Microsoft has launched its new Surface laptops in the UK, which look set to go toe-to-toe with Apples MacBook Air. The new addition to its Surface series builds on the existing models with the Surface Pro 4 tablet and the bigger-hitting Surface Book. The new device sits in the middle of the two, combining a touchscreen with the standard flip-top keyboard laptop design within an incredibly light frame and slimline design that weighs in at an impressive 1.25 kg making it lighter than the MacBook Air.
Better battery life
If the minor mass differential isn’t enough to make you think that the Microsoft Surface laptop is a contender, the fact that it also boasts 14 hours of battery life – 14.5 hours to be precise – should be enough to make you sit up and take notice, at least a little. Microsoft is focusing heavily on the battery life as a big unique selling point of its new laptop series and in all fairness it’s easy to see why it’s such an important factor.
With 14.5 hours to play with you should be able to get through the majority of the day with constant laptop activity and only need to power up your device once. This is in stark contrast to the current situation where you need to take your power cable with you in order to make it through the day with a MacBook Pro (9 hours at best) or the air (between 10-12 hours of battery life).
Having one less chunky piece of cable to take with you each day is the kind of space saving that could see the Microsoft Surface laptops becoming the device of choice for a fair few students, commuters and small business users on the move. However perhaps the most impressive aspect of this is that it manages to give you this freedom, but still maintain small confines and a lot of tech power and functionality.
Microsoft Surface laptops reveal trailer:
Tech spec and price
Obviously, the ten point touchscreen controls the laptops have set them apart from the capabilities of the MacBook Air, but it also manages to throw in a decent amount of computing might to back it all up too. In terms of the processing power, the two chips to choose from are either the Intel Core i5, which is the cheaper of the two, and the Intel Core i7, taking the power up a notch, but adding a fair amount to the price along the way.
The i5 base unit comes with 128gb of SSD hard drive and 4 gigabytes of RAM retailing at £979, but you can opt to take this up to 256gb SSD and 8 gig of RAM for £1,249. The i7 version of the Surface laptops comes as standard with 256gb SSD and 8 gigabytes of RAM, retailing at £1,549, but if money is no option you can take it up to 512 GB of SSD and 16 GB of RAM for £2,149.
All of the options fit within the same size laptop frame, measuring 12.13” in length, 8.79” in height at its base, and just 0.57” thick. The graphics for the i5 version are powered by Intel HD 620, while the i7 features the extra strength of the Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640. The 13.5” PixelSense screen has 2256 x 1504 resolution, which makes it full HD. It comes with a 3.0 USB port and headphone jack, Windows Hello face sign-in camera
and front facing 720p HD camera, stereo mic and Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Audio Premium.
Design
If you prefer looks over function, the new laptops have been created in a number of unique colour tones, which work well with the slim and slightly angular design. There are four colours to choose from – burgandy, cobalt blue, platinum and graphite gold – and they all come with Microsoft’s fabric-covered keyboard, which looks pretty fancy. You can see a whole lot more of the design and colour options in the reveal video above.
First impressions
All-in-all, Microsoft has landed pretty well with its new Surface laptops, delivering pretty impressive innovation, good tech-spec and beautiful design. It definitely takes the fight to Apple, which has dominating the market in recent years. Inevitably there will be a response from the crunchy fruit, but right now it looks like Microsoft has got a very shiny core to impress the Windows lovers out there and maybe temp a few Mac fans along for the ride too.
