Microsoft’s new 13-inch Surface Laptop beats Apple on affordability

(Image credit: Microsoft)

Microsoft's next Surface laptops are about to get a lot more affordable.

The new Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch is available starting May 20, 2025, and will start at $899, which is the lowest price we’ve seen since the very first generation. It’s nice to see the Surface Laptop, which takes a lot of cues from Apple’s MacBooks, start at an even lower price point.

But can the new Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch offer a quality experience at this low price point?

What we know about the Surface Laptop 13-inch

The new Surface Laptop 13-inch is packing a Snapdragon X Plus processor that Microsoft claims outpaces the MacBook Air M3. That’s not good or bad, necessarily — it’s just about what we expected. However, it would’ve been nice if Microsoft jumped back to Intel or AMD because the ARM architecture limits certain Windows apps.

That chipset is stuffed inside an 11.25 x 8.43 x 0.61-inch and 2.7-pound chassis that you can paint in ocean, violet, or platinum colors. I love the violet colorway, it’s the only correct choice, sorry not sorry.

Microsoft claims that the Surface Laptop 13-inch features the longest battery life of any Surface device, with up to 16 hours of active web browsing. That’s a strong entry, if it is exactly 16 hours, it’ll surpass the MacBook Air 13-inch M4 by 30 minutes.

Surface Laptops usually rock a high-res display, but to maintain its low price point, Microsoft opted for a 13-inch, 1920 x 1280, 3:2 touchscreen display at 400 nits of brightness (that’s good). I wasn’t a big fan of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7’s display because of its poor color and weird ghosting issues. But I am hoping the new Surface can get past all of that (specifically the ghosting).

Microsoft is also boasting about how quiet and comfortable its new Surface Laptop keyboard is. That’s a relief because I didn’t like the previous generation’s, as it felt too hollow and didn’t offer enough feedback to please my fingers.

Overall, as a supposed Apple alternative, the Microsoft Surface Laptop has been disappointing over the years, with the last one being too expensive and mediocre. Nothing can really compete apart from the Surface Laptop Studio series, and that’s just an overpriced nightmare.

I want to see quality displays, comfortable keyboards, and incredible performance. Unfortunately, we’re out on the last one, since the Surface Laptop 13-inch is going with the low-tier Snapdragon X processor. The choice aligns with the price, but again, we could’ve gotten more out of Intel or AMD, especially concerning graphics.

Despite my concerns over this new Surface Laptop 13-inch, I am impressed by its low price, and if it can make a show for the best laptops under $1,000, we might just let them into the cool kids’ club.

You can pre-order the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch today at Microsoft, Best Buy, and more. It’ll also be available through Microsoft’s Business Copilot+ PC family, which would provide you with Windows 11 Pro, anti-reflective displays, and security and management features. The business version will ship on July 22.

Stay tuned for our full review and benchmarks of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 13-inch as well as the simultaneously announced Surface Pro 12-inch.

Rami Tabari is the Reviews Editor for Laptop Mag. He reviews every shape and form of a laptop as well as all sorts of cool tech. You can find him sitting at his desk surrounded by a hoarder's dream of laptops, and when he navigates his way out to civilization, you can catch him watching really bad anime or playing some kind of painfully difficult game. He’s the best at every game and he just doesn’t lose. That’s why you’ll occasionally catch his byline attached to the latest Souls-like challenge.