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00:00As my mum always says, Tom, don't worry, it's what's on the inside that counts.
00:05Thanks mum.
00:06Anyway, hey guys, I'm Tom the Tech Chap and it's two for one today.
00:09We've got the new 13.5 and 15 inch Surface Laptop 4s and if you do enjoy the video and
00:15find it useful, a cheeky little subscribe and a ding of that bell icon would be lovely.
00:20Now except for the new ice blue colour, which Microsoft helpfully didn't send me, these
00:25two are visually identical to the 2019 Surface Laptop 3.
00:30The big changes are on the inside, with new 11th Gen Intel processors and new custom AMD
00:36Ryzen 4000 series chips, both of which Microsoft claim are up to 70% faster than before.
00:42And that's despite having pretty significant spec differences between the two chips.
00:47So we'll dive into that a little bit more in a second, plus we're also getting a longer
00:50battery life, up to 19 hours with an AMD spec and 17 hours with Intel.
00:56You can also now swap out and upgrade the M.2 storage yourself, a first for the Surface
01:01Laptop, and also the speakers now support Dolby Atmos for better surround sound.
01:06So faster, longer battery life, and also for the first time you can actually mix and match
01:10the specs because previously the 13 only came with Intel chips, the 15 only AMD, now you
01:16can get both with either, which makes for some interesting configurations.
01:20But that's pretty much it.
01:22Sadly there's no super sexy new feature I can show off and make some clickbaity thumbnail
01:27or title about, it's just a spec bump.
01:29But that's no bad thing at all, and bar a couple of issues I do still have, I still
01:34think these are two of the very best thin and light laptops you can buy.
01:38The beautiful 3x2 pixel sense touchscreen, genuinely one of my favourite keyboards and
01:43touchpads, top notch build quality, although I must admit if I put the latest Dell XPS
01:5013 side by side with these, the design, while very well made, is starting to look perhaps
01:58a little long in the tooth with these big chunky bezels.
02:01This looks like a proper next gen 2021 laptop, these still feel a little bit 2020.
02:07But I think the whole if it ain't broke don't fix it saying kind of applies here, but then
02:12if you do look at the competition, whether it's the bezel-less XPS series, the super
02:16lightweight LG Grams, the OLED screen options on the XPS or Samsung's latest Galaxy Books,
02:22which also offer LTE, or indeed the revolutionary M1 chip on the MacBooks.
02:27Can you hear that?
02:30There's a bloody pigeon outside.
02:35So the competition is fierce, which is great for you and me as consumers, there's more
02:39choice, there's more innovation, but it does also maybe mean that chucking in a new processor
02:44perhaps isn't really enough to keep up anymore.
02:47And there's still no Thunderbolt 3 or 4 support, USB-C charging will be a lot more convenient
02:52than the Surface charger, the 720p webcam is still good, but it hasn't been updated
02:56when these have become more important than ever, and while the starting prices are pretty
03:00good actually, once you spec an i7 and 16 or 32 gigs of RAM, these start to get very
03:07expensive.
03:08So there's room for improvement, but these are still really, really good laptops, and
03:11actually what I would do is just go for the cheapest entry-level 13.5-inch, and it'll
03:17cost you £1,000 or $1,000, which isn't bad at all, and actually is the exact same
03:21price as my MacBook Air, which I'm actually using for notes here, which actually makes
03:27this a really interesting comparison because they are the same price and also a similar
03:31form factor, although of course we do have the M1 chip in here, which is awesome.
03:36If you want a full triple threat comparison between the XPS 13, Surface Laptop 13.5, and
03:44the MacBook Air, yeah, would that be interesting, would you guys like to see that?
03:47If you could take away one of these laptops right now, which one would you go for?
03:51Let me know in the comments.
03:52So the 13 starts at £1,000 or $1,000, and the 15 starts at £1,300, same in dollars,
03:59according to Microsoft's website, so this does cost a little bit more, although you
04:02are getting the same performance and battery life near enough, there's no fundamental
04:06difference between them, but really you are just paying the extra for the extra screen
04:11space.
04:12Both sizes top out with 32 gigs of RAM and a terabyte of storage, but then you're paying
04:16over two grand and it all starts to get a bit silly, because these really aren't supposed
04:20to be proper workstation laptops.
04:22There's no dedicated graphics card option, the ports are still a little bit limited,
04:26so for me, I would just go with the cheapest 13-inch, and if you are just working, streaming
04:31Netflix, maybe a bit of doodling or note-taking using the touchscreen, really this is all
04:36you need.
04:37But the biggest question, aside from whether you go 13 or 15, is do you want an Alcantara
04:43fabric or anodized aluminium metal finish on the laptop?
04:48Sadly, the Alcantara is only on the 13, you don't have the option on the 15, which is
04:52a bit of a shame, because I do quite like it.
04:54It's not for everyone, it's a little bit like Marmite, you either love it or you hate it,
04:57but I find that it doesn't pick up fingerprints or smudges as easily as the metal, and also
05:02it never gets as hot or as cold as the metal surface does on this, so the only minor thing
05:07I've noticed is that as the Alcantara sort of tapers down at the front, it becomes a
05:12little bit sharp, so you do occasionally feel it rubbing into your wrist, but on the whole,
05:17I would probably go with the Alcantara on the 13, and well, you don't have a choice
05:21on the 15.
05:22But just like the screen, whichever size or material you go for, you get the same fantastic
05:27keyboard, and in fact I know a lot of my journalist friends absolutely love the Surface for its
05:31keyboard, and I completely agree.
05:33You get three levels of backlighting, well spaced keys with 1.3mm of travel, and arguably
05:39while the ThinkPad keyboard may be a bit better, together with this big glass precision trackpad,
05:45I would go as far as to say this is my favourite setup on a Windows laptop.
05:50You're also getting the same screen quality, the resolution is higher on the 15, but it
05:53matches the same 201 pixel per inch density of the 13.
05:57Colour accuracy is also impressive, especially the sRGB colour gamut, and of course being
06:02a 10-point touchscreen, which you can either use with your finger, or a Windows Ink compatible
06:06stylus, well it gives you a lot more flexibility for actually using it.
06:11Okay, let's get nerdy for a minute, because I want to talk about the chips inside here.
06:16It's a pretty big deal, because really this is the biggest upgrade on the Surface Laptop
06:21and it does get a little bit complicated, so bear with me.
06:24As I say, we have Intel 11th Gen and AMD 4000 processors in both models, and in some respects
06:30the AMD is a bigger upgrade over last gen, as now we're getting WiFi 6, which only the
06:35Intel model had previously, and also AMD have doubled the number of cores.
06:40So on paper, AMD has a big advantage, with 6 or 8 cores over the 4 core Intel chips.
06:46However, Intel's Tiger Lake is a full generation newer than AMD's in here, plus we have the
06:51advantage of Intel's faster Xe integrated graphics.
06:56Now the plan was to get two Surface Laptop 4s, one Intel, one AMD, and then test them
07:01against each other, see which one's better, and actually because Microsoft tell me there
07:05isn't really, or you shouldn't see any major difference in performance between the two
07:09sizes, it wouldn't really matter which one I go for.
07:12Unfortunately, the ones they've sent me are quite different.
07:15This is the i5 with 8 gigs of RAM, this is the slightly beefier Ryzen 7 with 16 gigs
07:20of RAM.
07:21So they're not directly comparable, but I did still run the tests between them and actually,
07:27the results are really interesting.
07:28In these CPU benchmarks, the single core performance is pretty neck and neck, but as you would
07:33expect the 15 inch with the 8 core Ryzen 7 is on average 45% faster in multi-core.
07:40But what is surprising is if we switch to more graphically demanding tests, the cheaper
07:44and lower specced 13 inch here with the i5 comes out on top, and it's a similar story
07:49with gaming.
07:50Rainbow Six Siege was 27% faster on the Intel, almost hitting that 60 FPS mark, and in Fortnite
07:57it's actually 34% faster, although neither are exactly smooth, and while performance
08:02was better on the Intel, I did still have a lot of frame drops and some stuttering.
08:07But depending on the game, and if you are happy to drop down to medium settings, you
08:11can get away with a bit of light gaming on both.
08:15And finally, I wanted to see which was faster in my 10 minute 4K H.264 Premiere Pro export
08:22test.
08:23And surprisingly, despite the AMD chip having double the cores, the Intel was actually 24%
08:28faster, knocking almost 4 minutes off the time.
08:32And again, that's with the lower powered i5, and also half the RAM of the AMD model.
08:37Most of the time they're both silent, but under load you can just about hear them, but
08:40the 13 was definitely louder.
08:43And it kind of makes me miss the fanless M1 powered MacBook Air, if I'm honest.
08:47So it is a bit frustrating that I don't have like for like SKUs, so take that comparison
08:51with a pinch of salt, but from my tests, I would recommend going with the Intel CPU option,
08:58which is not something I've said for a while.
09:00But then the second big upgrade after performance is the battery life, and it's kind of surprising
09:05that they both have the same pretty dinky 46 watt hour batteries.
09:10For context, the MacBook Pro 16 has a 99 watt hour battery, but somehow Microsoft must have
09:15put some magic dust in these laptops, because I actually managed to get 11 hours of real
09:20world use with both these laptops.
09:23To give an example, my one hour YouTube test in Chrome with 50% brightness used 11% of
09:28the battery on both.
09:30Going by Microsoft's figures, the size and spec you choose does affect the battery by
09:34an hour or two, but it's not overly significant.
09:37And so for me, the battery life is a real selling point of these Surface laptops.
09:41However, I do wish we had USB-C charging so I didn't have to bring a separate adapter
09:47with me for my phone.
09:48And it's pretty quick, you get about 50% of your battery in 40 minutes.
09:52And as you can see, it plugs in to the Surface connector.
09:55Now on the one hand, being magnetic means if you do trip over the cable, it comes out,
09:59which is nice, you don't pull the laptop with you.
10:01But I have also noticed that the connection just isn't that strong.
10:04So I can have it plugged in, maybe I'm rendering or exporting, and I move the laptop slightly,
10:09and it just falls out.
10:10So not my favorite, if I'm honest, as I say, USB-C charging would be nice.
10:15Elsewhere, the speakers are still top notch.
10:17It's the same setup as before, with the under-keyboard speakers firing the sound up towards you,
10:22which definitely helps.
10:23But now we also have Dolby Atmos support, and altogether, both laptops genuinely sound
10:28really good.
10:36Then we have the webcam.
10:37So this is being shot on the Surface Laptop 4, and then this is the M1-powered MacBook
10:43Air, just for a bit of comparison, I suppose.
10:46And what do you guys think?
10:47Which looks better, and also which sounds better as I switch between the microphones?
10:52The benefit of the Surface Laptop is we also have an infrared sensor, so you can use this
10:57as a, what do you call it, Windows Hello login, you can use your face to log in.
11:01But yeah, they're both okay, I suppose, but, you know, an external webcam will always be
11:06your best bet.
11:07I think it was back in November 2019 that I reviewed the Surface Laptop 3s, so these
11:12were well due an upgrade.
11:14And I do think with the new processors and the slightly improved battery life, these
11:18have a new lease of life.
11:19But I'd be lying if I wasn't a bit disappointed that we haven't had any kind of design refresh,
11:24no update to the ports, and also we're missing a few bells and whistles like HDR on the screen.
11:29But none of those are deal breakers.
11:31And for me, the build quality, the fresh bloatware free Windows 10 experience, fantastic keyboard
11:37and touchpad, excellent battery, and solid performance, particularly with the Intel chip
11:42and its Xe graphics.
11:43Whether you go for the 13 or the 15, I still highly recommend the Surface Laptop 4.
11:48However, if you're not fussed on the touchscreen and also don't mind using macOS, for the exact
11:53same money, I would recommend going for the MacBook Air with the M1 chip.
11:58And also, consider if you've got a little bit more money to spend and perhaps want a
12:02nicer screen or at least more screen options, then consider the Dell XPS 13, which also
12:08now comes with an OLED option if you want your super duper inky blacks.
12:13Like that.
12:14But what would you go for, the 13, the 15, or none of the above?
12:19Let me know in the comments below.
12:20And also, if you've got any questions at all, do let me know because I read every single
12:24one of your comments and I'll try to respond and answer as many as I can.
12:27And if you guys did enjoy the video and want to see more of me, then a cheeky little subscribe
12:32and a ding of that bell would be lovely.
12:34Thank you so much for watching, guys.
12:35And I'll see you next time right here on The Tech Jam.