Microsoft has revealed a new 13-inch Surface Laptop, powered by Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus chipset instead of Intel or ARM processors. Unfortunately, the base configuration is less powerful and more expensive than the previous Surface Laptop.
You might remember last year’s 7th generation Surface Laptop and 11th generation Surface Pro, which used Qualcomm’s then-new Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chipsets instead of x86 processors. Those models were much closer to Apple’s MacBook Air in power efficiency and battery life than most other Windows PCs, and now there’s a new Surface Laptop alongside the updated Surface Pro. They’re both Windows 11 PCs with Copilot+ PC features.
New Hardware and Connectivity
The new Surface Laptop isn’t a radical departure from the previous model, though Microsoft does say it’s the “thinnest and lightest Surface Laptop yet.” It has a “premium anodized aluminum chassis,” a 13-inch 1290×1280 3:2 screen with touch support, 256GB or 512GB storage, 16GB of RAM, and a 1080p webcam. Microsoft is promising up to 23 hours of local video playback, or up to 16 hours of “active web usage.”
For connectivity, you get two Type-C ports for charging, USB 3.2 data transfer, and DisplayPort 1.4. It can fast charge at up to 60W over those ports, but the included power adapter is only 45W. There’s also Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a fingerprint reader on the power button.
There’s no Surface Connect port on the laptop, marking the end of an era that started with the Surface Pro 3 in 2014. It was a proprietary port intended for docking stations, but with Thunderbolt and USB docks becoming widespread, there wasn’t much of a need for that anymore. If you’re still using an older Surface Dock with that port, Microsoft is ready to sell you the $300 Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock.
It’s not clear if the Surface Laptop has full support for USB4 or Thunderbolt 4 for third-party docks and accessories. The Snapdragon X Plus chipset does support USB4, but the specifications for the Surface Laptop only says USB 3.2. We’ve reached out to Microsoft for confirmation, and we’ll update this article when we hear back.
Snapdragon X Plus
Microsoft has only revealed one chipset configuration for the new Surface Laptop: the 8-core Snapdragon X Plus. That’s the less-powerful version of the Snapdragon X Elite chipset, with an 8-core Oryon CPU and Adreno GPU. It also has a 45 TOPS NPU for local AI tasks, like all the Copilot+ PC features.
That’s disappointing, considering the previous Surface Laptop had options for a 10-core Snapdragon X Plus or a more powerful Snapdragon X Elite. This model should still be perfectly fine for standard productivity work, but that lower CPU performance will cut into the emulation speed for x86 software, like nearly all Windows games. We’ve asked Microsoft if a Snapdragon X Elite version is coming, but the company has not answered back yet.
Microsoft did mention that a Surface for Business version will start shipping on July 22. That may include Intel or AMD x86 CPU options, if the previous business models are anything to go by, but you can expect higher pricing.
Pricing and Availability
The Surface Laptop starts at $899 and will be available in “select markets” starting May 20. That’s $100 more than the previous Surface Laptop base configuration, which also had a slightly-better 10-core Snapdragon X Plus chipset. That price increase might be another victim of trade tariffs created by the current U.S. administration, but either way, it’s not a great deal.
You’ll be able to buy the Surface Laptop from Microsoft’s online store, or third-party retailers like Best Buy. There’s also the new Surface Pro to check out.
Source: Microsoft
