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日本Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (15.0) review – decent package of features and performance but it’s too expensive for what it is
Verdict
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (15.0″) is a thin and light device that impresses with good build quality and sleek design. This can be useful for people who are constantly on the go and for the ones who prefer a machine with an unintrusive design instead of glowing like a Christmas tree notebook.
The touchscreen panel is a joy to use. It has a high resolution, good viewing angles, and a good contrast ratio. The sRGB coverage is 89% and the maximum brightness is high enough for comfortable usage in a non-dimmed room. Still, the panel is PWM-free above 53% of brightness, however, below this value, the pulsations have a very high frequency, which should be undetectable for most people.
The device feels snappy no matter what is your task in front of the screen. The cooling solution is tuned to favor E cores clocks over the P cores frequencies in medium and long loads. In short periods of stress, the P cores clock is ~ 3.50 GHz which is a nice achievement. The CPU temperature is always within reasonable limits and the same goes for the power target of the chip.
We also like the sturdy lid with a glass protection that can be also opened with a single hand. The touchpad isn’t big but it has a smooth surface and that’s why the unit is fast and accurate. The keyboard has a backlight and the feedback is decent. However, the key travel is short and there is no NumPad which is a shame because there is so much unused space on the base.
Speaking of which, we saw flexes around the touchpad area but the rest of the base seem stable. The laptop feels good to the touch thanks to the aluminum build and the matte finish of our device (which comes in Matte Black color). For such a high-res display (2496 x 1664), the battery life is good. The modest 47.4Wh capacity is enough for 9 hours and 5 minutes of Web browsing or 8 hours and 20 minutes of video playback.
If you want to open the device, you’ll be shocked by the fact that it’s almost impossible without leaving some scars on the chassis or breaking something. So, pick your configuration carefully. The laptop can be configured with 8GB, 16GB, or 32GB of LPDDR5x-5200 soldered memory and you can choose between three NVMe capacities – 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB. The SSD works in Cen 3 mode, it’s not a big deal because the laptop is always fast but having an older standard SSD in a premium notebook like this one is strange. This brings us to the fact that the used platform (Alder Lake) isn’t exactly up to date as well while much cheaper devices can be configured with the new Intel Raptor Lake chips.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (15.0″) isn’t a perfect device especially because its hardware isn’t up to today’s standards for premium devices. On the other hand, the sleek design, the high-res touchscreen display, the aluminum build, and the good portability can be a deal breaker for some of you.
You can check the prices and configurations in our Specs System: https://laptopmedia.com/series/microsoft-surface-laptop-5-15-0/
Pros
- Good performance
- Decent battery life
- Covers 89% sRGB (Sharp LQ150P1JX51 (SHP14B4))
- Doesn’t use aggressive PWM to adjust screen brightness (Sharp LQ150P1JX51 (SHP14B4))
- Work-friendly 3:2 aspect ratio and a touchscreen usability
- Good build quality
Cons
- No SD card reader
- Memory is soldered
- Nearly impossible to service
- Limited I/O
Good review. Well explained pros and cons. I just want to suggest that people who want this laptop, should buy it when it’s on sale, since prices tend to go down up to 50%. I’ve bought mine last September for only €799. It was down from €1599. Surface Laptop 4, i7-1065G7, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD. Screen, speakers and touchpad are great, keyboard is ok, connectivity is very limiting (I use USB-C dock with mine), but the most annoying part is when the screen is fully opened (170 degrees I think), it creaks quite a bit. Also, mine version gets warm… Read more »