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The Surface Laptop 4 Is Great, But Ultimately Doomed

Apple's M1 chip has all the advantages

By Matthew S. Smith Matthew S. Smith Writer Beloit College Matthew S. Smith has been writing about consumer tech since 2007. Formerly the Lead Editor at Digital Trends, he's also written for PC Mag, TechHive, and others. lifewire's editorial guidelines Updated on May 4, 2021 01:03PM EDT Fact checked by Rich Scherr Fact checked by Rich Scherr University of Maryland Baltimore County Rich Scherr is a seasoned technology and financial journalist who spent nearly two decades as the editor of Potomac and Bay Area Tech Wire. lifewire's fact checking process Tweet Share Email Tweet Share Email Computers Mobile Phones Internet & Security Computers & Tablets Smart Life Home Theater & Entertainment Software & Apps Social Media Streaming Gaming

Key Takeaways

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 scores well in battery life and performance.But the identically priced MacBook Air is faster and lasts longer.Apple's M1 chip makes the value of future Windows laptops questionable. Lifewire / Matthew S Smith Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 4 is among the best Windows laptops you can buy right now, but that's not enough to save them. I gave the Surface Laptop 4 a strong score in my review for Lifewire. Its battery life, performance, and build quality are excellent, especially for a laptop with a 13.5-inch display. The Laptop 4 is great for travel, but powerful enough to handle photo editing, AI upscaling, and programming. It’s a great laptop by any measure. Yet my praise is dulled by an unavoidable downside. For all its perks, I can’t recommend the Surface Laptop 4 over Apple’s MacBook Air.

The Surface Laptop 4 Is Fast The MacBook Air Is Faster

I tested the Surface Laptop 4 using the GeekBench 5 processor benchmark. The entry-level model I reviewed, powered by a six-core AMD processor, hit a multi-core score of 5,448. That’s excellent! The new entry-level Surface Laptop 4 is roughly four and a half times quicker in this benchmark than the original entry-level Surface Laptop with an Intel Core m3-7Y30 dual-core processor, released in 2017. Lifewire / Matthew S. Smith Notebookcheck, which reviewed a Laptop 4 15-inch with the optional eight-core Ryzen 7 processor, saw a GeekBench 5 multi-core score of 7,156. That’s competitive with the Ryzen 7 2700 processor in my gaming PC. There's just one problem: the MacBook Air is faster. GeekBench 5 shows the base MacBook Air can defeat the upgraded Surface Laptop 4 in both single and multi-core tests. The $999 MacBook Air trounces the $999 Surface Laptop 4 I reviewed, exceeding its multi-core performance by over 35%. It’s a similar story in graphics, where Apple’s M1 chip is ranked above Radeon RX Vega 11, the best version of Radeon graphics found on AMD’s Ryzen chips.

Apple s M1 Delivers The Best of Both Worlds

If the MacBook Air is faster than the Surface Laptop 4 in all workloads, even at the base $999 price point, why buy the Laptop 4? In the past, there was an easy answer: battery life. AMD and Intel processors with more cores and faster clock speeds would use more power. When I reviewed Dell’s 2018 XPS 13, for example, I noted the Core i5 model lasted three hours longer than the top-tier Core i7 variant. This trade-off remains common in Windows laptops. The slowest models typically last longest on a charge, while gaming laptops can consume massive batteries in under three hours. Lifewire / Jeremy Laukkonen Apple’s M1 doesn’t ask for compromise. In my testing, the Surface Laptop 4 lasted no longer than nine hours on a charge, and seven or eight was typical. Jeremy Laukkonen, reviewing the MacBook Air (M1, 2020) for Lifewire, saw 12 hours of endurance. To make matters worse for Surface, Max Tech’s comparison of the Laptop 4 and MacBook Air found the Air has a larger lead in performance when on battery power. The MacBook Air is fanless, too, so it’s always silent. The Surface Laptop 4 isn’t loud for a Windows laptop, but it can make a racket when pushed hard.

Windows Is The Only Reason To Buy A Windows Laptop

So, why buy the Surface Laptop 4? The only good answer is Windows. Around 75% of all PCs worldwide use Windows. That, however, is a big decrease from Windows’ absolute dominance at the turn of the millennium. And as Windows’ desktop market share has weakened, MacOS's has surged. Windows is still important, yes, but many shoppers are willing and able to ditch it. They’re doing exactly that. Seven of Amazon’s top 25 best-selling laptops are now M1 MacBook variants. Gartner’s Q1 2021 PC shipments report credited Apple with a stunning 111.5% increase, surging past Acer to grab the fourth spot worldwide. Windows, itself, lacks direction. Microsoft continues to release updates, but its attempts to add new features, like Continuum and Windows Mixed Reality, have failed to take off. Some features, like Cortana, are all but abandoned. And Apple is just getting started; newer, faster chips are expected to power a redesigned MacBook Pro in late 2021. This will doom high-end Windows laptops to fight over shoppers who, for whatever reason, have no choice but to stick with Windows. Was this page helpful? Thanks for letting us know! Get the Latest Tech News Delivered Every Day Subscribe Tell us why! Other Not enough details Hard to understand Submit More from Lifewire Microsoft's Surface Pro 9 Shows That the Future Is ARM, Not Intel Which Microsoft Surface Is Best for You? Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Review: The Best Yet The Next Microsoft Surface Event: Date, News, Announcements, Rumors, and More Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Review: A Lightweight Laptop Option MacBook Air vs. MacBook Pro: What's the Difference? The 9 Best Laptops of 2022 New MacBook Air: News, Price, Release Date, and Specs Apple MacBook Air (2018) Review: A Long-Awaited Ultraportable Upgrade How to Lock the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Apple MacBook Pro 16-inch (M1, 2021) Review: Apple's Best Laptop Apple MacBook Air 13-inch (M1, 2020) Review: Apple’s Impressive M1 Chip Rises To New Heights LG Gram 15.6-inch (2018) Review: A Big, Incredibly Light Laptop that Lasts and Lasts The 9 Best Laptops for College Students of 2022 Acer Predator Triton 300 SE Review: Small Laptop, Big Value iMac M1 (2021) Review: A Visual Refresh and the Powerful M1 Chip Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up Newsletter Sign Up By clicking “Accept All Cookies”, you agree to the storing of cookies on your device to enhance site navigation, analyze site usage, and assist in our marketing efforts. Cookies Settings Accept All Cookies