Microsoft Surface Laptop (2024), Windows 11 Copilot+ PC, 13.8″ Touchscreen Display, Snapdragon X Elite (12 core), 16GB RAM, 1TB SSD Storage, Dune

Elegant Computing Defined
This incredible, beautiful, elegant and productive laptop showcases what Microsoft is truly capable of, and I’m a Linux guy. I bought the big one – 15″ screen, 32 gig RAM, elite CPU. It is a powerhouse of a laptop.Now – there is one con, but as time progresses the problem becomes less and less of a problem and that is the ARM architecture vs standard Intel x86/64. Basically, this laptop uses a newer, different CPU architecture, which means that many applications don’t work yet (YET!!). Almost everything I threw at this laptop worked out of the box and worked beautifully. There were some older applications that didn’t work (SimCity Deluxe for example). But and this is a huge BUT – as time passes more applications are supported (or emulated effectively) and it becomes less and less an issue.With the 1 CON out of the way, let’s talk about how amazing this laptop is:Premium feel (shell and keyboard). As good as or even better than a MacBook. Yes, for real.Speakers sound delightful.The 15″-inch sounds like a big laptop but fits perfectly in my backpack and it is still light and small. I mean, unless you are a 5’2″ petite tiny person I don’t see how this 15″ laptop is too big for someone.It is plenty fast for doing all sorts of productivity like writing papers, excel spreadsheeting, music, internet, YouTube etc. Understand this isn’t a fancy Chromebook. Operating System / Applications are exceptionally fast. This laptop WILL make you more productive just by opening it. It makes you want to work it’s so nice.Battery life is OUTSTANDING. If you aren’t glued to this laptop for hours at a time the battery will last DAYS. Literally days.Touchpad is also legit. No problems with cursor moving around (palm detection) and typing. Just legit good.Even when watching movies it doesn’t get hot. Temperature is steady and cool. I love ARM.In closing, get this laptop. It’s nice. Really nice. Like honestly, the nicest laptop I’ve ever owned (I’ve had the ASUS ROG 2024, two Dell XPS 15’s, Razer Blades, etc.,)For my fellow nerds in the crowd:VMWare & Vbox do NOT work. Remember that ARM is a RISC architecture and neither products support ARM (yet). Docker Desktop for Windows DOES work on ARM. Also, WSL 2.0 also works just fine.Also, with the advent of cloud, lightweight servers (I run a small cloud on my home network) we don’t need powerhouse laptops anymore if you have supporting infra. When I’m on travel I just VPN into my home network and I have all the resources I need. So keep something light and portable to work from 🙂

IMO: Best Mac-alternative Windows laptop.
My wife has been using this for her business for the past 8 months. For her, a laptop is simply a way to get a job done, but she needed a new one since her previous Dell XPS 13 was going on 7 years old. Without asking she offered up how much she likes the new laptop: How fast it was and the battery life last “forever” since she works in an environment where she cannot charge until the end of the day. So, big thumbs up. Also, the quality is more Mac-like with an aluminum case and solid/compact design. Good stuff.Some noted incompatibility with older software. While she uses primarily Office, web apps, and 1-2 older biz apps, she has experienced ZERO compatibility issues.

Absolute Disaster
Here is my saga as I reported to Microsoft:Hello Aldrino,Thanks for your inquiry. I hope my experience is valuable to the MS bureaucracy.I bought a brand new shiny MS Surface Laptop on sale on Amazon. It arrived looking perfect. But when I followed the prompts to set it up, Windows Hello welcomed me immediately with the name “Bill Bartkatsky” before I even set up my Windows Hello. Never heard of Bill B. But I hoped he was just a test technician from MS and not a previous purchaser who returned the product to Amazon. Again, it arrived perfectly packaged.So I gambled and set it up. I also transferred the data from my older MS Surface Laptop onto it. However, Windows Hello would not complete the setup of my face recognition. Multiple tries. It showed my image on the screen and then messaged “error”. Told me to try again, contact support, contact administrator or whatever.I tried to contact MS Windows Support. It referred my to your useless and complex web page of hundreds of issues, none of which were mine. I finally found a phone number to call. Hooray! Not so fast. There was a horrifying phone wheel that bragged about how much MS cared about its customers before (again) referring me to the impossible help page and hung up on me. You couldn’t possibly be more dismissive (no, actually abusive) to your customers. 3 more tries- same result (yes, insanity).So I contacted MS Office 365 support, which I pay way too much for annually. They tried and did help me with some organization of Outlook but were unable to get Windows Hello to function. When he referred me to Windows Support I know I was screwed. I told him how many times I’d tried to communicate with you. He PROMISED me it would be different this time by sending me a link. I used the link, followed the prompts and ENDED UP AT THE SAME GOD FORSAKEN RECORDING that told me how caring you are before hanging up on me.At that point I carefully deleted my data form the new laptop, repackaged it and returned it to Amazon.The story might make a good comedic movie starring Adam Sandler but I can’t tell you how painful it was or how much time I wasted.I used a Mac for years and could always get reliable, friendly customer service. But you Microsoft excels with your CUSTOMER FIREWALL. Congratulations.I’m now shopping for a Mac. Don’t worry. You’ll be glad to be rid of me.

Awesome product and was selling cheaper than in store during boxing week. Love that it was really nicely packaged and protected and given its a high value product they call you to get a code before leaving which is much appreciated. Great experience purchasing and unboxing! Love this laptop. Personally I love windows and can never get used to using a Mac despite having an iPhone, I love my excel shortcuts and having a touch screen so this was best choice at a reasonable price.

And it seem to run cooler than my old surface did which I didn’t expect.The new battery charging management system is fine even if it had mewondering why it was stubbornly maintining a 74% max charge at first.

I received the laptop approximately one hour ago, and I am extremely disappointed with its condition. The device is defective—it does not start properly and continuously displays a message saying “attempting repairs,” but never actually initiates.Additionally, I noticed that one of the rubber feet is missing, the box arrived scratched and damaged, and the seal was already broken. These signs strongly suggest that the laptop may have been used or returned previously.This is unacceptable, especially for what should have been a new product.