Microsoft's Surface Laptop 7 Challenges MacBooks with Impressive Battery Life and Windows on ARM

With Snapdragon X Elite, if you're considering switching from Mac to Windows, here's what you need to know

Quick Links A huge leap for Windows on Arm Better, but still not there Price is still a huge factor Qualcomm's latest Arm processor, the Snapdragon X Elite, is the latest talk of the (tech) town for good reason. Finally, undeterred by 12 years of unsuccessful attempts, Windows on Arm is making a wide stride in the right direction. The Snapdragon X Elite seems to be the long-awaited chip that could put Windows PCs back in contention with Apple's outstanding Macs and MacBooks in terms of performance, power efficiency, and battery life -- while offering affordability as the cherry on top. Some macOS users will naturally wonder if it may be the right time to switch to a Windows machine. But will the Snapdragon X Elite and Microsoft's Copilot+ deliver enough value for Mac users to make the switch? Not quite yet. Related 5 reasons why Apple can beat Copilot+ with Apple Intelligence Apple is poised to steal Microsoft's Copilot+ thunder A huge leap for Windows on Arm Finally, a step in the right direction Close While Apple's M-series powered laptops are unparalleled in many respects, the company has, in the last few years, made its products less and less accessible to consumers, angling instead for creative pros who are willing to pay a lot of money for premium gear. Meanwhile, others -- frustrated by the fact that there are still a handful of music production and design apps and plugins out there that either don't run natively or aren't properly supported on Mac -- are looking to see if Windows is a better option. Microsoft's 12-year uphill climb to make Windows on Arm a suitable alternative to Intel and AMC x86 machines has sadly been plagued with software compatibility and performance issues. Even now, although many popular apps (such as Adobe Photoshop, Lightroom, and Google Chrome) are optimized for Windows on Arm, many more aren't on the list. And sadly, the emulator still isn't cutting it, especially considering that Apple's Rosetta emulator seems to have pulled it off effortlessly. However, things are looking up with the Snapdragon X Elite under the hood. Its benchmarks show plenty of promise. A far cry from the disappointing legacy that the Snapdragon 8cx chipset left behind, this Arm SoC has proven itself powerful enough to outdo Intel's hyped-up Core Ultra 7 155H as well as go toe-to-toe with Apple's M2 Max and M3 in their single-core and multi-core performances respectively. Focusing on power efficiency, Microsoft's Snapdragon X Elite-powered Copilot+ PCs also hope to compete with the newest MacBooks' epic battery life. Related The new Snapdragon X Elite laptops are great, but they're not for everyone Windows on ARM has never been better, but here are a few reasons why you should still be cautious Furthermore, the Snapdragon is being used in many premium Windows laptops, from the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7, to top popular models from major OEMs like Dell, Lenovo, and Samsung, giving consumers a lot more options to choose from if they're looking to switch over from Apple. Considering all that, it's also no surprise that more widely used apps will, in the near future, run natively on Windows on Arm. At least, that's what Microsoft is promising. Better, but still not there Not quite like the M1 Macs Despite all that, the reality is that Windows on Arm is still a ways away from truly being in the same league as the latest Macs and MacBooks. Before you switch from your Mac to a Copilot+ PC, there are several other things to consider. If you're a huge fan of macOS's seamless user interface and experience, you'll likely find the Windows UI extremely clunky and cumbersome, especially now that it's riddled with ads and focused on collecting data. Additionally, at the time of writing, we still don't know exactly when many of our favorite apps will go native. Chances are, creative professionals will have to wait a while before their go-to apps will run natively and be truly optimized for Windows on Arm. Adobe pledged earlier this year that its full suite of apps, including Premiere Pro, will be upgraded for Arm in July. Based on our tests, the Snapdragon X Elite beats the MacBook Air M2 in both single- and multi-core performance. However, digging deeper, many have found the integrated GPU on the Snapdragon X Elite lacking compared to the ones on Apple's M-series chips, according to The Verge. Related 4 third-party apps that are getting a Copilot+ boost Copilot+ PCs aren't only for Microsoft's tools - here are some third-party apps that put the Snapdragon X to good use. Despite heavy marketing of the chip's NPU, with exciting promises to deliver impressive AI experiences in creative workloads, these Copilot+ laptops are primarily productivity-focused, while Apple has poised its offerings to be creative workstations. The impressive performance while handling creative workloads is why many users continue to purchase and prefer Apple machines. Those hoping for a Windows on Arm alternative for video editing or 3D design might be disappointed. There's also the matter of power efficiency. Apple's latest SoC series, the M3 family, delivers up to 22 hours of battery life (up to 18 hours on the MacBook Airs). Despite promises of power efficiency, none of the Snapdragon X Elite laptops we tested have yet been capable of the same longevity, with the Surface Laptop 7 maxing out at 15 hours and the Surface Pro 11 lasting 10 hours at the recommended power settings. Price is still a huge factor If affordability is a priority, Snapdragon offers great options Consumers seeking a more affordable alternative to a MacBook may find a few appealing propositions (read: better value for the money) in the Snapdragon X lineup, especially if their daily workload doesn't often involve heavy graphical tasks. For the same price as the $999 MacBook Air M2, the cheapest and most consumer-friendly MacBook you'll find on the market right now, you can get the latest Surface Laptop 7 with a 10-core processor and double the RAM and storage. Even the new Dell XPS 13 with a 12-core processor, 16GB RAM, and 512GB SSD is $100 less than the MacBook Air M2 with the same memory and storage. That difference in price and value is significant enough to convince the more economical MacBook fans out there. For heavy graphical workloads, Mac still rules Users whose daily work involves heavy graphical tasks, such as video editors, graphics designers, and 3D animators, will likely require much more graphical prowess than the Qualcomm Adreno (Snapdragon X Elite's integrated GPU) can offer. As we mentioned earlier, testing done by The Verge showed that none of the available Snapdragon X Elite models can keep up with the more powerful Apple M3 iGPU. That's just one part of the equation, too. Though many apps can run natively on Windows on Arm, not all are optimized for it as of now. Even Adobe's Premiere Pro, one of the most widely used video editing software on the market, is still being optimized for it. If they are still working towards this new platform, imagine how many less prominent applications are not yet optimized for Arm. While Microsoft has been promising an emulation software that's just as good as Apple's, it's still not as efficient when handling more demanding apps. Then there's the matter of battery life. We have yet to see any Snapdragon X Elite laptop hit the 18-hour longevity that the M3 MacBooks have achieved in real-world testing. That isn't to say that these Copilot+ laptops do not offer the all-day battery life they advertise, because they do; however, that difference of 3 to 8 more hours (depending on the laptop model) matters a lot to many creative professionals. The Snapdragon X Elite is, without a doubt, an auspicious development in Microsoft's quest to compete with Apple and finally make Windows on Arm happen. However, those hoping to switch from a MacBook to one of Microsoft's Copilot+ laptops should reconsider. They're not quite there yet, so stay tuned.

HP OmniBook X vs. Apple MacBook Air M3 | Digital Trends

The first laptops in Microsoft's new Copilot+ PC initiative are rolling out, running Windows on Arm and built around Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite Arm chipset. One of the first is the HP OmniBook X, which also introduces HP's new brand pulling together all its consumer laptops. Contents Specs and configurationsDesignPerformanceDisplay and audioPortabilityA step in the right direction, but not far enoughShow 1 more item These machines are aimed primarily at Apple's MacBook Air, which uses the Apple Silicon M3 Arm chipset and has provided the best balance between performance and battery life. Is the OmniBook X a serious competitor? Recommended Videos Specs and configurations Apple MacBook Air M3 HP OmniBook X Dimensions 11.97 inches x 8.46 inches x 0.44 inches 12.32 inches x 8.8 inches x 0.56-0.57 inches Weight 2.7 pounds 2.97 pounds Processor Apple M3 (8-core) Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 Graphics 8 GPU cores 10 GPU cores Qualcomm Dreno RAM 8GB 16GB 24GB 16GB Display 13.6-inch 16:10 Liquid Retina IPS 2560 x 1664 14.0-inch 16:10 2.2K (2240 x 1400) IPS Storage 256GB SSD 512GB SSD 1TB SSD 2TB SSD 512GB 1TB Touch No Yes Ports 2 x USB-C with Thunderbolt 4 1 x 3.5mm audio jack 1 x MagSafe 3 1 x USB-A 3.2 1 x USB-C 3.2 1 x USB4 3.5mm audio jack Wireless Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.3 Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 Webcam 1080p 5MP with infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello facial recognition Operating system macOS Sonoma Windows 11 on Arm Battery 52.6 watt-hours 59 watt-hour Price $1,099+ $1,150+ Rating 4 out of 5 stars 3.5 out of 5 stars HP offers just two configurations with the OmniBook X. Both use the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 chipset, and you'll pay $1,150 for 16GB of RAM and a 512GB SSD and $100 more for a 1TB SSD. A 14.0-inch 2.2K IPS display is the only option. The MacBook Air M3 has a more complicated configuration. The least expensive model is $1,099 for an 8-core CPU/8-core GPU M3 chipset, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. You'll spend $100 more for a 10-core GPU, and for 24GB of RAM and a 2TB SSD, you'll spend over $2,000. Overall, the OmniBook X is more affordable than the MacBook Air M3. Design The OmniBook X doesn't depart too widely from HP's typical design, with a kind of mash-up of the premium Spectre and midrange Envy aesthetics. It's an all-metal chassis and lid that's reasonably rigid, with just some slight bending in the lid under moderate pressure. Its available in two colors, Meteor Silver and Ceramic White, and overall, it's a good looking if somewhat conservative laptop. The MacBook Air M3 has Apple's latest rather boxy, but incredibly meticulous design, giving it a highly recognizable and elegant aesthetic. It's machined from a solid chunk of aluminum, but like the OmniBook X, the lid is a bit flexible. It can be had in four colors, including Midnight, Starlight, Space Gray, and Silver. I wouldn't pick either of these laptops over the other based on build quality or aesthetics alone. In terms of their input options, the MacBook Air M3 wins out. Its Magic Keyboard has larger keycaps, more key spacing, and snappier, more precise switches, while the OmniBook X's switches are a bit firmer. The MacBook's Force Touch haptic touchpad is the best you can buy, and it's much better than the OmniBook X's mechanical touchpad. It's larger, more precise, and more customizable. Neither laptop has a ton of ports, but the MacBook Air benefits from Thunderbolt 4 and a dedicated MagSafe 3 power supply connection, while the OmniBook X makes do with an additional legacy port. It has a USB4 port that mostly matches Thunderbolt 4's capabilities, but not quite. You can get the latest Wi-Fi 7 on the OmniBook X, while the MacBook Air M3 is limited to one generation earlier. Finally, the OmniBook X has a higher-resolution webcam and an infrared camera for Windows 11 Hello facial recognition, and it also can utilize some advanced AI features as part of the Copilot+ platform. That includes enhanced Microsoft Studio Effects software with AI-assisted background blurring and more. The MacBook has a Touch ID fingerprint reader, and Apple Intelligence AI features will be rolling out in the next version of macOS Sequoia. Performance The OmniBook X uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100 Arm chipset. It has 12 cores (eight performance and four efficient) and runs at up to 3.4GHz. It doesn't have the dual-core burst mode that the faster Snapdragon X Elite chipsets enjoy, making it the slowest in the lineup. Its Adreno GPU runs at 3.8 TOPS (Trillions or Tera Operations Per Second), and like all members of the line, its Neural Processing Unit (NPU) runs at 45 TOPS. The MacBook Air M3 uses the Apple Silicon M3 chipset with eight CPU cores (four efficient and four efficient) and either eight or 10 GPU cores. In our benchmarks that run natively on Windows on Arm, the OmniBook X was about 12% faster in Geekbench 6 multi-core and 25% faster in Cinebench 2024 multi-core. The MacBook Air M3 was about 30% faster in Geekbench 6 single-core and 40% faster in Cinebench 2024 single-core. In the one graphics benchmark that runs natively on both chipsets, the MacBook Air M3 was about 31% faster. Ultimately, each of these chipsets is more than fast enough for the most demanding productivity workflows. The MacBook Air M3 has faster graphics, which should make it a better gaming laptop -- but only when running older titles or newer titles with graphics turned way down. In creative applications, the MacBook Air M3 will be faster thanks to CPU optimizations in video encoding and decoding. But neither laptop will be a great choice for demanding creators. Geekbench 6 (single/multi) Cinebench 2024 (single/multi) 3DMark Wild Life Extreme Apple MacBook Air M3 (M3 ) 3,102 / 12,078 141 / 601 8,098 HP OmniBook X (Snapdragon X Elite X1E-78-100) 2,377 / 13,490 101 / 749 6,165 Display and audio The OmniBook X has a 14.0-inch 16:10 2.2K (2240 x 1400) IPS display. That's not as sharp as the MacBook Air's 13.6-inch 16:10 2560 x 1664 IPS panel. According to our colorimeters, the MacBook Air M3's display is a lot brighter and has significantly wider colors. The OmniBook X's colors are slightly more accurate, and both laptops have around the same contrast. Overall, the MacBook Air M3's display is better, particularly for creators and media consumers. Apple MacBook Air M3 (IPS) HP OmniBook X (IPS) Brightness (nits) 495 325 AdobeRGB gamut 87% 78% sRGB gamut 100% 100% DCI-P3 gamut 99% 79% Accuracy (DeltaE, lower is better) 1.24 0.98 Contrast ratio 1,480:1 1,400:1 The OmniBook X has two downward-firing speakers that are just OK. The MacBook Air M3's audio is much better, with four speakers putting out louder and clearer sound. Portability The MacBook Air M3 is one of the thinnest laptops you can buy today at just 0.44 inches and considerably slimmer than the OmniBook X at 0.57 inches. The OmniBook X is also slightly heavier. Neither laptop is a lot to carry around, but the MacBook Air M3 is noticeably more svelte. The biggest battle between these two laptops is in battery life, where Qualcomm and Windows on Arm are meant to make the most impact. The OmniBook X is competitive with the MacBook Air M3 when looping our test video, lasting for 22 hours compared to the MacBook at around 19.5 hours. However, when web browsing, the MacBook Air M3 is a lot stronger at 19.5 hours compared to 13.5 hours. And when running Cinebench 2024, the MacBook Air lasts 3.5 hours while the OmniBook X shuts down after around two hours. The bottom line is that the MacBook Air M3 is a lot more efficient when running more demanding tasks. That means that for real-life work, Apple Silicon retains its top spot. A step in the right direction, but not far enough The OmniBook X is a significant improvement over Intel's Meteor Lake chipsets, with stronger performance and better battery life. It's reasonably priced, well built, and is a good first member of HP's new brand. As a Windows alternative to the MacBook Air, it's certainly worth considering. On the other hand, the MacBook Air M3 is still a much more efficient laptop, with better battery life, especially as you ramp up performance. It also has a better display, keyboard, and touchpad. It's more expensive, but in my experience, totally worth it. Some other Copilot+ laptops fare better, such as the Surface Laptop 7th Edition, but in this matchup, the MacBook Air will make more people happy.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 review: 23 hours of battery life? MacBooks are in trouble

They all seem to be missing that je ne sais quoi -- that X factor -- that makes 'em stand out in the world of MacBooks, Lenovo ThinkPads, and Dell XPS series laptops. The competition was always quite stiff for the Surface family, with rivals offering more performance for the price. The biggest hindrance to the Surface family's success was, sorry to say it, Intel. (Even when Microsoft decided to pack AMD chips inside their laptops, they performed significantly better than their Intel-based variants.) "It's me! Hi! I'm the problem it's me," is what Intel should be saying, quoting Taylor Swift. Now Microsoft has made the smart decision to ditch Intel for the Surface Laptop 7, which features a star chipset called Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. Long story short, Qualcomm said the Snapdragon X Elite crushes MacBooks, particularly the models with the M3 chips -- and it didn't tell a lie. If that's too much, Amazon is also selling a Microsoft Surface Laptop for just $1,199, but it comes with some downgrades, including 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and a Snapdragon X Plus chipset. The Surface Laptop 7 oozes sophistication and polished refinement. Personified, this Microsoft laptop would be the smooth-talking Wall Street banker, dressed in an all black suit, who says, "I'd like a whiskey neat, please." The build quality is mint. The chassis, partially made from recycled aluminum, is sturdy with little to no give on the lid and deck. As a cherry on top, it doesn't collect too many fingerprints. The review unit I have sports the Black colorway, looking as if it was draped in ink. There are three other color options, including Sapphire, Dune, and Platinum. Overall, the Surface Laptop 7 has a minimalist, subdued look, with the only eye-catching element being the slightly lustrous Microsoft logo on the lid. The Surface Laptop 7 is light, too, coming in at 2.96 pounds. Its dimensions are 11.85 x 8.67 x 0.69 inches. For comparison, the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is heavier and thinner at 3.4 pounds and 0.61 inches thick. The 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is also heavier at 3.3 pounds, but significantly thinner (0.45 inches thick). The Surface Laptop 7 comes in two sizes: 13-inch and 15-inch variants. I have the former, which sports a 13.8-inch panel (a step up from its predecessor's 13.5-inch screen). Plus, the bezels have slimmed down, too, for a more modern look. (Because, come on, large bezels are so passé.) The LCD display features a 2,304 x 1,536-pixel display with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate. In other words, depending on your task, it can climb up to 120Hz (e.g., light gaming and other frenetic activities) while dropping down to 60Hz for less demanding activities. The Surface Laptop 7 also features a 3:2 aspect ratio, which means the screen is more tall than it is wide. Emanating about 600 nits of brightness, the Surface Laptop 7 passed my "sunny day" test. Yes, its display can be seen in bright environments, but the screen is quite reflective. (You could somewhat see yourself while using the screen, even with the panel cranked up to max brightness.) As such, the Surface Laptop 7 could benefit from an antireflective coating on the display. I watched the Gladiator 2 trailer on YouTube, and the Surface Laptop 7 delivers rich, pungent colors. But compared to my 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, it could stand to be a tinge sharper and more crisp. For example, Denzel Washington, playing as Macrinus, is draped in a Roman grab with vivid red, gold, and purple hues, but the leopard print portion of his getup appeared to be more detailed and sharper on my MacBook. The Surface Laptop 7 is a bit selfish with its ports, but my MacBook Air is worse; it doesn't even have legacy ports like USB Type-A. So perhaps the Microsoft's offerings aren't too bad. Like the MagSafe 3 connector for MacBooks, the Surface Connect port is proprietary. It lets you charge the Surface Laptop 7, freeing up the other ports for displays, peripherals, and more. This model doesn't have a microSDXC card slot, but you can find one on the 15-inch model. The Surface Laptop 7 has MacBook-beating performance and power efficiency, but it cannot match the stunning sound quality you get on an Apple laptop. I fired up "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar via Spotify, and while the audio can get pretty loud at max volume, the diss track didn't sound very impactful on the Surface Laptop 7's speaker set up. The tune lacked bass and that rich depth you get from a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. If I could rate the Surface Laptop 7's keyboard, I'd give it a -- well -- 7. The keyboard's key travel is a bit shallow as you'd imagine for a thin-and-slim laptop, but there is still enough snappiness and tactile feedback to gracefully launch my fingers from one keycap to another. The touchpad, compared to the last iteration, now has precision haptic capabilities. This means you'll receive reliable click feedback across the entire surface. It felt a bit stiff out of the box, as if I needed to exert more effort than usual to move the cursor around the screen. However, this can be remedied by going to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad > Cursor speed. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 comes equipped with the showstopping Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip. As mentioned at the outset, Qualcomm has been boasting that it can beat the M3 MacBooks. We ran Geekbench 6, which stress tests the CPU, to validate Qualcomm's claims. You can squeeze more performance out of the Surface Laptop 7 by switching the power mode to "best performance," which eked out an incredible multi-core score of 14,586. I couldn't believe my eyes. The Surface Laptop 7, on our 1080p video rundown test, lasted 22 hours and 50 minutes on a charge. That's nearly 23 hours. As of this writing, this is the longest battery life we've ever recorded for a Windows laptop in recent years. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has a 1080p camera located on the top bezel, which also has an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial authentication. The webcam is a bit of potato. It's giving watercolor vibes; it's a bit fuzzy and lacks crispness. On the plus side, it renders color relatively well, accurately picking up my complexion and the bright colors on my shirt. I tried to download the Apple Music app from the Microsoft Store, but it doesn't surface (no pun intended) in search results. As it turns out, the Apple Music app doesn't support the Surface Laptop 7 (though it supports other non-Windows-on-ARM PCs I've tested). For the uninitiated, the Surface Laptop 7 has an ARM chip (hence why it's called Windows-on-ARM), and in order for software to run its smoothest on PC, developers must create ARM64 native apps. For example, apps like Photoshop, Dropbox, Zoom, Prime, Spotify, Hulu, and Chrome all have native apps on Windows-on-ARM PCs. Apps that don't have native support require emulation with Microsoft's Prism (a translation framework). However, Apple Music isn't available on the Surface Laptop 7 whatsoever, so my guess is that Apple simply hasn't allowed support for it just yet. (According to Reddit, you can sideload it to your PC, though.) I haven't spotted any other compatibility issues during my normal workflow, but one website claims that some games like Fortnite and Dirt 5 are not playable on Window-on-ARM PCs. However, this doesn't faze me much; the Surface Laptop 7 isn't a gaming laptop. (But if you like to bend the rules, you can definitely get away with some light gaming, as long as the titles are compatible). The Snapdragon X Elite chip is a power-efficiency champ and a performance beast, and on top of that, it boosts the Surface Laptop 7's AI capabilities with an NPU, a dedicated processor designed to shoulder all the AI-related tasks. This makes the Surface Laptop 7 a Copilot+ PC, allowing users to play around with fun features like Cocreator on Paint. For example, I was able to draw a rough sketch of a pink flamingo with heels on Paint, only for the new-and-improved AI-powered app to recognize my drawing and fix it into a more sophisticated masterpiece of a fancy, rose-colored bird. Basically, Cocreator is the let-me-turn-your-ugly-doodle-into-something-pretty AI feature. In the Photos app, you can transform your images into a number of different art styles, from anime to watercolor. However, I noticed many of the styles would only apply the style to the background of my selfie due to a high risk of distortion. You can even make an image from scratch with the Image Creator feature. Check out what it spat out with a prompt that said, "A beautiful bride celebrating her wedding on roller skates in a bowling alley." Faces are definitely distorted, but it got the gist of what I wanted to convey visually. The controversial Recall utility, a feature I like to call the "CTRL + H" of your entire digital life, has been delayed. Once it does get released, it will only be available in Preview for Windows Insiders. With nearly 23 hours of battery life and MacBook-beating performance, of course this Microsoft laptop is worth it. The Surface Laptop 7 is the longest-lasting Windows laptop we've tested in 2024, blowing my expectations out of the water. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 combines a sleek design, a powerful Snapdragon X Elite chipset, and the longest battery life for ultimate productivity and AI-powered creativity. Apple must be sweating through its armpits with the launch of the Surface Laptop 7 because -- holy cow -- this is one hell of a laptop. Its power and energy efficiency is serious, but its AI-boosted apps makes Windows fun again. For the first time in a long time, the preinstalled apps on a Windows PC are offering attention-stealing entertainment. It makes me feel like a kid again. Starting at just $999, if you're OS agnostic and have no allegiance to macOS, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Surface Laptop 7 is the better choice over M3 MacBooks.

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 review: 23 hours of battery life? MacBooks are in trouble

Jaw-dropping battery life M3 MacBook-beating performance Sleek, minimalist, sturdy design Anti-fingerprint chassis Enticing AI features My jaw is still on the floor. You won't believe the battery life we recorded for the Surface Laptop 7, which is a part of Microsoft's "Surface" family that features a wide variety of devices, from tablets to convertibles. And quite frankly, I was never the biggest fan of Surface machines. They all seem to be missing that je ne sais quoi -- that X factor -- that makes 'em stand out in the world of MacBooks, Lenovo ThinkPads, and Dell XPS series laptops. The competition was always quite stiff for the Surface family, with rivals offering more performance for the price. The biggest hindrance to the Surface family's success was, sorry to say it, Intel. (Even when Microsoft decided to pack AMD chips inside their laptops, they performed significantly better than their Intel-based variants.) "It's me! Hi! I'm the problem it's me," is what Intel should be saying, quoting Taylor Swift. Now Microsoft has made the smart decision to ditch Intel for the Surface Laptop 7, which features a star chipset called Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. Long story short, Qualcomm said the Snapdragon X Elite crushes MacBooks, particularly the models with the M3 chips -- and it didn't tell a lie. Did it make our best laptops list? Read on to find out. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 price and specs The Surface Laptop 7 I tested for this review costs $1,999 via Amazon and comes with the following specs: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPUQualcomm Adreno GPU32GB of RAM1TB of SSD storage13.8-inch, 2496 x 1664-pixel resolution touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rateWindows 11 Home If that's too much, Amazon is also selling a Microsoft Surface Laptop for just $1,199, but it comes with some downgrades, including 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and a Snapdragon X Plus chipset. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Buy On Amazon↗ Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 design The Surface Laptop 7 oozes sophistication and polished refinement. Personified, this Microsoft laptop would be the smooth-talking Wall Street banker, dressed in an all black suit, who says, "I'd like a whiskey neat, please." The build quality is mint. The chassis, partially made from recycled aluminum, is sturdy with little to no give on the lid and deck. As a cherry on top, it doesn't collect too many fingerprints. The review unit I have sports the Black colorway, looking as if it was draped in ink. There are three other color options, including Sapphire, Dune, and Platinum. Overall, the Surface Laptop 7 has a minimalist, subdued look, with the only eye-catching element being the slightly lustrous Microsoft logo on the lid. The Surface Laptop 7 is light, too, coming in at 2.96 pounds. Its dimensions are 11.85 x 8.67 x 0.69 inches. Surface Laptop 7 - 2.96 pounds14-inch M3 MacBook Pro - 3.4 pounds15-inch M3 MacBook Air - 3.3 pounds For comparison, the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is heavier and thinner at 3.4 pounds and 0.61 inches thick. The 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is also heavier at 3.3 pounds, but significantly thinner (0.45 inches thick). Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 display The Surface Laptop 7 comes in two sizes: 13-inch and 15-inch variants. I have the former, which sports a 13.8-inch panel (a step up from its predecessor's 13.5-inch screen). Plus, the bezels have slimmed down, too, for a more modern look. (Because, come on, large bezels are so passé.) The LCD display features a 2,304 x 1,536-pixel display with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate. In other words, depending on your task, it can climb up to 120Hz (e.g., light gaming and other frenetic activities) while dropping down to 60Hz for less demanding activities. The Surface Laptop 7 also features a 3:2 aspect ratio, which means the screen is more tall than it is wide. Emanating about 600 nits of brightness, the Surface Laptop 7 passed my "sunny day" test. Yes, its display can be seen in bright environments, but the screen is quite reflective. (You could somewhat see yourself while using the screen, even with the panel cranked up to max brightness.) As such, the Surface Laptop 7 could benefit from an antireflective coating on the display. I watched the Gladiator 2 trailer on YouTube, and the Surface Laptop 7 delivers rich, pungent colors. But compared to my 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, it could stand to be a tinge sharper and more crisp. For example, Denzel Washington, playing as Macrinus, is draped in a Roman grab with vivid red, gold, and purple hues, but the leopard print portion of his getup appeared to be more detailed and sharper on my MacBook. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 ports The Surface Laptop 7 is a bit selfish with its ports, but my MacBook Air is worse; it doesn't even have legacy ports like USB Type-A. So perhaps the Microsoft's offerings aren't too bad. On the left side: USB Type-A port (3.2 Gen 1)Two USB4 Type-C ports3.5mm headphone jack On the right side: Microsoft's proprietary Surface Connect port Like the MagSafe 3 connector for MacBooks, the Surface Connect port is proprietary. It lets you charge the Surface Laptop 7, freeing up the other ports for displays, peripherals, and more. This model doesn't have a microSDXC card slot, but you can find one on the 15-inch model. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 audio The Surface Laptop 7 has MacBook-beating performance and power efficiency, but it cannot match the stunning sound quality you get on an Apple laptop. I fired up "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar via Spotify, and while the audio can get pretty loud at max volume, the diss track didn't sound very impactful on the Surface Laptop 7's speaker set up. The tune lacked bass and that rich depth you get from a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 keyboard and trackpad If I could rate the Surface Laptop 7's keyboard, I'd give it a -- well -- 7. The keyboard's key travel is a bit shallow as you'd imagine for a thin-and-slim laptop, but there is still enough snappiness and tactile feedback to gracefully launch my fingers from one keycap to another. The touchpad, compared to the last iteration, now has precision haptic capabilities. This means you'll receive reliable click feedback across the entire surface. It felt a bit stiff out of the box, as if I needed to exert more effort than usual to move the cursor around the screen. However, this can be remedied by going to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad > Cursor speed. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 benchmarks and performance The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 comes equipped with the showstopping Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip. As mentioned at the outset, Qualcomm has been boasting that it can beat the M3 MacBooks. We ran Geekbench 6, which stress tests the CPU, to validate Qualcomm's claims. Surface Laptop 7 - 11,875 M3 MacBook Pro - 11,998 M3 MacBook Air - 12,170 You can squeeze more performance out of the Surface Laptop 7 by switching the power mode to "best performance," which eked out an incredible multi-core score of 14,586. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 battery life I couldn't believe my eyes. The Surface Laptop 7, on our 1080p video rundown test, lasted 22 hours and 50 minutes on a charge. That's nearly 23 hours. As of this writing, this is the longest battery life we've ever recorded for a Windows laptop in recent years. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 webcam The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has a 1080p camera located on the top bezel, which also has an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial authentication. The webcam is a bit of potato. It's giving watercolor vibes; it's a bit fuzzy and lacks crispness. On the plus side, it renders color relatively well, accurately picking up my complexion and the bright colors on my shirt. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 compatibility issues I tried to download the Apple Music app from the Microsoft Store, but it doesn't surface (no pun intended) in search results. As it turns out, the Apple Music app doesn't support the Surface Laptop 7 (though it supports other non-Windows-on-ARM PCs I've tested). For the uninitiated, the Surface Laptop 7 has an ARM chip (hence why it's called Windows-on-ARM), and in order for software to run its smoothest on PC, developers must create ARM64 native apps. For example, apps like Photoshop, Dropbox, Zoom, Prime, Spotify, Hulu, and Chrome all have native apps on Windows-on-ARM PCs. Apps that don't have native support require emulation with Microsoft's Prism (a translation framework). However, Apple Music isn't available on the Surface Laptop 7 whatsoever, so my guess is that Apple simply hasn't allowed support for it just yet. (According to Reddit, you can sideload it to your PC, though.) I haven't spotted any other compatibility issues during my normal workflow, but one website claims that some games like Fortnite and Dirt 5 are not playable on Window-on-ARM PCs. However, this doesn't faze me much; the Surface Laptop 7 isn't a gaming laptop. (But if you like to bend the rules, you can definitely get away with some light gaming, as long as the titles are compatible). Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 AI features The Snapdragon X Elite chip is a power-efficiency champ and a performance beast, and on top of that, it boosts the Surface Laptop 7's AI capabilities with an NPU, a dedicated processor designed to shoulder all the AI-related tasks. This makes the Surface Laptop 7 a Copilot+ PC, allowing users to play around with fun features like Cocreator on Paint. For example, I was able to draw a rough sketch of a pink flamingo with heels on Paint, only for the new-and-improved AI-powered app to recognize my drawing and fix it into a more sophisticated masterpiece of a fancy, rose-colored bird. Basically, Cocreator is the let-me-turn-your-ugly-doodle-into-something-pretty AI feature. In the Photos app, you can transform your images into a number of different art styles, from anime to watercolor. However, I noticed many of the styles would only apply the style to the background of my selfie due to a high risk of distortion. You can even make an image from scratch with the Image Creator feature. Check out what it spat out with a prompt that said, "A beautiful bride celebrating her wedding on roller skates in a bowling alley." Faces are definitely distorted, but it got the gist of what I wanted to convey visually. The controversial Recall utility, a feature I like to call the "CTRL + H" of your entire digital life, has been delayed. Once it does get released, it will only be available in Preview for Windows Insiders. Is the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 worth it? With nearly 23 hours of battery life and MacBook-beating performance, of course this Microsoft laptop is worth it. The Surface Laptop 7 is the longest-lasting Windows laptop we've tested in 2024, blowing my expectations out of the water. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 combines a sleek design, a powerful Snapdragon X Elite chipset, and the longest battery life for ultimate productivity and AI-powered creativity. Apple must be sweating through its armpits with the launch of the Surface Laptop 7 because -- holy cow -- this is one hell of a laptop. Its power and energy efficiency is serious, but its AI-boosted apps makes Windows fun again. For the first time in a long time, the preinstalled apps on a Windows PC are offering attention-stealing entertainment. It makes me feel like a kid again. Starting at just $999, if you're OS agnostic and have no allegiance to macOS, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Surface Laptop 7 is the better choice over M3 MacBooks. To answer my question at the outset, yes, the Surface Laptop 7 has earned a spot on our best laptops list. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Buy On Amazon↗

Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 review: 23 hours of battery life? MacBooks are in trouble

Jaw-dropping battery life M3 MacBook-beating performance Sleek, minimalist, sturdy design Anti-fingerprint chassis Enticing AI features My jaw is still on the floor. You won't believe the battery life we recorded for the Surface Laptop 7, which is a part of Microsoft's "Surface" family that features a wide variety of devices, from tablets to convertibles. And quite frankly, I was never the biggest fan of Surface machines. They all seem to be missing that je ne sais quoi -- that X factor -- that makes 'em stand out in the world of MacBooks, Lenovo ThinkPads, and Dell XPS series laptops. The competition was always quite stiff for the Surface family, with rivals offering more performance for the price. The biggest hindrance to the Surface family's success was, sorry to say it, Intel. (Even when Microsoft decided to pack AMD chips inside their laptops, they performed significantly better than their Intel-based variants.) "It's me! Hi! I'm the problem it's me," is what Intel should be saying, quoting Taylor Swift. Now Microsoft has made the smart decision to ditch Intel for the Surface Laptop 7, which features a star chipset called Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. Long story short, Qualcomm said the Snapdragon X Elite crushes MacBooks, particularly the models with the M3 chips -- and it didn't tell a lie. Did it make our best laptops list? Read on to find out. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 price and specs The Surface Laptop 7 I tested for this review costs $1,999 via Amazon and comes with the following specs: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPUQualcomm Adreno GPU32GB of RAM1TB of SSD storage13.8-inch, 2496 x 1664-pixel resolution touchscreen with a 120Hz refresh rateWindows 11 Home If that's too much, Amazon is also selling a Microsoft Surface Laptop for just $1,199, but it comes with some downgrades, including 16GB of RAM, 512GB of SSD storage, and a Snapdragon X Plus chipset. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Buy On Amazon↗ Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 design The Surface Laptop 7 oozes sophistication and polished refinement. Personified, this Microsoft laptop would be the smooth-talking Wall Street banker, dressed in an all black suit, who says, "I'd like a whiskey neat, please." The build quality is mint. The chassis, partially made from recycled aluminum, is sturdy with little to no give on the lid and deck. As a cherry on top, it doesn't collect too many fingerprints. The review unit I have sports the Black colorway, looking as if it was draped in ink. There are three other color options, including Sapphire, Dune, and Platinum. Overall, the Surface Laptop 7 has a minimalist, subdued look, with the only eye-catching element being the slightly lustrous Microsoft logo on the lid. The Surface Laptop 7 is light, too, coming in at 2.96 pounds. Its dimensions are 11.85 x 8.67 x 0.69 inches. Surface Laptop 7 - 2.96 pounds14-inch M3 MacBook Pro - 3.4 pounds15-inch M3 MacBook Air - 3.3 pounds For comparison, the 14-inch M3 MacBook Pro is heavier and thinner at 3.4 pounds and 0.61 inches thick. The 15-inch M3 MacBook Air is also heavier at 3.3 pounds, but significantly thinner (0.45 inches thick). Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 display The Surface Laptop 7 comes in two sizes: 13-inch and 15-inch variants. I have the former, which sports a 13.8-inch panel (a step up from its predecessor's 13.5-inch screen). Plus, the bezels have slimmed down, too, for a more modern look. (Because, come on, large bezels are so passé.) The LCD display features a 2,304 x 1,536-pixel display with a dynamic 120Hz refresh rate. In other words, depending on your task, it can climb up to 120Hz (e.g., light gaming and other frenetic activities) while dropping down to 60Hz for less demanding activities. The Surface Laptop 7 also features a 3:2 aspect ratio, which means the screen is more tall than it is wide. Emanating about 600 nits of brightness, the Surface Laptop 7 passed my "sunny day" test. Yes, its display can be seen in bright environments, but the screen is quite reflective. (You could somewhat see yourself while using the screen, even with the panel cranked up to max brightness.) As such, the Surface Laptop 7 could benefit from an antireflective coating on the display. I watched the Gladiator 2 trailer on YouTube, and the Surface Laptop 7 delivers rich, pungent colors. But compared to my 15-inch M3 MacBook Air, it could stand to be a tinge sharper and more crisp. For example, Denzel Washington, playing as Macrinus, is draped in a Roman grab with vivid red, gold, and purple hues, but the leopard print portion of his getup appeared to be more detailed and sharper on my MacBook. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 ports The Surface Laptop 7 is a bit selfish with its ports, but my MacBook Air is worse; it doesn't even have legacy ports like USB Type-A. So perhaps the Microsoft's offerings aren't too bad. On the left side: USB Type-A port (3.2 Gen 1)Two USB4 Type-C ports3.5mm headphone jack On the right side: Microsoft's proprietary Surface Connect port Like the MagSafe 3 connector for MacBooks, the Surface Connect port is proprietary. It lets you charge the Surface Laptop 7, freeing up the other ports for displays, peripherals, and more. This model doesn't have a microSDXC card slot, but you can find one on the 15-inch model. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 audio The Surface Laptop 7 has MacBook-beating performance and power efficiency, but it cannot match the stunning sound quality you get on an Apple laptop. I fired up "Not Like Us" by Kendrick Lamar via Spotify, and while the audio can get pretty loud at max volume, the diss track didn't sound very impactful on the Surface Laptop 7's speaker set up. The tune lacked bass and that rich depth you get from a MacBook Air or MacBook Pro. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 keyboard and trackpad If I could rate the Surface Laptop 7's keyboard, I'd give it a -- well -- 7. The keyboard's key travel is a bit shallow as you'd imagine for a thin-and-slim laptop, but there is still enough snappiness and tactile feedback to gracefully launch my fingers from one keycap to another. The touchpad, compared to the last iteration, now has precision haptic capabilities. This means you'll receive reliable click feedback across the entire surface. It felt a bit stiff out of the box, as if I needed to exert more effort than usual to move the cursor around the screen. However, this can be remedied by going to Settings > Bluetooth & devices > Touchpad > Cursor speed. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 benchmarks and performance The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 comes equipped with the showstopping Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chip. As mentioned at the outset, Qualcomm has been boasting that it can beat the M3 MacBooks. We ran Geekbench 6, which stress tests the CPU, to validate Qualcomm's claims. Surface Laptop 7 - 11,875 M3 MacBook Pro - 11,998 M3 MacBook Air - 12,170 You can squeeze more performance out of the Surface Laptop 7 by switching the power mode to "best performance," which eked out an incredible multi-core score of 14,586. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 battery life I couldn't believe my eyes. The Surface Laptop 7, on our 1080p video rundown test, lasted 22 hours and 50 minutes on a charge. That's nearly 23 hours. As of this writing, this is the longest battery life we've ever recorded for a Windows laptop in recent years. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 webcam The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has a 1080p camera located on the top bezel, which also has an IR sensor for Windows Hello facial authentication. The webcam is a bit of potato. It's giving watercolor vibes; it's a bit fuzzy and lacks crispness. On the plus side, it renders color relatively well, accurately picking up my complexion and the bright colors on my shirt. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 compatibility issues I tried to download the Apple Music app from the Microsoft Store, but it doesn't surface (no pun intended) in search results. As it turns out, the Apple Music app doesn't support the Surface Laptop 7 (though it supports other non-Windows-on-ARM PCs I've tested). For the uninitiated, the Surface Laptop 7 has an ARM chip (hence why it's called Windows-on-ARM), and in order for software to run its smoothest on PC, developers must create ARM64 native apps. For example, apps like Photoshop, Dropbox, Zoom, Prime, Spotify, Hulu, and Chrome all have native apps on Windows-on-ARM PCs. Apps that don't have native support require emulation with Microsoft's Prism (a translation framework). However, Apple Music isn't available on the Surface Laptop 7 whatsoever, so my guess is that Apple simply hasn't allowed support for it just yet. (According to Reddit, you can sideload it to your PC, though.) I haven't spotted any other compatibility issues during my normal workflow, but one website claims that some games like Fortnite and Dirt 5 are not playable on Window-on-ARM PCs. However, this doesn't faze me much; the Surface Laptop 7 isn't a gaming laptop. (But if you like to bend the rules, you can definitely get away with some light gaming, as long as the titles are compatible). Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 AI features The Snapdragon X Elite chip is a power-efficiency champ and a performance beast, and on top of that, it boosts the Surface Laptop 7's AI capabilities with an NPU, a dedicated processor designed to shoulder all the AI-related tasks. This makes the Surface Laptop 7 a Copilot+ PC, allowing users to play around with fun features like Cocreator on Paint. For example, I was able to draw a rough sketch of a pink flamingo with heels on Paint, only for the new-and-improved AI-powered app to recognize my drawing and fix it into a more sophisticated masterpiece of a fancy, rose-colored bird. Basically, Cocreator is the let-me-turn-your-ugly-doodle-into-something-pretty AI feature. In the Photos app, you can transform your images into a number of different art styles, from anime to watercolor. However, I noticed many of the styles would only apply the style to the background of my selfie due to a high risk of distortion. You can even make an image from scratch with the Image Creator feature. Check out what it spat out with a prompt that said, "A beautiful bride celebrating her wedding on roller skates in a bowling alley." Faces are definitely distorted, but it got the gist of what I wanted to convey visually. The controversial Recall utility, a feature I like to call the "CTRL + H" of your entire digital life, has been delayed. Once it does get released, it will only be available in Preview for Windows Insiders. Is the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 worth it? With nearly 23 hours of battery life and MacBook-beating performance, of course this Microsoft laptop is worth it. The Surface Laptop 7 is the longest-lasting Windows laptop we've tested in 2024, blowing my expectations out of the water. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 combines a sleek design, a powerful Snapdragon X Elite chipset, and the longest battery life for ultimate productivity and AI-powered creativity. Apple must be sweating through its armpits with the launch of the Surface Laptop 7 because -- holy cow -- this is one hell of a laptop. Its power and energy efficiency is serious, but its AI-boosted apps makes Windows fun again. For the first time in a long time, the preinstalled apps on a Windows PC are offering attention-stealing entertainment. It makes me feel like a kid again. Starting at just $999, if you're OS agnostic and have no allegiance to macOS, I can't believe I'm saying this, but the Surface Laptop 7 is the better choice over M3 MacBooks. To answer my question at the outset, yes, the Surface Laptop 7 has earned a spot on our best laptops list. Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 Buy On Amazon↗

Microsoft Surface Pro (2024) review: Copilot+ flagship is beautiful, but AI features are shrug-worthy

Why you can trust Tom's Hardware Our expert reviewers spend hours testing and comparing products and services so you can choose the best for you. Find out more about how we test. Microsoft is making a decisive statement with its new 2-in-1. The 2024 Surface Pro (dubbed the "11th Edition"), isn't the first Surface to use an Arm processor, but with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X chips and more compatible apps than ever, Microsoft is doubling down on a world where there are options for the best premium laptop beyond Intel and AMD's x86. The new Surface also introduces OLED to the lineup for the first time, though you'll need to upgrade to the Snapdragon X Elite to get it. And while the Arm processors allow for long battery life, Arm compatibility in Windows isn't perfect yet. Some apps, especially games, won't work, and certain peripherals that require drivers that aren't built into Windows also aren't likely to work. But with the addition of popular apps like Google Chrome and Adobe Photoshop, there is more native Arm software than ever. Add in a new, really cool (but obscenely expensive) keyboard, and you get a Surface that feels fresh and modern. Now Microsoft needs to make sure Windows gets even more features to make it worth it. If you want a tablet running Windows 11, the Surface Pro is still one of the few games in town. It's also perhaps the most svelte and attractive. The general shape of the Surface hasn't changed a ton in the last few years; it's a tablet with a kickstand and an optional (well, sold separately) keyboard. It's extremely portable, at 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches before the keyboard, and light at 1.97 pounds (895 grams). Our review unit came in a pretty "sapphire" blue, though there are also options in a more traditional platinum, black, as well as a sandy "dune" color. The kickstand on the rear is adorned with a tone-on-tone reflective Microsoft logo, and the only other distinctive feature is some venting for the fan. Otherwise, it's a plain slate. The top of the tablet is where you'll find the power button and volume rocker. The ports are scant: the left side features two USB Type-C (USB 4) ports, while the right side has only the Surface Connect port. There is no headphone jack -- this is the future, apparently. On the bottom are magnetic ports to connect to Microsoft's Surface keyboards, which fold up over the display and serve as cover for the screen, similar to a clamshell laptop. The tablet form factor is smaller than competing clamshells, which are more common. The 13-inch MacBook Air is 2.7 pounds and 11.97 x 8.46 x 0.44 inches. HP's OmniBook X (also a Copilot+ PC) is 12.32 x 8.8 x 0.57 inches and 2.97 pounds. The Dell XPS 14 with Intel Core Ultra is 12.6 x 8.5 x 0.71 inches and 3.3 pounds. The new Surface Pro is among the first computers we've tested with Qualcomm's Snapdragon X Elite processors. It's another stab at bringing Windows on Arm to the masses, and also an attempt to infuse excitement for AI into the brand; the Surface Pro is one of the flagship Copilot+ PCs. The Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100 is the second fastest of Qualcomm's new chips, running 12 cores at a maximum multithreaded frequency of 3.4 GHz and a dual-core boost of 4.0 GHz. As we reviewed the Surface, that chip is paired with 16GB of LPDDR5x memory and a 512GB SSD. The chip performed admirably in our benchmarks, and we used Arm-native applications where available. On Geekbench 6, the Surface Pro achieved a single-core score of 2,813 and a multi-core score of 14,432. The multi-core core was the highest among competitors, including the MacBook Air M3 (12,087), the Dell XPS 14 (12,701, Intel Core Ultra 7 155H), and HP OmniBook X (13,200, Snapdragon X1E-78-100). But Apple's M3 had the edge in single-core performance, topping the chart with a score of 3,082. The Surface copied 25GB of files at a rate of 1,001.16 MBps, falling just behind the MacBook Air. It beat the other Snapdragon laptop, the HP OmniBook X (892.54), while the Intel-powered XPS 14 blew the pack away at 1,843.93 MBps. On Handbrake, the Surface Pro transcoded a 4K video to 1080p in 5 minutes and 21 seconds, the fastest of the bunch. In this instance, the Mac was in the back of the pack at 6:32. (If you're wondering, the Surface Pro took 8 minutes and 12 seconds to complete the same task using the x86 version of the app in emulation. So using native apps really does matter!) To stress the machine, we ran Cinebench R24 repeatedly for 20 sequences. Typically, this lets us see if a system is throttling when bogged down with intense workloads. In this case, we only got part of the story. The scores dropped from the first (828.28) to the second run (661.63), before leveling out in the mid 700's. Usually, we would run HWInfo in conjunction to measure temperatures and processor speeds, but that program isn't compatible with Qualcomm's Arm chip designs yet. (Though its developer claims that it is coming.) Previous efforts to get Windows software, which is typically written for x86 (Intel and AMD) architectures, running on Arm chips have been hit or miss at best, with many popular apps and programs running in emulation (making them slower while also consuming more battery life), and many other programs refusing to run at all. For an operating system like Windows where people have grown to expect software to mostly just work, that's a pretty big problem. But with the launch of Snapdragon X Elite and the paired Microsoft Copilot+ push, things are very different this time around, with many mainstream apps and programs getting native Arm versions. These include Spotify, Photoshop, Zoom, Whatsapp, and, crucially, Google Chrome. Basically, everything in my day-to-day workload that I tried running worked fine, with the exception of HWinfo, which we typically use for testing. Microsoft still lists certain other limitations for Arm-based PCs, including issues with some third-party antivirus, many games (especially those with anti-cheat), and apps that customize Windows itself. Drivers for hardware and software that have not been designed for Arm will also have issues, so you'll have to rely only on drivers built into Windows 11 or for the manufacturer to make one for Arm. Games are another story. While there are some games that work, many won't even launch. If you're hoping to game on Qualcomm's GPU, you'll have to wait for more work on the emulation side, or for more Arm native games. Dead Cells worked, but there was a weird strobing effect around the character, which was distracting. Stray wasn't able to install DirectX components and would not launch. The Finals would attempt to launch and then immediately stop, before the executable popped up. Granted, Microsoft isn't calling the Surface Pro a gaming machine (though it would love you to stream games through Game Pass Ultimate, I'm sure). Gaming on Intel graphics isn't exactly an incredible experience, but the compatibility would be largely improved. The Surface Pro's 13-inch OLED display is a stunner (if you opt for the lower-end Snapdragon X Plus CPU, you'll get a standard LCD screen). It's a high-resolution, 2880 x 1920 panel with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a refresh rate up to 120 Hz. I used the Surface Pro to watch the teaser trailer for F1; the green grassy patches along an F1 track popped against the cement. All of the close-ups on the cars are feasts for the eyes, and I could make out Brad Pitt's furrowed brow on the screen. The Surface's display easily outclassed the non-OLED MacBook Air and HP OmniBook X in our measurements, and it also surpassed the OLED screen on the XPS 14. Microsoft's screen covers 163% of the sRGB gamut and 115.2% of the DCI-P3 color space. Microsoft's screen also proved to be the brightest of the group at 564 nits. The next closest was the MacBook Air at 476.4 nits. As has been the case for years, Microsoft doesn't include a keyboard in the box with the Surface Pro. That costs extra. A stylus, for those who do a lot of notetaking or drawing, also isn't included. Our review unit came with the $450 Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen combo. The Slim Pen 2 isn't new, but the keyboard now works over Bluetooth to control the computer even when it's not directly connected. (You can buy the Flex keyboard without the Slim Pen for $350). Microsoft still does low-travel typing extremely well. The chiclet keys feel surprisingly deep and crisp. There's a bit of bounce, particularly when the keyboard is tilted up, but it's still comfortable. On the monkeytype test, I hit 122 words per minute with 98% accuracy, which is better than I hit on some traditional laptops. The Flex keyboard does have some cool tricks. There's a haptic feedback touchpad, which feels premium and is wider than on some other Surface keyboards. And I did appreciate being able to use the keyboard separately from the laptop. It would be great for travel in addition to one of the best portable monitors. But that price is a huge ask for a keyboard designed to work with the Surface Pro almost exclusively. There are other keyboard options, including a non-Bluetooth keyboard starting at $139.99, with versions with stylus storage or an included pen going up from there. The Surface Slim Pen 2 hasn't changed here. It still offers a low haptic rumble to simulate the feeling of writing or sketching on paper. It's not game-changing, but some people might like the feel. For me, I just like how well it works with the Surface screen set at 120 Hz, which feels more like seamless writing. For a sleek tablet, the Surface Pro has decent sound. The twin 2W speakers get nice and loud, with balanced audio. For instance, on Yellowcard's "Lights and Sounds," the drums snapped in balance with the guitars and vocals (I would've preferred the vocals to stand a bit more on their own), while violins fluttered gently in the background. Other than the drums, there was little on the low end, and I couldn't make out the bass. When I was playing Dead Cells (despite some flickering -- see above), a coworker noted how good the system sounded for its size. The Surface Pro has a small door on the rear, behind the kickstand, that provides easy access to upgrade or repair the SSD. Removing the door doesn't even require any tools - you simply push down on a small dimple and it pops off. The SSD is held down by a Torx screw, which you'll need to put back in place with a new SSD. Microsoft uses small 2230 SSDs, like the best SSDs for the Steam Deck, rather than the standard 2280 SSDs Despite that ease, Microsoft claims that the Surface Pro isn't designed to be user-serviceable: "This device does not contain user serviceable parts. Hard drive is only removable by an authorized technician following Microsoft provided instructions," the fine print under the company's tech specs reads. Despite Microsoft claiming that the Surface Pro is more repairable than ever, it also states that parts that it sells through the Microsoft Store and iFixit are only for out-of-warranty repairs by "by individuals with the knowledge and experience to repair electronic devices following Microsoft's Service Guide." That's fair for many repairs, which require removing the display. But the SSD? That's pretty easy in comparison. It's about time we move on from calling 8 hours "all-day" battery life. The Surface Pro shows some of Arm's power efficiency benefits, pushing to 12 hours and 17 minutes on our test, which involves streaming video, browsing the web, and light graphics work with the screen set to 150 nits. The Surface easily beat the XPS 14 (8:56), though the MacBook Air (M3) at 15:13 and HP OmniBook X at 16:18 lasted even longer. It's possible that the OLED screen on the Surface was more of a power draw. Of course, as a Copilot+ PC, the OmniBook X also ships with Microsoft's exclusive (at least for now) AI-focused features, such as they are. Cocreator is an addition to Paint that attempts to combine a text prompt and your own attempts at drawing to create the kind of image you're after. Studio Effects add background blur and other effects to your webcam. And Live Captions With Translation extends the existing Live Captions feature (which adds captioning to basically any audio playing on the device) to provide live translations between languages. How useful the above features will be to you will of course in large part depend on how and why you use your laptop. But we generally haven't found these Copilot+ features all that useful or exciting. And of course, the primary exclusive feature to Windows on Arm, the screen-capturing Recall, has seemingly been indefinitely delayed due to privacy concerns and the resulting backlash. We measured skin temperatures on the Surface Pro while running a gauntlet of Cinebench 2024 runs. While I don't expect that rendering is the main use case for something so slim, note that if you do push the Pro and Elite X to their limits, the system gets hot. The Surface reached 114.6 degrees Fahrenheit on the hottest part of the back of the device, which is too hot to comfortably hold as a tablet. You'll want to only use the keyboard for input if you're doing intense work. For more typical usage, like writing, emails, and web browsing, the system stayed cool. I'll give Microsoft this -- it continues to put great cameras on its tablets. The Surface Pro is an excellent choice if you're on Zoom calls all day. Microsoft lists the front webcam as QHD, while the back has a 10MP shooter. As a person who works at a desk, I'm far more preoccupied with the front-facing camera. Sample shots I took were excellent, catching every detail of my face, (including some eye bags from a few sleepless nights) and caught my burgundy shirt with perfect accuracy. The rear camera was more of a mixed bag, with some photos of fruit coming out a bit overexposed. It should work fine enough for simple fieldwork. With its Copilot+ PCs, Microsoft has built more studio effects into Windows, like auto framing, filters, and background blur. Outside of auto eye contact, I generally had success with these when I chose to use them, but thankfully they were off by default. One of the benefits of Microsoft's Surface line of products is that there's minimal software installed. The only major preinstalled software is the Surface app, which has device information like the serial number, battery charging and pen pressure changes, and more. There's a section filled with partner deals, which feels like bloat. The Pro does, however, still have links to apps in the Microsoft Store in the Start menu, including Spotify and LinkedIn. Microsoft sells the Surface Pro with a 1-year warranty, though you can bump it up to as much as four years with Microsoft Complete for an additional charge. We tested a $1,499.99 configuration of the Surface Pro with a 12-core Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100, 16GB of RAM, an OLED screen, 512GB of storage, and the sapphire blue color. But our unit also came with the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen, which runs $449.98. That adds up to a total of $1,949.97 as tested. The new Surface Pro starts at $999.99, which gets you a less powerful 10-core Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus chip, an LCD display, 16GB of RAM, and a paltry 256GB storage drive. That base model also only comes in platinum. In between, there are Snapdragon X Plus configurations that bump up to 512GB for $1,199.99. Beyond our option, boosting to Snapdragon X Elite and 1TB of storage is $1,699.99. If you want the OLED screen, you need to get the Snapdragon X Elite chip. That's not available with the lower-end processor. All of those prices, however, are without a keyboard or a stylus. Years and years later, Microsoft still isn't including crucial peripherals in the box. A Surface Pro keyboard without storage for a stylus is $139.99, and goes up from there with combos that include the Surface Slim Pen, like the new Flex Keyboard we tried out. Be sure to tack that on when you're budgeting for a system. Later this year, Microsoft says it will be adding 5G versions of the Surface Pro with a nano SIM card slot. In many ways, the Surface Pro (11th Edition) feels like it's nailing Microsoft's original vision: a portable, slim PC that's capable on the go with long battery life and a focus on an incredible screen. In that respect, one could argue that the 2024 Surface Pro is one of the best iterations of the device. What it's not, at least right now, is some sort of AI game changer. The Copilot+ features are few and far between, and outside of Live Translation, don't feel like big changes to functionality or accessibility. There are some apps that take advantage of the NPU, but most services, including Copilot itself, still run in the cloud. As a showcase for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X processors, I suspect it will work for most people. More apps than ever are Arm native, though there are still some that don't work at all. I suspect it's professionals with niche uses that will have the most issues. (I suspect this is why the Surface Pro 10 for Business is around with Intel's Core Ultra chips). Anyone with mission-critical software or peripherals for work might want to wait and see if developers add support. But as a vision for the future, where Arm is considered as important as Intel and AMD's chips to Microsoft, there's something here. The Surface Pro feels as nimble as ever, and the improved screen and longer battery life are welcome additions. Despite the lack of Intel or AMD, this feels like a flagship device. But for AI? Microsoft needs to get more developers on board to finish the job.

One of the best Copilot+ laptops I've tested is not made by Microsoft or HP

It's pricey, has some design quirks, and finds its full potential in the Samsung ecosystem. Samsung has carved out a seat at the table with the big boys with the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, a Copilot+ PC with the new Snapdragon X Elite processor that's nothing short of a statement-making machine. The laptop feels as good as it looks and nails the features consumers care about the most: a brilliant display, a thin and light form factor, and a marathon battery. I recently had a chance to go hands-on with the Edge, using it as my primary driver for a week as I commuted to and from the office and worked remotely, and I really enjoyed it. This thing is a banger; It's light, it has lightning-fast performance, a fantastic battery, a gorgeous display, and surprisingly good speakers. Also: I tried to torture-test Panasonic's ultra-rugged Toughbook. It didn't even blink Of all the new Snapdragon Copilot+ PCs released this year, this laptop has one of the clearest use cases. It really shines when paired with other Samsung products, particularly a Galaxy phone, which can be remotely controlled on the laptop in Samsung's Plug-in app -- something Apple is still developing -- as well as a host of other features. In order to make the most of the Galaxy Book 4 Edge, however, a few things have to fall into place. More on that in a bit; first let's take a look at the specs. The first thing you notice about the Edge is its thin, light form factor. It weighs just 3.4 pounds, yet still feels solid, with minimal screen wobble compared to some other ultraportable 16-inch laptops. Also: One of the best tablets for work travel I've tested is not made by Lenovo or Apple And what a screen it is. The 16-inch AMOLED 2x (2800 x 1800) display features a gorgeous 3K resolution with a 16:10 aspect ratio and 120Hz refresh rate for silky-smooth visuals. It's also sufficiently bright at 400 nits for standard content, and up to 500 nits on HDR video. Additionally, the display features some crazy-good anti-glare technology with impressive light mitigation. Earlier this year, my colleague Kerry Wan reviewed the predecessor of this machine, the Galaxy Book 4 Ultra with the Intel Core Ultra 7 or 9 chip, and was equally impressed with its OLED display. Samsung upped the ante with the AMOLED display in the Edge, which offers both better power efficiency and better resolution (but comes with an increased cost). Also: I saw the future of AI at Qualcomm's headquarters, and Copilot+ PCs were only just the beginning This display is also a touchscreen, but doesn't come with a stylus, nor does it fold back flat or into a tablet. However, a few useful applications of the touch include the ability to pinch-to-zoom or scroll, two functions that are intimately familiar to all of us on our smartphones. Regarding the rest of the physical form factor, the keyboard on the Edge feels fine; it's tactile and features a satisfying key travel distance, and I appreciate the full-sized format with the number pad on the right. The trackpad on the Edge, however, is nothing short of massive. Just like on the Book 4 Ultra, this thing has a football field-sized trackpad that some people will love, but might be more trouble than it's worth for others. During my testing, I registered my fair share of false inputs with the trackpad from typing or wrist placement, although these lessened over time as I got used to it. I don't love it, but it's not a dealbreaker because the trackpad itself is well-optimized. Review: Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Ultra: This Windows flagship gave my MacBook Pro a run for its money In our review of the Edge's predecessor earlier this year, we noted that the trackpad was not the laptop's strong suit: it would oscillate between being too sensitive and not sensitive enough. Samsung seems to have optimized the technology on the Edge, as I didn't have any notable issues with its responsiveness this time around. The Galaxy Book 4 Edge doesn't just come with the new Snapdragon X Elite processor; it comes with the most powerful version of it. The 3.8GHz, 12-core processor with dual-core boost is only available in the 1TB configuration of the Edge, something of a bit of a power move by Samsung. After benchmarking the processor in Geekbench, I got a single-core score of 2953, and a multi-core score of 15672, an impressive number that puts the Galaxy Book 4 Edge at the top of the Copilot+ PCs, and beats some of the MacBook numbers, though Apple's Silicon still gets higher scores with single-core performance and its GPU. Also: I've tested dozens of 2-in-1 laptops. This one hits all the right marks The Qualcomm Adreno GPU on board is not going to beat Apple's M3 integrated graphics head-to-head, but in tandem with the Snapdragon's NPU and lightning-fast CPU, it puts up a fight. Video editing in DaVinci Resolve on the Galaxy Book 4 Edge was smooth, especially with AI-related tasks, and I expect performance in this area to continue to improve over time. Also keep in mind that this machine, during all of this heavy lifting, remained silent and cool, with barely any noticeable heat generation and virtually zero noise (even though it does have fans on board). Benchmarking numbers are technical indicators that aren't always useful for the everyday consumer, but they are significant in vindicating the Snapdragon X Elite chips as real competition for Apple's Silicon processors. We're looking at consumer machines -- available for purchase today -- beating the MacBook Pro in real-time, not in a controlled demo environment. This is it; they're here. The other big thing that sets the Galaxy Book 4 Edge apart is its use of universal flash storage (eUFS) instead of a solid state drive (SSD). eUFS is the type of storage technology used in smartphones, so it tracks that Samsung would bridge this technology into their laptop product line, but there are some caveats that come with this. First, this means that the storage in this laptop is a solid unit that is not alterable or upgradeable in any way: it's embedded into the machine as-is. For that reason, I strongly suggest opting for the 1TB configuration if you're interested in buying the Edge, since what you choose at the time of purchase will be what you're stuck with for the rest of the laptop's life cycle. Also: I tested LG's 17-inch Gram Pro and it's the big-screen, lightweight laptop to beat Second, the 3.8GHz processor only comes with the 1TB configuration of the Edge. And since the 1TB version only comes as a 16-inch, this is one laptop where the gap between the 14- and 16-inch versions is so much greater than simply the screen size. I would only consider buying this laptop if you're ready to commit to the 14-inch, 1TB storage version. Any other configuration is too much of a step-down. In that vein, the 16-inch version goes for $1,750, which certainly is not cheap, but is still under $2,000, the cutoff for what the average consumer would consider "practical." Also: This Lenovo laptop is ultraportable, lasts all day, and has a MagSafe-like superpower Lastly, the battery on the Edge is indeed impressive. I recently tested out HP's Omnibook X 14, another Copilot+ PC with the Snapdragon X Elite processor, and noted its outstanding battery performance. The Galaxy Book 4 Edge is even better, considering the massive AMOLED display and more powerful processor. During the standard ZDNET benchmark testing of running a 4K YouTube livestream streamed over Wi-Fi at 50% brightness, I got over 13 hours of playback, way over what is considered "good" for a laptop, and more than enough for a few days worth of standard work. Even better, while this laptop is idle, its battery life decay drops down to a trickle. The Samsung Galaxy Book 4 Edge is a powerful laptop that is worth the cost if you're willing to commit to the 16-inch, 1TB version with the top-tier Snapdragon processor. The deal is even sweeter if you have a Samsung smartphone and appreciate the integration this laptop brings to the Samsung ecosystem of devices. If neither of these apply to you, the Galaxy Book 4 Edge is still a phenomenal choice for its sheer star power and impressive performance alone. However, if you're on the fence about the price but still want a Copilot+ PC, you might consider the Microsoft Surface Pro or the Asus Vivobook S15, both Snapdragon laptops with OLED displays for quite a bit less.

Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge review: Thin, light, and long-lasting

The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge is an excellent Snapdragon X Elite-powered PC with a beautiful display, long battery life, and great build quality. But you're paying extra for high-end Snapdragon X Elite hardware on the 16-inch model, and it doesn't deliver the big performance bump you might expect. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge is part of the first wave of Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X Elite hardware. The 16-inch model we reviewed is special, as it's the only laptop that includes the highest-end Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 chip. This model boasts faster CPU performance than the others, but it's also the only Snapdragon X Elite variation with an upgraded GPU. Samsung delivered a great laptop here: It's surprisingly thin and light, with long battery life and a beautiful OLED display. But lots of Snapdragon X Elite laptops are delivering that and this machine is on the expensive side compared to your other options. Part of what you're paying for is that exclusive top-end Snapdragon X Elite hardware. And I'll be honest. While the difference is somewhat noticeable, you'll be just fine picking any Snapdragon X Elite laptop you might prefer. The high-end hardware here doesn't make a massive difference. Like other Copilot+ PCs with Snapdragon X Elite hardware, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge is an Arm-based laptop. As discussed in our reviews of the Surface Laptop, Surface Pro, and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x, application compatibility is good but not perfect. While most applications run just fine, some applications may not run at all or may run with bad performance. The situation is quickly improving, but it's still early days. Also, as far as AI, those exclusive Copilot+ PC AI features aren't very interesting. Looking for more options? Check out PCWorld's roundup of the best laptops available today. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge is part of the first wave of Copilot+ PCs that arrive with Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite chips. All Snapdragon X Elite chips include a neural processing unit (NPU) capable of 40 trillion operations per second (TOPS) as well as a Qualcomm Adreno GPU. Our review unit was a 16-inch model and it included Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 hardware. On paper, that's the highest-end Snapdragon X Elite hardware available with the fastest speeds and a higher-performance GPU. Samsung is offering an exclusive here: The Galaxy Book4 Edge is the only laptop that offers this top-end hardware, at least at launch. There are four Snapdragon X packages at launch, from lowest-end to highest-end: While the 16-inch version of the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge has the highest-end Snapdragon X Elite hardware, it's not just about those on-paper specs. Other things matter, too. For example, if a laptop can't deliver enough cooling to sustain high performance, it may throttle the hardware and not deliver the higher speeds you might expect. Unfortunately, Samsung only offers this laptop with 16GB of RAM. You can't get this machine with 32GB of RAM, which is an option for some other laptops. The fastest Snapdragon X Elite hardware can't be paired with 32GB of RAM, and that feels like a big missed opportunity. There's one other surprise in the specs: Samsung has chosen to use eUFS storage instead of the PCIe Gen4 SSD hardware other manufacturers are shipping their Copilot+ laptops with. This type of storage is more frequently used on smartphones and other mobile devices. The storage is soldered to the laptop's motherboard, so you won't be able to replace or upgrade it. In theory, this interface has slower throughput than an NVMe SSD. On the other hand, it may use less power and boost the laptop's battery life. In practice, the SSD hardware on the other Snapdragon X Elite PCs doesn't seem to be hitting the limits of the interface, anyway. The eUFS storage performed just fine in day-to-day use, and I never noticed a perceptible difference in storage performance compared to the other Snapdragon X Elite laptops I've been using. Finally, it's worth noting that the high-end Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 hardware is only an option for the 16-inch version. The less-expensive 14-inch version doesn't include it as an option, and it has some other tweaks: No microSD reader, a slightly smaller battery, and nearly a pound less weight. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge is available in a color Samsung calls "Sapphire Blue," but it looks more like a silver or gray with a hint of blue to my eye. This 16-inch laptop is made of aluminum and it's nice and thin. The edge tapers from the back of the laptop toward the front. At just 3.42 pounds and 0.48 inches thick for a 16-inch laptop, that's an impressively slim frame for such a large machine. It feels like a big piece of metal, and the design is pretty simple. You've got unobtrusive Samsung logos on the lid of the laptop and right below the screen and black bezels around the AMOLED display that look nice with the standard dark desktop background. The hinge works well, and there's a nice lip to grab onto while opening it. Thanks to the solid aluminum chassis and light weight, you can easily pick up the laptop from a corner and there's no flex - no small feat for a 16-inch laptop! It's a well-built laptop with a good simple design language - all thin slightly-blue-but-mostly-silver aluminum made as thin as possible. This Samsung laptop will likely appeal to people who use Samsung Galaxy smartphones and tablets. Samsung has a Quick Share application for sending files back and forth pinned to the taskbar by default - along with a Second Screen application that will let you use a Samsung tablet as a second display for your laptop. The 16-inch Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge includes a full number pad at the right. In general, I'm a big fan of having that number pad, but I know some people aren't. Still, it's a smart choice that puts that large keyboard tray space to use. The keyboard has a white backlight, and it's fine to type on. It feels a tad mushy to me - not as snappy and responsive and the keyboard on the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x laptop I recently reviewed. It's not a problem, but it's also probably not the absolute best typing experience on a Snapdragon X Elite laptop, unless you want that number pad. The trackpad is the first thing that draws the eye when you open this laptop. It's absolutely massive - I don't know if I've ever used a trackpad this big on a laptop before. It works well whether you're using gestures or just swiping your finger along it, and it offers good palm rejection. The click action feels fine, but it doesn't feel as premium as the haptic touchpad found on the Microsoft Surface Laptop. The combination of the massive touchpad and number pad pushes the standard keyboard to the upper-left corner of the keyboard deck. It's probably just what I'm used to, but that layout felt odd at first to me. Still, I quickly got used to it while using this laptop. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge has an absolutely beautiful display. The 16-inch 2880×1800 OLED display delivers dark blacks and vibrant colors with plenty of brightness at a 120Hz refresh rate. It's a touch screen, too. It's a real looker, and it's a big upgrade over the IPS display included on the Surface Laptop. The speakers are mounted on the bottom of the laptop. They put out solid audio quality with decent volume. (As always, though, bass is lacking compared to a good pair of external speakers.) Between the beautiful 16-inch display and speakers, I was able to watch some streaming TV in a hotel room on a road trip with a good experience. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge has a 1080p webcam, and it captures good video quality. This is a pretty standard 1080p webcam - Samsung isn't going above and beyond here, but that's fine. Since this is a Copilot+ laptop, you also get access to Windows Studio Effects for tweaks like forcing eye contact and blurring your background in any application. The microphone is also fine and will do a good job in online meetings. Samsung included a standard-sounding microphone here, and there's nothing wrong with that. It did a good job of picking up my voice with reasonable audio quality, even with some background noise. The biometrics are a bit of a letdown. Samsung chose to only include a fingerprint reader for Windows Hello here. It's built into the power button at the top-right corner of the keyboard, and you can rest your finger on it to sign in. It does work very well for a fingerprint sensor - I never had any problems, and it was always speedy. However, I really enjoy the IR camera experience for Windows Hello as it can sign you in immediately as soon as you open your laptop. That's missing here. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge has a reasonable collection of ports. On the left side, you've got two USB Type-C ports (USB4) and one HDMI 2.1 output port. This laptop charges via USB-C, so you'll be plugging the charger into one of those ports to charge. On the right side, you've got a combo audio jack for headsets, a USB Type-A port (USB 3.2), and a microSD reader slot. (The microSD reader slot is only included on the 16-inch model and isn't present on the 14-inch model.) That's a reasonably collection of ports, especially for a laptop this thin - thank those nicely tapered edges that offer more room on the side of the laptop near the back. Like other Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge includes Wi-Fi 7 support and Bluetooth 5.4-capable hardware. (Samsung lists it as Bluetooth 5.3 on the laptop's specs sheet because Windows isn't compatible with Bluetooth 5.4 yet.) The laptop's Wi-Fi performed well, although I don't have a Wi-Fi 7 network to test the latest standard on yet. Like other Copilot+ PCs with Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite hardware, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge delivered snappy day-to-day performance while running on battery power. It worked well when running common productivity applications, including web browsers, the Microsoft Office suite, and Slack. The fans didn't make noticeable noise in day-to-day use and only became audible when the laptop was really pushed, as in our benchmarks. As always, we ran the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge through our standard benchmarks to see how it performs. First, we ran a CPU benchmark with Geekbench 6. We normally run PCMark 10, but it doesn't run on Arm computers like this one. Geekbench 6 runs natively on ARM, so we can get an idea of this machine's CPU performance when running native Arm code without Microsoft's Prism translation layer playing a part. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge delivered a Geekbench 6 multi-thread score of 1,5493, which beats the Microsoft Surface Laptop and Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x. We're seeing the benefits of that top-tier Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 and its higher top-end performance here. The fans stayed nice and quiet while this benchmark was running. In my experience, these machines tend to run hottest and loudest while running heavy workloads using x86 code through the Prism translation layer. Next, we run Cinebench R24. Cinebench R24 has a native Arm version, which means it isn't running through the Prism translation layer. This is a heavily multithreaded benchmark that focuses on overall CPU performance. It's a quick benchmark, so cooling under extended workloads isn't a factor. But, since it's heavily multithreaded, CPUs with more cores have a huge advantage. The fans spun up while the multi-threaded Cinebench benchmark was running -- they kick in to provide extra cooling for intensive workloads like the one in this test. With a multi-thread score of 883, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge wasn't much faster than the Microsoft Surface Pro and fell behind the results I saw from the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x. It goes to show that the differences between the various Snapdragon X Elite hardware variations aren't huge. There's likely something else going on here. Samsung may be running the hardware a bit slower or cooling may be a factor - with such a thin laptop chassis, there may just not have enough cooling ability to keep this CPU going at the fastest possible speeds. I had seen some online chatter about this laptop not delivering dramatically better performance than similar laptops with lower-tier Snapdragon X Elite hardware, so I'm not surprised that's what my benchmarks showed. Next, we run a graphical benchmark. Despite Qualcomm talking a lot about gaming performance, this isn't really a gaming laptop. We recommend against buying a Snapdragon X Elite powered laptop for gaming. Still, as always, we run 3DMark Time Spy, a graphical benchmark that focuses on GPU performance. We also ran 3DMark Night Raid. Time Spy is running through the Prism translation layer, while Night Raid is running natively on Arm. The pair of results shows the difference between x86 code translated with Prism and native Arm code. With a Time Spy score of 2,146, the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge's demonstrated the advantages of its faster GPU, beating other Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops on running the code through Prism. However, for running typical x86 games, Intel's integrated Arc graphics were faster. When we ran the Night Raid benchmark, which runs natively on Arm, the Qualcomm Adreno GPU shows it's more powerful than Intel's offerings when running native code. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge delivered faster performance than Intel integrated graphics with a score of 27821. While Prism works well, it's clear these machines will perform best when running native Arm code. Overall, the Snapdragon X Elite hardware in the Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge performs well. But for the most part, it performs similarly to other Snapdragon X Elite-powered systems. You don't need to spend a bunch of extra money for the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite X1E-84-100 hardware when you can spend hundreds of dollars less and get similar CPU performance. If you're focused on GPU performance, you do get stronger GPU performance from this system than any other Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops. On the other hand, if GPU performance is your top priority, you'd probably be better off with a more traditional gaming laptop. Snapdragon X Elite-powered laptops should post huge battery life numbers in our benchmarks. With a Snapdragon X Elite chip and a 61.8 Watt-hour battery, that's exactly what we would expect to see from the Galaxy Book4 Edge. Thankfully, that's exactly what we saw and the numbers are incredible for a 16-inch laptop with an OLED screen. To benchmark the battery life, we play a 4K copy of Tears of Steel on repeat with airplane mode enabled until the laptop suspends itself. This is a best-case scenario for any laptop since local video playback is so efficient, and real battery life in day-to-day use is always going to be less than this. We set the screen to 250 nits of brightness for our battery benchmarks and it's worth noting that the Galaxy Book4 Edge's OLED display has a bit of an advantage, as OLED screens use less power to display the black bars around the video. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge lasted an average of 1,242 minutes in our test. That's nearly 21 hours. Now, you're not going to get this kind of battery life when you're using the laptop normally, but it's a huge number and something we don't see very much, especially on a 16-inch laptop with an OLED display, as those are usually more power-hungry. While the eUFS storage is a controversial choice for a laptop, it may be giving the Galaxy Book4 Edge a boost here. The Samsung Galaxy Book4 Edge is a great laptop, there's no doubt about it. The display is absolutely beautiful, the design is solid aluminum, and it's extremely thin and light. Yet, thanks to the Snapdragon X Elite hardware, this machine can run for a very long time on a charge even while using a more power-hungry OLED screen. The big concern is the price. At $1,749, you're paying a good amount extra for that top-end Snapdragon X Elite hardware, which doesn't make a huge difference. Plus, since this laptop is only available with 16GB of RAM, some workloads may perform better on a Snapdragon X Elite laptop with 32GB of RAM. There are better values to be had elsewhere. You can pick up a Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x with 1TB of storage and 32GB of RAM for just $1,313. That's a lot less money for double the RAM. Yes, the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7x is a bit smaller and it has lower-end Snapdragon X Elite hardware. But they're pretty comparable, performance-wise. Luckily, as we're finishing this review, this machine is already on sale. Samsung was selling it for $1,499 on sale as we wrapped up the review, which is more reasonable. If you manage to grab this laptop on a particularly good deal and the current Windows on Arm experience fits your needs, I'm confident you'll be happy with it. It's just a shame that this laptop truly isn't a showcase for the power of its exclusive high-end Snapdragon hardware. The cooling doesn't seem good enough to really run the CPU hard, the machine tops out at 16GB of RAM, and that eUFS storage certainly isn't the fastest possible choice. None of this is bad - the machine performs fine and offers comparable performance to other Copilot+ laptops - but it's not speeding way ahead of them, as the specs might lead you to believe.