Are Surface Laptops Worth The Price?

wswgin on 06/04/2024 - 12:03
Last edited 06/04/2024 - 15:09 by 1 other user

Looking to buy a windows business laptop, liked the design of Surface laptop, but when I look at the specs and prices, it seems horrible.

Surface laptop 5 is still using 12th gen Intel, and even the max settings can only get 16g ram and 512g hard drive, the maxed out 15 inch is over $3100.

These specs are 2 gens behind of competitors such as Lenovo and Dell, their newest laptops using Intel Core Ultra, 32g ram and 1tb drive with RTX graphics, like the maxed out Yogo 9i pro, it's still cheaper than the 12th gen 15inch surface laptop.

The new Surface laptop 6 is not released yet, it uses newest chips, but still only offers 16g ram and 512g drive, and the price is over $3600.

Does Surface have a much better build quality? Why is it so much expensive than other windows laptops?

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Comments

  • boomramada on 06/04/2024 - 12:31
    +3

    Does Surface has a much better build quatity?

    I had 3 generations of surface laptops without any issues and same goes with Dell XPS. Work pay for surface and I pay for XPS, both equally good as comparison.

  • kaykaykay on 06/04/2024 - 12:32
    +6

    From my own experiences the surface laptop is a very nice laptop, as in as a package for a laptop outside of specs. Build quality is good, screen is amazing, screen aspect ratio is perfect, track pad is good, keyboard is godlike. As a laptop it is so good. And that's where the price comes in. You trade "performance" for quality of life upgrades.

    These machines are awesome business machines for work where you open 10 pdf documents and word documents. If you need something with more power, then this isn't it.

    If you're going to spend top dollar for a surface laptop5, I would consider the surface laptop studio 2 tbh (the non rtx version if you're still after a non rtx version). The form factor for these are great as office machines.

    However, if you intend to dock your laptop at work for most of its lifetime, then a surface isn't it for price to spec ratio. If you don't intend to use the laptop as a single unit device, then I would start looking at the competitors as you said.

    Now that's just my experience. I could be very very wrong. But quality of life and having nice physical hardware > spec sheet for me.

    Also heads up surface laptop 5, you can upgrade the storage. And the surface laptop studio 2, you cna upgrade the storage and change battery when requured. (technically need a technician, but if you're handsy 👀)

  • AustriaBargain on 06/04/2024 - 12:47
    +1

    I think so, especially if you must use a PC and not a Mac. You'll appreciate having a laptop made out of metal and with a good screen and keyboard/trackpad.

  • JIMB0 on 06/04/2024 - 12:48

    The LG Gram series is nice. Especially if you want a larger screen.

  • rumblytangara on 06/04/2024 - 15:46

    Why is it so much expensive than other windows laptops?

    Because a Surface is an ultralight laptop. And like all ultralights, you are paying extra for the extra portability.

    The Yoga you mention starts at 2.3kg, a Surface is around 1.5kg.

    Does Surface have a much better build quality?

    You are asking the wrong question here. It's not "build quality" it's how the machine is put together. Ultralights are incredibly packed and hard to take apart or repair. The Surface probably uses a load of glue and are certainly not designed to be user serviceable. It won't be more or less "quality" than a heavier laptop, but it will be lighter and far harder to service.

    Are Surface Laptops Worth The Price?

    Nobody else can answer this for you. Depends on your use case, your spending power, and how much you value the portability.

    • grrrr on 06/04/2024 - 15:51

      Think of the gains from having a heavier laptop!

    • wswgin on 06/04/2024 - 18:38

      The 2.3kg one is a 16inch laptop, for around 14-15 inch, a few models have similar weight and battery life compared to Surface laptop, maybe not as good quality.

      It's just hard for me to understand that why are the Surface laptops specs are so far behind, and still so expensive, if they have up to date specs I'd happliy pay the premium price, but currently the newest available surface laptop is still using a gen 12 cpu, thats from 2021, almost three years ago, and even the just recenlty annoucned Surface laptop 6, only can be maxed out at 16g ram.

      • rumblytangara on 06/04/2024 - 19:14

        Surface laptops are not about specs. They are about form factor and being turned into tablets. If you are going to focus on specs, then clearly the Surface range isn't for you.

        You keep using the word "quality" in a very non-specific way with laptops. It has no meaning without context- what do you mean by "quality"?

        Personally, I avoid anything like a Surface as my definition includes being reasonably rugged, self-repairable, and with a longer than average warranty.

        • wswgin on 06/04/2024 - 20:13

          I mean build quality, premium materials, doesn't easily break or have frequent issues, good warrenty and support etc, like Apple.

          Since it's not about specs, I was wondering if there is a major diference in these aspects to warrent the premium price.

          I can understand Apple charges premium price because it has the differentiation of apple eco system, MacOS, M chips etc, but for Windows laptop, there are heaps of options.

  • jv on 06/04/2024 - 17:12

    Yes. If you don't mind getting 'zapped' whilst they are charging.

  • Ezekiel2320 on 06/04/2024 - 17:23

    Hell no. Gimped IO, fragile, overpriced. Had one at work and it was basically a netbook in a stupid glass chassis. Flip cover keyboard was dogshit, trackpad tiny, fabric cover fraying I'll take 2 ThinkPads instead thanks. Depends if you're buying a PC to actually get stuff done, or you want to pretend you're living in an Apple commercial and use your machine as a glorified typewriter

    • rumblytangara on 06/04/2024 - 18:07

      Do the Surface laptops still have that revolting Alacantra/fabric keyboard?

      As ultra-thin keyboards go, they feel remarkably… not dogshit. But fabric covering a keyboard is just a nasty idea.

      I thought they'd move to metal these days.

  • User889344 on 06/04/2024 - 17:33
    +1

    I had a Surface Laptop 2 and now a Surface Laptop 5 and love/loved both. I had a Macbook Pro for a while too but after having the Surface Laptop 2, I missed the touchscreen functionality too much

  • neo on 07/04/2024 - 16:04
    +1

    I think some people here are confusing the Surface Pro with the Surface Laptop.

    For me, Pro = crap and Laptop = very good.

    I love my Laptop 3 with the metal shell and keyboard.

    Wish it had more IO, i.e. another USB-C, but it does the job.

  • TorienD on 08/04/2024 - 00:28

    wswgin, There are some decent comments already posted, however I would offer a different viewpoint, it will need input from you:
    1. Is warranty and support important to you and your business? As all surfaces come with at least a 1-year hardware support. And I always recommend having this expended to 3 years.
    2. As MicroSoft Surfaces are build with Microsoft operating system in mind, businesses can take advantage of Autopilot and Intune to accelerate deployments, and Microsoft does this really well. If you have a business tech partner, talk to them about purchase and deployment options.
    3. Microsoft is also offering 0% finance options for businesses - terms and conditions apply, but reach out to me if you want to know more, as this is a really good option, which has only just become available.
    4. If you work for a not-for-profit there are also discounts available to you for Microsoft products, again let me know and I will talk you though how to take advantage of these options, should they apply.

    I hope that this helps.

  • McSquintus on 08/04/2024 - 11:24

    The current Surface Laptop 6 was a business version, wait and decide after the rumored consumer version gets announced in May: https://www.windowscentral.com/hardware/surface/dont-buy-new…

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