FEBRUARY 2019 PCWorld 53comfortable to type upon for
long periods.
While Microsoft sheathes
only the inside of its Laptops
with its Alcantara fabric, the
slightly fuzzy cloth provides a
hint of give and a bit of warmth
to your palms as they rest
upon the typing surface. The
fabric hasn’t become stained
from prolonged contact with
my hands or liquids, either.
Microsoft doesn’t seem to have altered its
trackpad. It’s still the spacious, smooth
surface Microsoft provides for its other
Surface devices, excepting the Surface Go.
The Surface Laptop’s speakers,
embedded underneath the keyboard, deliver
a surprising amount of volume. As with other
laptops and tablets, however, the sounds
those speakers produce is flat, without a great
deal of bass or treble. You won’t find many
options within the standard
volume control panel; instead,
Microsoft has migrated the
audio controls to the separate
Realtek Audio Console, which
governs the Realtek audio chip
inside. Here you’ll find the
ability to toggle the Dolby
Audio enhancements off and
on, which doesn’t do a great
deal for the speakers but adds
depth to music played back vialoadout of Surface ports: USB 3.0 Type-A,
miniDisplayPort and the mic/headphone
jack on the left, and the Surface connector
on the right.
Microsoft’s Surface devices have
traditionally shipped with one of the better
keyboards in the industry, and the Surface
Laptop 2 continues that tradition. It provides
slightly smaller keys than the Surface Book 2,
but with adequate landing area and a
pleasing springiness that makes them
Microsoft’s underutilized Surface connector supplies power to the
Surface Laptop 2, shown here at full recline.
Where’s the USB-C port? Still in Microsoft’s labs, apparently.