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The Surface Laptop 5 ditches AMD for a simpler lineup

Microsoft has announced the Surface Laptop 5 at its annual fall Surface event. There aren’t many changes from the outside, but inside, Microsoft has made a drastic change to the hardware by pulling support for AMD Ryzen processors in this generation.

The Surface Laptop 4 was the first (and only) Surface device to provide an option for Ryzen processors. Notably, it was a highlight of the laptop, providing better multi-core performance and longer battery life than its Intel rival.

The front and back of the Surface Laptop 5 on a table.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

With the improvements made in Intel’s 12th-gen processors, the decision to stick with Team Blue doesn’t feel like as much of a gut punch. It should be noted, however, that Microsoft has chosen to use Intel’s U-series chips.

In particular, you get the choice of either the Core i5-1235U or Core i7-1255U on the 13.5-inch model and just the Core i7 for the 15-inch model. These are all 15-watt chips, but only include two Performance cores (and eight Efficiency cores).

  Microsoft Surface Laptop 5
Dimensions

12.1 x 8.8 x 0.57 inches – Surface Laptop 5 13.5″

13.4 x 9.6 x 0.58 inches – Surface Laptop 5 15″

Weight Fabric 2.80 pounds or Metal 2.86 pounds – Surface Laptop 5 13.5″

3.44 pounds – Surface Laptop 5 15″

Processor Intel Core i5-1230U (only Surface Laptop 5 13.5″)

Intel Core i7-1250U

Graphics Intel Xe Graphics
RAM Up to 32GB LPDDR5X
Display 13.4-inch 1920 x 1200 IPS
Storage Up to 1TB PCIe SSD
Touch Yes
Ports

1 x USB-C with USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4

1 x USB-A 3.1
3.5mm headphone jack
1 x Surface Connect port

Wireless Wi-Fi 6E and Bluetooth 5.2
Webcam 720p + IR camera
Operating system Windows 11
Battery

Up to 18 hours of typical device usage – Surface Laptop 5 13.5-inch

Up to 17 hours of typical device usage – Surface Laptop 5 15-inch

Price TBA

The Surface Laptop line of laptops has never been workhorses for performance, and the Surface Laptop 5 doesn’t look like it’s changing that.

The available color options are the only other significant change to the Surface Laptop 5 this year. Like the Surface Laptop Go 2 from earlier this year, the Surface Laptop 5 now comes in Sage green. This is in addition to the Platinum Alcantara, Matte Black, and Sandstone, all of which are options for the 13.5-inch model only. The Surface Laptop 5 15-inch still only comes in Platinum or Matte Black.

The four color options of the Surface Laptop 5.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

The Surface Laptop 5 still only comes with a 720p webcam, unfortunately, despite many laptops moving to 1080p this year.

The 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 5 starts at $1,000, for an entry-level configuration that comes with the Core i5-1230U, 8GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. The 15-inch model starts at $1,300 for the Core i7-1250U, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage.

As part of the Surface hardware launch, Microsoft also announced the Surface Pro 9, Surface Studio 2+, some new accessories, and more.

Editors' Recommendations

Luke Larsen
Senior Editor, Computing
Luke Larsen is the Senior editor of computing, managing all content covering laptops, monitors, PC hardware, Macs, and more.
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