Skip to main content

Digital Trends may earn a commission when you buy through links on our site. Why trust us?

This is the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4, now with 8-core AMD Ryzen processors

Image used with permission by copyright holder

Microsoft has launched an update to its clamshell Surface line, the Surface Laptop 4. The primary change you’ll notice on the exterior is a new color option, the “Ice Blue” finish. I spent a few hours admiring the new color, which has a unique light blue hue that I haven’t seen on many other laptops and is an addition to the wide range of color options previously available, including black, silver, and sandstone.

Recommended Videos

But the real star of the show in this update is the new AMD Ryzen processor featured inside both the 13.5-inch and 15-inch models.

Ryzen CPUs first debuted on Surface hardware in last year’s Surface Laptop 3 15-inch, but it used the older Ryzen 3000 processors. They were still limited to just four cores, meaning they didn’t provide a meaningful update over the alternate Intel option. For a 15-inch laptop, that left it fairly underpowered.

More importantly, it was also exclusive to the 15-inch model.

The Surface Laptop 4 bumps things up to 8-core Ryzen 4000 chips. Microsoft continues to tout these as “Surface Edition” Ryzen processors, highlighting the closer partnership between AMD and Microsoft on the implementation. It’s also available on the 13.5-inch model this time around.

The $1,000 13.5-inch base model includes the six-core Ryzen 5 4680U, 8GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. In addition to the substantial performance upgrade, that’s a storage capacity improvement over last year’s 128GB SSD option. We can all be happy that low storage option is no longer around.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

As it stands, the Surface Laptop 4 remains the only Surface device to use AMD chips. Microsoft’s Surface lineup includes a diverse set of processor options, whether it’s the standard Intel chips in the Surface Pro and Surface Book 3, the ARM chips in the Surface Pro X, or the AMD option here. Of course, Microsoft will continue to offer an Intel 11th-gen Tiger Lake model as well, which is still capped at just four cores.

Microsoft says it will offer a careful mix of processor options across both sizes and across consumer and commercial offerings. To avoid confusion, Microsoft says it won’t offer identical configurations featuring both AMD and Intel processors, and will instead “guide” the buyer toward the right option based on price and performance needs.

That’s up to standard for the 13.5-inch model, but it severely limits the appeal of the 15-inch model, which has to compete with heavy hitters like the Dell XPS 15, Razer Blade 15, HP Spectre x360 15, and many others. All these other laptops offer discrete graphics courtesy of Nvidia as well, which the Surface Laptop 4 lacks.

That’s partly because of just how thin and light the 15-inch Surface Laptop 4 is. It’s only 0.58 inches thick and weighs just 3.4 pounds.

The processor change also affords the Surface Laptop 4 an improvement in battery life. Microsoft says in the most ideal situation, the Surface Laptop 4 can last up to 19 hours on a single charge. That figure may vary, but it’s eight hours more than the claim for the Surface Laptop 3.

The Surface Laptop 4 also keeps its high-resolution 3:2 PixelSense display. Both sizes are 201 PPI (pixels per inch), with resolutions of 2256 x 1504 (13.5-inch model) or 2496 x 1664 (15-inch model). The Surface Laptop was one of the pioneers of the 3:2 aspect ratio on clamshell devices. In the past year, though, many manufacturers have followed suit, moving away from 16:9 to either 16:10 or 3:2. Of course, all versions and configurations of the Surface Laptop 4 feature  touchscreens.

Image used with permission by copyright holder

One area that hasn’t been updated, though, is the webcam. This would have been a fantastic time to upgrade the built-in camera to 1080p resolution, but the Surface Laptop 4 is unfortunately still stuck at 720p. It’s a shame, especially since the Surface Pro and Surface Book both offer a higher-resolution videoconferencing experience.

Microsoft did say that tweaks to the webcam resulted in improved lowlight performance.

The Surface Laptop 4 is available for purchase today through Best Buy and Microsoft.com, starting in the U.S., Canada, and Japan, with orders shipping on April 15. Microsoft is even offering a solid deal for those who purchase before April 15, bundling in a pair of Surface Earbuds.

Luke Larsen
Former Digital Trends Contributor
Luke Larsen is the Senior Editor of Computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
AMD’s Ryzen 8000HX CPUs arrive in laptops, but you might not see a difference
A woman sits by a desk and plays a game on a laptop equipped with an AMD processor.

AMD has just expanded its lineup of the best processors for laptops by introducing the Ryzen 8000HX series. These CPUs are set to appear in some of the best gaming laptops coming out in the next few months. The downside? There might not be much of an increase compared to the 7000HX series.

These CPUs, while new, aren't exactly a "fresh" product line. They're a refresh of the Dragon Range lineup, dubbed Ryzen 7000HX series, and are built on Zen 4 architecture. For reference, we already have Zen 5 chips in laptops; those belong to the Fire Range generation and are still very new, so you might not be able to find them in stores.

Read more
It’s a shame Microsoft’s upgraded Surface Laptop 7 is just ‘for business’
The Surface Laptop 7 on a table in front of a window.

Microsoft has offered 5G connectivity on the Surface Pro 11 since the laptop launched, but for the first time ever, Microsoft is expanding 5G support to its Surface Laptop 7, which ranks at the top of our list of the best laptops. There's just one small caveat; it's only available for business customers, at least right now.

There aren't a ton of details right now, but Microsoft says the Surface Laptop 7 for Business with 5G -- I don't make the names, folks -- will start rolling out "later in 2025." The company also promises to share more details on the laptop in the "coming months," which will hopefully clear up if this model is coming to the consumer market, as well.

Read more
We now know why AMD chose to delay RDNA 4 — well, kind of
AMD announcing FSR 4 during CES 2025.

AMD hasn't been very forthcoming when it comes to information about its RX 9000 series GPUs, but we just got an update as to why the cards won't be available until sometime in March. The company cites software optimization and FSR 4 as the two reasons why it most likely decided to delay the launch of RDNA 4. But is that all there is to it, or is AMD waiting to see some of Nvidia's best graphics cards before pulling the trigger on the RX 9070 XT?

The update comes from David McAfee, AMD's vice president and general manager of the Ryzen CPU and Radeon graphics division. A couple of days ago, McAfee took to X (Twitter) to announce that AMD was excited to launch the RX 9000 series in March. This caused a bit of an uproar, with many enthusiasts wondering why AMD was choosing to wait so long.

Read more