Surface Laptop 7th Edition

Surface Laptop 7th Edition

Developer	Microsoft
Product family	Microsoft Surface
Type	Laptop
Generation	Seventh
Release date	18 June 2024 (2024-06-18)
Introductory price	15.0": USD $1299 - 2,499 13.8": USD $999 - 2,499
Operating system	Windows 11 Home Upgradeable to Windows 11 Pro
CPU	Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite Qualcomm Hexagon (NPU)
Memory	16 GB, 32 GB, 64 GB RAM
Storage	1 TB, 512 GB, 256 GB
Removable storage	Removable SSD
Display	PixelSense Flow Touchscreen 3:2 Aspect Ratio 15": 2496 x 1664, 201 PPI 13.8": 2304 x 1536, (201 ppi)
Graphics	Adreno
Sound	Omnisonic Speakers with Dolby Audio, 3.5 mm headphone jack, dual far-field studio mics
Input	Built in: touchscreen, ambient light sensor, keyboard, touchpad Sold Separately: mouse, stylus pen
Camera	1080p HD front facing Studio camera
Touchpad	Built in
Connectivity	15":Bluetooth 5.4, WiFi 7, USB-C, USB-A, microSDXC, Surface Connect 13.8":Bluetooth 5.4, WiFi 7, USB-C, USB-A, Surface Connect
Power	15": 65W 13.8": 39W
Online services	Microsoft Store, OneDrive
Dimensions	15": 329 x 239 x 18.29 mm (12.96 x 9.41 x 0.72 in) 13.8": 301 x 220 x 17.5 mm (11.85 x 8.67 x 0.69 in)
Mass	15": 1,664 grams (3.668 lb) 13.8": 1,342 grams (2.959 lb)
Predecessor	Surface Laptop 6
Related	Surface
Website	www.surface.com

The Surface Laptop 7th Edition is a laptop computer developed by Microsoft. It is the seventh generation of Surface Laptop, and was unveiled alongside the Surface Pro 11th Edition. It is the first Surface Laptop released for Windows on ARM. It's also the first Surface Laptop with a built-in NPU designed for generative AI, via Microsoft Copilot+

Background and reveal

Qualcomm announced the Snapdragon X line of CPUs on Oct 10, 2023. As they did with Microsoft, they partnered with several manufacturers such as HP, Dell, Lenovo, Asus, and Samsung to release Windows laptops powered by the ARM-based CPUs.

Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop 7th Edition and Surface Pro 11th Edition at an AI-related press event on May 20, 2024. The press release touted performance, efficiency, and battery life that would rival the Macbook Air M3, and major performance gains over the Surface Pro 9. The Surface Laptop 7E was announced in two form factors and four colors: 15” and 13.8” display; and colors sapphire, dune, platinum, and black. The CPU options available are the Snapdragon X Plus with 10 cores, and the Snapdragon X Elite with 12 cores. The devices contain a Hexagon NPU for use with Microsoft Copilot+ generative AI app.

While Windows on ARM has existed since Windows RT and the first generation Surface tablet in 2012, the devices and OS were met with a mixed critical reception, and failed to be widely adopted by consumers. The Nvidia Tegra 3 SoC was considered underwhelming, and Windows RT lacked a practical amount of apps. This was due to low ARM-native app availability, and no x86 emulation to run x86-based apps. Subsequent ARM based Surface devices include the Surface 2 (Nvidia Tegra 4), Surface Pro X, and as an option for the Surface Pro 9 (both Microsoft SQ). The latter two devices were initially released with the ARM variants of Windows 10 and Windows 11 respectively, and included a built-in x86 emulator for app support. The performance was improved over early Surface devices, and had more impressive battery life than x86-based Surface tablets.

With Apple’s transition to Apple Silicon in 2020, ARM was seen as an increasingly viable option for laptop and desktop PCs, no longer being tied largely to just mobile phones and tablets. The Snapdragon X family of CPUs sought to provide the best performance, improved battery life, and lower heat output as compared to x86 Surface devices (the latter two still considered pain points of x86 Windows mobile devices), as well as integrate generative AI features and the Hexagon NPU. ARM-native apps have also seen larger support on Windows now than ever before. Microsoft claims that 90% of total app minutes that users spend in apps now have native ARM versions. Google released Chrome on ARM in 2024, and Adobe has been rolling out ARM native apps for Photoshop, Illustrator, and Premier Pro.

The new version of the x86 compatibility layer included in the Windows 11 24H2 update was named Prism, and was claimed to offer major performance improvements over the previous compatibility layers in Surface on ARM devices.

Hardware and features

• 1st gen Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus or Snapdragon X Elite processor
• Qualcomm Adreno integrated graphics processor
• Qualcomm Hexagon neural processor
• Memory options are 64 GB, 32 GB, and 16 GB
• Storage options are 1 TB, 512 GB, and 256 GB
• 3.5 mm headphone jack
• 2x USB-C 4.0 with data transfer, charging, and DisplayPort 1.4
• 1x USB-A (3.2 Gen 2) port
• microSDXC card reader added for 15" model
• Surface Connect charging port
• Up to 20 hours battery life for 13.8" model, 22 hours battery life for 15" model
• Factory calibrated IPS-type sRGB display with 600 nits peak brightness
  13.8": 1400:1 contrast ratio
  15": 1300:1 contrast ratio

Software

Surface Laptop 7E models ship with a pre-installed 64-bit version of Windows 11 Home (which may be upgraded to Pro for a fee) and a trial of Office 365. Windows 11 24H2 includes an updated x86 emulator, now called Prism. Similar to Rosetta 2 on Apple Silicon, this is a compatibility layer which allows x86-based applications to run on the ARM instruction set, to address apps that have not yet seen ARM-native releases.

Windows 11 includes Microsoft Copilot for AI features. Microsoft Recall, a controversial snapshot search history AI feature was disabled upon launch, and will be opt-in only once it launches. Recall was widely derided upon it's reveal, citing security and privacy concerns, prompting Microsoft to make it an opt-in only feature.

Serviceability and repairability

Microsoft has released service guides for Surface Laptop 7E and Surface Pro 11th Edition.

iFixit has given both the Surface Laptop 7E and Surface Pro 11E an overall rating of 8/10 on the repairability scale. Noting the improvements over previous Surface devices, the user-removable SSD, and ease of removing the bottom cover and access of the battery. But lamented on the soldered-on RAM.

Timeline

Timeline of Surface devices
Sources: Microsoft Devices Blog Microsoft Store