The Laptop 5 is best suited for consumers that prioritize mobility, while similarly priced competitors offer better CPUs, OLED screen options, and even dedicated graphics. This is in addition to the outstanding build and lengthy battery life. The Lenovo Slim 7 Pro X or the Dell XPS 15 oled are recommended for power users. The Surface Laptop 5 is ideal for anyone primarily looking for a large, light, durable, and well-built 15-inch laptop. It receives a “good” 4-star rating for that, but falls short of receiving an Editors’ Choice mention because it doesn’t address certain major problems, like as the outdated webcam and the relatively few connections for a 15-inch screen.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Design
Since Microsoft has been utilizing the same chassis for the last three or four generations, I won’t spend too much time discussing the appearance of the Surface Laptop 5. The aluminum bodies of the 13- and 15-inch variants also have tall 3:2 displays for increased productivity. Our 13.5-inch review device was only 0.57 inches thick and weighed 2.86 pounds. The entire package is quite clean, and in some ways I can understand why Microsoft doesn’t want to change the design—truly it’s a work of art. It is slim and simplistic, just like a MacBook, but distinct enough from the latter that you won’t ever confuse the two. However, I believe Microsoft is more than capable of making adjustments to the present chassis to make room for extra components without compromising its aesthetic appeal.
Keyboard and touch pad
However, the Surface Laptop 5 is essentially the same tablet on the outside as the Surface Laptop 4 (and 2019’s Surface Laptop 3, for that matter), with the exception of a new light green sage color in the smaller 13.5-inch form (we’re testing the 15-inch one here). In many respects, that’s acceptable considering that the 0.58-inch, 3.4-pound, all-aluminum body still feels excellent and resembles a more edgy MacBook Air, at least in our review unit’s silver “platinum” variant (black is the other option). Although the 720p webcam is beginning to seem quite obsolete for a laptop that starts at $1,299 ($1,899 as tested), the keyboard and 2496 x 1664 touchscreen are still excellent. You can buy this laptop from its official website
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Display
Since Microsoft has been utilizing the same chassis for the last three or four generations, I won’t spend too much time discussing the appearance of the Surface Laptop 5. The aluminum bodies of the 13- and 15-inch variants also have tall 3:2 displays for increased productivity. Our 13.5-inch review device was only 0.57 inches thick and weighed 2.86 pounds. The entire package is quite clean, and in some ways I can understand why Microsoft doesn’t want to change the design—truly it’s a work of art. It is slim and simplistic, just like a MacBook, but distinct enough from the latter that you won’t ever confuse the two. However, I believe Microsoft is more than capable of making adjustments to the present chassis to make room for extra components without compromising its aesthetic appeal.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Audio
Without the Surface Laptop 4 in front of me to compare, it’s difficult to say, but it seems like Microsoft saved money on the Surface Laptop 5’s speakers. Although our systems editor Andrew Freedman claimed the Surface Laptop 4’s speakers got loud and had a tolerable listening volume of between 60 and 70%, I wouldn’t quite categorize them as awful. I discovered that I could turn up the volume all the way on the Surface Laptop 5 while listening to my favorite test track, “Nightmare” by Buck-Tick, without it becoming uncomfortably loud. However, there was some obvious tinniness, with the high end sounding strong and somewhat harsh. If you turn down the volume below 90%, it becomes better, but there isn’t really too much sound coming from the speakers at that point. Additionally, no EQ adjustment software is present.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Graphics
However, it is somewhat telling that Microsoft only sent the 13.5-inch device for assessment, as the 15-inch model needs even more improvements. Adding support for discrete graphics and a few extra ports to the larger Surface Laptop 5 has a lot of promise to turn it into a truly wonderful all-arounder, despite the fact that I know my goal of owning an Xbox gaming laptop is unlikely to ever come true. However, choosing between the 13-inch Surface Laptop 5 and something like the XPS 13 can be difficult. Dell’s laptop has a similar CPU and a larger 512GB SSD drive rather than only a 256GB drive for the same $1,000 starting price, but no touchscreen (though you can upgrade to one if you want). That means you must decide between obtaining the XPS 13 for a marginally better price and choosing the Surface Laptop 5 with its taller 3:2 touch display.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Performance
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5’s performance is a combination of the good, the bad, and the ugly. First, let’s talk about the positives: the increased accessibility alternatives and productivity tools. The Focus feature comes first, which blocks alerts for a set amount of time so you can concentrate on productivity. Another improvement is Snap, which lets you divide your screen into different portions and then drag windows into those areas for simple multitasking. Another improvement to the quality of life is the ability to access numerous tabs of computer file folders in the same window in file explorer. There are also some quality-of-life improvements in the Start menu itself, such as the ability to group programs into folders and navigate through suggested apps. Additionally, Windows 11 has a variety of accessibility settings that you can turn on. This has the advantage of operating automatically across more than 20,000 apps, saving you the time and effort of having to modify each individual software.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Battery life and heat
We use a locally stored 720p video file with the audio level set to 100% and the display brightness set to 50% to test the battery life of laptops. Prior to the test, we make sure the battery is fully charged and turn off Wi-Fi and the keyboard’s illumination. We assess a laptop screen’s color saturation (how much of the sRGB, Adobe RGB, and DCI-P3 color gamuts or palettes the panel can display) and its 50% and peak brightness in nits using a Datacolor SpyderX Elite monitor calibration sensor and associated Windows software in order to test the display (candelas per square meter).
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Configuration options
Microsoft provided us with a Surface Laptop 5 review device equipped with a 512GB SSD, 16GB of LPDDR5x RAM, and a Core i7-1265U CPU. The Surface Laptop 5 for Business is the only model that currently sells this CPU, and it costs $1,899. However, the same setup in the consumer variant costs $1,799 and comes with a Core i7-1255U CPU instead. What distinguishes the two CPUs? For both the eight efficiency cores and the two performance cores, the 1265U offers a 100 MHz higher Turbo frequency. The maximum clock speed has changed by 2% as a result. Therefore, unless you also require Windows 11 Pro, which appears to be the only major difference between the consumer and business models, I wouldn’t advise investing the extra $100 for the device we received.
Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 review: Conclusion
Although it might use additional connectors and is beginning to seem dated, the design of the 15-inch Surface Laptop 5 is still generally fantastic. Still providing an experience that is far above average are its keyboard and screen. The issue is that you can have all of those excellent features with the Surface Laptop 4 from a previous generation for hundreds of dollars cheaper (at least for the time being), as well as adding a few hours more battery life in our tests. Additionally, the Surface Laptop 4 powered by AMD doesn’t always perform better in terms of productivity than the latest 12th Gen Core i7 CPU. Therefore, the Surface Laptop 4 is a much better purchase—at least for the duration of its lifespan—unless you like the look of the Surface Laptop and want Thunderbolt 4 (which is available via the laptop’s single USB-C connector). At the time I was finishing this evaluation, Microsoft appeared to be concealing it on its own website. However, I was able to configure the laptop(opens in new tab) for $1,399, which is $500 less than our review configuration of the new Surface Laptop 5.
