0. My Experience

I have previously used a MacBook Pro (14”, M5 Pro 64GB) and a Dell Pro Max 16 Premium (265H/Pro3000/64GB) as workstations. The Surface devices I have recently used include the Surface Laptop 7 5G, Surface Pro 11 (both Intel and Snapdragon models), and the Surface Pro 12”.

1. Overall Assessment

Despite its very high price—in Korea, the 128GB Business model costs around $7,500 including tax—the Surface Laptop Ultra is a laptop I have been very satisfied with. There are a few issues, but it works exceptionally well for my use case. The build quality is also top-notch.

2. Display

The display is quite good, but not perfect. First, it has the “true black” issue that many media outlets have pointed out. It also has the vignetting problem typical of MiniLED displays—the edges appear bluish or purplish, and the brightness there is relatively lower. Despite these issues, the display itself is excellent.

The Business version I purchased has an anti-reflective treatment (not anti-glare or matte coating) and features an extremely bright display with 1,000 nits in SDR and 2,000 nits in HDR. It is not merely bright; its color calibration is also excellent. For SDR, there are sRGB, Enhanced, and Vivid color profiles. Among them, Enhanced appears to be the most accurate color profile (it is probably a P3-based color profile). In HDR, there is only a single HDR color profile, and apart from the gamma being slightly off, it is excellent.

The contrast ratio is around 2000:1, which is a good figure for an IPS LCD display. Overall, the Surface Laptop Ultra’s display is not much different from an IPS LCD. However, it is extremely bright and has excellent colors. That said, considering that Apple’s MacBook Pro offers excellent color calibration, provides a great many color profiles, comes with anti-reflective coating by default, and even offers a nano-texture coating option, the Surface Laptop Ultra’s display still feels somewhat lacking. Personally, I was extremely satisfied with the nano-texture coating on my previous MacBook Pro. Moreover, the MacBook Pro now offers an excellent tandem OLED panel!

Note: I discovered something interesting. Looking at Notebookcheck reviews, OLED laptops running Windows on Arm do not have a black level of 0 (meaning they cannot display true black). This makes me suspect that this may be an issue with Windows on Arm as a whole.

3. Keyboard, Trackpad, and Speakers

The keyboard is truly excellent. I have always been satisfied with Surface keyboards—even on the smallest 12-inch model. The Laptop Ultra’s keyboard is also excellent. The key travel, stroke, and springiness are all satisfying. Compared with the shallow and mediocre keyboard on the MacBook Pro, it is truly satisfying.

The trackpad feels exactly like the haptic trackpads on previous Surface devices. I have used Surface haptic trackpads on the Flex Keyboard and the Laptop 7 5G, and the Laptop Ultra’s trackpad carries over that experience, but its much larger size makes it more convenient to use. For reference, previous Surface Laptops had a problem in that even the 15-inch model had a trackpad similar in size to that of the 13.8-inch model, which felt odd. The Laptop Ultra does not have that issue. However, it feels as though its response speed is slightly slow. It could just be that I am feeling that way because I am tired these days.

There are four speakers, and all four are downward-facing. Previous Surface devices had upward-facing speakers (Laptop) or front-facing speakers (Pro), but the Laptop Ultra has no user-facing speakers, so it is somewhat disadvantaged in terms of resolution. I cannot say anything particularly good about the speakers. Personally, I think it would have been the right decision to install upward-facing speakers near the keyboard.

4. Performance

As for performance… other tech YouTubers and reviewers have already done plenty of AI performance testing, so I did not feel the need to do it myself. Personally, I think StorageReview’s review is excellent. Instead, I will just share my experience running the games I play.

https://youtu.be/VV89cqaP3F0?si=DKmSuNh7UQXddFS0

https://youtu.be/lwNZ2M7T1XM?si=HubrvmI6_U0-ZY2K

https://youtu.be/g1BfFRBm6Vw?si=qEojZyPQSnw4agnm

Due to the nature of Windows on Arm, there may be stuttering during the initial Prism cache formation process.

• Genshin Impact: Maintains a stable 60 fps at native resolution.

• Arknights: Endfield: Maintains around 80 fps at native resolution, medium settings, DLSS Performance, and 2x Frame Generation.

• Honkai: Star Rail: Maintains a stable 60 fps at native resolution, highest settings, and DLSS Performance.

• Zenless Zone Zero: Runs between 30–60 fps at native resolution and medium settings.

• Wuthering Waves: Runs between 30–50 fps at native resolution and DLSS Performance.

For reference, ZZZ and WW officially support DLSS, but ZZZ does not support the full DLSS suite on RTX Spark, and WW does not support DLSS Frame Generation. This is due to the whitelist policies of those game developers.

Game performance is around the level of an RTX 5050–5060 Laptop. Also, due to the nature of Windows on Arm, there are various issues with running games.

5. Upgradability

There are good aspects and bad aspects.

First, the good aspect is that some of the ports are modular and can be easily removed. So-called “fake” modular laptops like Framework only have modular external ports, so if an internal port (an internal USB-C port) fails, you have to throw away the motherboard. However, some “truly” modular laptops have all or some of their ports modularized, so even if a port fails, you do not need to replace the motherboard. Contrary to the common belief that they are hard to repair, the MacBook Pro is actually a pioneer of modular ports. However, the MacBook Pro has the extremely fatal and disgusting problem of its SSD being soldered on.

The Surface Laptop Ultra has some ports that are modular, but others are not. As far as I know, the magnetic USB-C port and one or two other ports are modular. And the SSD is replaceable! Unlike the Pro or regular Laptop, which only support 2230 SSDs, the Ultra supports full-size 2280 SSDs like the old Laptop Studio. Therefore, users can upgrade the SSD themselves, and if the laptop is damaged by water or something similar, they can preserve their data.

The bad part is the shield cans installed on every component. The presence of these shield cans makes repairing components inconvenient. Shield cans are difficult to recycle, and even if recycled, they get crumpled and look bad. In fact, when reapplying thermal paste, you have to remove the huge shield can mounted on the heatsink. Fortunately, Microsoft has been using PCM (phase-change material) thermal paste/pads in its laptops for some time now, so there will be no need to reapply thermal paste for the next few years.

6. Battery and Heat

The battery is a controversial aspect. First, thanks to its actual battery capacity (Typ. 92Wh, though the actual capacity is 95Wh), the battery life is around 8–9 hours. Interestingly, most laptops have at least a 1.5x difference in battery life between general web browsing and video playback, but N1X laptops, including the Surface Laptop Ultra, do not. N1X laptops generally consume more power during video playback. I think this may be due to NVIDIA’s poor iGPU scheduling. In the same workflow, the MacBook Pro M5 Pro lasted 13–15 hours, so there is no comparison. Step up your game, NVIDIA!

There is also heat. When you are web browsing or doing document work, the laptop is mostly cool and the fans do not spin. However, when you plug in the charger, you will feel heat from the keyboard. And if you stream or watch via Zoom or Discord, it gets quite uncomfortably hot. However, in most cases, the fans do not spin.

7. Inconvenience

One day, the Laptop Ultra’s fan stopped turning off. The funny thing is that the fan ran even when the laptop was completely cold, and it ran almost all the time (it stopped only very rarely). When I closed the laptop, the fan stopped, but as soon as I opened it, the fan started running immediately. I opened the laptop with the D-cover removed, and the fan started running without even a second’s hesitation. I believed this was a fan curve issue with the Laptop Ultra. So I waited, believing it would be fixed in the 200.0.9.0 update. But it was not fixed. I despaired…

Incredibly, this problem was solved very simply. One day, I barely remembered the classic solution (a reset). Just as I had done with my old Intel MacBook Pro or Dell laptop, I decided to perform an EC reset (or something similar). After searching online, I found that I was supposed to hold the F4 key and the power button for more than 30 seconds. I did that, and the laptop entered UEFI. Then, after rebooting the laptop, the fan no longer ran! Hallelujah!

Guys i was on a budget and didnt really had much options in my home country. I just bought it for light browsing and some little programming work. Its 8/128 i5 1035g1 variant. I am not sure if i made a good deal but i am kinda surprised about the build quality. Are there any things i need to look out for before i start using it. Also it was either this or macbook 2017 pro with same configurations.

This isn't so much a "review" but more of an update. I have had my 64GB RAM version of the surface laptop ultra for just about a month now. I have put it through my workload, pushed it as I would my M4 Max MacBook Pro, installed all the tools, and gone through 3 full work weeks with it.

For the first time in a very long time, I enjoy using a Windows laptop. The build quality, the trackpad is phenomenal, great speakers, and the gaming performance (for the games that I use) has been outstanding.

I think Microsoft just about nailed it with this laptop. It would be better if it was an OLED display, but outside of that, I'm really happy with it, and actually surprised it could handle the workload I put it through as well as my Mac does. The ability to upgrade the SSD is huge (the primary reason I'm even in the market for a new laptop, my Mac's storage is basically run out) which may be the reason I keep it and sell the Mac.

Anyway, if this thing didn't cost as much as it does, it would be an easy recommend. I'm really looking forward to the next iteration of the RTX-Spark, and where Microsoft takes this thing.

As far as I know the Microsoft store/experience center on 5th Ave in NYC is one of, if not the last Microsoft store. I purchased my Surface Laptop Studio 2 there years ago. It's now having some problems and I'd like to have it serviced or replaced through my MS Complete Warranty. Online everything goes through their shipping fulfillment. Does anyone know if I can just take it into the store in NYC and have them send it off or replace it in store? This was an option back when MS had more stores but not sure if that's still the case.

Not sure if anyone know where I can find one? I purchased one advertised for Surface Pro 8, but it was the Surface Pro X version. Unfortunately, not the same dimensions.

Thanks

How’s it going everyone! I’m looking to get a laptop for work. I own a used car dealership and I’m looking to get a laptop for when I’m on the go and for leisure really. I have a desktop at home and work but when I’m in the go my salespeople sometimes need help with putting deals together, overlook credit applications, inventory etc. which are mostly web based but I will be using a lot of files and downloading apps sometimes.

Is something like this optimal? Illiterate when it comes to PC/Laptops so sorry in advanced

Ciao a tutti, ragazzi , tempo fa ho acquistato un surface Pro 4 usato, inizialmente funzionava anche senza caricabatterie, però la batteria durava poco perché usurata , ne ho acquistata una nuova e l'ho sostituita seguendo tutti i passaggi , adesso come faceva con la vecchia batteria il tablet si spegne non appena stacco l'alimentatore, cosa può essere?

Hi, since the last Patch Tuesday my Surface Laptop Studio 2 Screen is flickering and i am unable to fix it. I suspect this is a graphics driver isse since the Boot Logo is with out any graphical issues. Cloud refresh is not working, booting from a USB Drive is not working. Safe Mode is not poassible after failed Cloud refresh. Any ideas?

Hey new found subreddit, after renovation i have found my old Pro7 And a "oldish" TV
The TV it self has no OS and is not smart at all, but it has one USB and 2 HDMI Ports.

I only know how to set both up via dock, but i was wondering is there a Nicer, easier, faster way to have the Surface Free from all cables near me, but stream what ever is on it on the TV it self.

My Family has used the Dock and it only gives the Image but not the sound.

So do you know a way to connect a SP7 To a non smart TV?

Every input is welcome.

Hello,

I recently received a Surface Pro 3 and I've encountered a small problem: the touch-sensitive Windows button on the right does nothing when I press it. The device vibrates, but that's all; nothing happens on the screen. I'd like to know if there's a way to make it work or at least figure out what's wrong. My Surface is running Windows 10 Pro.

Thought I'd share this with you guys.

I built an application that unlocks the haptic feedback outside of Microsofts approved applications for all of you that wanted the paper feeling everywhere. Would love feedback and suggestions on what everyone would like to see included.

https://github.com/stephenlwaldron/windows-slim-pen-haptics-unlocked

Edit: V2.0.1 is now out, it allows you to control which app you want haptics in and set your preferred intensity. The option for system wide still remains. UI is also much more polished.

So I have this Pro 7 that is BitLocked with no chance to access, and I was wondering if I can just swipe the ssd and just reinstall Linux or Windows. I'm asking because I have absolutely NO idea about how any of this works, so any help is welcome

I need some advice on a first gen Surface Book. I recently replaced the tablet battery (2nd time) and while I was reassembling, the power switch tab snapped off while aligning the top antenna block. Now it will not turn on period.

The Surface Book is the i7-6600U with the Nvidia 940M base, 16GB/512GB. I have a Surface Go 2 I use when I travel or away from my home office. Both are running Ubuntu 26.04. While the Go is good for email, web browsing and documents, it can't handle development loads like the Book can.

My wife and daughter also have Surface devices and I appreciate that we can all use the same power chargers and docking stations. So we are sorta locked into a hardware family.

There is an ifixit guide to replace the switches on the main board. And, I have repaired many devices and electronics in the past, so this would not be a stretch for me to do. But, there is no guarantee I would be able to complete this successfully.

I do have a new screen and adhesive ready to go. Buttons are about $1-$5 each. I have all the tools necessary to perform the repair. I just don't know if this Book is worth anymore of my time.

My dilemma is, do I take the time to perform the repair, or move on to a newer Surface Book 2 or 3?

My surface pro 7 is stuck on a recovery loop. I try like other ways but it’s not working and I need help.

Order placed on October 26th. Estimated delivery date by December 2nd. Maxed Ultra with 4 year protection plan.

When I first placed the order it tripped all the fraud bells and whistles at my bank. I half expected than and sorted through it and authorized the charge. A week later the pending charge falls off, re-applied, and tripped the fraud again. Called got it sorted out authorized the charge. They said this might happen every week and there is nothing they can do.

I shift gears. I pull a line of credit exclusively for this laptop. Change payment method on the existing order and it goes right through. Smooth sailing.. No fraud bells and whistles.

2 weeks later the pending falls off and ISNT reapplied. No updates on my card. No alerts. Charge isn't there.

Last night I get an email saying the payment authorization failed ...for my old payment method. What? I log in and sure as heck, it still shows the new payment method, and also my bank shows no authorization attempt for either card.

I call Microsoft support. Varify we are looking at same email and they say they have no record of an order on my account. I gave him order number and everything. I can see it in my order history pending, with the same Dec 2nd estimate. He refuses multiple times to escalate the call, tells me to call back in a couple hours with my new case number.

Call back. Same thing. To them nothing ever happened at all. To make ABSOLUTELY SURE I'm not the crazy one I did fresh login with the email with manual entry. Official site and everything. Shows my current surface in my account and everything. The order is sure enough there. Support can't see it. They can't even see my payment methods. To them none of this happened.

My bank doesn't have a charge, MS doesn't have an order But it's there for me when I go to the orders page

Last ditch effort change payment method button, back to first method. Error and no authorization attempt. Crickets.

I'm bummed out. IF I do reorder this thing, I've lost my spot. January wait time if I reorder maybe? I cancelled the order and now the cancellation is even pending.

I'm a huge surface fan. SB2 is my main kit and it's still going strong. Love this thing, always tell everyone it's bar none the best workbook I've ever owned. It pains me to say im going to be looking at other options.

Btw I know the laptop ultra is horribly overpriced but wanted to give it a whirl anyway

Edit: phone typing problems. Fixed some of them

Update. For shits and giggles I put together another order just to see how long I will be waiting if I order it again and it says....NOV 18. It looks like they've cleared the backorder which makes me think on their end the charge was in limbo, my laptop was ready, my order was removed it at least in some some capacity. I definitely fell into some kind of crack

I have a SP4, and loved it so much that it's still my everyday computer. I take real care of the equipment and all components (I still use it unplugged for a few hours or a new charge is necessary!)

But.... Eventually everything comes to an end, and it's time to retire my beloved SP4.

Decided to maintain in the SP family, just to find out that both SP12" and 13" have a snapdragon chip, while paying a premium for the brand.

My daily use is a mix of web tools (outlook web, MS teams and especially Word), IPTV streaming and/or YouTube, kindle reader (tablet mode <1%).

Should I buy the SP12" (24GB RAM +512GB ssd), the 13", install Linux OP, or just keep using my SP4 until it breaks? My idea is to keep the 2-in-1 convertible tech, since I value flexibility and portability. Any other real contender for this? Do I need the SP 13",or is the 12" is equally fine?

Would you invest in the SP12" (or 13") considering my needs and time frame usage, ,or should I check any other alternative?

I feel in the middle of nowhere after all these years, since my SP4 appears to even better than expected.

Any thoughts and advice are much appreciated! 🙏

Hi all!

I had a surface pro 11th edition which I adored but had to return because of a hardware issue. I got it for a fantastic price and therefore don't want to spend too much more. A local store currently has a great sale for the Microsoft Surface Pro 12 gen - Snapdragon X2 Plus but I need to know if the keyboard, Pro Signature Type Cover 13 inch + slim pen is compatible.

I'm reading around on Microsoft's own page but no keyboard refer combability with the 12 gen so I believe the page might be outdated. Does anyone of you know if the keyboard is compatible?

Thank you all so much! 🙏

Keyboard I got: https://www.inet.se/produkt/1978532/microsoft-surface-pro-signature-type-cover-13-slim-pen-svart

New to Surfaces! Had an old tool cart from my dealership days in the garage, being a mobile mechanic it was just sitting unused. I threw a marketplace ad on saying I'll trade for other tools or a laptop. Hands down the nicest one I've had since probably HS days considering my last one was a fried keyboard 32gb tiny Lenovo so this is a huge upgrade!! I'll use it for files and apps that require using a computer, Forscan, Rosstech and diagnostic apps.

Frustrated that the Extended Hardware Service doesn’t cover this and I’m very reluctant to go through Microsoft as they’ll likely give me back a refurbished model and / or lower spec than mine.

I have the Snapdragon X Elite 32GB RAM model with touchscreen, so I believe it’s the OLED screen that I need but it’s incredibly hard to find it.

Thanks for any help provided? And apologies I’m a bit of a noob with this stuff 😓

My laptop 7 keeps blue screening and overheated even just doing basic tasks, it especially happens when using a work or school account. It cannot be returned. How to fix?

This has been a struggle right out of the box. Not sure if I just have a bad machine or what.

OOB network needed to be removed via recovery console cmd twice. Once that was solved it still had issues pulling down AutoPilot policies and joining Intune. (could have been MS outage today that caused that)

Worked through these issues, ran updates and it got stuck in automatic repair mode twice.

Opened recovery console and it failed to remove updates and featured updates says it ran into a problem try "resetting".

I am on my 4th reset.

dism and wusa have been nothing but problematic listing the updates that have been installed.

Not sure if I just have a bad machine and should try another one or just bail and stick with an intel chipset.

Is anyone else having issues with snapdragon?

Cns anybody tell me why some AAA games can be installed and run on the new RTX Spark Laptop Ultra (which is ARM based), but fail to even install on the ARM based surface?

Yesterday, while my new Surface Pro 12th Edition (13") with an X2 Elite processor was connected to a Dell WD19S dock, I opened the MS "Surface" app, which indicated there were updates that needed to me made to my machine. Clicking on it took me to Windows Settings --> Update --> Advanced Options --> Optional updates. There I saw one available driver update: Microsoft Corporation AudioProcessingObject Driver Update (1.0.4.55794)(Screenshot 1)

I installed that driver update and restarted my machine. Upon restart, the Surface started repeatedly and consistently crashing. It'll start with the black screen/White Windows logo like normal, then the working wheel shows up below the logo like normal, but in the transition from the black screen to the Windows login screen, it crashes and restarts - over and over again. If I disconnect the Dell dock from the Surface, it boots fine - I can even reconnect the dock once I'm logged in to Windows and it operates like normal with no errors. In Windows Event viewer, the events show up as Event ID 41, Task Category (63) Kernel-Power (Screenshot 2), which is kind of a generic power-related event that only tells you the system has rebooted without shutting down cleanly first.

After investigating what driver update was installed related to the above in Device Manager, I determined that it was Audio Processing Objects (APOs) --> Voice Clarity. So I rolled back that driver in Device Manager from 1.0.4.55794 to 1.0.4.7057 (Screenshot 3). However, while connected to the same Dell dock, every restart/bootup still results in the same crash and event ID that started after updating that driver. I even tried disabling and then uninstalling that device in Device Manager, but got the same crash result. I tested the Surface on two other non-Dell docking stations (both a Surface Dock 2 and a Surface TB4 Dock), which both work fine and do not crash during startup. I've also tried a Surface Pro 11 and a Dell laptop on the WD19S dock in question - both of those work fine as well with no crashes.

Has any one experienced anything like this? Does anyone have any ideas of things to try to remedy this? It seems ridiculous to have to unplug the Dell USB-C dock connector from the Surface Pro every single time I restart or boot up. Thanks for reading my novella and I would appreciate any insight anyone here may have regarding why this is happening and how to get it to...not happen.