58 PCWorld FEBRUARY 2019REVIEWS MICROSOFT SURFACE LAPTOP 2
Microsoft Surface Laptop 2
PROS- Aside from processor, hardware is virtually
unchanged from first generation. - Processor bump provides some performance
improvement.
CONS - Aside from processor, hardware is virtually
unchanged from first generation. - Lack of USB-C ports might become a problem over
time.
BOTTOM LINE
Microsoft’s moderately priced Surface Laptop 2
offers excellent battery life, but moderate
performance and outdated I/O may prove a bit
limiting over the long haul.
$999
BOTTOM LINE
Microsoft designed the
original Surface Laptop for
a student on the go: an
affordable, pleasing
notebook with moderate
performance but killer
battery life. Microsoft
hewed to the same goal
with the Surface Laptop 2.
In the intervening
months, however, several
other notebooks caught
up: the Dell New XPS 13
(go.pcworld.com/dl17), for
example, or the HP Spectre
x360 13t (late 2017) (go.
pcworld.com/360t) offer
even better battery life than
the Surface Laptop 2, and
the XPS far outclasses it in terms of
performance. While most peripherals will take
advantage of the USB Type-A port on the
Surface Laptop 2 now, the USB-C devices of
the future will be frustrated. By contrast, Dell’s
XPS 13 has wholly embraced USB-C.
Microsoft contented itself with merely
tweaking the Surface Laptop to create the
Surface Laptop 2, and that’s fine. It still
remains one of the better notebooks of 2018,
and you’ll be as happy buying it as I was using
it. But if you want one of the very best
notebooks (go.pcworld.com/lpbs), you
should look elsewhere.The Surface Laptop’s battery life is outstanding—over 10 hours. But
many more laptops have now joined this category, too.Lenovo ThinkPad L480
(Core i5-8250U)
Acer Spin 5 SP513-52N
-85LZ (Core i7-8550U
M(Core i5-8250U)icrosoft Surface Pro 6
Sam(Core i7-8550U)sung Notebook 9 Pen
MLaptop 2 icrosoft Surface(Core i5-8250U)
Asus ZenBook 13 UX331UA (Core i5-8250U)
Microsoft Surface Laptop
(1st Gen) (Core i5-7200U
Dell New XPS 13 9370
(Core i5-8250U)
HP Spectre x360 13t
(Core i7-8550U)Battery life
(Minutes)LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE493633588654571650599758
769