Review Summary
Expert Rating
The Surface Laptop has always been Microsoft’s flagship showcase for Windows, blending premium design with solid performance. The 7th generation marks a significant shift, embracing ARM architecture with the Qualcomm Snapdragon X series processors. On paper, this change promises a leap in battery life and introduces some interesting AI-powered features. Put that to the test, Microsoft sent us the ZHH-00048 model, which is powered by the Snapdragon X Elite processor.
For a price tag of a little over 1.5 lakhs, the Surface Laptop isn’t cheap. That said, it does claim to offer a refined and premium experience that’s matched only by the likes of Apple, and maybe Samsung to some extent. But is that so? Let’s find out in our in-depth Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th-gen review.
Table of Contents
Design and Display
Starting with the design, the Surface Laptop 7th Gen continues the tradition of understated elegance. The aluminium chassis feels incredibly premium, cool to the touch, and remarkably sturdy. There’s minimal flex, even under pressure, giving you confidence in its build quality. The 15-inch model boasts a slim profile, and weighs 1.66 kg, making it quite portable.
In terms of branding, there’s the glossy Microsoft logo on the lid, and that’s about it. The clean lines and minimalist aesthetic make it a laptop you’d be proud to pull out in any meeting room or coffee shop. Microsoft has also done at ensuring that the laptop’s premium finish doesn’t attract a ton of fingerprint smudges.
As far as the display goes, the laptop comes with a 15-inch PixelSense Flow Display. It’s an IPS panel, not an OLED one, which most users have come to expect at a premium price tag. However, the good news is that this is a damn fine panel.
The 3:2 aspect ratio is perfect for productivity use cases, while the 1300:1 contrast ratio with support for HDR makes it great for content consumption. The panel is individually colour-calibrated out of the box, which is great news for creators.
Then there are the quality of life additions, such as the 120Hz refresh rate. This isn’t a gaming laptop, but the higher refresh rate definitely makes everything feel a lot smoother. The same can be said about having support for 10-point multi-touch. This isn’t a convertible, heck, the lid doesn’t even go a flat 180-degree. As such, the use case for touch input is quite limited, but it’s nice to have it now and then just to browse the webpages with a bit of ease.
Ports, Audio, and Connectivity
In terms of connectivity, there’s not a lot going on here. On the left side, there are dual USB4 ports coupled with a USB-A 3.1 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. The USB4 ports support charging, data transfer, DisplayPort 1.4a, and the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock.
Then, over to the right side, there’s the Surface Connect port and a MicroSDXC card reader. Basically, two ports that most users would hardly ever use.
The Surface Connect port is similar to Apple’s MagSafe charging port, which is essentially a proprietary port that you don’t need since there’s already support for USB Type-C charging. If you’re on the road, you’re not going to be carrying an extra charger for your laptop. You’ll just use the one that is already there to charge your smartphone and other gadgets. I actually would have preferred an HDMI port here, but then again, Microsoft does make USB Docks for a reason.
Leaving the slightly sarcastic tone aside, the Surface Laptop’s audio is something to praise. The “Omnisonic” speakers, hidden beneath the keyboard, deliver surprisingly good audio. The sound is clear and well-balanced, with a decent amount of bass for a laptop. The speakers get reasonably loud, which is suitable for watching movies or listening to music in a quiet room. While they won’t replace a dedicated sound system, they are a definite step up from the average laptop audio found in this price segment.
There’s also a 1080p Full HD camera with support for Windows Hello, which is a significant improvement over the 720p webcams found on many laptops. Image quality is clear and crisp, ideal for video calls and online meetings. The camera performs well even in low-light conditions, producing a usable image in dimly lit rooms. Microsoft also has Windows Studio Effects with automatic framing, creative filters, and portrait features. Of course, these features are a part of Windows and so are available on every other Windows laptop, too.
Keyboard and Touchpad
I fell in love with the keyboard of the Surface Laptop 7 while driving it daily. The keys offer good travel and satisfying tactile feedback.
Typing feels comfortable and precise, even during extended sessions. Sure, there was enough space to include a Numpad here, but I am not complaining, for the actual typing experience far outweighs any cons. The backlight is decent enough and does a good job of making typing in low-light conditions easy. Also, while the keys are mostly silent, you can expect some audible feedback if you’re a swifty-burst typer like me.
It’s a similar story with the touchpad too. As someone who primarily uses a MacBook Pro, you can imagine how critical I would be of a touchpad on a Windows laptop. In my experience, while the Dell XPS lineup (now dead. RIP) has always had the best touchpads on this side of the world, the Surface Laptop is just as good, if not better.
The touchpad is large and smooth, providing ample space for navigation. It’s highly responsive and accurate, seamlessly supporting multi-touch gestures. The best part is the click mechanism, which is super satisfying, providing a clear and distinct click without feeling too stiff. Honestly, it’s these little things, the refinement of simpler stuff, that truly make a product premium.
Performance and Battery Life
Speaking of premium, let’s talk about performance, shall we? The 12-core Snapdragon X Elite processor on the Surface Laptop 7 is aided by 16GB LPDDR5X RAM coupled with a 512GB NVMe SSD from SK Hynix. It’s supposedly a Gen4 SSD, but barely manages to breach the 5000MB/s read speed in CrystalDiskMark.
If you do wish to replace the SSD, keep in mind that the laptop uses a 2230 form factor SSD. Accessing the internals is fairly easy. All you need to do is remove the rubber feet, unscrew the lid, and you’re good to go. That said, considering everything is soldered on, there’s no need to breach the internals unless you plan on doing a storage upgrade later on.
Moving on to the CPU, the Snapdragon X Elite shines in our suite of synthetic benchmarks, including Cinebench R23, R24, and GeekBench. Its single-core and multi-core performances are pretty good, outshining most of its competitors in this price segment.
To give you a performance comparison, the Surface Laptop 7 easily outperforms the Surface Pro 11th-gen with the Snapdragon X Plus processor that we tested. However, it does fall behind the AMD Ryzen 9 HX 370 processor found on the ASUS Vivobook S 14. Then again, it’s not a massive gap, at least in single-core performance, which just goes to show how good of a processor the X Elite really is.
Of course, the bigger challenge here is app compatibility. For the apps that do work, the experience is absolutely flawless, and I’d argue it’s swifter than x86 laptops in some cases. However, Windows on ARM is still evolving. While app compatibility has improved drastically, some niche applications might still have compatibility issues or require emulation, potentially impacting performance.
This is well illustrated if you try to game on this machine as most games just downright crash. This could be a heavy-duty title like Cyberpunk 2077 or a casual title like Palworld. I was able to run GTA V on this, and the game runs at an average of 60 FPS, that too on the laptop’s native resolution of 2496 x 1664.
Thankfully, the GPU itself is fairly capable of being used by content creators. I could do image editing in Adobe Photoshop with ease on the laptop, and the synthetic benchmarks of 3DMark showcase that the performance isn’t anything to be ashamed of. But what truly makes the Surface Laptop 7 amazing is its battery life. In the PCMark 10 Battery Video loop test, the laptop lasted over 16 hours, making it one of the best battery champs that we’ve tested in this price segment.
As for charging, Microsoft includes a 65W charger in the box. That said, as I mentioned previously, you’ll probably be using a USB-PD charger anyway. The way it worked when I was using the laptop was that the Surface charger was exclusive to my desk, while I’d charge the laptop using a GaN charger when on the move.
Verdict
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Gen is a premium laptop with a premium price. It’s not the most affordable option, but it offers a lot for the money. This includes a stunning design, a beautiful display, exceptional battery life, and significantly improved performance thanks to the Snapdragon X Elite. Priced at Rs. 1,59,990, and given its AI-powered features, excellent battery life, and MacBook-like efficiency, it’s a solid choice for professionals and students.
However, it does have a couple of caveats. First and foremost, Windows on ARM is still evolving, unlike its direct competitor, the MacBook Air (or Pro), which has excellent support for ARM. Second, Microsoft’s presence in India in terms of hardware isn’t as impressive as that of other legacy brands like Dell, HP, or Lenovo. This may lead to more expensive service or repair costs down the line.
At the end of the day, if battery life, AI-powered productivity, and portability are top priorities, the Surface Laptop 7th Edition (15-inch) is a great choice. However, if legacy app compatibility or gaming is essential, Intel or AMD-powered alternatives might be better.
Editor’s Rating: 8 / 10
Pros:
- Stunning Design and Beautiful Display
- Excellent ARM performance
- Comfortable Keyboard and Touchpad
- Long Battery life
Cons:
- Limited Ports
- App Compatibility is still WIP