Why Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is the perfect blend of old and new

Above: Microsoft’s new Surface Laptop with new Surface Arc Mouse

Over the past 5 years we have seen some nice innovation in the laptop market. This started with “Ultrabooks”; thinner and lighter versions of the traditional laptop. We also started to see 2-in-1 concepts from major brands such as DELL, ASUS, HP and of course – Microsoft. Microsoft looked to challenge the norm with the original Surface Pro, and took that further with each new iteration. Despite pushing the boundaries of innovation with the new Surface Book, Surface Pro, Surface Studio, and Surface HUB – Microsoft have arguably delivered the perfect blend of old and new with the Surface Laptop.

The Good:
The Surface Laptop is a traditional clamshell device, which would fit into the aforementioned “Ultrabook” category. It comes in multiple variations – however in our opinion the sweet spot for cost vs. performance is the i5, 8GB RAM, 256GB HDD model, which retails at $2000. The device weighs in at around 1.2kg which is extremely light, in fact it’s only a fraction more than the Surface Pro when its (comparatively flimsy) keyboard is attached. It is also beautifully slim, with a tapered design that gets a little thicker at the back where all of the ports live.

It has a fantastic screen which is touch enabled (although no pen is included), and at 13.5″ is larger than the surface pro, but has less pixels which makes items larger on screen. The keyboard is responsive, has a great amount of travel for typing and is well backlit – it’s also made of Alcantara, which is the same material used for applications such as the steering wheel of most luxury cars. The reason for this is that it is hard wearing, and feels extremely comfortable for long periods of typing.
As for battery life, at the time of writing this I have had 6 hours of solid use and 65% remains. This would put the battery comfortably around 14 – 16 hours which is unbelievable when you consider the small size and light weight of this device.

The Not-So Good:
Now I don’t love everything about this device – there is no pen included, as the screen won’t lay flat, or auto rotate which makes writing on it almost impossible. It has one USB port, a mini display port and a 3.5mm audio port – that is it. No USB type-c, no SD or Micro SD for your camera cards. Windows 10S is in no way ready for mass adoption – as there are key apps such as Skype for Business missing from the Microsoft Store, which by the way is the only way to install anything on this OS.

Final Thoughts:
Whilst this device suffers from the above deficiencies, I can forgive Microsoft for most of them. Whilst I’d like to see this device fold back on itself and turn into a tablet, Microsoft offers 2 other devices if you are in need of a tablet. The lack of expansion ports are a conscious decision to reinforce the convenience of cloud storage, Bluetooth devices and wireless display adapters (which are fantastic). Windows 10S is the most secure windows so far yet it comes at the cost of apps, although it is also driving companies like Spotify to develop apps for this ecosystem. Microsoft also understands that this OS isn’t for everyone and even offers a free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro.

On top of this, it’s the balance of price, performance, battery life and innovation that make this device shine. The little things such as how easily the screen opens with one hand, the feel of the keyboard (and the device as a whole) and the placement of the power button on the keyboard to avoid accidentally turning the device on!