New Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 Goes for Battery Life (cnet.com) 66
Microsoft on Tuesday announced a new 2021 Surface Laptop, called the Surface Laptop 4. The new version adds 11th-gen Intel Core processors, paired with Intel Iris XE graphics. There's also an AMD processor option -- Zen 2 series -- with a graphics chip called AMD Radeon Graphics Microsoft Surface Edition. From a report: For all the buzz Microsoft's Surface tablets get, I've always thought the Surface Laptop was actually Microsoft's secret weapon. Since Surface Laptop debuted in 2017, it's been a strong contender for the best all-purpose slim Windows laptop. But plenty of companies offer 13-inch-class slim laptops, all hoping to be the Windows version of Apple's ubiquitous MacBook Air. (Microsoft also introduced a 15-inch version in 2019.) Microsoft says the Surface Laptop has the Surface line's highest level of customer satisfaction. Besides simply working well and being stylish and easy to use, the Surface Laptop was frequently on sale at very reasonable prices, making it a great way to get a rock-solid clamshell laptop for not much money. Shortly before the Surface Laptop 4 preorders went live, you could still order a Core i5 13-inch Surface Laptop 3 (with 8GB RAM and a 128GB SSD) for $769, or $899 for a 256GB SSD.
Battery? (Score:5, Insightful)
Surface laptops are glued-shut pieces of unrepairable obsolecense-to-come, has that changed in any way?
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That is no different from a computer that has removable drives. Drives fail.
Re:Battery? (Score:5, Informative)
Drives may fail, but laptops themselves may fail sooner than the storage does. If your laptop or tablet DIES for whatever reason, failed motherboard for example, being able to pull the SSD to get your data should be seen as VERY important. When storage is soldered to the motherboard, that means one obvious recovery method is gone.
M.2 solid state drives are also fairly robust when it comes to surviving things like the laptop being dropped that may kill a laptop, but then, remove the storage and you get your data at least. So, storage on the motherboard is a big negative.
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+1 informative, according to iFixit, remove four screws and you can access the SSD, for Surface Laptop 3 anyway, but one hopes they wouldn't go a completely different way with the new model.
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The site you linked makes it sound like it is difficult to replace the SSD. From this video it looks like it is one of the easier ones to do.
https://youtu.be/sAGRh3LTlIY?t... [youtu.be]
I have had laptops that are a lot harder to replace drives. IF Microsoft keeps this the same for the Surface Laptop 4 it should also be one of the easier laptops to replace the SSD.
Re: Battery? (Score:2)
So it's not a laptop.
It's a tablet with a shitty keyboard mat or something.
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The editors will be along to fix the gross errors in this sad attempt at a story RFSN.
Because the alternative is that they simply don't care a shit about DOING THEIR JOB.
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Looks like it's set up to obsolete itself even faster than it's competition, through not having Thunderbolt. It's very nice to have an eGPU with two 4K displays plugged in, and be able to leave the power hungry GPU behind when on the go, especially when possibly dealing with Nvidia Optimus fuckery in Linux.
Both the Dell XPS 13 and the Lenovo X1 Nano have Thunderbolt, making that a possibility. HP's 13" may as well, I can't remember.
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So it's going to be obsolete because it doesn't have a niche feature that is used by very few people?
I guess I have been hearing fake news all year that laptop sales have been increasing during Covid. Since very few laptops actually have a Thunderbolt port on them they must all be going obsolete as well (not to mention all the 4+ year old laptops that are still in use).
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Yeah, because people don't use thunderbolt ports for anything else, including as extra USB-C or Thunderbolt ports.
It's not only for my "niche" use eGPU, you know. And yes, when your options for connecting things is reduced, it's far more probable that the device will be obsolete faster.
It would seem that you don't understand the word "obsolete" - just because something is obsolete, it doesn't mean that thing is unusable. People use obsolete stuff all the time, such as any 1080P television for example. Or
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You do realize that you can get a USB-C port that doesn't have Thunderbolt included right?
So people also use Thunderbolt ports as Thunderbolt ports? How novel. 8^)
I was actually referring to Thunderbolts in general being rather niche not just the use of eGPUs. Admittedly, they aren't as niche by themselves as using them for eGPUs is.
I have never owned a laptop with Thunderbolt in it and none of those were obsolete out of the gate just because it didn't have Thunderbolt. Sure they eventually became obsolete
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eGPU is a niche use case
However, TB bandwidth to multiple and/or high res screens plus other peripherals isn't so niche. Single cable display/power/dock works much better over TB than USB-C due to bandwidth limitations.
TB should be standard on more hardware as Intel's dropped the licensing charges and (i think?) included it in some/most chipsets directly.
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Your info is outdated or you're thinking of the wrong surface products. The previous and current Surface Laptops include a removable/replaceable SSD.
Unlike Apple that solders and glues everything the possible can because their primary audience is consumer, MS knows the business world and made that nod to reparability ... or more likely companies who need to ensure data security. Same reason companies like dell offer a 'keep your hard drive' warranty option.
Memory OTOH doesn't have the same security concer
"From a report"? (Score:2)
I've always thought the Surface Laptop was actually Microsoft's secret weapon.
Clearly you've never used one, then. They're a nightmare of overheating, locking up, and simple dropping dead. Some of that is just Windows being shit, but a lot of it isn't.
Re:"From a report"? (Score:5, Funny)
The NFL uses them. A multi-billion dollar Type-A franchise like the National Football League would not settle for crappy technology. It's too much of a competitive environment to settle for anything less than the best.
The best sarcasm is when you're not sure if it's sarcasm or not. This is some excellent sarcasm.
Re: "From a report"? (Score:2)
Clippy: "Did you mean more sure tuan you ever were in all.of the universe forever"? I know that's a lot more characters than you could ever accidentially mistype, but hey: I'm Clippy!
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Microsoft paid them to use them. And they still couldn't manage not to call them iPads.
Stands (Score:2)
I like when they shoot the in-studio guys from the side, and you can see they are using their propped-up surfaces as stands for their iPads.
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Unless that multi-billion dollar Type-A franchise is looking to extract promotional money from another muilti-billion dollar corporation through the advertised use of their product during highly-watched media events...
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I remember when work bought me a Surface 4. Damn things was $2,300. Oh but it had such a nice touch screen; wait, no it doesn't. Why does it weigh a ton? But it can be a tablet. A piece of shit tablet, and what was up with that shitty ass keyboard? 4 hour battery life, that was a joke.
I moved on and bought a Dell 2n1 for $800. Better screen, battery life, and keyboard. Just as fast as the Surface. Faster because it didn't overheat and throttle.
Best use I found for the Surface 4 when I had it
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Also fragile as hell, they're awful slippery and while that magnesium/aluminum is nice to the touch the thing is always just a single slipup from cracked glass, dented metal and of course the digitizer is bonded to the LCD so that's a pricey repair with lot's of glue and prayers.
Re:"From a report"? (Score:4, Interesting)
Clearly you've never used one, then. They're a nightmare of overheating, locking up, and simple dropping dead. Some of that is just Windows being shit, but a lot of it isn't.
Every device in this formfactor is a nightmare of overheating. They are literally all configured for temporary boost loads which benchmarks have shown time and time again lead to a more responsive system than an overall system then attempting to build something that stays entirely within its temperature envelope. About the only laptops which don't do this are those with big arse frigging fans in them.
As for locking up and dropping dead. I think I can count on one hand the number of times in the past 5 years I've had a device lock up on me. I do wonder what you're doing wrong. Our IT department did have a larger rate of returns after we rolled out 15000 of the devices in our company, but not that much larger than the dell latitudes we came from, and mostly due to careless users not treating the obviously more fragile device with respect.
What are you doing wrong?
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"Every device in this formfactor is a nightmare of overheating."
It seems that you haven't tried an M1 Mac.
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Is that the same M1 Mac that people are modding online to reduce the thermal throttling? The same M1 Mac that actively stops charging if you leave it under load too long because the entire case gets too hot?
Let me clue you in. If the M1 Mac is not boosting way above it's thermal envelope and then hitting a temperature limit, then Apple has done a shit design that pointlessly wastes performance without any tangible benefit other than a colder lap.
Fortunately they haven't and they realised just like everyone
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"Every device in this formfactor is a nightmare of overheating." It seems that you haven't tried an M1 Mac.
I own both a M1 MacBook Air & M1 Mac mini - neither have heat issues. The Mac mini never even feels warm & never puts out warm air (just what feels like room temperature). The Mac mini is running NVR software for 14 x IP cameras, Plex Media Server, Content Caching & Time Machine backups for other Macs. Even with Plex transcoding, I've never noticed any heat increase. The MacBook Air barely gets warm on the bottom side, and performance has never been lacking.
Maybe you just seek out to see w
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I think it's just another Apple fanboi who has probably never actually contaminated his hands by touching one.
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My boss uses one, he caught his 2 year-old using it for a hammer and it still works fine.
Frelling Apple fanbois.
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My boss uses one, he caught his 2 year-old using it for a hammer and it still works fine.
Yeah, but did it overheat?
Frelling Apple fanbois.
?
Worsr Slashvertisemenr ever. (Score:2)
States "battery life"... Doesn't state battery life!
But hey, it's Microsoft! So it'd be a lie anyway... even if somebody on this geek site cared. ;)
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The trend of passive-aggressive threads with shit content the original posters know is shit content fascinates me because there is no logical reason for it.
What is the motive for making Dicedot suck? It's not an accident because no one is that stupid.
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Cowboy Neal sent me to say 'Hi'.
HDR Webcam (Score:2)
I haven't seen too many HDR webcams, but since people seem to universally be backlit when on a video call this might help. Not as much as actually having light shine on your face.
When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies & (Score:2)
Has anybody else noticed this? It used to be every laptop in a movie or TV show was a Macbook of some kind, and now they're almost all Microsoft Surfaces. I first noticed it in "Doctor Strange", and now I can't unsee it.
Is MS paying for product placement? Was Apple paying for product placement before, or was it just that that Macs had become so pervasive in the creative community that when a character had to use a laptop or computer, the prop guy just went and got a Mac, or used one that was lying around?
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Re:When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies &am (Score:1)
Any time you clearly see a brand in a broadcast displayed like that it is paid for. Whether it is Apple, M$, Coke, Pepsi or a Keurig....
Re:When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies &am (Score:2)
Conversely, if you see logo's subtly covered it's because they didn't pay for it.
Once you know to look for it, you'll see it fairy often.
And yes...MS is 100% spending big bucks for product placement.
Re:When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies &am (Score:2)
Absolutely.
No one reads movie credits but read the credits! Most will proudly state whom they're sponsored by.
Conversely, the bad guys in movies typically consume generics because Apple legal might sue if a serial killer is using an iPhone.
Re:When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies &am (Score:1)
You are right about the bad guy thing! I forgot about that. And i occasionally read the credits. In one movie one of the grips names was Justin Case. Gotta love the parents that had a sense of humour!
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Microsoft started paying for Windows placement in television shows well over a decade ago. A lot of the cop / hospital / procedural shows my wife used to watch featured laptops with a Windows logo in the same spot as a Mac has its Apple - even though such laptops did not exist in real life.
There was also the infamous “I’ll track down the suspect by building a GUI in Visual Basic” stuff they paid to get added to the scripts.
Oh, and this went as far as sports broadcasts. Several years ago I
Re:When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies &am (Score:2)
Man, how can such a huge company have such consistently bad everything?
Re:When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies &am (Score:2)
Mac fans like to point out that Apple never paid for product placement. However that doesn’t preclude the possibility that they simply made their hardware available to TV and movie crews.
I would say that if you are giving the crew free Apple products, even if there isn't an express deal that those products will end up in the TV show or movie, that you are paying for product placement when they do show up in the production.
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I first noticed it in "Doctor Strange", and now I can't unsee it.
About 6 years ago when MS started this product placement campaign. Good to see you noticed, that means the marketing is working.
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Re:When Did Surface Replace MacBooks in Movies &am (Score:2)
... if you wanted to use Macs in your movie, Apple would provide them free of charge. With the condition that you couldn't show villains using them....
Thanks, did not know that. I were a prop guy, I'd have definitely gone with the free Mac./P
Eww (Score:3)
The feel of the keyboard is very important for me when choosing a laptop, and the Microsoft Surface line is there at the bottom of the list for me.
The keys' surface is slippery, as if they had been dipped in lubricant, but they are probably just made of POM plastic [wikipedia.org] which has a low friction coefficient.
The Space Bar should not feel lumpy.
The "Alcantara" fabric they use is infamous for attracting oils, dust and grime and getting worse over time.
Microsoft product names of today are in-effect un-googleable in their generality, making it difficult to find e.g. the right review for the right product out there.
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I always thought those original (table-sized) Surfaces were an interesting, albeit niche, product.
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I thought they were nothing more than technology demos!
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The local children's museum here had one with some interactive science-y stuff running on it, and it worked pretty well in that capacity. I don't know if it's still there; my kids aged out of that years ago so I haven't been there lately.
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Here in Seattle MS will have people come in and test their beta equipment. A former coworker did an AutoCAD trial on one of the table-sized Surfaces, and he was enthusiastic. Unfortunately Ballmer apparently wasn't as impressed with the product and abandoned it entirely. The board should have replaced him years before they finally did.
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I remember playing around with one in the "house of tomorrow" ages ago at Disneyland, which was really just a big shill for various technologies, mostly Microsoft.
The surface table with games was the only thing there that actually seemed workable and cool. We kept trying to crash the thing and couldn't get it to fail, and the touch was spot on at a time when most tablets hadn't been invented yet.
Meh (Score:2)
Lose the Slashvertisements (Score:2)
"moving forward" department? More like space filler.
never been impressed (Score:2)
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High resolution on a small footprint creates tiny fonts when you have a poorly implemented
display manager. Display elements can retain the same size while gaining in clarity.
Microsoft should take another look at their design reference, MacOS, to see how it is done
The Surface Laptop 4 Laptop? (Score:2)
I am not a native English speaker, so I have to ask, isn't it very odd to name the laptop "Surface Laptop 4"? Shouldn't it have been named "Surface 4", so you'd say the Surface 4 laptop instead of the Surface Laptop 4 laptop?
I know I'm a bit late to the party, but nobody I know uses one or has expressed interest in discussing it, so it hasn't come up and I had never noticed the official name actually includes the word "laptop".
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You're right that the word order is odd. The "official name" includes laptop to differentiate it from the Surface tablet. I think it's a stupid decision by their marketing department, rather than using a different name entirely, but they don't ask my opinion.
I liked these laptops until I didn't .... (Score:3)
At one of my previous jobs, my boss decided to standardize on the Surface Pro tablet as the Windows laptop we issued to new hires. (We were a creative/production type company that let people choose Windows or Mac for their computer, and it was pretty much a 50/50 split environment.)
The Surface Pro seemed ideal for the artistic types, since they could use a stylus to draw on it; kind of a game-changer for that group.
However, as we deployed more and more of them to people, we found some shortcomings. Biggest one was that flimsy keyboard cover to type on, when on the go with one. They worked great when attached to the dock with a regular desktop keyboard, mouse and monitors. But our mobile users in sales or finance clamored for a more traditional portable that you could type on, with it sitting in your lap, while on a plane or train or sitting someplace with no suitable desk space to put it on.
So I thought the Surface laptop might be the answer. It was similar enough to the Surface Pro tablet so our same custom Windows disk image worked on it without any modifications. We started having problems with the original model where the touchpad would break and come loose inside the laptop. One of the Microsoft retail store guys I showed one to admitted that was a "weak spot" on them and a fairly common issue. When people would pick up the Surface laptop while the lid was open, it put a twisting force on the touchpad area if they grabbed it by a front corner, and would eventually damage it. Then the second revision came out which promised to be a better design, except Microsoft jacked the price on them WAY up over the original model. Meanwhile, that arrangement where the stylus was attached to one with a magnet led to lost stylus pens left and right. They'd always manage to fall off while people were in transit, and weren't cheap at $129 or so each. The non user-replaceable batteries were another downside. At least all of our Macbook Airs allowed unscrewing the bottom cover and swapping the battery ourselves, even if Apple didn't necessarily call it user serviceable. (It was a pretty easy swap as long as you took a reasonable amount of care not to damage the ribbon cable it attached to the board with.) The Surface laptops with bad batteries had to go back to Microsoft for servicing every time.
Silly article (Score:2)