Best Microsoft Surface Laptop (2026): Which Model to Buy or Avoid

But much than anything, the polish of the laptop's plan and the prime of its components are what marque it consciousness connected par with Apple. You tin get it with either a 13.8- oregon 15-inch surface size. The smaller exemplary has a somewhat larger show than its predecessor (up from 13.5 inches) with thinner bezels and rounder corners. It's brighter, too, and features a 120-Hz surface refresh rate, giving it an borderline implicit the MacBook Air. Content looks vivid and sharp, adjacent outdoors successful wide daylight (but you'll person to crank it up to astir afloat brightness nether nonstop sunlight).

My favourite happening astir the surface is the facet ratio. Because it's 3:2 alternatively than 16:10, the laptop has a taller surface that's person to square. This provides much vertical abstraction for webpages, spreadsheets, and apps. When choosing betwixt the two, I'll ever gravitate toward the 3:2 surface of the Surface Laptop, which is 1 of the fewer laptops that usage this facet ratio. The 1080p webcam, customizable haptic feedback trackpad, and snappy keyboard each consciousness each spot arsenic beardown arsenic the MacBook Air, too.

None of that would substance if the show and artillery weren't competitory though. Fortunately, the Surface Laptop 13.8 is powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors, with options for the X Elite oregon X Plus. It was 1 of the archetypal laptops to clasp these chips and has benefited from their exceptional artillery beingness and businesslike performance. We tested the Elite, and show has been perfectly smooth, nary substance however galore windows, tabs, and apps are open. This is not a instrumentality for graphics-intensive tasks, similar video editing oregon gaming, but it's perfectly susceptible of powering each the accustomed tasks astir radical bash connected a laptop.

The Surface Laptop 13.8-inch utilized to commencement with an enactment with lone 256 GB of storage, which is however Microsoft was capable to merchantability it astatine specified a debased starting price. But present that starts astatine 512 GB, careless of if you take the 13.8-inch exemplary oregon the larger 15-inch. The 13.8-inch exemplary present starts astatine $1,099, though you tin often find it for little astatine Best Buy oregon Amazon. In addition, Microsoft has a newer (and much budget-oriented) enactment successful the lineup called the Surface Laptop 13, which launched successful 2025 and starts with 256 GB of storage. Although we haven't tested this instrumentality yet, it comes with respective downgrades, including a lower-resolution surface (that isn't 3:2 facet ratio), nary Surface Connect magnetic charging port, and nary Windows Hello IR camera. With each the discounts disposable connected the larger models, I don't find the terms quality with the Surface Laptop 13 worthy each the compromises.

Best 2-in-1 Laptop

The Surface Pro 13 is the champion Surface tablet Microsoft has ever made. It uses the archetypal Surface design, pairing a 13-inch tablet with a built-in kickstand to a detachable keyboard. You get the aforesaid 2 USB-C connectors arsenic before, on with Microsoft's Surface Connect port. It's inactive awkward to usage connected a lap, but connected a desk, the caller Flex Keyboard is an fantabulous (and pricey) upgrade—you tin usage the keyboard and Surface separately, truthful you tin abstraction your setup retired a little.