Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13.5" Touch Review

Looking at the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 with the AMD Ryzen 5 4680U, you're getting a classic ultraportable that nails the basics. It's a 13.5-inch touchscreen laptop with a sharp 2256x1504 display, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD. For around $229, it's a solid entry point into the premium-feel Surface lineup. People often ask if this is a good laptop for students or casual use, and the answer is yes, especially if you value that sleek design and excellent touchscreen. Just know you're making some big trade-offs on storage and memory to hit that price.

Performance is a mixed bag, but it leans positive for everyday tasks. That AMD Ryzen 5 4680U is a capable 6-core chip, landing in the 65th percentile for CPU power. For web browsing, office apps, and streaming, it's perfectly smooth. The integrated AMD graphics are surprisingly decent for this class, hitting the 98th percentile. Don't get it twisted, though—that 'gaming' score of 10.2/100 is accurate. You can play very light indie games or older titles, but that's it. The real bottlenecks are the 8GB of RAM (10th percentile) and tiny 128GB SSD (9th percentile). You'll feel those limits if you try to multitask heavily or install more than a couple of big programs.

At $229, the value proposition is simple: you're paying for the Surface experience on a tight budget. You get that iconic aluminum chassis, the fantastic PixelSense display, and Windows Hello login. The catch is you're accepting specs that feel dated—8GB/128GB is what you'd find in budget laptops half this price from other brands. If the Surface look and feel are non-negotiable for you, this is a steal. If raw specs for the dollar matter more, there are better-equipped machines at this price, they just won't have the same premium polish.

This sits in a weird spot compared to its peers. The Apple MacBook Pro (any model) and ASUS Zenbook Duo are in a different league on performance and price, so they're not direct rivals. A closer competitor is a refurbished business laptop like a Lenovo ThinkPad, which might offer more ports, upgradeable RAM, and a bigger SSD for similar money, but with a less sleek design. Compared to a new budget laptop from Acer or HP at $400, this Surface wins on build quality and screen but loses badly on usable storage and memory. It's really for someone who wants the Surface aesthetic above all else at a rock-bottom cost.

So, should you buy it? If you need a beautiful, ultra-portable laptop for very basic tasks—web, email, documents, streaming—and you're obsessed with the Surface design, this is a crazy good deal at $229. It's a fantastic secondary machine or a student laptop where cloud storage is your friend. But for most people, the 8GB RAM and 128GB storage are deal-breakers for a primary computer in 2024. You'll feel constrained quickly. My advice: buy this if you understand and accept the spec limitations for the sake of the brand and design. If you need a laptop to actually do more stuff, keep looking.