The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024), also known as the Microsoft Surface Laptop Copilot+ PC, is a 15-inch Windows ultraportable laptop. This model replaces the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 (2022) since the Surface Laptop 6 is only available to business customers, and it's the first Surface Laptop to sport an ARM SoC, the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite. RAM and storage max out at 64GB and TB, respectively. It has a 2496 x 1664 IPS display, a 1080p webcam, an IR facial recognition camera, and Wi-Fi 7 wireless connectivity. Ports include one USB-A, two USB-Cs, a MicroSD card reader, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Surface Connect charging port.
See our unit's specifications and the available configuration options in the Differences Between Variants section.
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Our Verdict
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is great for general productivity. It feels remarkably well-built and is very compact for a 15-inch laptop, and its battery lasts around 17 hours of light use, making it an amazing choice if you travel often. You get a sharp, bright display that's big enough for split-screen multitasking, a comfortable keyboard, a large, easy-to-use haptic touchpad, and an excellent 1080p webcam. Like previous Surface devices, you also get a facial recognition camera for quick logins, which is great if you want to avoid typing in your password in public areas. Its Snapdragon SoC can easily handle general productivity tasks like text processing, spreadsheets, presentations, and video playback. However, since it's an ARM processor, you need to ensure that the apps you use have a native ARM version or run well enough through emulation.
- Sturdy build, compact design.
- Battery lasts around 16 to 17 hours of light use or video playback.
- Sharp, bright display.
- Comfortable keyboard, easy to use haptic touchpad.
- Excellent 1080p webcam.
Display doesn't handle bright reflections well.
- Some apps might not work or perform poorly through emulation.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is excellent for media consumption. It's very portable for a 15-inch laptop, thanks to its compact design, and its battery life is amazing, lasting around 16 hours of video playback. Its sharp, well-calibrated display gets bright enough to combat glare; however, it doesn't handle reflections all that well, and its taller 3:2 aspect ratio means you'll have black bars at the top and bottom in most content. Also, since it's an IPS panel with a relatively low contrast ratio, blacks will look gray in dim settings. The speakers get very loud with minimal compression, and while they sound clear and natural, they have very little bass.
- Sturdy build, compact design.
- Battery lasts around 16 to 17 hours of light use or video playback.
- Sharp, bright display.
- Speakers get very loud with minimal compression.
- Speakers lack bass.
- Blacks look gray in dim settings.
Display doesn't handle bright reflections well.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 isn't designed for gaming. While the CPU portion of its Snapdragon SoC is quite capable, its weak integrated GPU can't handle graphically demanding AAA games. Also, most games don't run natively on an ARM processor, so performance will vary significantly from one game to another, or they won't run at all. As for the display, it has a 120Hz refresh rate, which improves motion smoothness and input responsiveness, but its slow response time causes visible ghosting, and it doesn't support VRR to reduce screen tearing.
- 120Hz display.
- Quiet fans under load.
- User-replaceable SSD.
- Integrated GPU can't handle demanding games.
- Performance varies since most games don't run natively on ARM.
- Display's slow response time causes visible ghosting.
- No VRR support.
While the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 isn't designed for use as a workstation, it can handle some CPU-intensive tasks, as its Snapdragon SoC is quite capable. However, its weak integrated GPU isn't suitable for graphically demanding workloads like 3D graphics, and it's only available with up to 64GB of RAM, which might not be enough for highly complex tasks. Also, most programs lack native support for Windows on ARM, so you'll have to ensure that the apps you use can run well enough through emulation to get your work done. The display is well-suited for color work, as it has full DCI-P3 coverage and excellent factory calibration. The keyboard deck gets a bit toasty under load, but thankfully, the fan is quiet.
- Snapdragon SoC can handle some CPU-intensive tasks.
- Display is suitable for color-critical work.
- Quiet fans under load.
- User-replaceable SSD.
- Integrated GPU can't handle demanding workloads.
- Some apps might not work or perform poorly through emulation.
- Soldered RAM.
Changelog
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Updated Nov 27, 2025:
Added mention of the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 2025) as an alternative with better performance in the GPU section.
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Updated Oct 30, 2025:
We've updated text throughout the review after converting to Test Bench 0.9.
- Updated Oct 30, 2025: We've updated the review to Test Bench 0.9, which adds several test boxes in the performance section, including CPU/RAM Performance, Low Tier Graphics, High Tier Graphics, Professional 3D (GPU accelerated), CPU-Intensive Game Performance, GPU-Intensive Game Performance, and Ray Tracing Performance. See the 0.9 changelog here.
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Updated Jun 09, 2025:
Added mention of the ASUS Zenbook A14 UX3407 (2025) as an alternative with a longer battery life in the Battery section.
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Differences Between Sizes And Variants
We tested the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite SoC, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage. Only the memory, storage, and color are configurable; the available options are in the table below.
| Screen |
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| SoC |
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| Memory |
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| Storage |
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| Color |
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See our unit's label here.
Popular Laptop Comparisons
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is among the best ultraportable laptops on the market. It feels remarkably well-built and provides an amazing user experience with one of the brightest displays and the longest battery life we've seen so far. It also stands out for the quality of its keyboard, touchpad, and webcam. The biggest concern is app compatibility, as most programs don't run natively on an ARM processor, so you need to ensure that the apps you use have a native ARM version or run well enough through emulation to get your work done.
See our recommendations for the best Windows laptops, the best business laptops, and the best laptops for college.
The Apple MacBook Air 15 (M4, 2025) and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024) are premium ultraportables offering class-leading user experiences. They both come with excellent haptic touchpads and bright displays. The typing experience isn't as good on the Air (it has very short key travel combined with a rigid deck that can feel harsh), while the speakers aren't quite as good on the Surface. Regarding performance, both are solid and are capable of performing some intensive tasks. App compatibility is much better on the Air; the Snapdragon SoC still faces compatibility issues on Windows, so you should ensure all your apps are compatible before buying one. However, the Surface is the better offering if you prioritize battery life. It lasts almost 18 hours on a single charge for general productivity tasks (while the Air is good for about 12).
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024) is much better than the Dell XPS 13 (2024) for most uses. The Surface Laptop provides a better user experience, as its keyboard and touchpad are easier to use, and it has a wider port selection to connect peripherals and external displays. It also performs better and has much longer battery life than the XPS 13. However, the Surface Laptop runs on an ARM processor, so you must ensure that the apps you use are compatible. Otherwise, it's best to go with the XPS 13.
The Apple MacBook Air 13 (M4, 2025) and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024) are both premium ultraportables designed for general productivity. The choice comes down to what you care about most. The Surface Laptop has a brighter 120Hz display, a wider port selection, and longer battery life, while the MacBook Air has a larger touchpad and better-sounding speakers. If you're considering the Surface Laptop, know that it uses an ARM-based SoC, meaning some programs might not work or run poorly through emulation. Apple transitioned to its in-house SoC sooner, so app compatibility is typically better on the MacBook Air.
The Lenovo ThinkPad X9 15 Aura Edition (2025) and the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7th Edition 15 (2024) are both premium Windows ultraportables that deliver a similar user experience overall. The main difference between these two models is that the ThinkPad uses an x86 Intel SoC, while the Surface Laptop uses an AMR-based Qualcomm Snapdragon SoC. This likely won't affect you if you only perform light productivity tasks, but if you use any third-party program, it's best to check for compatibility first, as many apps don't run on the Surface's Arm-based chip or will perform poorly via emulation. Another significant difference is the display type; the ThinkPad's OLED panel is visually more pleasing because it can produce deeper blacks, but unlike the Surface's IPS panel, it's susceptible to permanent burn-in, and its 480Hz flicker can bother some people, causing eye strain.
Test Results
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is available in a Platinum or Black color. See the bottom of the laptop here.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7's build quality is outstanding. Its all-aluminum chassis feels rigid, exhibiting little to no flex on the lid and keyboard deck. The display doesn't twist when manipulating it, either. The finish picks up small scratches from everyday use, as well as a fair amount of fingerprints and smudges, though this is likely less of a problem on the Platinum model. Although there's no glue holding the feet, they stay on with no issue.
The hinge is outstanding. It feels smooth when opening and closing the lid, and it's very stable. It has just the perfect amount of resistance, which lets you effortlessly make small adjustments and open the lid with one hand. The screen only wobbles a little bit when typing heavily.
Accessing the internals is easy; you only need to remove the feet and the torque screws beneath them to take off the magnetically-held bottom panel. The feet aren't glued on—you just need to use your nails or something small enough to get them off. The storage slot supports M.2 2230 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7's display looks very sharp and provides enough room for split-screen multitasking. The 3:2 aspect ratio is great for productivity; it's taller than the standard 16:9 and the more popular 16:10 aspect ratios, so you can see more information at once when reading a document or website. The downside is that you'll almost always have black bars at the top and bottom when viewing videos.
Although the display has a 120Hz refresh rate, its response time is slow, resulting in visible ghosting behind fast-moving objects. Dynamic Refresh Rate is a feature that allows the screen to change the refresh rate depending on your usage, so it’ll ramp up the refresh rate to 120Hz when you’re actively navigating the desktop, improving motion smoothness and input responsiveness, and lower it to 60Hz when the content is static to prolong battery life. Dynamic Refresh Rate isn't the same as FreeSync or G-SYNC, so you'll likely see some tearing when playing games with an uncapped frame rate.
The display's contrast ratio is good and within the typical range of most IPS panels; however, it's still low compared to other display technologies like VA and OLED. This contrast level makes blacks look gray in dim settings. If you want a laptop with an OLED display, check out the HP OmniBook Ultra Flip 14 (2024).
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7's display brightness is outstanding. It gets bright enough to combat glare in most settings, even outdoors in broad daylight. That said, you might still have some visibility issues because its glossy finish doesn't handle bright reflections all that well.
The display's reflection handling is mediocre. Its glossy finish struggles with bright light sources, like a lamp or open window during the day. These reflections are visible even with the screen at maximum brightness.
The display's out-of-the-box accuracy is excellent. Other than the white balance being slightly off at higher brightness levels (too much red), the remaining inaccuracies are extremely minor and hard to spot with the naked eye. This accuracy level is good enough for color-critical work like photo and video editing. The posted results show the display's calibration with no color profile selected. Here are the measurements in the sRGB and Vivid color profiles:
sRGB:
- Avg White Balance dE: 2.84
- Avg Gamma: 2.15
- Avg Color dE: 1.57
- Avg Color Temp: 6410
Vivid:
- Avg White Balance dE: 2.85
- Avg Gamma: 2.15
- Avg Color dE: 1.58
- Avg Color Temp: 6425
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7's display has an excellent color gamut and is suitable for color-critical work like content creation. The system limits the color space to sRGB when there isn't a color profile specified in the settings. You must set the profile to 'Vivid' if you want to work in the wider DCI-P3 or Adobe RGB color spaces. Here are the 'Vivid' color profile's measurements:
- sRGB xy: 99.98%
- sRGB uv: 99.91%
- Adobe RGB xy: 86.51%
- Adobe RGB uv: 92.79%
- DCI-P3 xy: 97.96%
- DCI-P3 uv: 98.86%
- Rec. 2020 xy: 70.95%
- Rec. 2020 uv: 73.22%
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has an excellent keyboard. Its layout feels spacious and is easy to get used to, though the function row keys could be a tad bigger, which will make them easier to hit. Except for a few, most keys are very stable. They have a good amount of travel, require little force to actuate, and provide clear tactile feedback. The backlight is white, and there are three brightness levels, which you can toggle through using the F5 shortcut.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has an excellent touchpad. While it could be bigger, it's large enough to use comfortably. Tracking is outstanding throughout, and palm rejection works as intended. This is a haptic touchpad, meaning it uses a haptic engine to simulate the clicks instead of physical buttons, so you can click anywhere on the touchpad. The haptic engine simulates the clicks well, providing clear tactile feedback.
The speakers get very loud with minimal compression at high volume levels. They sound clear and relatively natural, but with very little bass. There are no speaker grills; the sound comes through the keyboard.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has an excellent webcam. The image looks sharp, detailed, and well-exposed, with true-to-life colors and tint. Some smaller elements look a little blurry, and there's a tiny amount of noise in darker areas, but these issues aren't bad enough to affect the overall image quality. Voices sound loud and clear over the microphone with no noticeable background noise.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 has an okay port selection. The USB-A port supports USB 3.2 Gen 1 data transfer speed of up to 5Gbps. Both USB-Cs support USB4 (up to 40Gbps data transfer speed), charging, and DisplayPort 1.4a. This laptop supports fast charging via USB-C as long as the charger has an output of 65W or above. The Surface Connect port is a proprietary port similar to Apple's MagSafe, meaning the connector attaches magnetically. This makes the connector easy to remove, preventing the device from getting pulled off a table should you trip on the cable. Unlike previous Surface Laptops, this model isn't compatible with Microsoft's Surface Dock 2 (sold separately), which uses the Surface Connect port for data transfer and video output. However, it's compatible with the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock, also sold separately. Check out the Lenovo Yoga Slim 7i Aura Edition 15 (2024) if you need a similar laptop with an HDMI port or Thunderbolt 4 support.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2024's wireless adapter is a Qualcomm FastConnect 7800. Like Wi-Fi 6E, Wi-Fi 7 gives you access to the 6GHz band but with even faster speeds and lower latency. However, you need a router that supports Wi-Fi 7 to benefit from these features.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is only available with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite (X1E-80-100) SoC, a low-power ARM-based SoC designed for ultraportable laptops. It can handle general productivity tasks like text processing, web browsing, spreadsheets, and video playback, as well as some moderately intensive workloads like programming, photo editing, and light video editing. That said, don't expect to get the raw processing power of a workstation or gaming laptop with a more power-hungry CPU and robust cooling system. One of the key features of this SoC is the NPU (Neural Processing Unit), which helps speed up A.I.-based tasks like Microsoft's Copilot and image generation in photo editing apps. Unfortunately, the number of apps that can actually make use of the NPU is pretty small at this time, so it probably isn't worth getting this laptop just for this feature.
If you're considering this laptop, the most important thing to know is that most programs don't run natively on an ARM processor. You'll likely be fine if you mainly use Microsoft Office apps or can access everything through a web browser, but for everything else, it's best to see whether the app has a native ARM version or will run well enough through emulation to get your work done. App compatibility will likely get better over time, as many software developers are working on a native ARM version of their apps, and there'll certainly be improvements to Microsoft's Prism emulation as well. If you need a similar laptop with an x86 chip for better app compatibility, check out the Lenovo ThinkPad X9 15 Aura Edition (2025), which features Intel's Lunar Lake SoCs.
See more information about the Snapdragon X Elite chip here.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 is only available with the Adreno GPU, a low-power integrated graphics processor designed to handle light productivity tasks like web browsing and video playback. You can play some games, like older or puzzle-like titles, but you'll have to play at a lower resolution or with low graphical settings to get smooth gameplay. Also, remember that most games lack support for Windows on ARM, so even if they work through Microsoft's Prism emulation, the performance will vary wildly from one game to another.
Check out the Apple MacBook Pro 14 (M5, 2025) if you need a similar laptop with more processing power to handle demanding workloads like video editing.
You can configure this laptop with 16GB, 32GB, or 64GB of soldered RAM. The 64GB option is only available on the Black model with 1TB of storage.
You can configure this laptop with 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of storage, though the 256GB option is only available on the Platinum model. The storage is user-replaceable; the slot supports M.2 2230 PCIe Gen 4 NVMe SSDs.
Note that Windows on ARM doesn't support DirectX 9.
Civilization VII is unable to run with either DirectX 12 or Vulkan. This is due to this laptop being an ARM-based Windows machine, and it seems to be a known issue online. If you have a Windows on ARM laptop and are able to get Civ VII to work, let us know in the comments.
Check out the ASUS Zenbook A14 UX3407 (2025) if you want a similar ultraportable with an even longer battery life.
See the thermal image of the bottom. If you want a fanless laptop that makes no noise, check out the Apple MacBook Air 13 (M4, 2025).
We can't test the performance over time because the software we use to perform the test isn't compatible with Windows on ARM. That said, there's likely some thermal throttling, which is typical for most thin and light laptops.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2024 doesn't have any pre-installed software applications other than those that typically come with Windows 11. As mentioned in the CPU section, this is an ARM-based device, meaning some apps might not work or run properly. It's best to check whether the apps you use have a native ARM version or can run well enough through Microsoft's Prism emulation to get your work done.
The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2024 has a Windows Hello IR facial recognition camera. You can use it to log in quickly, authorize purchases in the Windows Store, and auto-fill saved passwords on supported websites.