I. Preface: The Pinnacle of Thinness and Lightness

Since its debut in 2012, the Microsoft Surface series has set the benchmark for Windows-based design. Whether tablets, laptops, or all-in-ones, they all embody a design standard that surpasses competitors.

With its exquisite minimalist design and outstanding craftsmanship, the Surface series has shattered the long-held misconception that "Windows computers lack refinement" and inspired other brands to elevate their design standards.

The 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop that arrived at our Fast Technology review room today continues to be one of the best-designed Windows laptops, leveraging the Qualcomm Snapdragon platform.

Its all-metal body is available in three colors: Bright Platinum, Seafoam Green, and Roland Purple. We received the Seafoam Green version, accompanied by a matching Surface Arc Mouse, forming a seamless Microsoft mobile office solution.

The all-aluminum body of the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop is sturdy and well-organized, with a minimalist design. Its overall wedge shape ensures the thickest part at the hinge, at the back of the machine, measures just 15.6mm.

Apart from the interfaces on both sides, there are no heat dissipation vents on the entire body. It relies solely on passive cooling through the body, resulting in absolute silence.

This is thanks to its Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core processor, which, based on the ARM architecture, boasts extremely low power consumption and heat generation, offering enhanced power efficiency. This makes the Surface Laptop, Microsoft's thinnest and lightest to date, the longest-lasting in the Surface family.

Let's delve into whether the ARM-based Surface Laptop 13-inch model can meet the mobile office needs of business professionals.

II. Aesthetic Appreciation: Minimalist Design with a Strong Business Vibe

The 13-inch Snapdragon version of the Microsoft Surface Laptop features a straightforward design, with a narrow-bezel screen that nearly fills the B side.

The 10-point touch-enabled mirror screen offers exceptional display quality, and its 400 nits high brightness is suitable for use in bright environments. A camera is discreetly embedded in the narrow bezel above the screen.

A close-up of the narrow bezel screen edge.

The keyboard of the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop features wide keycaps and a moderate keystroke, making it comfortable for extended typing sessions.

The power button integrates fingerprint recognition, enabling one-click startup and unlocking.

The trackpad is centered below the keyboard.

The mirrored Microsoft "Windows" logo is positioned in the middle of the top cover.

The bottom of the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop is equally simple, featuring only the Microsoft logo and specific model information. The entire device lacks any heat dissipation vents and relies solely on the metal body for passive cooling.

The maximum opening angle of the screen on the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop is approximately 135 degrees.

The right side of the body features two identical USB 3.2 Type-C ports, supporting fast charging and DisplayPort video output, with a maximum resolution of 4K/60Hz.

The left side of the body includes a full-size USB-A port and a 3.5mm combo audio jack.

The wedge-shaped body of the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop ensures the thickest part measures just 15.6mm.

The included 45W charger comes with a foldable national standard two-prong plug (for China). It features a USB Type-C output and can also charge other electronic devices, such as smartphones.

In addition to the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop, we also received a matching Microsoft Surface Arc Bluetooth mouse. In its unfolded state, it is ultra-thin, similar in thickness to the laptop, making it easy to slip into a compact laptop sleeve and carry around.

The Surface Arc mouse adopts a touch design, featuring a wide button that integrates left and right-click functions and a scroll wheel.

Bending the Surface Arc mouse automatically activates it, placing it in working mode with the laser sensor window snugly against the desktop.

The Surface Arc mouse comes pre-installed with two AAA batteries, ensuring easy purchase and replacement.

The 13-inch Surface Laptop and Surface Arc mouse in matching Seafoam Green complement each other beautifully.

III. Compatibility Experience: Broad Application Support with Growing Native ARM Integration

When discussing the ARM platform, smartphones are often the first thing that comes to mind.

The 13-inch Surface Laptop, an ARM-based laptop running Windows 11, raises the question: can usage habits and commonly used software from previous X86-based Windows 11 laptops be seamlessly transitioned to the ARM platform?

This is undoubtedly a significant concern for users. Let's first conduct a brief test of the compatibility of commonly used software.

As Microsoft's "favorite child," the Office suite runs effortlessly on the ARM platform. Both the Office 2024 Home Edition included with the 13-inch Microsoft Surface Laptop and the subscription-based Microsoft 365 suites perform smoothly without any issues.

It's safe to say that apps downloaded from the Microsoft Store rarely pose compatibility concerns.

The WPS office software suite, which aligns more closely with domestic user habits, does not directly offer an ARM version. However, actual tests reveal that the x64 version can be installed and used seamlessly, offering the same smoothness.

Productivity tools like the Adobe Creative Suite are also gradually adapting to the ARM platform. Software like Photoshop for graphic design or Premiere Pro for video editing already have native ARM versions. Illustrator and InDesign offer beta versions, and After Effects will soon be released. Overall, ARM platform support is continually improving.

Huorong Security Software also provides an ARM version, offering a user experience indistinguishable from the X86 version.

Jianying also provides an ARM version installer, with environment detection prompting smooth performance on the device.

The ARM platform offers an added advantage: running Android programs is more convenient. While the Yingyongbao section in the Microsoft Store is still in preview, it already provides a vast array of applications and games, facilitating direct installation.

We installed "Honor of Kings" from the App Store and briefly tested it. With ultimate graphics quality and ultra-high frame rate resolution settings, the game ran smoothly at 90 frames per second.

WeChat and QQ available in the App Store's Yingyongbao section are tablet versions and can be logged into simultaneously with mobile phones.

Video software from iQIYI, Tencent Video, and Youku, as well as Android applications like Taobao Mobile and Bilibili, run without issues. Installing the mobile version offers a more comprehensive functional experience than the web version or PC client.

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For instance, we can now search for a handheld camera photo using the keyword "handheld camera," not just files whose names match the keyword.

Paint, one of the oldest components in Windows, has been enhanced by AI. The two new AI functions are highly practical. One is generative removal, which utilizes AI to erase unwanted content and replace it with background patterns.

The Remove Background function is equally straightforward, allowing users to remove a photo's background with a single click, achieving an image cutout effect.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch notebook also comes pre-installed with a new search function that is still in preview. Named "Click to Perform," it directly replaces the global search function in Windows 11 and can be activated using the Win+Q shortcut. Upon activation, a ripple effect appears fullscreen, segmenting all text and images independently, enabling users to select and directly interact with the target text or image. This feature bears a resemblance to Bing search's previous word selection search function, but it is no longer limited to within the browser.

Among all AI applications, the AI translation function boasts the best application effect, with real-time subtitles being the most in-demand feature. Windows 11 now offers a built-in real-time subtitles function, but it requires 40 TOPS of computing power, which is also the threshold requirement for AI+ PC. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch notebook, with 45 TOPS of computing power, has no trouble enabling the AI real-time subtitles function.

The latest Win 11 24H2 version (with a version number higher than 26100.3624) supports real-time subtitle translation from 25 languages to Simplified Chinese. This feature can be enabled not only during video playback but also supports real-time translation in video conferences and online conversations, making it more convenient for users to communicate in various scenarios. Try it out with the Win+Ctrl+L shortcut.

V. Performance Test: Ideal for Daily Office Work

1. CPU

The X86 version of CPU-Z can only read the Snapdragon processor's brand and offers limited additional information. However, the ARM version of CPU-Z, although not yet supporting Chinese, can successfully read processor and memory information.

The CPU-Z benchmark test reveals that the X86 version can run under translation conditions, with single-core and multi-core scores of 441.8 and 3495.0, respectively. The native ARM version scores 634.7 and 4939.6 for single-core and multi-core, respectively.

Compared to the native ARM version, the translation process results in a performance loss of approximately 30%, which is still acceptable.

In the 7-Zip benchmark test, the native ARM version takes 100.953 seconds, with an overall CPU usage rating of 562%, a usage score of 5.207 GIPS, and a total score of 29.218 GIPS.

The X64 version, running the benchmark under translation conditions, takes 116.782 seconds, with an overall CPU usage rating of 571%, a usage score of 4.355 GIPS, and a total score of 24.866 GIPS. Compared to the native version, the translation process results in a performance loss of about 15%.

The CINEBENCH R20 test under translation conditions yields a single-core score of 424cb and a multi-core score of 2940cb.

It is evident that the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus processor outperforms the Intel Core i7-7700K in multi-core performance but slightly lags in single-core performance, overall being on par with the i7-7700K.

The CINEBENCH R23 test results under translation conditions are similar, with a single-core score of 1120pts and a multi-core score of 7427pts. After translation, the performance is comparable to that of the Intel Core i7-7700K and AMD Ryzen R7 1700X.

The ChessBenchmark test, also under translation conditions, scores 18827 kips (thousands of instructions per second).

We used UL's Procyon testing tool for office productivity testing, which requires the Microsoft Office suite. This provides a good indication of the actual user experience of Office tools on the ARM platform.

The final test score is 5248 points. From the detailed scores, it is evident that the vast majority of commonly used operations take extremely short amounts of time, with almost no lag and very smooth performance.

PCMark 10 can also be run through translation, but the test scores are for reference only.

2. Graphics Card

Under translation mode, only some projects in the 3Dmark test can be run. We first ran the cross-platform tests Wild Life and Wild Life Extreme, which scored 11650 and 3270, respectively.

The DX12 test Time Spy and the DX11 test Fire Strike can also be run under translation conditions. The Qualcomm Adreno X1-45 GPU built into the Snapdragon X Plus processor scored 932 and 3733 in the graphics tests, respectively.

While this performance is still far from comparable to entry-level dedicated GPUs from Intel or AMD, it can still run some simple games under translation conditions, meeting basic needs.

3. Memory

The AIDA64 memory test, also run under translation conditions, provides scores for reference only.

4. SSD

The SSD test uses CrystalDiskMark, which has a native ARM version and can also run the X64 version through translation. The test scores are largely unaffected. The SSD speed in Microsoft's Surface Laptop 13-inch Snapdragon version basically reaches the limit of PCIe 3.0.

The ATTO Disk Benchmark test prompts that a 0.5k file is smaller than the minimum block size of the SSD, so the test starts from 4K.

VI. Temperature and Battery Life: Over 11 Hours of Battery Life Under Medium to High Load, Keyboard and Wrist Rest Remain Cool During Stress Testing

Since the commonly used PCMark10 battery life test cannot run normally on the ARM platform, we used the office productivity battery life test in the Procyon software as an alternative. Note that the battery life test in Procyon differs from the previous PCMark10 test. The Procyon test has a higher intensity and no intervals, maintaining medium to high-intensity simulated software operations.

We set the screen brightness of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch notebook to 50% without enabling power-saving mode and conducted a productivity battery life test. The test lasted from 100% to 4% battery life, totaling 11 hours and 25 minutes.

Due to time constraints, we were unable to test the official claim of up to 23 hours of video playback battery life. We only conducted a 1-hour video playback test under the same conditions, which consumed 6% of the battery. A simple calculation shows that the battery can support continuous video playback for over 16 hours.

Considering that video playback has minimal performance requirements

The Microsoft Surface Laptop, a 13-inch notebook, leverages the ARM platform's inherent advantages in power consumption efficiency and battery life, combined with the complete silence afforded by its fully passive cooling design. This makes it exceptionally well-suited for travel, mobile office work, and attending meetings. Nowadays, notebooks equipped with the ARM platform have emerged as a formidable competitor in the business thin-and-light notebook market. Thanks to their unique benefits in battery longevity and silent operation, they have become a novel choice for business professionals in mobile office settings.