Microsoft’s latest Surface is a laptop cleverly
called the Surface Laptop. It’s a thin and light computer with a 13.5 inch
PixelSense display, Alcantara fabric covering the palm rest and and keyboard
area, and it’s designed to be easy to open the lid with a single finger. It runs Windows 10 S and Microsoft is positioning the Surface Laptop
as a computer for students, promising that it will last a college student from
day one of orientation to graduation.
While some Windows 10S systems are expected to sell
for as little as US$ 189, the Surface Laptop is a premium device: prices start at US$ 999 for a model with a Core i5 Kaby Lake processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of
solid state storage. The Microsoft Surface Laptop goes up for pre-order today,
and it should be available starting June 15th.
Microsoft will offer models with up to a Core i7
processor with Intel Iris Plus graphics, up to 16GB of RAM, and up to 1TB of
PCIe storage. The storage is integrated on the motherboard. That
means the storage won’t be upgradeable, but Microsoft says the advantage is
that the SSD uses less power, helping ensure long battery life (up to 14.5
hours).
Microsoft says the Surface Laptop has the thinnest
touchscreen LCD module on any laptop and it also supports the Surface Pen for
writing or drawing. The Surface Dial is also compatible with the laptop. Both
accessories are sold separately though, neither comes with the laptop. The
notebook measures about 14.5mm thick, weighs 2.76 pounds, and comes in
burgundy, gold, blue, or platinum color options.
The Surface Laptop has a 2,256 x 1504 pixel
touchscreen display with Corning Gorilla Glass, and Microsoft will offer models
with a Core i5-7200U or unspecified Core i7 processor (although the fact that
the Core i7 version has Iris Plus 640 graphics suggests it’ll be a Core
i7-6570U chip). Microsoft says the Core i7 model offers better performance and
longer battery life than a MacBook Pro (although it’s best to take that with a
grain of salt until the company explains how it measured those things… or we
start to see third-party tests).
The notebook features integrated vapor chambers
shaped as heat pipes and integrated into the aluminum back panel to help keep
the system cool. The keyboard features 1.5mm key travel and backlit keys. The
speakers are integrated into the keyboard, with sound pushed up through the
Alcantara fabric, so you won’t see any speaker grilles, but sound should be
loud and clear.
A few more specs: the notebook measures 12.13″ x
8.79″ x 0.57″, has an aluminum case, features 802.11ac WiFi and Bluetooth 4.0,
and has headset, mini DisplayPort, and USB 3.0 ports. There’s an ambient light
sensor, stereo microphones, and a 720p HD webcam with support for Windows Hello
face sign-in.
Microsoft says Windows 10 S offers speedy
performance, quick book and resume times, and tighter security than you’d get
from the full version of Windows 10. But users can upgrade to Windows 10 Pro
because the hardware should be compatible with it.
All told, if Windows 10 S is Microsoft’s answer to
Google’s Chrome OS, the Surface Laptop is the company’s response to the Google
Chromebook Pixel. It’s a premium notebook with hardware designed to best show
off the hardware. Microsoft is taking a page out of Google’s book and leaving
it up to third-party device makers to offer cheaper models for folks that don’t
want a premium experience. The move makes sense when you consider that neither
Google nor Microsoft want to really compete with third-party hardware makers,
because the companies rely on those partners to sell the bulk of products
running Chrome OS, Android, or Windows software.
But in Microsoft’s case, this is a bit of a gamble: the
Surface Laptop will be one of the first devices to ship with Windows 10 S, an
unproven platform. One sure way to make it more attractive to first-time users
would have been to offer an affordable Surface product that comes with the OS.
Priced at US$ 999 and up, it’s likely that the Surface Laptop won’t appeal to
education customers or folks that aren’t die-hard Windows fans… or perhaps
customers who plan to upgrade from Windows 10 S to Windows 10 Pro. At today’s
pres event, Microsoft officials made it clear that you can “switch” to Windows
10 Pro, but didn’t touch on one key thing: how much you’ll have to pay to do
that.
While prices start at US$ 999, the can climb as high as US$ 2199 if you want a model with a Core i7 CPU,
16GB of RAM, 512GB of storage, and Intel Iris Plus 640 graphics.
