Microsoft Surface Laptop - Does it Deserve to Exist??
Linus Tech Tips
·Linus Tech Tips
·2018-05-06
·
1,553 words · ~7 min read
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the surface name makes me think of
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something that is flat but unlike every other product in
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the surface lineup the surface laptop
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cannot be laid down flat so then with
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the ease of drawing and note taking removed can the surface laptop Stand Out
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Among the other Plain Jane thin and light laptops on the market we're not
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sure maybe you can help us
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decide Rock cat's iscu plus Force FX
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features pressure sensitive qwe Asad
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Keys which can be configured in three different modes for multiple functions
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check it out now at the link below so there are a handful of different color
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surface laptops available but unexpectedly we actually really like our
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burgundy one I wouldn't say that its design screams professional but when you
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first meet it it definitely gives you a clear plastic binder with the arguments
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for its professionalism laid out and a clear and convincing Manner and after
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the interview every interaction with the surface laptop feels premium with
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virtually zero chassis flex and a solid
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screen hinge both of which are made even more more impressive by the fact that
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they were achieved in a device that weighs in at only 2.76 lb the battery
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life is also what I would describe as very respectable managing over 6 hours
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in our work battery test although it should be noted that won't be quite
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enough to completely free you from the charger like the over 9 hours recorded
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with the second gen LG G specs wise our
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model packs just enough punch to make not doing a whole lot feel nice and
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snappy so don't expect to run games or
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edit epic videos with the integrated Graphics but this middle of the road
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Core I5 with 8 gigs of RAM and an entrylevel 256 gig NVMe SSD is well
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suited to surfing the internet or writing up documents in office as well
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as light multitasking a word of warning though make sure when you spec out your
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surface laptop you've got enough storage and RAM when you buy since there is no
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obvious way to open up the sealed chassis and therefore no easy way to
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upgrade this thing once it leaves the factory the screen continues to be a
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really strong point for the entire surface lineup Avid movie Watchers may
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not appreciate the black bars that come along with the 3x2 aspect ratio but the
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surface laptops high resolution and factory color calibrated IPS display
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make it a treat to use for for daily tasks and even suitable for some light
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photo work on the go the touch capabilities are excellent and the top
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mounted infrared equipped webcam is great for Windows hello and while not
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the most amazing looking or sounding on
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a business call or in an emergency it would surely do you fine ezel a bomb
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look come on look at this thing what do I do how do I get rid of this thing all
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right calm down how can I calm down it's kill very clear view of this bomb
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and you're going to have to snip the glue stick snip the glue stick where did
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you go to ordinance disposal school what kind of a bomb is this anyway red wire
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blue wire red wire blue wire I can see that there is no red wire
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there there the day is saved but with that said fans of the
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surface product line expecting a great stylus experience are going to be uh how
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you say majorly bummed out because the
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usefulness of the screen is hampered by not being able to fold the surface
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laptop flat it's compatible with the
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surface pen and dial for that matter but
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while the hinge is easily strong enough to prevent screen wobble during regular
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use it is not strong enough that I'd be
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comfortable drawing on it and unlike the surface book it can't be flipped all the
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way around the good news is that lots of
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people who weren't fans of Microsoft's existing devices won't care about that
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at all and for them a touchpad is a
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perfectly good alternative and perfectly good it is it's glass topped with a very
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satisfying click and almost no weird behavior during our testing in fact it's
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so good that if it was between the touchpad and the arc mouse that
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Microsoft also sent over I'd stick with
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the touchpad the idea of having a mouse
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with built- touch on the top for scrolling that
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folds flat for portability is pretty appealing but it's uh again how you say
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uh shockingly uncomfortable back to good stuff though
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and boy is it good this keyboard has inspired us to start a laptop keyboard
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Hall of Fame and put this in it I don't
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know how they managed to make a keyboard This thin feels so darn good but it's
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freaking amazing once I finished writing up this review on it
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I just wanted to keep on typing to feel the keys their smooth but tactile feel
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accentuated by the soft Alcantara Palm rest and the better weight distribution
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for easy in-lap operation make this
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machine with its keyboard possibly the best word on the-go device that I've yet
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encountered but what if you want to use programs other than word
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well funny story the surface laptop
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comes preloaded with Windows 10s so as long as those other programs
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are either the edge internet browser or
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available in the Windows store then you're good to go because that's all
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that runs on Windows 10s but hold on before you power users
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out there free out Windows 10 Pro is a free upgrade that only takes a few
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seconds so we did that on the subject of
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freaking out the surface laptop stayed calm cool cool and quiet avoiding any
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sort of thermal throttling even under synthetic loads aat again made all the
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more impressive by the fact that we had a heck of a time even figuring out where
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the darn air intake was and to round out
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the good stuff the stereo speakers which are positioned under the keyboard are
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great I mean they're not going to floor you but given how thin this guy is it's
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impressive how much sound Microsoft was able to pack into it
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okay so up until now this has been a
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really positive review of the surface laptop because it's mostly pretty sick
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but unfortunately there is one subjectively massive blemish the io IMO
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really misses the mark then flies across a field and gets stuck in your great
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an's horrible hairdo with only a single USB type A One mini DisplayPort and a
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headphone jack don't expect to be connecting much to it at a time and
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Microsoft if you're watching guys if
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you're going to force people to dongle their way through life at least have the
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courtesy to include a nonproprietary
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USBC or Thunderbolt Port the surface
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dock that connects to the power connector of the surface laptop does
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greatly expand its IO but it costs a whopping 200 US doar money that could be
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spent on a thin and light notebook with more IO or faster Hardware or both but
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with that said you would be making other sacrifices the LG gram 2017 might be
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more easily upgradeable and lighter with a bigger battery and more ports but its
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build quality is vastly inferior at the
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same price for the same spec so bottom
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line then the surface laptop is a great
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notebook that with the addition of a Thunderbolt 3 Port would be nearly
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perfect as long as you can afford
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it I cannot say enough good things about
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the iFixit prot Tech toolkit it's super
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easy to use the tools are quick enough to access that even when you're on a
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crowded show floor you can whip that thing out and start disassembling
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laptops and monitors and Allin ones and
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pretty much you name it an iFix site is
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the resource you need to use your iFixit Protech toolkit to fix and or upgrade
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your devices because gosh darn it you
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own them so why shouldn't you be able to do that it's got all kinds of great
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tools like their suction cups their prying tools their screwdrivers and an
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ESD safe strap and the best part is it's backed by iFixit lifetime warranty
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so head over to ifixit.com Linus and use
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code Linus at checkout to save five bucks on your purchase of $10 or more oh
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and if you're in Canada you can check them out at amazon.ca for cheaper
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shipping so thanks for watching if this video sucked you guys know what to do
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but if it was awesome hit the like button get subscribed maybe consider
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checking out where to buy the stuff we featured at the link in the video
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description also down there you'll find our merch store with cool shirts like
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this one and our community Forum which you should totally join l