The Snapdragon X Elite is finally here, and with it a Windows laptop that might be able to compete with the MacBook in an area where it has lagged far behind. After a day with Microsoft’s latest Surface Laptop, I’m excited about this new future.
I’ve been a Windows user all my life. macOS never really caught my attention, and the more I used it the more I hated it. It was a total flop, really. But there was one thing I just couldn’t ignore: Apple totally nailed it when it came to the most important part of a laptop: battery life. The switch to Apple Silicon made the MacBook more appealing than ever, and I finally gave up on sticking with Windows and bought a MacBook Air in total frustration.
But then came the Snapdragon X Elite.
Qualcomm introduced new Windows chipsets last year. big It failed to deliver on its promises. This was in stark contrast to years of promises of Windows on Arm that never quite delivered. Poor app support, disappointing performance, and shoddy emulation just led to a waste of time for everyone. But the Snapdragon X Elite looked promising from day one, and continued to be appealing until the hardware was finally unveiled.
That’s why, after a few months of trial and error, I was super excited to ditch my MacBook Air and try out the Microsoft Surface Laptop — and after just one day, I’m already pretty happy with it.
Let’s start with the physical hardware. The latest Surface Laptop is a great machine. The aluminum body is reasonably thin and looks great in the “Platinum” finish I purchased. Blue is obviously the best choice, but I’ll be skinning it anyway. The keyboard, tactile touchpad, and screen are all excellent. The key travel is adequate, Microsoft’s first tactile touchpad compares favorably to the one on my old MacBook Air, and the screen is bright. The 13.8-inch size is also great for travel, which is my primary use case. Plus, I’ve always had a soft spot for lots of ports.
But there are two important things we all want to know: battery life and performance.
I’ve only had the machine for a little over a day, so my ability to draw conclusions on both counts is limited, but after a full day of work, I was impressed on both counts. I was actively using the laptop pretty much throughout the day from 9:30am to 6:30pm, and the battery went from 100% to 24%. That’s impressive, considering I was not only watching videos, but also using dozens of Chrome tabs, WordPress, and Photoshop throughout the day.
In that respect, performance was very good throughout.
Throughout the day, I didn’t notice any slowdowns. Photoshop held up very well, which isn’t too surprising since it’s a native Arm app. Most of the apps I use are also native, such as Chrome and Slack. The only apps I came across that weren’t native were Beeper, Lightroom Classic, and Steam. Steam and Beeper were also running in the background for most of the day. The performance of the emulated apps is naturally not as good as native apps, but it’s not a disaster. Lightroom Classic was my biggest concern here, and it worked flawlessly. I was able to edit and export photos with ease, and I didn’t even realize I was using an emulated app.
So far I’m very happy with the Surface Laptop. It’s a machine I’ve been waiting for years to get. I’ll be using it more in the coming weeks and putting together a full review, but in the meantime, is there anything else you’d like to know? If there’s anything you’d like me to test or any questions you have, please leave a comment below and I’ll do my best to respond.
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