Microsoft Surface Laptop: The best Windows PC money can buy

As anyone who has used a Microsoft keyboard or mouse will tell you, thes Redmond-based company makes some excellent hardware. So a couple of years back, the company decided that it was time to extend this expertise to computers as well. The Surface series has been a success in more ways than one. But it has not been that popular in India, primarily because Microsoft has not offered many choices to the buyers. However, all that seems set to change with the company bringing its top-end Surface devices also to India recently.

The Surface Laptop is what Microsoft would ideally offer mid and upper management professionals in India. So this is perfect for all their content consumption, number crunching on Excel sheets as well as show-and-tell on PowerPoint. But I have a feeling that most of the users will pick it up primarily because of its weight, or lack of it. At just around 1.25 kg, the Surface Laptop will be one of the most mobile and portable laptops you can buy.

Also, the Surface Laptop has one of the most unique design elements I have seen in a while. The keyboard side is covered by Alcantara microfibre fabric. I have been a fan of this material ever since I encountered them first on some high-end headphones a few years back. While this means you don’t wake up to a cold keyboard panel in the winters, it also means more confirm during long hours of working on the laptop.

The keyboard itself is well-spaced out and the keys offer the right amount of travel. I loved typing on the Surface Laptop, which when combined with the smooth cursor movement of Windows 10 makes writing itself so much more stress-free. The glass trackpad responds well to gestures and you swipe around from one screen to the other, especially if you are not that keen to touch the screen.

The other feature worthy of mention is the display itself. The Surface Laptop has a stunning Pixel Sense display which is sharp and bright. I tried working in the open with the laptop on a cloudy day, with the screen at 85% brightness. I had no issues typing a story under the sun.

Powered by an Intel Core i7 processor and with at least 8GB of RAM, performance will not really be an issue for the Surface Laptops. In fact, it could do everything I wanted it to, from multi-tab browsing to high-quality video streaming. I am, however, not sure this device is ideal for even more stressful stuff such as video editing. Anyway, despite you not really being able to see where the fans are, this is among the coolest laptops I have ever used. And it manages to remain cool for hours.

Surface Laptop runs Windows 10 on S Mode which means it is more app-friendly, though I still couldn’t find a good reason to go to the Windows App store. The device has just one USB port and a display port.

Overall, if you don’t mind the premium price tag, the Surface Laptop offers enough for you to really enjoy working or just consuming content on this device. Clearly, this is one of the best options available for those in the Windows ecosystem.