In a special event celebrating 10 years of Surface products, Microsoft announced its latest Surface Laptop. The newly revealed Surface Pro 9‘s bigger cousin, Surface Laptop 5, brings a few notable changes but skips changing too much.
For this year, Microsoft is ditching AMD Ryzen in favor of a 12th-gen Intel “Alder Lake” Core CPU. According to the firm, the new chip helps the Surface Laptop 5 perform 50 percent better than the preceding model. At the same time, the CPU’s energy efficiency means an improved battery life that provides 17-18 hours of backup.
Besides this, another value addition is the Thunderbolt 4 connectivity. That means the laptop’s Type C port now supports the superior Thunderbolt Dock as well. However, for charging, you would still have to rely on the standard Surface Connect port.
Moreover, the new Surface Laptop 5 gets a better screen that comes with Dolby Vision IQ HDR. In terms of RAM, there’s a jump over to the newer LPDDR5X. Plus, there’s uncompromisable fast storage, courtesy of M.2 NVMe SSD. Fortunately, the laptop still accommodates the 3.5mm audio jack port despite its tablet counterpart removing the same.
Surface Laptop 5 variants, key differences, and prices
When it comes to variants, there are the 13.5-inch and 15-inch versions which obviously sport different screen resolutions (2256×1504 vs 2496×1664). On top of that, there’s a consumer variant and a commercial variant, which also come with visible differences. The different color combinations available are Sage, Sandstone, Matte Black, and Platinum Alacantara.
Speaking of the 13.5-inch model, the consumer one offers a choice between Core i5-1235U and Core i7-1255U. Whereas the commercial model lets you choose between Core i5-1245U and Core i7-1265U. On the other hand, the 15-inch consumer edition offers Core i7-1255U, while the commercial laptop has Core i7-1265U.
Although the laptop is officially set to release on October 25, the pre-order facility is already available for all variants. For regular users, the 13.5-inch model is up for a price in the range of $999.99 to $1,699.99, and the 15-inch model has a price tag between $1,299.99 and $2,399.99. Professionals can get their hands on a commercial 13.5-inch laptop for $1,099.99 to $2,399.99, and they’ll have to shell out $1,399.99 to $2,499.99 for the 15-inch one.
