Microsoft has launched the new Surface Laptop 13” at a price that’s $100 cheaper than the Surface Laptop 7, now called Surface Laptop 13.8-inch. But what are you missing out on to save that $100, and is it worth it? Let’s find out.
Display
Let’s start with the most obvious difference, the smaller display. The Surface Laptop 13” unsurprisingly has a 13-inch size, 6% smaller than the 13.8” model. The 13” display’s resolution and pixel density are both lower, at 178 PPI vs. 201 PPI for the 13.8” model. The 13” display is listed at 400 nits of brightness while Microsoft doesn’t say what the 13.8” display’s brightness is, but does list it as HDR. If its comparable to the Surface Pro 11, then it would be at 600 nits.
There’s some other features missing including the Vivid color profile, auto color management, Dolby Vision IQ, and the “strengthened glass display” is probably not as tough as Corning Gorilla Glass 5. However, the final important difference is that the 13” display’s refresh rate is only 60 Hz, while the 13.8” is 120 Hz.
Chips
Heading to the heart of the machines, the Surface Laptop 13” has an 8-core Snapdragon X Plus chip, which is 20% fewer cores than the 13.8” model’s X Plus. That means multi-core performance could be up to 20% less as well.
Memory and Storage
Both the 13” and 13.8” models come with 16GB of memory by default, though the 13” can’t go any higher while the 13.8” can be upgraded all the way up to 64 GB.
For storage, they also both come with 256GB by default, and the 13” can go up to 512GB for only $100 more, while the 13.8” can go up to 1TB, but at a cost of $200 more per upgrade level. The 13.8” model’s storage is also faster as it uses nVME rather than UFS on the 13”, but exact speed differences would require some benchmarks.
Camera and Authentication
The front webcam on the Surface Laptop 13” seems to be missing support for Teleprompter and portrait blur features, unless it was just an omission.
The 13” model also doesn’t have Windows Hello face authentication, providing a fingerprint power button instead.
Audio
There doesn’t seem to be much difference in the audio department, although the dual studio mics on the Surface Laptop 13” boasts “enhanced” voice focus vs. the regular voice focus on the 13.8”, whatever that means.
Ports
When it comes to ports, the Surface Laptop 13” has 2 USB-C ports at 10 Gbps speeds, aka USB 3.2, while the 13.8” model’s 2 USB-C ports areUSB 4 or 40 Gbps.
Both models also come with 1 USB-A port, but the 13” has it at USB 3.1 or 5 Gbps speed, while the 13.8” has it at USB 3.2 or 10 Gbps speed.
The biggest difference is that the 13” model no longer has the Surface connect charging port, which means you’ll need to use up one of the USB ports for charging.
Battery Life and Charging
Speaking of charging, the Surface Laptop 13” includes a USB-C charging cable and a 45 watt USB-C wall charger, which is actually higher than the 13.8” model’s 39 watt power supply.
Both models support fast charging, though the 13” achieves this at 60 watts while the 13.8” does so at 65 watts.
The reason for this could be that the Surface Laptop 13” has a battery size of 50 watt-hours, while the 13.8” has a 54 watt-hour battery. That means the battery is 7% smaller on the 13” than the 13.8”, but claimed batter life is actually 3 hours, or up to 23% more) on the 13”. That’s likely due to the smaller display, among other things.
Size and Weight
When it comes to size, the Surface Laptop 13”s length is 5% smaller, width is 3% smaller, while the height or thickness is 12% thinner. As a result, the weight is also 9% less at only 2.7 lbs vs 2.96 lbs.
Pricing and Value
The cost of the Surface Laptop 13” starts at $900, while the Surface Laptop 13.8” starts at $1000, but Microsoft doesn’t seem to be selling that model anymore on its store, instead offering the $1200 version with storage upgraded to 512GB as the lowest cost one.
This might be to differentiate it even more from the 13”, but I’ll still compare the 256GB storage price for the value comparison.
These are the prices before sales, which seem to happen regularly now, especially for the Snapdragon Surface models.
So if you pay the extra $100 for the Surface Laptop 13.8” over the 13”, you get:
- 25% more CPU cores
- 6% larger display with 13% higher pixel density, possibly 50% more nits of max brightness with HDR, and 120 Hz refresh rate instead of 60
- Faster nVME vs UFS storage
- Webcam supports Face authentication instead of a fingerprint power button
- Faster 40 Gbps USB 4 ports instead of 10 Gbps USB 3.2, plus a dedicated Surface connect charging port
- 8% larger battery but 3 hours less battery life
- 39 watt power supply instead of 45 watt USB-C charger
- And a 10% heavier device
So what do you think? Personally, I think the 120Hz display, dedicated charging port, and faster USB 4 ports would push me toward the larger Surface Laptop 13.8”.
But as always with these Snapdragon Surface devices, always wait for the frequent sales and be sure you’re ok dealing with any software compatibility issues before you buy.
