I’ve reviewed most of the best laptops of 2024 to this point, together with all of the obtainable MacBooks. But my private daily carry has been the Surface Laptop 7th Edition for the reason that day I reviewed it. It’s every thing I’d needed Windows laptops to change into — a true reply to the domination of Apple over the previous 4 years.
The better part? As one of many best Black Friday deals I’ve seen, it’s on sale today for $200 off over at Amazon. This is the proper configuration for this kind of gadget too, coming with some further storage. Even among the many very best Black Friday laptop deals you’ll discover this week, this Surface Laptop low cost feels vital.
Amazon enables you to configure it with the bottom 256GB of storage, however they’re solely charging an additional $50 to improve to 512GB, which is undoubtedly value it. The configuration with the best discount in value, nevertheless, is the extra highly effective SnapdragonX Elite mannequin, which is 29% off, down from $1,400 to simply $999.
Here are the entire specs for the Surface laptop seventh Edition 13.8 that Amazon has on sale for Black Friday.
| Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 13.8 | |
| Dimensions | 11.85 x 8.66 x 0.69 inches |
| Weight | 2.96 kilos |
| Processor | Snapdragon X Plus (10-core) Snapdragon X Elite (12-core) |
| Graphics | Adreno GPU |
| RAM | 16GB |
| Display | 13.8-inch 3:2 (2304 x 1536) 120Hz |
| Storage | 256GB 512GB |
| Touch | Yes |
| Ports | 2 x USB-C 1 x USB-A 3.2 Gen 2 1 x Surface Connect dock 1 x 3.5mm audio jack |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 |
| Webcam | 1080p with infrared digital camera for Windows 11 Hello assist |
| Operating system | Windows 11 |
| Battery | 54 watt-hours |
| Price |
$849+ |
So, why’s this laptop such a massive deal? Well, for years, Windows laptops appeared hopeless to compete towards the MacBook. After the launch of Apple’s M1 chip in 2020, the whole PC ecosystem has been making an attempt to regain its footing. And pretty much as good as a few of these laptops have been, they had been laborious to suggest when a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro had over double the battery life and, in lots of instances, higher efficiency.
But in 2024, the tides started to show. And the Surface Laptop seventh Edition is the cream of the crop of this new period for Windows laptops. It represents the perfect of what the Windows ecosystem can produce as a rebuttal to Apple.
For what it’s value, I’ve all the time needed to love this laptop. I really like the three:2 facet ratio display screen, the clear design, and nice keyboard. Performance and battery life all the time suffered although, making it laborious to suggest over a MacBook.
The key to this newest mannequin’s success, in fact, is the Snapdragon Elite X chip inside. Don’t let Windows on Arm scare you off, although — it’s wonderful how power-efficient this little chip is. The end result is unbelievable efficiency and actually spectacular battery life. My personal testing produced 22 hours of battery life in video playback, and whereas that’s not a regular workload, it’s nonetheless insanely lengthy. It drops in battery life a little bit sooner than a MacBook on heavier hundreds, nevertheless it’s nonetheless a large leap over earlier generations.
But actually, the nice efficiency and battery life was simply a method of permitting me to actually love all the opposite good issues about this gadget. Very few laptops have caught to utilizing a taller 3:2 facet ratio (in comparison with 16:10, which is what is generally used), and every time I come again to it, I discover the additional vertical display screen actual property actually luxurious. I even actually just like the rounded corners of the display screen and quality-of-life enhancements just like the haptic suggestions trackpad and 120Hz refresh price display screen.
As somebody who has choices for what laptop I choose up and use — this is the one I stored coming again to time and time once more by way of the yr. $200 is a fairly massive deal for a laptop of this caliber, so choose it up whereas it lasts.
