MAY 2021 • TECH ADVISOR 511th-genTigerLakeprocessorsand
AMD’sRyzenprocessors– though
whetherthey’llbea ‘SurfaceEdition’
chipbasedontheRyzen 5000 Mobile
chipsthatbeganappearingtoday,the
sitecan’tsay.Priceswillremainthe
same:£909 for the 13.5in model and
£1,199 for the 15in version. They’re
expected to ship in April.
While the site reveals a few new
tweaks – Ryzen chips should appear in
both the 13.5in and 15in models, for
instance – those are essentially the only
adjustments Microsoft is making to the
Surface Laptop 4.
While perhaps disappointing to
Surface fans, keep in mind that Microsoft
recently released the Surface Pro 7+,
which has usually been a model for the
Laptop itself. That tablet includes Intel’s
Tiger Lake processor, alongside LTE
options and a removable SSD. The latter
feature doesn’t appear to be included
on the Surface Laptop 4. The Surface Pro
7+ was designed as a business machine,
where the SSD could be upgraded both
as a value-added feature and as a way to
deploy and manage new hardware.
Probably the most exciting feature,
though, is that Microsoft still plans to
manufacture versions based on both
the Ryzen and Core chips. User choice
is always good, and it also gives nerdy
reviewers a chance to compare two
competing CPUs in an otherwise largely
identical machine.
We don’t know whether Microsoft left
the Surface Laptop unchanged because
it’s already perfect, or because the
company didn’t want to devote resources
toward broader updates. In any case,
we look forward to seeing what the new
versions bring.