First and foremost, they’ve kept the excellent 3:2 aspect ratio display in a sea of 16:9 laptops. Also, Microsoft has ditched the anemic 4 GB of RAM in the base model all Surface Laptop 2 models ship with a minimum of 8 GB of LPDDR3, with high-end and upgraded models increasing that to 16 GB, which happens to be the maximum supported by Intel’s current U-series processors.Įven without any crazy chassis features, Microsoft has set the Surface Laptop apart from the competition in a couple of key ways. We didn’t get a chance to review the original Surface Laptop, but the Surface Laptop 2 is only a small update, offering new color choices and the move from Kaby Lake dual-core processors to Kaby Lake-Refresh quad-core options. It's a simple concept for a company that's been more focused on distinctive designs, but one that helps tap an important segment of the notebook market. Microsoft just set out to create a thin and light laptop to fill a void where people want to buy a Surface, but want to use it in their lap and they don’t need the performance, heft, or price of the Surface Book. There are no tricks or unique chassis features here.
Surface Studio is an all-in-one PC that can fold into a drafting table.īut even with the Pro as a successful template for how to build out the Surface family, Microsoft has one product that doesn’t really fit in with the rest, and that is the Surface Laptop.
Surface Book is a laptop with a detachable display. Surface Pro had the kickstand, of course. However even as Microsoft expanded the Surface family, they have always tried to keep that same edge – always embracing a unique feature on their lineup to differentiate a Surface device from the competition. Unsurprisingly then, Microsoft has taken this success and run with it, growing the Surface brand by fleshing out the product line with more models. Microsoft’s Surface Pro lineup has undoubtedly been a huge success in this respect, with the 2-in-1s providing plenty of flexibility coupled with great hardware.
Microsoft’s Surface lineup was created to bring a spark of innovation into the PC industry at a time where much of the competition was slow to change, and slow to adopt new form factors and new technologies.