In addition to the announcement yesterday, the crew in Redmond also introduced a new ultraportable to their Surface lineup, the Surface Laptop. This new device is aimed squarely at Apple’s Macbook and Macbook Air consumer base.
With an emphasis on battery life, portability, and intuitiveness, the Surface Laptop is shaping up to be a killer machine. Microsoft’s new laptop takes some functionality cues from the Surface Book but certainly sets itself apart with an ultra-premium design and productivity prowess.
https://youtu.be/74kPEJWpCD4
The Surface Laptop is the “Windows” MacBook Air we’ve all wanted
The Surface Laptop will soon be available in 4 distinct colors that are sure to match your individual style: Platinum, Burgundy, Graphite Gold, and Cobalt Blue. It has slim bezels that surround a 13.5” PixelSense Display with touchscreen and Gorilla Glass. Although the Surface Pen isn’t included, the laptop will certainly support it. The keyboard deck is wrapped in a sleek Alcantara fabric that feels incredibly comfortable but maintains durability. Students and mobile professionals are definitely at the forefront of the target market considering the sub 3lb weight and small footprint. Not to mention, you get a year subscription of Office 365 Personal with your purchase!
Despite the laptop’s small stature, it packs a punch. On board is the 7th gen Core i5/i7 with up to 16gb of RAM and up to a 512gb SSD. The I/O options include a USB 3.0 port, mini DisplayPort, a headset jack and Surface Connect port. The trackpad is just as accurate and reliable as previous Surface devices. If you prefer to use a mouse, there is also the new color matched Surface Arc Mouse available for just under $80.
What I consider to be most impressive about this new laptop is the battery life. Microsoft states 14 hours of use. As a fresh product there will be day-to-day tests to ascertain a real world figure; however, this claim, if held, would outlast the Macbook Air by 2 hours! This would for sure cause an upset in the market.
Now that I’ve got your mouth watering for a Surface Laptop, here are the dirty details. Microsoft is shipping devices by June 15th, 2017 and the base model starts at $999 (Core i5/4gb RAM/128gb SSD, Platinum). The configurations allow for setups that run as much as $2,199 (Core i7/16gb RAM/512gb SSD, Platinum). As you may have noticed, the alternate colors are only available in the mid-tier configurations as of this post.
Will you be upgrading your Surface Pro or Book to the new laptop? Or perhaps even ditching your Macbook to switch sides? Let us know in the comments!