Surface Laptop 5: The Sleek and Lightweight Notebook You Need

If you want to find a thin and light notebook comparable to MacBook in Windows PC, the first consideration is Microsoft Surface Laptop. Today we received the Surface Laptop 5 sent by Microsoft for testing, a product that can be called the benchmark for thin and light Windows in terms of workmanship and appearance.

If only from the appearance point of view, this generation seems to be no different from the previous generation of Surface Laptop 4, but Surface Laptop 5 is not just a routine upgrade, it has been comprehensively upgraded in terms of processor, screen, and interface. Details are as follows:

1. i7-1265U processor

The previous generation Surface Laptop 4 was equipped with up to i7-1185G7 processor, only four cores and eight threads.

Surface Laptop 5 uses the 12th generation Core i7-1265U processor of Intel 7 process technology, which provides 2 performance cores (P-Core) and 8 energy efficiency cores (E-Core), with a total of 12 threads.

The two cores with different specifications and architectures have a clear division of labor and complement each other when processing tasks.

The P-Core with an acceleration frequency of up to 4.8GHz has strong single-core performance, which can improve the response speed of the notebook, while the 8 E-Cores can maximize the performance of multitasking and greatly reduce energy consumption, making Surface Laptop 5 It can meet the needs of all-day use.

2. Added fairy tea green color scheme

Previously, Surface Laptop Go 2 exclusively used this color scheme, and Surface Laptop 5 certainly cannot lag behind this time.

The brand-new fairy tea green color scheme is matched with a frosted metal shell. The fresh green has a little gray tone, which is cool and healing.

3. Thunderbolt 4 interface

Compared with the previous generation, although the number of interfaces of Surface Laptop 5 has not changed, the Type-C port has been upgraded from USB 3.2 Gen2 to Thunderbolt 4, with a peak bandwidth of up to 40Gbps, which can meet the high-speed read and write requirements of mobile solid-state drives up to 3500MB/s. PD charging and the need for external graphics cards and monitors,

In addition to the above upgrades, a good screen is also standard for the Surface Laptop series.

The Surface Laptop 5 is equipped with a 13.5-inch PixelSense display with a resolution of 2256×1504, a brightness of 350nit, a static contrast ratio of 1200:1, and supports 10-point touch.

This means that it has more delicate images, more content text, and more convenient manipulation and drawing during daily office work, and there is no need to worry about grease and reflections reducing the look and feel of this screen. In terms of size, Surface Laptop 5 is 14.5mm thick and weighs 1297g.

Neither figure is the thinnest or lightest, but the Surface Laptop 5 has a 10-point touchscreen display. Considering this factor, it is difficult to find a lighter and thinner 13.5-inch notebook.

Design & Screen

The one we received uses a fairy tea green color, the body size is 308*223*14.5mm, and the net weight is only 1.29kg. A continues Microsoft’s simple design style. The shell is made of aluminum alloy and has been treated with frosting. The classic window LOGO is polished, which is very eye-catching.

Surface Laptop 5 can support one-handed opening and closing, with a maximum opening and closing angle of 135 degrees. 13.5-inch PixelSense display, screen ratio 3:2, resolution 2256×1504, PPI 201, brightness 350nit, static contrast ratio 1200:1, supports Dolby Vision IQ, has 100% sRGB color gamut, and also supports 10-point touch.

There is a 720P high-definition camera on the top of the screen, which supports Windows Hello login and Instant On instant start function, which can complete the unlocking and enter the desktop operation while clicking the power button.

The Surface Laptop 5’s keyboard is available in metal and Alcantara, the metal version we received. Surface Laptop 5 uses a precision touchpad made of glass that supports 5-point touch gestures. With the iteration of the Windows 11 22H2 version, the gesture operation function is more powerful than ever.

There is a Thunderbolt 4 (40Gbps), 1xUSB 3.2 Gen1, and 1×3.5mm headset all-in-one interface on the left side of the fuselage. There is only one Surface Connect charging port on the right side of the phone. The D side adopts a one-piece molding process, and the screws and hinges that are common in other notebooks are completely invisible here.

Microsoft Surface Connect charger supports 15V4A output specification, the maximum output power is 65W, and can charge 80% in one hour. Surface Connect charging interface.

Performance

1. CPU-Z

The i7-1265U has a single-thread score of 530 and a multi-thread score of 3538.

2. CINEBENCH R15

In the CineBench R15 test, the single-thread score of i7-1265U is 168cb, and the multi-thread score is 1160cb.

3. CINEBENCH R20

In the CineBench R20 test, the single-thread score of i7-1265U is 447cb, and the multi-thread score is 2906cb.

4. CINEBENCH R23

The i7-1265U has a single thread score of 1164cb and a multi-core score of 7387cb.

5. Chess

The performance multiple of i7-1265U is 41.09, 19725 thousand steps per second.

6. Hardware dog

The total score of the hardware dog dog is 167,739, which exceeds 55% of the users in the country.

7. 3DMark

In the 3DMark Fire Strike Extreme test, the graphics score of the Iris Xe GPU is 2386 points, which is comparable to the full blood MX 350.

The test data is summarized as follows:

We compared it with the Surface Laptop 4 which uses the i7-1185G7 processor and found a very strange thing, the single-core performance of the i7-1265U is still about 9% weaker, but the multi-core performance has increased by as much as 36%.

Screen and Memory Test

1. Screen Test

Surface Laptop 5 uses a 13.5-inch PixelSense display. We used Starscream x to test the color gamut and brightness contrast of the screen. 97% sRGB color gamut, 73% Adobe RGB color gamut, 72% P3 color gamut, and 67% NTSC color gamut.

The maximum brightness of this screen is 358nit, and the contrast ratio is only 310:1 at 0% brightness, and the contrast ratio can reach about 1200:1 at other brightness levels.

The average Delta-E value of this 13.5-inch screen is 1.44, which is a relatively good performance. The highest Delta-E value is 4.57 and the lowest is 0.49.

2. Disk performance test

Surface Laptop 5 uses a 512GB SSD from SK Hynix, model HFM512GD3GX013N. In the AS SSD Benchmark, the total score of this SSD is 2867, the sequential read and write exceeds 2808MB/s, 1598MB/s, the 4K random read is 46MB/s, and the random write is 146MB/s. In the CrystalDiskMark test, the sequential read and write speeds reached 3547MB/s and 2287MB/s respectively.

3. Memory test

This notebook has built-in dual-channel LPDDR5 5200MHz 16GB memory from the factory. The read, write, and copy bandwidths of the measured memory are 60420MB/s, 63086MB/s, and 67755MB/s respectively, and the delay is 126.8ns.

Battery

1. Endurance test

Microsoft officially claims that the battery life of Surface Laptop 5 is 18 hours. Let’s use PCMark 10 to actually test the battery life of the office.

During the test, select the energy-saving power management mode, close all other processes, and adjust the screen brightness to 50%.

In the PCMark 10 modern office scene, the endurance test score is 12 hours and 37 minutes. For ordinary users, a full charge can meet the mobile office needs of 1 to 2 days.

2. Toaster test

From the AIDA64 FPU baking machine curve, we can see that the temperature of the processor is wavy, and the power consumption of the baking machine is also cycled between 12~20W, but the highest temperature does not exceed 74 degrees. For example, under the power consumption of the 19W baking machine, The temperature is only 64 degrees. In addition, we did not hear any fan noise during the entire roasting process.

Verdict

Some people may question whether the price of Surface Laptop 5, which is as high as 12,599 yuan, is really worth it. Then you only need to understand that the following are 3 points.

1. This is an absolutely silent notebook. No matter whether you are surfing the Internet for entertainment, text office or letting the processor run at full load for a long time, you will not hear even a little bit of noise.

2. This is a notebook that has passed the strict certification of Intel Evo. Passing this certification means that workmanship and performance are guaranteed.

3. Exquisite workmanship, you can’t see even a screw in the whole fuselage.

After upgrading to the 12th-generation Core i7-1265U processor, the multi-core performance of Surface Laptop 5 has increased by 36% compared with the previous generation. The measured hardware dog running score is 167,000, surpassing 55% of the notebook computers in the country.

In terms of battery life, Surface Laptop 5 is equipped with a 45Wh lithium polymer battery as standard, and the official data is that it can last up to 18 hours in regular use.

We used PCMark 10 to test the office battery life. When it is fully charged, the battery life is close to 13 hours. It should be able to last for 1 to 2 days when it is not plugged in.

With its unique fairy tea green color scheme, the extremely thin and light body shape, coupled Microsoft’s simple and elegant design style, in terms of appearance, the field of 13.5-inch thin and light, Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 is the only one.

We tested the i7 high-end version. For students with limited budgets, if you want to enjoy the exquisite workmanship of Surface Laptop 5 at a relatively low price, you can consider the i5 low-end version. The starting price is only 7888 yuan.

Read Also: 2302.39 Driver Update Released, the Original Surface Duo Runs Windows 11 More Stable