Surface Laptop 5 (13-inch) review: A beautiful design that has almost run its course

The old adage goes: if something ain’t broke, don’t fix it. While that’s often wise advice, of course there’s a limit to how long you can keep something running – especially a gadget – before it starts lagging behind. And with the Surface Laptop 5, Microsoft seems to be testing that boundary, because while the notebook is as slim and sleek as ever, even with a new CPU, it’s easy to see where its aging chassis could use a few updates or quality of life improvements. So while I’ll never complain about a performance boost, it still feels like Microsoft could do better.

Design, keyboard and connections

I won’t spend too much time talking about the Surface Laptop 5’s exterior as it’s the same chassis that Microsoft has used for the last three or four generations. Both the 13 and 15 inch models feature an aluminum body with tall 3:2 displays for improved productivity. Our 13.5-inch review unit weighed 2.86 pounds and was just 0.57 inches thick. The whole package is super slim and in some ways I can see why Microsoft doesn’t want to mess around with the design – it’s really a beauty thing. It’s thin and minimalist like a MacBook, but so different you’ll never confuse the two. Still, I think Microsoft is more than capable of tweaking the current chassis to accommodate new components without ruining its good looks.

New this year is a sage green color option, like we got on the Surface Laptop Go 2. But Microsoft didn’t stop there, as the company has also created custom wallpapers for Windows 11 to match the system’s exterior paint job. I know this is a fairly small change in the grand scheme of things, but the extra bit of color coordination is kind of nice.

On the other hand, there is not much to complain about on the keyboard and touchpad of the Surface Laptop 5. The keycaps are well spaced and have nice, crisp actuation, although after some practice with the 15-inch version I noticed that the larger model has slightly more key travel. And while its 4.5 x 3-inch touchpad isn’t quite as large as what you’d find on a similarly sized MacBook, there’s still plenty of room to move the mouse.

The story goes on

One of the other big changes to the Surface Laptop 5 is the new USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4 port, which offers increased bandwidth for data transfer or sending video to external displays. Unfortunately, there are only two total USB ports on both the 13.5 and 15-inch models: the aforementioned Thunderbolt 4 port and a regular USB 3.1 Type-A slot. Thankfully, Microsoft hasn’t dropped support for wired audio, so you still get a 3.5mm headphone jack in addition to the company’s proprietary magnetic Surface Connect connector for charging and docking.

But if you’ll allow me to giggle a bit, I wish Microsoft dropped the Surface Connect port entirely. Due to recent EU regulations, we’re on the verge of all phones supporting USB-C for charging and data, and aside from the proprietary ports Apple and Microsoft use on MacBooks and Surfaces, laptops aren’t far behind. Eliminating the Surface Connect port would not only make room for another USB-C socket – which is both smaller and more versatile – I find its weak magnets and awkward shape make it more difficult to use than USB-C.

Display and webcam

Like its chassis, the 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 5 has the same 2,256 x 1,504 PixelSense touchscreen that Microsoft used on the previous model, and that’s totally fine. It has good brightness, hitting just under 400 nits on my light meter, along with rich, saturated colors. The only new tweak for 2022 is support for Dolby Vision IQ, which automatically adjusts things like color profiles and contrast based on ambient conditions. It’s a nice touch, but considering pretty much every phone made in recent years has similar display tech, Microsoft isn’t [exactly] breaking new ground here.

While image quality is strong, the Surface Laptop 5’s display is starting to show its age. The bezels are a few millimeters thicker than last year’s Surface Laptop Studio, which makes things look a bit chunky. You also don’t get support for HDR or high refresh rates.

But what lags the most is the 720p webcam, which is passable at best. You don’t get support for any of Microsoft’s Windows Studio effects like you do on the Surface Pro 9 5G, and I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: 1080p webcams should be the foundation of premium notebooks. Thankfully, Microsoft has kept the built-in IR cameras for Windows Hello facial recognition, which still works great.

perfomance

Inside, the new 12th generation Intel CPUs offer a big leap in performance. The downside is that unlike the previous generation, there aren’t any AMD-based configurations, which is quite a shame. However, with PCMark 10 scores around 20 percent higher than the Surface Laptop 4, it’s hard to get too excited.

Just don’t get your hopes up for hardcore gaming, as both models are limited to the integrated Iris XE graphics. in the surveillance 2, I had to lower the settings to medium to get a reasonably stable 60fps, although you can squeeze out a bit more performance if you’re willing to lower the game’s resolution or turn on upsampling. But no matter what you do, this thing isn’t really meant to play AAA titles.

battery life and connections

As for battery life, the Surface Laptop 5 delivered respectable, if not outstanding, results with a time of 12 hours and 39 minutes. In comparison, last year’s 15-inch Surface Laptop 4 fared better with a score of 15:25, as did other ultraportables from this year, including the Lenovo Yoga 9i at 14:22 and the M2 MacBook Air at 17:05 .

As a long-time Surface user, I appreciate that Microsoft included the extra 5-watt charging port in the included power adapter, which is really good for powering small peripherals like a mouse or wireless headphones. And I should mention that if for some reason you lose or forget your charging brick at home, you can still charge the Surface Laptop 5 via USB-C.

Wrap up

Although the Surface Laptop 5 hasn’t received many updates, it still has a really sleek design and the addition of new 12th Gen Intel chips and a Thunderbolt 4 port make for a big boost in speed and usability. Sure, it might not have the sharpest webcam or a ton of ports, but when you just need a streamlined ultraportable for general productivity, the Surface Laptop 5 packs all the essentials into a very slim package.

What’s revealing, however, is that Microsoft only sent out the 13.5-inch model for testing, as there are more changes I’d like to see in the 15-inch version. I know my dream of getting an Xbox gaming laptop will probably never come true, but I think there’s a lot of potential to turn the larger Surface Laptop 5 into a really great all-rounder by adding support for Adds discrete graphics and a few more ports.

But the tricky part comes when trying to decide between the 13-inch Surface Laptop 5 and something like the XPS 13. For the same starting price of $1,000, Dell’s notebook comes with a similar CPU and a larger 512GB SSD rather than just a 256GB drive. but no touchscreen (although you can upgrade to one if you’d like). That means you’ll have to decide between getting a slightly better value for your money on the XPS 13 or going for a larger 3:2 touch display on the Surface Laptop 5.

However, if you just want a sleek ultraportable with a nice screen for productivity, Microsoft’s latest clamshell has plenty to offer. I just hope next year we get a full refresh instead of just a simple spec increase.