The Surface Laptop 5 retains the sleek wedge design of its predecessor and its predecessor, and there’s a lot to admire about Microsoft’s knack for nailing its clean lines and minimalist aesthetic. Yes, but the 5th edition is a little tired in 2023.
The display is uniformly thin from top to bottom and can be opened with one fingertip. The anodized aluminum chassis features bold industrial corners and the absence of visible screws or joints gives the package a very sleek feel.
Most other Windows laptops are branded by the component manufacturers that helped make them, but nothing here is as flashy as the holographic Intel Evo sticker. (The laptop is Intel Evo certified, which means it meets the set criteria for wake-up time and battery life.)
What’s outdated are the chunky bezels around the display and the black border that surrounds the screen. What used to look dated on the Surface Laptop 4, almost claustrophobic around the screen like you’re looking at an Excel spreadsheet from your neighbor’s letterbox, is now starting to look positively retro.
screen
Surface Laptop 5’s display is crisp, natural-looking, and crisp, with a tall 3:2 aspect ratio (close to A4), perfect for editing documents and browsing the web.
The 2,256 x 1,504 pixel resolution looks great on a 13.5-inch screen. While more expensive laptops may offer headline-grabbing (and battery-draining) 3.5K and 4K displays, they aren’t really needed in a laptop of this size. You made the right decision by sticking to the screen you were on.
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That said, I would have liked a brighter display this year. The Surface Laptop 5 hits 400 nits of brightness (the MacBook Air M2 hits 500 nits for comparison), which is brighter than your average laptop, but to be reliably glare-free in sunlight Not enough.
A 60Hz refresh rate is fine, but other laptops in this price range now offer 90Hz refresh rates for buttery-smooth scrolling and animations. It’s a compromise for keeping costs down and battery life long, but it’s another area where competitors seem to shy away from Microsoft.
connection
New to the Surface Laptop 5 this year is Thunderbolt 4 support. This enables high-speed data transfer, charging, and video output with a single USB-C port. The Surface Laptop 5 has only one USB-C port, a traditional USB-A port, a headphone jack, and Microsoft’s own Surface Connect port.
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Its Surface Connect port is used for charging and attaching accessories such as additional USB ports, SD card ports, and docks with HDMI connectivity, while the USB-C port is used for external monitors or general-purpose dongles with additional connectivity. .
Microsoft supposedly keeps its own ports to avoid obsolete older accessories, but it’s becoming less and less important to include them in the Surface laptop range. I would like to have a few more USB-C ports so that I can plug in at the same time.
performance
The 13.5-inch configuration we tested features a power-efficient 12th Gen Intel Core i7 processor, 16GB of memory, and 512GB of storage (£1,699, Microsoft.com). This gives plenty of performance for an all-around laptop. The Surface Laptop 5 is more than capable of handling everyday tasks like juggling loads of open browser tabs and tackling simple photo, audio, and video editing jobs with ease. It’s also extremely quiet, with the fans only making themselves known when the device is really stressed with CPU-intensive tasks such as media rendering.
Face unlocking with Windows Hello is almost instant, noticeably faster than most premium laptops we’ve tested. And Windows wakes up when you open the display, so your device is ready by the time your fingertips reach the keys. Although it is a small detail, the Surface Laptop 5 feels very luxurious.
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The cheapest configuration is the Intel Core i5 version with 8GB of RAM and a smaller hard drive (£999, Microsoft.com). You still get great mid-range performance and a long-lasting battery, but it’s price competitive.The Surface Laptop’s closest competitor, the MacBook Air M1 (£999, Apple.com), offers simply excellent performance. To do.
battery life
Microsoft designed the Surface Laptop 5 to be a truly portable device. Where this laptop really shines is battery life.
With a conservative use of a power-efficient CPU and a battery-friendly display, the Surface Laptop 5 keeps enough power in the tank for at least 15 hours of continuous work. That’s more than enough to get you through a long workday, commute, or transatlantic flight.
When I use my laptop for everyday office work (writing and emailing, browsing the web, video conferencing, light Photoshop work, watching the odd YouTube video), the device is nearly half charged by the end of the day. was left. This is a refreshing change from ultrabooks with tiny batteries designed to last as long as it takes to go from one plug socket to the next.
