaming ----- DETAILS ----- Design: The Surface Laptop 7's sleek design is accentuated by its thin bezels and rounded corners, giving it a modern appearance. While it may not be the slimmest laptop available, its thickness is on par with competitors offering similar performance capabilities. The laptop comes in a range of colors, including graphite, sapphire, platinum, and dune. I opted for the dune color and am thoroughly impressed. It's a distinctive offering that exudes both elegance and visual appeal. The keyboard provides a comfortable typing experience, featuring generously sized and spaced keys. The touchpad is equally impressive, offering ample space for effortless navigation and preventing users from running out of room. Display: The Surface Laptop 7 boasts a stunning display that is both bright and crisp. The 120Hz refresh rate ensures silky-smooth visuals. While the glossy screen may cause some glare in certain lighting conditions, it is a minor trade-off for the overall excellent display quality. Additionally, the vibrant colors and wide viewing angles make it a pleasure to watch videos or work on creative projects. Ports: The Surface Laptop 7 features a modest yet sufficient port selection, catering to most users' needs. It includes two USB-C ports, one USB-A port, and a headphone jack. While some competitors offer an additional HDMI port, the Surface Laptop 7's USB-C ports provide versatile connectivity options. By utilizing a USB-C dock, users can expand their connectivity, negating the need for a dedicated HDMI port. This flexibility allows for easy connection to external displays, peripherals, and storage devices, enhancing the laptop's overall functionality. Performance: The Surface Laptop 7 is impressively snappy and excels at multitasking. No matter what I threw at it, it handled everything with ease. Even under an unrealistic workload, I didn't experience any lag. It was only when I pushed the laptop to its absolute limits that I noticed the internal fans. Even at their maximum speed, the fans were barely noticeable. In fact, 90% of the time, the fans didn't kick on at all. Whether the fans were on or off, the bottom of the laptop never became uncomfortably warm on my lap. While the Surface Laptop 7 isn't specifically designed for gaming, I did test a few games like Civilization VI. They were playable, but I wouldn't recommend this laptop for gaming. However, if you stick to Windows apps, the experience is fantastic. Battery Life: The Surface Laptop 7 excels not only in performance but also in battery life. It offers an impressive 20 hours of video playback on a single charge. In my tests, this was spread over a couple of days. For a more practical scenario, I tested web browsing, which gave me around 14 hours of usage. Since most of my tasks are browser-based, I can easily get through a full day or even two without needing to recharge. Adjusting to this was a pleasant change, as I was accustomed to constantly plugging in my previous Windows laptop. It's incredibly liberating. Now that I've experienced the exceptional battery life of the Surface Laptop 7, I can't imagine going back to anything with less. AI Features: The Surface Laptop 7 features a range of AI tools designed to enhance creativity and productivity. One notable tool is the Image Creator, found in the Photos and Paint apps. It allows users to generate unique images using text prompts. The Restyle tool, also included in the Photos app, lets users modify existing images with text commands. Another feature is Windows Studio Effects, which provides AI-powered webcam effects. It can offer precise background blurring, automatic face framing as you move, portrait lighting, and various filters. While some effects like portrait lighting and filters may seem subtle, the background blur and automatic framing are particularly useful. Live Captions stands out with its ability to provide real-time translations. It can translate live audio from sources such as sports broadcasts and YouTube videos in over 40 languages, with minimal lag. Notably, Live Captions works even without an internet connection for locally stored video files. One can't forget about Copilot, Microsoft's conversational chat interface, which comes preinstalled on the Surface Laptop 7 Copilot+ PC. Copilot excels at generating text, including emails and summaries, and searching for information. A dedicated Copilot button adds to the convenience of seamlessly accessing this AI-powered assistant. ----- WHAT’S IN THE BOX ----- 1 x Surface Laptop 7 1 x 39W Power Supply 1 x Quick Start Guide 1 x Safety and Warranty Documents

This is my first Microsoft Surface and my expectations have been very high. The most notable change to this series has to be the processor. Microsoft has chosen to go with a Qualcomm Snapdragon Elite 12 core processor instead of the previous Intel line. It's still a 64-bit Windows 11 operating system, but it now runs on the new ARM processor. There's a lot to love about this laptop so let me try to organize the features as I see them. I should mention that this laptop is also advertised as a Copilot+ machine. The details of what that actually means is a bit vague at the moment but I'll explain this as I understand it. Starting with the hardware, this machine is beautiful from top to bottom. I actually requested the Graphite model but was sent the “Dune” version, which my wife absolutely loves. This is a very solid laptop, all the outer panels are aluminum and have a brushed finish that just screams quality. The display panel, when opened has very little flex and the bezels are quite small. All the corners are rounded which gives it a very polished look and feel. There are no vents on it anywhere so actually putting this laptop on you lap should not cause an overheating problem, and I actually never noticed it heating up. The 13.8” display itself has a resolution of 2304 x 1536. It's a touchscreen, and while the resolution isn't exactly jaw dropping, the graphics look very clear and colors are rich. Also, it is an LCD display and not OLED (which would have been really nice), but it looks really good. Touchscreen response is quick. The display has a very shiny coating so if you're in a bright room or working outside you will notice reflections. This is no worse than many other machines, but it's worth noting. It has HDR and a refresh rate of 120Hz. These are all just listed specs you can easily find but my impression of the touchscreen is a good one. It doesn't look washed out or mushy, and you can really increase the brightness if you want to, which helps to reduce any reflections the screen has. The backlit keyboard is a pleasure to type on and features large, easy to read keys. Keys are quick to return to position after pressing and have a firm feel. The touchpad is what really shines on this machine. It's the largest touchpad I've ever used on a laptop and there is plenty of real estate to drag the pointer around. Almost the full width of the display. The color combination between the touchpad and keys, and the aluminum deck is really well done. The contrast between them is really easy on the eyes and looks very high end. There's one key you may not be familiar with as it's a pretty new addition. That's the Copilot+ key. Pressing this key brings up the Copilot window and presumably starts up the NPU. This is a neural processing unit and it runs independently of the CPU and GPU chips. It actually takes the load off the other processing units when AI tasks are needed which allows the normal machine tasks extra processing power and helps to retain the speed of the machine overall. Aside from the standard Copilot+ bot window that hopefully people are becoming familiar with, the AI is reportedly making it's way into certain apps to help you be more productive and aid you with creativity to name just a few. One of the apps that does have Copilot+ integration is the Paint app. Opening up Paint allows you to use it as the Paint you're familiar with or select the AI based Cocreator button that gives you an area on the right side, to describe what you want to draw with words. The AI of Cocreator then tries to draw what you have described in a preview window that you can use in your drawing. I'm not an artist, so trying to draw something with a touchpad or even a mouse, is for me a sad failure, but after several attempts using Cocreator, I was able to watch what I envisioned and entered into text, come to reality. It was actually pretty cool. To be clear, yes we have a touchscreen on this machine but there is no pen support on the laptop version (there is on the Pro tablet version), so drawing with the touchpad is really the only other option. Aside from Paint you can also use the Photos app with AI. If you bring up one of your photos and go into the edit mode, you will see an option for AI. Using the AI function will allow you to alter your photo and turn it into different theme styled works such as Surrealism, Cyberpunk, Watercolor, etc. It works really well and gives you the opportunity to create different styles of art using your own photos. You can also adjust the amount of AI creativity it applies to your work with a handy slider. You can also use AI in the camera app to alter and improve the way the camera makes you look in apps like Teams. These are all great news for people that enjoy being artistic or using video chats, but aside from these features, you may not really see the point. And it's probably a good time to mention that not all apps have versions that are capable of running on an ARM device. That being said, Microsoft uses an emulator called Prism to allow most things to install and run on this machine, and I didn't have any issues getting anything I normally use to work correctly, but from reading up on this laptop, you may not get everything to work like you expect it to depending on the programs you normally use. I feel this is probably more of a concern for anyone that wants to use this machine for business or specialized apps that may not have dedicated ARM versions. My use of this machine would be called, casual. I don't plan to play games on it so I didn't load any. For people that are average users, you will not be disappointed at all. Everything I tried was fast and worked just like I'd expect it to on an Intel or AMD based machine. My suggestion would be that if you use unique or processor intensive apps, take a minute and do some quick research as to whether it will run on this machine. Battery life is really good. I've used it for a week now and only have to put it on the charger once every couple of days. The number I see over and over again for battery life is around 20 hours, and from what I've seen I would agree and say that most people will in all likelihood get even more hours out of it because they don't tend to use it all day long. The charger that the Surface comes with has a specific, proprietary plug on it, but it's also able to charge via one of the USB-C ports, provided your charger is cable of outputting laptop level charging. I used a 100W charger and went from 50% to 80% in about 15 minutes. For anyone looking for a high quality laptop that performs very well with the basic apps that a lot of us use, this machine is an awesome offering. It promises a wide range of apps capable of using AI, to help bring us all into the next level of processing and creativity. I think the longer it's out, we'll see more and more apps offer ARM versions of their software, but for anyone like me, who doesn't use specialized apps, no waiting is required. This is a very stylish and competent machine already. Four stars only because of the pending buy in of software developers to offer ARM versions of their software, and because of the as yet slightly limited AI benefits this machine offers to average users. On it's own, a very competent and stylish machine by Microsoft!

FIrst thing's first - go see the colors in person. I was absolutely sold on the black model, but after seeing the "Dune"/gold model, I absolutely LOVE it! Performance - with the naked eye I can't see any real performance difference from a laptop with an x86/x84 CPU. It runs buttery smooth, and without any hiccups. I did get a chance to stream a movie from a file that I had saved on the SSD to my Roku while on a short road trip and I did see some odd artifacting, but I really can't definitely point blame to the laptop - could have been network interference from other nearly devices, but also could have been the CPU on this machine transcoding from 4k down to 1080p that the TV displays at. For my testing I used it in the office along side with my issued laptop. I kept the news running @ 1080p on Youtube for the entire 8 hours of my shift, at 50% volume 50% brightness and running WiFi 6E (the fastest we have in the office). I did that for 4 days and averaged 7% battery draw per hour every single day. Does that equate out to the 20 hours that is advertised? No, BUT, very impressive for a laptop that has such a clean/crisp display, and sound that really sounds amazing for such small speakers. For the 5th day I used a "mouse jiggler" to ensure the screen stayed on and did not lock/go to sleep on me. Using it for emails, spreadsheets, other general office work. Right on par with the previous days, I averaged roughly 7% battery use per hour. The evening of the 5th day I took it home and tried some games. Meh - not impressive - but the meer fact that 7 out of 10 of the ones I tried even ran was impressive, especially this early in the "ARM" game! I'd love to see this laptop with a slightly more powerful GPU and games being optimized a bit more for ARM - anything over 30 (but close to 60 FPS) would be AMAZING! I did try it with a 3rd party dock that included power, GB ethernet, HDMI, USB A/C , and an SD card reader and that really did make it worthy of true desktop use! I got to play with the AI a bit - pretty impressive and a LOT faster than on a standard PC without a NPU.I'll need more time to focus on that but I see a ton of potential. My issues with AI though is that there are so much variants of it in so many places run by so many different back-ends that it's hard to know from one machine to the next and one app to the next what they are capable of. Now - complaints - by the way, none of which caused me to drop any stars. This really is a NICE machine! 1) Microsoft - you REALLY need to get RSAT (Remote server administration tools) available for ARM. I did upgrade my license to Windows 11 PRO in hopes I could do some of my network admin work on it, but alas, I ended up having to RDP into my other computer to do it. 2) The camera really needs a physical/sliding blocker on it. Being so thin, every after-market one I stuck to the screen ended up keeping the screen from closing completely when I closed the lid. 3) The inclusion of a dock (even a mini-dock) to expand the ports would have definitely been a welcome inclusion, but since I had an after-market one for another Surface laptop I'm good to go. 4) Work with the after-market suppliers prior to release - it's damned near impossible to find a hard case or screen protector for this screen size (13.8") , all of which I use on a daily basis on all my other laptops that I take to work. I do really look forward to the future of Windows on ARM - it oooozes with potential !!

I’ve been using this laptop for a few weeks now, and I’m thoroughly impressed with its performance. The design is sleek, and it feels premium. The battery life is excellent and easily lasts an entire day of work. It handles multitasking and demanding applications without any issues. The display is vibrant and great for both work and entertainment. I also appreciate how lightweight it is, making it convenient to carry around. Overall, this laptop is worth every penny and exceeds expectations.

This the best Windows laptop - the longest battery life I've ever experienced, performance is outstanding, and awesome new AI features for productivity and creativity which seem to grow by the day. The Snapdragon X Elite processor is a super fast CPU, really power efficient, and has an NPU for Ai tasks. The best part? The laptop stays cool, doesnt throttle performance even when I'm unplugged / on the go, and the battery lasts for days. It is simply amazing!

Microsoft's new Surface Laptop has the same sleek design that I am familiar with (and like!). It is thin and lightweight and elegant with clear design inspiration from the MacBook Air line of laptops (the Surface laptops are a bit thicker and heavier). Microsoft is proclaiming how impressively the Snapdragon X Elite processor performs (3.42 GHz), and surely it must perform better in some benchmark testing - it should, but for simple daily use by a human I see no clear difference in performance against my old Surface Laptop Go 2 (2.42 GHz with half the RAM). The importance of this chipset is that it allows the laptop to run on-device AI (the Copilot+ of this laptop's extended name). The standout performance improvement here is, without a doubt, the amazing improvement in battery life! While I am lucky if my older Surface can stay with me for more than a few hours of continuous use, this new 7th Edition Surface truly delivers all-day battery life. Alas, Microsoft is continuing to require a proprietary charger that is awkward to insert and always looks like it is threatening to get caught on something and pull apart. Sigh. The 120Hz display is gorgeous - bright and VERY clear. But it is worth noting that the recommended display resolution of 2304x1536 renders the screen unreadably tiny - so in this resolution there is a recommended scaling (magnification) of 150% which gives some applications a slightly unfamiliar look and feel. Superficially, Microsoft's new Surface Laptop (7th edition) is a stunner with great battery life. But the reason this new laptop can supply amazing battery life is not because of better batteries, but because this laptop uses an ARM-based processor (so, not an x64-based processor). That makes this Surface a very different kind of Windows laptop than most people are used to having. While this laptop reports running Windows 11 Home like my old Surface, it is NOT able to run just any add-on program that you might want to run. I found this out immediately when I attempted to install my antivirus and performance software suite (install would not even initialize on an ARM-based processor - at least not at this writing). Simpler things like my Kindle Reader app installed just fine. I was able to get my Adobe Photoshop Elements 2024 program to work with a crazy workaround that bypassed the initialization screen (thank you to the industrious user who dropped that wisdom on Adobe's site!). In general, program installation was my introduction to the drawbacks of having an ARM-based processor that I would have never considered when shopping for a new (Windows!) laptop. So there is an unexpected trade-off for great battery life that I don't think Microsoft is fully honest about in their hype and advertising for this laptop. Finally, this laptop integrates Microsoft's Copilot+ AI assistant that provides an interactive "chat" environment. The chatty interface is very ChatGBT-y? So, yes, there is a dedicated Copilot+ button on the laptop and it takes you directly to the chatting interface. And AI is all the rage right now, right? But my own experience with Microsoft's AI feels gimmicky and underdeveloped. The Microsoft AI is fully integrated into their Microsoft 360 suite, but I don't have lengthy documents to test this functionality. Surely the integration of this new Microsoft AI product with existing Microsoft products will be amazing? As an AI novice, I love the algorithm's desire to summarize and to provide relevant links. I have queried the algorithm many times now with questions I knew the answers to and was not disappointed, but was also not impressed. Microsoft is surely anticipating my malaise with their AI by presenting a series of gentle introductions to AI queries that summarize elegant AI requests for things that feel foreign to me. One crazy-amazing AI analysis that I received resulted from a personal photograph I submitted in search of a response...a photograph of my very moody porch toad. Ultimately, I like the summarization capabilities of Microsoft's Copilot+ AI, but as someone old enough to read books and query effectively, this summarization capability feels a little bit delicate and incomplete. I can't recommend this laptop based solely on the novelty of AI integration (there's a whole key for that AI!). AI is fun and engaging right now. But the implementation of AI here is not going to be the tie that binds you to the greater AI developments you're seeing out there. Overall, this is a beautiful laptop with incredible graphics. But Microsoft appears to be releasing a new type of chipset that might create significant impediments to unsuspecting users. Please do you due diligence before investing in this laptop based solely on battery life. OK?

I've been using the Surface Laptop 7 (SL7) CoPilot+ laptop for 10 days. My objective was to configure and use it as I use my everyday PC (used for office activities, internet access, Adrurino development, image processing and an occasional game).  First set up was very easy, but it requires you to set up with a Microsoft Account.  It took about 2 hours with all of the updates and restarts required.  I keep my image library on a 4Tb external drive.  In the past I used a USB 3.2 G2 enclosure. I was anxious to get a USB4/Thunderbolt enclosure which should double throughput, making it very close to the same speed as the internal SSD.  With the image processing I do I move data from full size SD cards (Camera footage) and Micro SD cards (drone footage).  So I acquired an external USB SD card reader (USB 3.2 G2).  And when at my desk I typically connect my notebook(s) via Ethernet.  In addition I frequently use an external monitor.  So I acquired a USB4 hub with HDMI, Ethernet, 2 USB-C ports and 2 USB-A ports.  With all these USB devices hooked up I should be ready to go.  But I got an error: "Use a different USB port: The USB device might have limited functionality when connected to this port.  Plug into a different USB port on your PC." on the other port I got a "Unknown USB Device needs more power then the port can supply".  I looked at the power that came with the SL7, it was 39W.  I know my wifes Surface Pro has a 65W P/S.  I connected her PS to the SL7, and my USB peripherals now worked in either port.  From looking at Microsoft docs on 13.8" SL7 is supplied with a 39W charger (which does not support Fast Charging).  So I either need to get a 65W charger or a USB-C PD with 65W or 100W. I found only the lower port supports Power Delivery.  I encountered a problem with USB Ethernet support.  When I first connected an Ethernet cable to my hub it would not 'connect'. I had another USB3 Hub with Ethernet on another Computer, I connected it to my SL7, and Ethernet quickly showed as connected (under networking).  I went back and tried my original USB4 hub with Ethernet, and now it worked. In the images I included some performance information. For years I've subscribed to Google Drive.  I always use it as a mounted drive (established with Google Desktop).  Well this is not an option with Windows on ARM 64 Google Desktop setup fails "Unsupported Architecture" and Google does not appear unlikely to support this in the near future.  I needed to do something similar when I first used Windows on ARM about a year ago.  First download & install from "https://winfsp.dev/rel/", then download "https://rclone.org/downloads/" for Windows, ARM 64 Bit and unzip it and (from cmd) run "rclone config"  and answers the questions. Then you will need to run "rclone mount gdrive: g: --vfs-cache-mode=full" Now on to trying Copilot, my overall feeling (after using it for a week) is it's a good start but needs time to... "grow", and mature.  I was not able to use CoPilot within Office 365 (no AI subscription for Office which is separate from a personal subscription which I had for Github). And many of my simple efforts just didn't work.  I uploaded an image of myself with a red hat on with my kitchen in the background.  I asked Chat with Copilot: "tell me about this image"  it replied: Certainly! The image you provided features an individual wearing a red cap with white text that reads “TRUMP 2024.” The person’s face is blurred out, and there are various objects in the background, including pendant lights and a guitar. Unfortunately, I don’t have any specific information about this image beyond what I’ve described. Is there anything else I can assist you with?  Well not bad but there is no guitar.  I tried using the same image asking CoPilot to show it to me as a cartoon, a chalk drawing, a watercolor and a charcoal sketch; none came out as I would have expected (all did something).  Within paint and photos it's an interesting toy that seems crippled by limitations.  Within Paint's Cocreator it did work better. I've used DALLE-3 before and the MS interface to it is not yet excellent. Using the Microsoft Designer app I got much better results, I could take an image and it could apply one of 12 predefined styles (frustratingly limited). Designer limits you to 15 free Boosts ("attempts") per day to edit an image in a style.  If you wanted to see all 12 styles applied to an Image you uploaded, you'd use 12 of your 15 boosts, and the images generated cannot be directly modified within the designer app, Here you can apply background images or use A! to modify, but each uses a Boost.  If you subscribe to Copilot pro for $20/month you get 100 boosts per day.  When you use designer it generates 4 images to choose from, these are saved to your MS One Drive.  But they can't be modified within Designer w/AI, so every iteration "cost" you a boost (limited to 15 a day free). It seems to me like Copilot is a charge for addon in multiple places, it seems to me like they want $10/mo here and $30/mo here and $20 for Copilot pro, or for use in other products.  Pretty soon it adds up, And it is not yet fully functional, I wonder if they prematurely started to ask users to pay for an "alpha" like service.   The Video editing tool is called Clipchamp, it's pretty comprehensive... But again it crippled, it can only export HD videos (1080p).  But if you want to export 4K video you need to upgrade to the premium version ($11.99/mo or $119.99/yr). Apparently some AI features are enhanced in Clipchamp, but you need the premium version. Being a programmer I was anxious to try using Microsoft's open source interface to CoPilot (via GitHub Copilot).  If you're not a programmer you can probably skip this and the next paragraphs.  This allows you to build an application (or agent as MS calls it) using either C#, Python or Java as the programming languages.  Microsoft calls this SDK their Semantic Kernel (SK).  This provides programmers the same functions in MS’s open LLM application stack as AI orchestration does within Copilot itself. The SDK sits between the user app and the AI engine to tie everything together.  The toolkit goes beyond function calling; it can be used to generate its own plans using Large Language Models (LLMS) and templates to make user requests. I did my testing with VsCode and Python.  To do this I needed a personal subscription (30 day trial,  you still need to set up monthly or yearly billing) to GitHub CoPilot. You also need an API key to either OpenAI or Azure OpenAI. Generally speaking the GitHub CoPilot is easy to use but be aware it is not complete for all languages (yet); not even documented in some (and some samples don't work (currently)).  It is designed to be used as an AI pair programmer.  I first found when using the GitHub Copilot that I couldn’t trust all of its suggestions. Some were good, some were incomplete and others were just wrong. Some didn’t even compile. Some had no chance of working. And some did return what was expected at all. Using GitHub Copilot was sketchy at best.  It's like having a great tool that you can't (yet) trust on its own. You must be very diligent to use it and never trust it without "real" testing.  Some things it does very fast, but it can also do things just wrong, and here you have to be experienced to catch what it does poorly. In summary, AI, when it works, could save a lot of time and boost productivity.  But for me, today, it's like a box of chocolates, you really don't know what you're going to get. It seems to me like you run into a new 'toll booth' with every turn.  I feel like the Windows Copilot+'s AI is currently a tool to up-sell you subscription after subscription.  For deep pocketed corporations this may be fine, but at the individual level it's a big ask for such premature "services''.  The future is uncertain how NPU will be used, over time they will certainly improve as GPU's have.  They certainly offer a new edge for edge computing.  There are a lot of players moving AI forward.  I expect the right "value" will be arrived at but it may be different for everyone/every company to decide. I had a lot of trouble with gaming mostly related to game/screen resolution. I found a setting called "Automatic Super Resolution" enabled by default.  It's designed to use AI to make supported games play more smoothly. Once disabled almost all of my resolution problems disappeared.  I also wanted to try upgrading the internal SSD from 512Mb to 1Tb.  The SL7 is easy to open (surprise). Remove the reinstallable rubber feet, then remove the 4 Torx (T5) screws.  The back lifts off easily.  To my amazement every screw's size inside was labeled.  The SSD was easy to remove/replace. I found several cloning packages would not run on Windows ARM64.  So you can build a Bootable Recovery Drive for SL7 reinstallation (Need SN).  This is a huge step forward in making Notebooks more easily repairable.  Microsoft is to be commended. I like the keyboard on the SL7. I love the form factor of the SL7.  I love the battery life of the SL7. I love the screen of SL7.  I now have no plans to use the SL7 for gaming.  I had no problem running my typical development environments.   I miss having a SD card reader.  Getting it set up to use as I would a Windows 11 notebook (non-ARM) is difficult. In general it performs very well.  I was really happy with USB4 external drive support and speed.  Why they ship it with a 39W power supply defies logic (does not support fast charging), it only invites additional problems to save what a buck? The AI aspect is a good start, but not much more (yet).  I'm sure it will improve, and I'm hoping to benefit from those improvements as they do (just hoping they don't keep adding fees).

Light weight. Super fast. The battery life is very good. The price is a little on the high side.