For years, Microsoft's Surface series has been a series of disappointments (ha!) including poor performance, speed issues, slowdowns, forced restarts, and installed programs that refuse to run, all wrapped up in a totally undeserved price. for its quality level. However, one clear difference between the previous iterations and the 2024 models sets the latter apart in the best way possible.
He Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 These are exceptional laptops that have effectively set the gold standard for AI-powered PCs. Microsoft has finally taken all the feedback and complaints over the years and worked to improve most of them. As a result, we finally have Surface laptops that are not only worthy of their price tag, but are also great in their own right.
If Apple is smart, it will realize who its biggest competition now is and adjust its own strategies to better fit Microsoft's initiatives, not only for the sake of its business but also for the greater environmental impact.
How bad was the Surface series?
While they're not the worst laptops ever released, it was often mind-boggling how, year after year, Microsoft could release such mediocrity at an MSRP that matched far superior laptop machines. It was the epitome of a series with a lot of potential, but it failed to remotely live up to it while suffering from annual releases aimed at attracting Surface loyalists and only them.
Before 2024, I reviewed two other Surface laptops: the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 and Microsoft Surface Laptop Go 3receiving three out of five stars and three and a half out of five stars, respectively.
For the former, I mentioned how its poor performance, poor port selection, and outdated design, coupled with a high price, put it way below its rivals. This was also the laptop that ran a ridiculous amount of programs and background tasks, overloading the OS and leading to larger program slowdowns and crashes. The latter only fared slightly better with average performance, a worn-out design, a bad webcam, and incredibly outdated specs.
The other big problem was that Microsoft laptops were unrepairable, especially the Surface series. In 2017, iFixit gave the first Surface laptop a repair rating. Zero out of ten in repairability because it was a real nightmare to take down, causing catastrophic damage to the machine. And for years, subsequent versions weren't much better.
What changed this year?
The biggest and most definitive change between the older Surface models and the 2024 suite is the Introduction of Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUsFor months, manufacturers have been promoting their upgrades equipped with these chips, boasting of their superior performance and battery life — two vital keys to the operation of AI tools and AI-based components.
The question then was, will these chips live up to the hype? And for the Surface series, they turn mostly mediocre to above-average laptops into some of the best Windows laptops and best notebooks on the market right now. Their performance is exceptional, extremely responsive, and absolutely zero.
Considering that the Snapdragon chips are built on the same Arm architecture as Apple's latest M3 chips, it's a testament to how much Surface laptops are like MacBooks. Both have fast performance and high efficiency, keeping them nice and cool during the most intensive operations.
What has also improved significantly is the ease of repair of the Surface series. In 2021, Microsoft partnered with iFixit to Sell surface repair toolsculminating in both the Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 receiving eight out of ten scores from iFixit and are claimed to be some of the most repairable laptops on the market.
Meanwhile, Apple's MacBooks are some of the The worst laptops for repairabilityAccording to a report called Fail the solutionwhich was compiled by the Public Interest Research Group (PIRG), a consumer advocacy organization in the US. Having such an abysmal level of repairability in 2024 is blatantly anti-consumer and worsens the reputation of MacBooks compared to laptops Surface.
Final thoughts
Microsoft has really updated its Surface laptop lineup, with the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 and Microsoft Surface Pro 11 rewarded with glowing reviews due to their excellent performance and repairability.
The praise is well deserved, as the tech giant took some often scathing criticism and used it to finally implement the changes needed to make the Surface series truly competitive. And now that the competition is finally heating up from Microsoft, the ball is now in Apple's court.
It's time for the tech giant to overhaul its MacBook design, not only to maintain top-notch performance and efficiency, but more importantly, to address and fix the increasingly dire lack of self-repair options for consumers.
Apple's control over all aspects of the manufacturing and repair process has long been a feature of the brand. Still, with the growing threat of e-waste and its devastating ecological effect, the time has finally come for this to change. If Microsoft can do it, Apple can do it too. There is no longer an excuse to accept less.
