Pour one out for the AMD Ryzen-powered Surface Laptop. Despite impressive leaps forward for the Ryzen 6000 series, Microsoft\u2019s self-branded machine is now an all-Intel affair. <\/p>\n
Aside from the new 12th-gen Core chips inside the new Surface Laptop 5 and the addition of Thunderbolt 4, the only real change is a few admittedly gorgeous new colors.\u00a0There are some key technical and design tweaks to know, though. Here\u2019s what we discovered during hands-on time with the Surface Laptop 5 from Microsoft\u2019s event.<\/p>\n
I\u2019ve heard this song before<\/h2>\n
That\u2019s not necessarily a bad thing. 12th-gen Intel chips are the bees\u2019 knees, unless you\u2019re looking for the better integrated graphical power of AMD\u2019s mobile chips. You\u2019ll have to step up to the Laptop Studio if you want that extra oomph, <\/em>because even the quite roomy 15-inch model has to settle for Intel\u2019s Xe graphics. Maybe next year we\u2019ll have an Arc version? Who can say.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Crider\/IDG<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Externally, the Surface Laptop 5 is as sleek as it ever was, whether you choose the 13.5-inch or 15-inch model. The screens are the same resolution as the previous models, but adds Dolby Vision HQ for HDR\u2026 which I can\u2019t say made a huge difference. The excellent and quiet keyboard is unchanged, and comes with either an anodized aluminum deck or the eye-catching Alcantara soft-touch finish. Sadly that\u2019s only on the smaller model, which also gets the gorgeous new Sage green color option. (Man, green gadgets really are in<\/em>, aren\u2019t they?)<\/p>\n On the left side of the keyboard deck you get one\u00a0USB-C\/Thunderbolt 4 port, a new addition that can handle up to two 4K monitors via a single cable. The handy USB-A port for older gadgets returns, as does a headphone jack, and on the right is the venerable and proprietary Surface Connect port. Dual speakers utilize gaps in the keyboard to redirect sound up to the user, and the 3:2 screen (slightly higher-res on the 15-inch model) is a divisive choice which nevertheless fits in with the rest of the Surface line.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Crider\/IDG<\/p>\n<\/div>\n As for the user experience, well, it\u2019s a Surface Laptop. If you liked the previous models, you\u2019ll like this one (unless you were attached to that AMD hardware). And if you didn\u2019t, there\u2019s nothing here that will change your mind. Microsoft\u2019s style remains beautifully understated, and it includes features that show off the best of Windows\u2019 capabilities, like Hello face unlock and compatibility with the Surface Pen. If you\u2019re careful, you can replace the internal SSD, which is becoming a rare option for ultra-portable machines in this sleek design class.\u00a0<\/p>\n Michael Crider\/IDG<\/p>\n<\/div>\n Microsoft claims 18 hours of life for the 13.5-inch model, and oddly \u201conly\u201d 17 hours for the 15-inch version. Both are roughly in line with last year\u2019s models \u2014 any differences you spot are likely to come down to how hard you push the hardware. But it\u2019s worth pointing out once again that, at least on paper, the older AMD versions beat out the new Intel chips for longevity. <\/p>\n Michael Crider\/IDG<\/p>\n<\/div>\n The 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 5 starts at $999.99 with a Core i5-1235U and an okay 256GB SSD, but an unfortunately stingy 8GB of RAM. It can be had in grey, black, or the much more appealing Sandstone gold-ish and new Sage green. (Seriously, see that green version in person before you pull the trigger on a purchase.) It tops out at $1699.99 with an i7-1255U and 16GB\/512GB.\u00a0<\/p>\n The 15-inch model is unfortunately limited to grey and black, starting at $1299.99 for the i5\/8GB\/256GB model and going up to $2399.99 for an i7 and a more beefy 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage. Both models will be released on October 25th, along with the new Surface Pro 9.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Pour one out for the AMD Ryzen-powered Surface Laptop. Despite impressive leaps forward for the Ryzen 6000 series, Microsoft\u2019s self-branded machine is now an all-Intel<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1365,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[270],"tags":[1103,1102,1101,1100,1104],"class_list":["post-1364","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-editors-choice","tag-amd","tag-handson","tag-laptop","tag-surface","tag-thunderbolt"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=1364"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1364\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/1365"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=1364"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=1364"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=1364"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Surface](\"https:\/\/b2c-contenthub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/sage-surface-laptop-5.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200\")
![\"surface](\"https:\/\/b2c-contenthub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Surface-Pro-5-ports.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200\")
<\/figure>\nSleek as ever, now in Sage<\/h2>\n
![\"Surface](\"https:\/\/b2c-contenthub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/S.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200\")
<\/figure>\n![\"Surface](\"https:\/\/b2c-contenthub.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/Surface-Pro-5-keyboard.jpg?quality=50&strip=all&w=1200\")
<\/figure>\n