Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 now available in Mzansi

Microsoft has been teasing us long enough with new Surface news, and now we can confirm the arrival of a new player in the local market: the new Surface Laptop 4, delivering a choice of two screen sizes and both AMD and Intel processors. Successor to last year’s Surface Laptop 3, the new notebook sticks with the styling – including four different finishes of metal and Alcantara – but drops in 11th Gen Intel Core or exclusive AMD Ryzen Microsoft Surface Edition processors based on Zen 2 architecture.

The laptops were first introduced to us when Microsoft dropped them globally back in April.

For those who want maximum portability, there’s a 13.5-inch screen option. As you’d expect from something in the Surface family, it’s a 3:2 aspect PixelSense panel, here running at 2256 x 1504 resolution. It’s Surface Pen and 10-point multitouch enabled.

The 15-inch model, meanwhile, also has a 3:2 aspect PixelSense screen, only running at 2496 x 1664 resolution. Both have a glass precision trackpad and full-sized backlit keyboard, with 1.3mm of key travel. WiFi 802 11ax and Bluetooth 5.0 are standard, though sadly there’s no 4G LTE or 5G embedded option.

Ports include one USB 3.1 Type-C, one USB Type-A, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Surface Connect port. There’s still no Thunderbolt 4

For processors, there’s a choice of Intel or AMD chips. The AMD options are the most affordable, a custom 6-core Ryzen 5 4680U or 8-core Ryzen 7 4980U. Intel’s 11th Gen Core i5-1135G7 or Core i7-1185G7 are the more potent options. AMD machines get Radeon graphics; Intel versions use Intel Xe. All in all, more power than you’d find in a Surface Laptop Go.

For memory, the Surface Laptop 4 13.5-inch has between 8GB and 32GB of LPDDR4X (3733MHz) RAM. The 15-inch has between 8GB and 32GB of LPDDR4X (3733MHz) RAM in the Intel models, but uses DDR4 (2400MHz) memory in the AMD versions.

Both sizes have 256GB, 512GB, or 1TB of SSD storage. There’s also a removable M.2 NVMe SSD slot, though Microsoft says you’ll need to see an authorized service canter to swap out that memory chip if you don’t want to impact your warranty.

Recommended retail pricing for the Surface Laptop 4 starts at R945 per month at Vodacom and R18,999 at Incredible Connection.

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Papi Mabele

Papi Mabele has a marketing background, he is a digital marketing expert with extensive experience in launching and building global brands in the emerging markets. Papi is also an avid tech writer, enthusiast and all round tech junkie. As a freelance writer and analyst he has been numerously published in Popular Mechanics (SA), GQ South Africa, Premier Magazine, Driven Magazine, Bloem News, Courant, The Weekly, Enthooze Magazine and PiE magazine amongst others.