Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 review: dream design and silent performance

CoPilot Plus is a Microsoft initiative to make “made for AI” laptops mainstream and desirable. The Surface Laptop 7th Edition is from Microsoft itself, making it the first official CoPilot Plus laptop.

But is it the best laptop? The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is probably the cutest of these AI laptops – of which there are now plenty of Snapdragon X Elite-toting options – and it has the best-feeling touchpad, a decent keyboard, and an established, almost timeless design that continues to impress.

Like its other Surface lines, though, Microsoft is charging a fortune for upgrades, making this seem less of a bargain than rivals like the Lenovo Yoga 7x if you’re not happy with the (admittedly perfectly serviceable) base spec. Microsoft’s choice of display, while great in its own right, isn’t quite the sharper OLED panels you get elsewhere.

Surface Laptop 7th Edition: Pricing and Availability

More than any other laptop in its class, the Microsoft Surface Laptop’s appeal varies depending on the model you choose. Yes, even though they all look largely the same.

There are 13.8-inch and 15-inch laptops, and I’m reviewing the smaller version. That starts at £1049 ($999 / AU$1899), the 15-inch model £1349 ($1299 / AU$2399). The price difference isn’t as big as it sounds, though, as the 13.8-inch Surface has a lower spec floor.

That also points to the Surface Laptop 7’s biggest problem: Microsoft charges a lot for upgrades. The entry-level model has a Snapdragon X Plus CPU and 256GB of storage. You’re looking at £200 ($200 / AU$300) for just an extra 256GB of storage, which is pretty expensive.

Microsoft Surface 7 review: design

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

This Surface may be part of a new breed of laptops, but if you’ve ever seen a Surface Laptop 7, it’ll look familiar.

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 7 styling finally sees the bezels thinned out this time around. It’s a gentle modernization of an already good design. Microsoft likes the rounded corners, which extend all the way to the display, giving this Surface a softer, friendlier look than the vast majority of laptops.

It comes in gold, as seen here, or blue if you want something unconventional. But if you prefer a simpler look, there are also black and silver editions. And the overall build impressions are great – a slight improvement over all the other CoPilot Plus laptops we’ve used, except perhaps the Samsung Galaxy Book Edge.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

The Surface Laptop 7 is incredibly stiff – and in a very positive way. The display area feels super strong and there’s virtually no flex at the base. Microsoft was aiming for a MacBook-like feel with the Surface line, and it’s achieved that. There’s also almost no screen wobbling, even though you can open this laptop with one finger – a wafer-thin but still quite nice feature that’s common on even the most expensive laptops.

So yeah, as long as you’re not looking for something that’s new and unique, you’ll probably love the Surface Laptop’s exterior design. And the 13.8-inch model is a dream in terms of portability, tipping the scales at 1.34kg. Sure, it’s not the lightest thing ever, but I love that the heat-vent-free bottom means you don’t have to worry about the laptop blocking cooling if you’re working with it propped up on your knees or on a bed.

Microsoft Surface 7 review: display

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

While it feels wrong to do so, I have to complain about the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7’s display. By any sane standard, this is a great display. But after reviewing CoPilot Plus laptops over the past few months, I’ve noticed a few minor issues.

First, sharpness is only okay. Coming from the 3K-res Lenovo Yoga 7x, the Surface Laptop seems a little pixilated in comparison. This is a 2304 x 1536-pixel display, which puts it closer to Full HD (1080p) than Ultra HD (4K).

It’s also an LCD, not a fancy OLED panel. The black floor doesn’t even come close to that of its OLED rivals. Does that matter for work? Absolutely not, but the perfect blacks of OLED are really useful for watching movies, especially with today’s laptops.

Almost all high-end laptops have screens that are much taller than regular movies. They are not widescreen, and Microsoft relies on this more than most with a 3:2 aspect ratio. This means big black bars when you watch movies and TV, and with an LCD they glow in a dim room. That doesn’t happen with OLED.

That’s the bad stuff that’s been done. The Surface Laptop 7’s display still has nice colors, a smooth 120Hz refresh rate, and a solid 560 nits of maximum brightness. The screen’s coating is also tough Gorilla Glass 5, though there’s no anti-glare coating.

Microsoft Surface 7 review: keyboard and touchpad

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

I feel like Microsoft has been gradually watering down the feel of its laptop keyboards over the past few years. Maybe my standards have changed, or maybe I was just too hung up on the idea of old glories, because the Surface Laptop 7’s is pretty darn great.

Considering the official specs list a just-okay 1.3mm of travel, these keys feel surprisingly firm. There’s a satisfyingly firm bounce to their action. It’s like an Apple MacBook-style keyboard, but after a 6-month weight-training program. I still think the Lenovo Yoga 7x has the best keyboard of this early wave of Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops, by the way.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

There’s also white backlighting, which is nice. What no other model can match is the sheer consistency of quality in the Surface Laptop’s inputs. In addition to having one of the best keyboards in its class, the Surface Laptop 7 probably has the best touchpad.

Sure, it’s no behemoth like the Samsung Galaxy Book Edge, but it combines an ultra-smooth textured glass surface with a best-in-class clicker. It’s a haptic clicker, too, meaning you can click every square millimeter of the pad.

When Microsoft first started playing around with these haptic pads, I thought they’d traded one of the best touchpad designs ever made for something downright inferior. It’s back on track now. The click response is much more defined than those first-gen designs, and you can make it even more snare-drum-punchy in Windows settings.

Microsoft Surface 7 review: Performance

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 I’m reviewing has a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor with 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD. It’s a good all-rounder, but it’s far from the easiest to recommend in this family thanks to Microsoft’s old trick of charging a fortune for upgrades.

Like a rental car at the airport that seems cheap until you factor in all the extra fees, the Surface Laptop basics are probably a hot deal. But with this model, you’ll end up paying a lot more for an extra 256GB of storage and a few extra processor cores.

The big question: can you live with just 256GB of storage? If you can’t, and you want a top-tier spec, it’s easy to spend a lot more than you would on a Lenovo Yoga 7x.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

There is one more small problem. In my tests, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is slightly less powerful than the Lenovo Yoga 7x I tested, despite having a slightly improved version of the Qualcomm X Elite processor.

How does that make sense? I think the Surface Laptop is designed to make virtually no noise, no matter what you’re doing. Sure, it has a fan, but you’ll struggle to hear it in any but the quietest rooms.

That’s an admirable feat for a typical lifestyle PC, but it begs the question of how much of a step up from the base Snapdragon X Plus to the Snapdragon X Elite is really worth it.

You also have to consider the compatibility issues that come with these new Qualcomm Snapdragon PCs. While their performance is solid – great, even – and they can run just about anything, I occasionally ran into an incompatible app, games that wouldn’t run properly (or at all), and peripherals that weren’t recognized.

If you want rock-solid legacy support, you’re better off with an Intel CPU laptop. But the other advantages of Qualcomm at its core are pretty compelling, like battery life.

Microsoft Surface 7 review: battery life

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

Five hours of YouTube streaming drained just 29% of the battery, suggesting it can get about 17 hours of online video playback. Microsoft claims 20 hours, and that’s local viewing, so we’re looking at a pretty fair claim once and for all.

This laptop doesn’t have the highest capacity in its class, at 54Wh, but it’s far from the largest laptop to begin with. That will also help keep the weight down, so it’s a sensible trade-off.

A crucial thing to consider when shopping for these laptops is that while their endurance is great under light use, it becomes much less so under heavy workloads. It will only last a few hours of gaming unless you are playing something fairly light.

Like other recent Surface PCs, the Surface Laptop 7 uses Microsoft’s proprietary magnetic connector for charging. But if you forget to pack one when you travel, you can just use one of the two USB-C ports on the side. Handy.

Other than that, we only get a classic USB-A and a headphone jack. It’s a better setup than some (like the Lenovo), but you’ll need an adapter/cable to read a memory card or connect to a TV.

Other features? The Surface Laptop 7 has a decent Full HD (1080p) webcam, not quite up to the Surface Pro’s level. And the laptop has respectable stereo speakers with decent volume and tone, just a notch or two below the best in terms of bass and projection.

Microsoft Surface 7 review: Verdict

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Review

(Image credit: Future)

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is a top-notch MacBook Air alternative. Its entry-level price is reasonable, its design is great, and its consistent sense of quality is admirable.

Microsoft, however, is doing its usual trick with upgrades, asking for big bucks at every step. And since the Surface Laptop seems to prioritize quiet operation over outright peak performance, it’s not the obvious choice for powerhouses.

If you can get by with little storage space, or can find a deal on the Surface Laptop, then this could be one of the best routes into this new style of AI-ready laptops. Just be careful when choosing your perfect spec.

Also consider

There are a few notable alternatives to the Surface Laptop 7th Edition, and at least one comes straight from Microsoft. The Microsoft Surface Pro is the hybrid version of this model. It’s arguably less comfortable for all-day work, but can also double as a graphics tablet.

Perhaps the closest Director competitor is the Lenovo Yoga 7x . It has a higher starting price, but comes with higher-end components as standard and actually outperforms the upgraded Surface Laptop in our tests. It also has a gorgeous 3K-resolution OLED display.

Want a bigger screen? If the 15-inch version of this model isn’t enough, check out the Samsung Galaxy Book Edge . It comes in a 16-inch version and is made to similarly fantastic build quality standards. However, the keyboard feels much shallower and while the touchpad is much larger, it can’t quite match the feel of the Surface Laptop.

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