Microsoft Surface Laptop (1st Gen) (Intel Core i7, 8GB RAM, 256GB) - Platinum

After a couple of bad experiences with a competitive laptop, I decided to go for the new Microsoft Surface Laptop. I basically work over the Internet, work with Office 365 and keep absolutely nothing on my laptop.... everything is kept off the machine on an external drive. Because of that I decided to go for the i5, 4 GB, 128 Gig model. I felt it would be more than adequate for what I do... and I was right. I am by no means a "power user" that has multiple apps or programs open at the same time. If that is you, then I would recommend getting the i5, 8GB, 256 Gig SSD model. But that is just not me, so the base model works great for me. First of all, lets get out of the way the design, quality of build and the rather unique alcantara fabric keyboard and deck covering.... its all top drawer. This is built like a tank, yet its in a form factor that is very thin and compact. Simply put, its a beautiful laptop. The keyboard is excellent with a good amount of key travel and they are comfortable to use. The track pad is as good as any I have used on a Windows machine. No, its not the glass type that you find on an Apple MacBook Pro... but thats ok. I personally dont use the track pad anyway... so not a big deal for me. The keyboard is back-lit and easy to work with in low light conditions. I do a lot of live streaming of content over Xfinity and this screen is as good as my MacBook Pro with Retina screen. I actually like this a bit better. The picture quality is crisp and colors are sharp and precise. It is covered in Gorilla Glass 3 so will be highly reflective if you have a light in front of it or outside in the open daylight. None -the-less, its a beautiful screen and certainly at the top of its class. The only drawback for some might be the lack of connectors and SD Card slot. The machine comes with a USB 3.0, 3.5mm Headset jack, mini DisplayPort and Surface Connect. I like the Surface Connect Power plug as it is somewhat similar to the old Apple magnetic connector... if you happen to hit it, it pops out without doing damage to the connector. Sadly, Apple did away with that on the latest version of the MacBook products. That said, I can see where I am going to have to buy a couple of dongles for connecting to various peripherals. The Surface Laptop comes loaded with Windows S... which is useless if you want to download any apps that arent on the Microsoft Store site... like iTunes. You have the ability to upgrade to a 1 year free subscription of Windows Pro. Its $49 annually after the first year. I have no clue why Microsoft would sell their newest, higher end, laptop with Windows S. Maybe they will simply give in and allow everyone to upgrade and forget the annual fee. One can only hope. I upgraded of course and will continue to use Windows Pro. I guess the long and short of it is that I am just a regular guy (a Consultant) that uses his laptop everyday for everyday types of tasks. I dont do complex design, art or mathematical work on the machine with numerous applications open at the same time. As I stated earlier, that is just not me. This laptop is simply put, the best laptop I have ever had. It is a beautiful, well built, technologically strong machine that will serve me well for a number of years. I cant recommend this enough. It is a real winner and Microsoft has hit a home run without question.

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Having used a surface pro 3, then 4 for the past few years I was ready to try the new surface laptop. The surface book was a bit too heavy . With the sp4s I opted for the i5 with 16gb ram to extend battery life. Also the i7 on the surfaces pro 4 were getting too hot. With the surface laptop I ended up with a i7, 16gb ram its a bit pricey but its a work horse and probably best laptop Ive had for travel. I do miss the sp4s ability to remove the keyboard and adjust the rear especially in the plane when I can stick it in the seat pocket. Also a bit getting used to having the dock/power mount on the bottom near the keys vs the screen on the sp4. The bigger screen and better keyboard is a nice welcome after so many years with a surface pro For power users I would also recommend the stylus, a usb3 Ethernet adapter as it also provides 3 usb3 slots and an active mini displayport to HDMI . I do wish it had a usb-c slot sometimes .

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I am an intense user and the Surface Laptop is the best laptop I owned so far. Upgraded it to Win 10 Pro since I need a wide variety of software on the machine for professional use (Image processing, CAD, etc.). The upgrade was free and easy. The keyboard is very precise and comfortable, allowing for fast typing. Mouse and touch screen very accurate. The display is crisp with natural colors. Processor and SSD performance is ample. Beautiful detail solutions like the power supply plug and the additional USB charging port in the power supply add to the appeal. And the design is clean, minimalist, beautiful. I hope I will have this laptop for a very long time!

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I debated for a long time whether or not to upgrade from my Surface Pro 4 to this.... I am so happy I took the plunge and upgraded. I purchased the burgundy colored one and LOVE IT. Its beautiful. Also, compared to my previous Surface Pro 4, the battery lasts FOREVER. I love not depending on a kickstand to keep the screen up, I love how fast it is, I love how long the battery lasts. Couldnt be happier. With all this being said, the first Surface Laptop I ordered worked great for a while, then suddenly had a red vertical line through the screen that wouldnt go away. It was determined that it ended up being a hardware issue. I had babied it so it wasnt caused by damage or rough handling. Ergo it must have been some kind of a manufacturers defect. I returned it through Amazon and ordered another once the return was processed. Taking this into consideration, I am still very happy with my purchase.

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Not my first time buying a surface product and wont be the last. Perfect for a person who primarily needs email, internet, music and media organization. I also do light picture editing from raw format and this handles that very well.

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This is a great Windows laptop. I wish it had come with a little documentation (especially for how to take advantage of the free upgrade to Windows 10 Pro), but Microsoft support was able to take care of that for me. It feels and performs great. I had ordered a Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 with an i7 processor, and that got too hot to comfortably use in my lap on the sofa. The Surface laptop is perfect for me.

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I am an IT Manager who oversees 7 different locations, and 160 employees. We are a Microsoft shop, running Azure, Office 365, and SharePoint. We used to be Dell, with regards to hardware. These devices are fast, reliable, light weight, and as durable as any other tablet style device you will find. The battery life is incredible. I have users on them 8 solid hours, never an issue. Yes, they are higher price, but you get what you pay for. I do have a 3 years accidental on all devices. Ive only had a single issue in 3 years with them. A user left theirs on the roof of their car and it slide off and damaged the screen, obviously not fault of the device. I personally run a Surface Pro i7 with 512 Memory, and I love it.

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UPDATE: So, Im about two weeks in now and have had a bit of time to run a few photoshoots into my Lightroom catalog to get an idea of what this laptop can handle and Im a bit less than ecstatic. Im not knocking a star off because Adobe recommends 12gb of ram to run Lightroom smoothly, so its no fault to Microsoft that I started to have some slow-downs when I got my catalog up around 1,000 images with synced settings, 1:1 previews, and adjustments gradients and brushes on many files. Ive got my cache set to 90gb and it just tends to really chug when I need to do more than basic adjustments. Outside of heavy lightroom use and sluggishness, the laptop absolutely flies with just about anything else. I really dont have a complaint to share. Its been a dream. This laptop is fantastic. I bought the i5 256/8gb model with the gray/gold coloring. First thing that amazes is the weight. Just over two pounds makes this thing feel so incredible to carry around. I almost feel like its a large phone sometimes. The design is sleek and minimalist. The speakers are loud and full and rich. The battery life is is superb. I may have a warped view on that because of the terrible battery on my old laptop, but I seem to notice 7-8 hours battery life depending on the usage. I bought this for Adobe Lightroom and Photoshop use, but havent had much time to put it through a lot of work so I will update when I know just how well it performs there. The only minor dislike is that the hinge is a little wobbly. For being touchscreen, it seems like it should have a stiffer hinge, but its quite bouncy.

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I contemplated this for quite awhile considering Dells, Asus, Airbooks and Surface. Really happy with the purchase. I travel on business and was very tired of company issued laptops. Once we changed to gmail from exchange I no longer needed to be on a corporate domain so went the bring your own device route and everything has worked great. I did have to change to windows 10 from the 10s as have many others but this is a one way change that microsoft provides. The quality is great and so far no issues though less than a half of a year of use. Noteworthy is the vast improvement in microsoft support. I needed help moving an office suite license to work on this surface and had great support in that. Its fast, light, vivid and runs the things I need (office, gmail, google docs, netflix, prime video). I am not a developer or gamer so didnt need anything other than the base model. The value at around 700 on sale is fair. Get a wireless mouse and a high capacity flash for storage and youre good to go. ** update after about 8 months. I had a temporary issue with "phantom touch". The touch screen detects a false touch. While this occurs it is difficult to control the surface. You have to disable the touch screen device while the phantom touch keeps moving the cursor. Not sure what started it or why it ended . Not enough of a problem to change the 5 star as it was a issue that off and on plagued me for a couple of days. It may have been a driver issue but its a real mystery problem. Microsoft should release a diagnostic tool to address this.

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Amazing product, the materials are great. Feels that it is a premium quality. The battery may disappoint you because in tech specs you can see that it will work 14.5 hours. As for me I couldnt get from it more than 8 hours. It may heat if you will play games, then you need some additional cooling. Also the screen ratio is 2x3 that is great for work. But for movies it may be not as wide as you would like. Touch screen is great, very responsible. To keyboard and touch pad there is no complaints.

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