Microsoft has announced a brand new Windows-powered notebook called the Surface Laptop at an event in New York City on May 2.
The laptop runs on a new, lighter version of Windows called Windows 10 S which is a lightweight variant of the windows operating system.
It has much the same look and feel as the fully featured windows 10 but has limited access to applications. Allowing you to install only the apps which are available on the windows store.
Clearly this makes it comparable to the Chromebook series which is targeted to the student and home users.
For those of you with more professional intentions you can download and install the full windows 10 operating system on the laptop. This offer is free until the end of 2017, but after that will come at an additional $50 pricetag.
Moving onto the specs. The new Microsoft laptop features either the 7th Generation intel core i5 or i7 Kaby lake Processors and to give this some perspective they are as much as 50% faster than a MacBook air.
The Surface Laptop features a 13.5-inch PixelSense LCD touchscreen display with a 3:2 aspect ratio. The significance of this can’t be underestimated, if we compare it to any of the entry level Macs or chrome books it sets itself apart with by offering a touch screen interface that I believe should be the way forward for all computers wether they be laptop or desktop. And the touch screen is compatible with both the Microsoft surface stylus and dial which are optional accessories.
You can pick up the Surface Laptop in a range of attractive colours that includes Platinum, Burgundy, Cobalt Blue, and Graphite Gold. The names may be different but looks a lot like Apple to me. It also features an fabric Alcantara-covered keyboard which is similar to that offered on the surface add on keyboards.
There aren’t any visible speaker grills on the exterior as the sound emanates from and is projected vertically from beneath the keyboard.
Weighing in at just 2.76 pounds, it has a tapered design that ranges from 9.9mm at the front to 14.47mm at the back.
Connectivity is limited to a usb type 1 port, a power connector and mini display port. Unfortunately there is no USB type 3 port which is clearly the emerging standard as it is able to provide both data and power to devices and offers much greater transfer speeds. But having said that most devices are still usb 1 so its not going to be an issue for most users.
Base models sporting the i5 processor 4Gb of Ram and 128GB Hard drive start at $1,000 US and go up from there. if you are going to consider one of these you may be better of with the 8gb Ram and 256 storage option for better performance and future proofing.
Microsoft is claiming a 14.5-hour battery life which is going to be among the highest in this category and given how compact and lightweight the unit is is very impressive. As always you need to adjust your exceptions of battery life as often the claims are lab tests based on ideal conditions which are rarely replicated by the end user in the real word usage scenarios.
Availability will be from the 1st of June 2017 and if your keen you can pre-order on the Microsoft website as of today.
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