I have had the new Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 around here for a couple of weeks now and it's been a pleasure. The new Surface Laptop 4 comes in four different configurations - you have options of 13.5" or 15" screens and processors from AMD and Intel:
Surface Laptop 4 13.5"
Quad Core 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 processor
Quad Core 11th Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor
AMD Ryzen 5 4680U Mobile Processor with Radeon Graphics Microsoft Surface Edition (6 cores)
Surface Laptop 4 15":
Quad Core 11th Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor
AMD Ryzen 7 4980U Mobile Processor with Radeon Graphics Microsoft Surface Edition (8 cores)
Another difference in these models is the colour and material availability. The 13.5" models have a multitude of colour and palm rest material: platinum or ice blue with Alcantara palm rest and matte black or sandstone with metal palm rest. For the 15" models you only have the option of platinum or matte black both with metal palm rest.
For my review, I was given the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 15", matte black with metal palm rest. The case is made of aluminium and very smooth to touch. The matte finish makes the black stand out and I didn't think it was a fingerprint magnet as I feared.
This model comes with the AMD Ryzen 7 4980U Mobile processor, 16 GB RAM (there are 8, 16 and 32 GB options) and a built-in Radeon GPU. This specific processor has eight CPU cores (16 threads) running at a maximum of 4.4 GHz (base clock is 2 GHz) and 8 GPU cores. For comparison, the AMD Ryzen 5 4680U Mobile Processor on the 13.5" model has six CPU cores (12 threads), seven GPU cores and runs at max clock of 4 GHz.
Despite having a more powerful processor than its smaller version, the battery life is still very impressive: the specifications say this model has a 17.5 hours runtime - and they make the distinction that this is with "typical device usage". In my usage, which basically included Windows Updates, browsing, emails, remote desktop connections it pretty much confirmed this number as I only had to recharge the laptop once over a couple of days.
I don't have the Intel model to compare but the specifications say the battery life is just a bit shorter, most likely because of a higher max frequency of 4.8 GHz and the built-in Intel Iris Xe Graphics.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 measures 339.5 mm × 244 mm × 14.7 mm and thanks to its aluminium body it weighs 1.5 KG, which is a good weight for a 15" laptop (compared to a 13" laptop from another brand that I have here that weighs 1.3 KG).
From the start of the Surface line Microsoft put lots of effort into designing creative solutions for their devices. This continues with the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 where they have created a laptop that can be opened single-handedly with a finger only.
The screen is one of the few things that have not changed from previous versions. The 15" model still uses the PixelSense Display with a 249 x 1664 pixels size at 201 PPI, giving you their unique 3:2 aspect ratio. The screen is touch-sensitive and compatible with the Surface Pen, although you will have to source one separately. Also, while the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 can output HDR10 to an external HDR10 display, the internal panel can receive HDR content which will be composed by Windows Streaming HDR and projected to the internal panel as 8-bit content - so no native HDR on the PixelSense internal display.
In terms of ports, it has one USB-C, one USB-A, a headphone jack and the well-known Surface Connect port - which is used for charging and uses a magnet to keep the charging cable in place. It's just the minimum these days and nice to see both USB-A and USB-C present there.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 provides a TPM 2.0 chip for Enterprise Security, including Bitlocker support - beware that the consumer version comes with Windows 10 Home edition pre-installed so if you want to use Bitlocker you will have to upgrade to at least Windows 10 Pro. The laptop does not have a fingerprint reader but it supports Windows Hello face authentication.
From my usage, the face recognition feature is very fast and unlocks the laptop quickly. It can also be used as another authentication factor for websites and browsers that use the WebAuthn standard for login - I have used it with Cloudflare for example.
In terms of connectivity, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 uses the new WiFi 6 standard (802.11ax) and supports WEP3 for wireless encryption. It also supports Bluetooth 5.0 technology to connect other wireless devices such as mouse, keyboard and wireless headphones and headsets.
The keyboard is pretty well done, with nice space between keys and a very responsive trackpad. It is backlit and the power button is actually a key on the top right of the first row, just next to DEL.
You can configure your Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 online when ordering directly from Microsoft. As configured, the review unit (15", 16 GB RAM, 512 GB SDD, AMD Ryzen 7 4980U Mobile processor) retails for NZ$ 3399.
If you are in the market for a good laptop with a large screen for professional or consumer use (including coding and some digital work) I would consider it.
