Best Microsoft Laptop

Best Microsoft Surface Laptop Accessories
Best Microsoft Surface Laptop Accessories (Image credit: Windows Central)

Why the Surface Laptop is the best

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Opening the Surface Laptop, you can't help but notice the Alcantara fabric finish that makes typing on the keyboard and navigating with the Precision touchpad that much sweeter. The 13.5-inch display is calibrated right out of the box for 99 percent sRGB color, and it sits at a 2256 x 1504 resolution. The bezel around the display is thin, but there's enough room at the top for an IR camera compatible with Windows Hello.

There are plenty of configuration options available, but you can get up to a seventh-generation Intel Core i7-7660U processor, a 512GB SSD, and 16GB of DDR3 RAM for strong performance. As for ports, you're looking at one USB-A 3.0, one Mini DisplayPort, Surface Connect, and a 3.5mm headset jack.

Those who need a laptop that can be carried around all day without having to be charged should know that you get up to about 10 hours of life if you aren't really pushing it the entire time. Toss in support for the Surface Pen and the Surface Dial, and you have an all-around fantastic laptop. Configurations start at about $1,000.

Conclusion

The Surface Laptop's design and hardware will no doubt appeal to a lot of people, and it's our overall choice for best Microsoft laptop. If you need the most power, check out the Surface Book with Performance Base, and if you like the design but don't need quite as much power, the standard Surface Book makes a great business partner. The updated Surface Pro sits at the top of the 2-in-1 list, but that doesn't mean the Surface Pro 4 is completely out; its reduced price makes it a perfect option for a budget Microsoft device.

Updated June 19, 2017: We refreshed this list to include the Surface Laptop and Surface Pro.

Daniel Rubino
Editor-in-chief

Daniel Rubino is the Editor-in-chief of Windows Central. He is also the head reviewer, podcast co-host, and analyst. He has been covering Microsoft since 2007, when this site was called WMExperts (and later Windows Phone Central). His interests include Windows, laptops, next-gen computing, and watches. He has been reviewing laptops since 2015 and is particularly fond of 2-in-1 convertibles, ARM processors, new form factors, and thin-and-light PCs. Before all this tech stuff, he worked on a Ph.D. in linguistics, watched people sleep (for medical purposes!), and ran the projectors at movie theaters because it was fun.