Powerful and Budget-Friendly: How These Windows Laptops Stack Up Against the MacBook Air in Real User Reviews

Budget-Friendly Windows Notebook Outshines the MacBook Air in Performance - Why It Deserves Your Attention

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop is on sale now for $949 on Amazon
It’s a well-designed Copilot+ PC with a light, stylish form factor, and a marathon battery life
It might be lacking in port selection for some users, and an OLED option would have made it a little more premium

$947.95 at Amazon $981.53 at B&H Photo-Video

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It’s been a big year for Microsoft. All eyes have been on Windows with the release of the new Copilot key , followed by a new line of laptops running on Snapdragon’s ARM-compatible chip architecture and a barrage of new, hyped-up AI features . Naturally, some were welcomed , while others… did not go as planned (and continue to pose questions ).

Also: Microsoft announces sweeping changes to controversial Recall feature for Windows 11 Copilot+ PCs

At the center of all this are Microsoft’s two flagship devices, both of which are innovative and fun to use: the Microsoft Surface Laptop, and the Surface Pro , a tablet/laptop hybrid. ZDNET’s Kerry Wan went hands-on with the Surface Laptop earlier this summer, but I wanted to take a closer look at this laptop after the dust had settled on the first round of Copilot+ PCs.

ZDNET RECOMMENDS Microsoft Surface Laptop The Surface Laptop is an efficient and high-performing Copilot+ PC that succeeds as an all-around solid mid-range, AI-powered device. View at Amazon

The first thing I noticed about the Surface Laptop is its sleek, lightweight design, which would be exceedingly reminiscent of a MacBook if not for the cool blue color. There’s something very neutral – non-descript, even – about the Surface Laptop, even while retaining a unique silhouette. Minimal? Doesn’t sound particularly Microsoft, does it? And yet, here we are.

Available in a 13.8- and 15-inch form factor, the Surface’s aluminum body comes in a few unique colorways. It sports a bright, 120Hz HDR touchscreen display, basic port selection, and, most importantly, the latest Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor.

Also: The best 15-inch laptops of 2024: Expert tested and reviewed

The display looks great, although an OLED would have really been the cherry on top for this flagship device. I understand Microsoft’s design choice here, though: make a good-looking HDR display with a fast refresh rate that looks an OLED but requires half the power. It makes sense.

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Regarding the processor, we’ve discussed the pros and cons of ARM architecture in Windows all year, and the bottom line remains: it’s still in its early stages, so there is a potential for compatibility hiccups with certain apps, games, and accessories.

Windows (mostly) does a good job of emulating programs via Prism, but issues can arise. I can say, however, that lots of progress has been made in the few months since the Snapdragon laptops have been on the market, particularly with creativity apps.

Also: How to upgrade your ‘incompatible’ Windows 10 PC to Windows 11: Two options

Earlier this summer, I remember struggling through Adobe Premiere on some of the brand-new Copilot+ PCs, but only a few months later, things seem to be more optimized. Running through some video editing software in Adobe and DaVinci Resolve on the Surface wasn’t 100% flawless, but it was smooth enough to be considered ready to go for creators. In fact, it performed a little better on this machine for me than on other, higher-priced models.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

The Snapdragon X Elite on the Surface feels well-optimized. In our benchmarking of the device, we got numbers comparable to other Copilot+ PCs around the same price point, namely the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x and the Dell XPS 13 .

This chip is what powers this laptop’s snappy performance and impressive battery life, and also what sets it apart from previous versions in the Surface line (which had rather mixed reviews), and other Copilot+ PCs.

This is a laptop that feels fast and light and multitasks with ease across the Windows ecosystem. Web browsing with dozens of tabs, while connected to an external monitor feels responsive and smooth, a must for me to be considered a main driver.

Also: This lightweight laptop has one of the best displays I’ve seen, and it’s not a MacBook Air

The touchpad is efficient, if on the sensitive side, but well-placed. The port selection is average, with two USB-Cs, a USB-A, and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Unfortunately, Microsoft chose to keep its proprietary charging port instead of a standard USB-C, which would have given the laptop even more utility.

The keyboard is very satisfying to type on, with well-textured and responsive keys that match the device’s color scheme. If there’s any laptop where the Windows Copilot key would make sense, it’d be on this laptop. The Snapdragon X Elite’s integrated NPU allows for seamless interaction with the on-device AI that powers features accessible via the Copilot key, your voice, and the taskbar.

Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

I have been integrating Copilot into my workflow as I learn more about how to use it effectively, and on a device like the Surface, it feels handy and efficient. I’ve been using it to summarize the latest emails from specific contacts, and it’s particularly practical because of its speed and accuracy in this task.

The Surface’s battery life has been fantastic, too. I get over 15 hours of use from a single charge, and it has yet to fully deplete to zero by the time I call a benchmarking test. The combination of smart design with meaningful trade-offs is what gives this laptop its marathon battery life, and opens it up for a variety of use cases from a creator or productivity perspective. Basically, this is a laptop you can work remotely with for the whole day without a charger.

ZDNET’s buying advice

I mentioned this before, but the direction that Microsoft took with this laptop is, well, rather uncharacteristic. The Microsoft Surface Laptop is light, airy, and brings some fun to the Copilot+ line. I would have loved to see this laptop with an OLED display, but the one we get instead is still quite nice, especially with this fantastic battery life.

The Surface Laptop is a flagship mid-range device that’s well-rounded enough to take on a variety of roles. Despite a few trade-offs, it’s everything it should be for the price.