Microsoft's new 13-inch Surface Laptop sets you back by $899

Microsoft’s 13-inch Surface Laptop is now official, and it’s all about portability, battery life, and Copilot+ PC features. Announced alongside the new 12-inch Surface Pro, this slimmer, smaller sibling to the Surface Laptop 7 is designed to be more affordable and lightweight without sacrificing modern performance or AI.

Microsoft’s new 13-inch Surface Laptop packs a Snapdragon X Plus chip under the hood and offers longer battery life

Built with anodized aluminum and available in three colors—including a new Violet option—the 13-inch Surface Laptop is Microsoft’s thinnest and lightest Surface Laptop yet. It trades in the 13.8-inch display of the Surface Laptop 7 for a smaller 13-inch Full HD touchscreen (1,920 x 1,280 pixels resolution), and sticks to a standard 60Hz refresh rate.

Under the hood, Microsoft is going all-in on Arm. The laptop is powered by Qualcomm’s 8-core Snapdragon X Plus processor, packing a 45 TOPS NPU to run Windows 11’s new AI features like Recall and image generation.

Microsoft says it’s 50% faster than Surface Laptop 5, and even claims it beats Apple’s MacBook Air M3 in performance, though real-world testing will matter more. What it lacks in raw power compared to the Snapdragon X Elite, it makes up for in battery life.

Microsoft is promising up to 23 hours of local video playback, or 16 hours of active web browsing, making this the longest-lasting Surface device ever released. That extra endurance comes with a few compromises.

Storage, connectivity, availability, and pricing

The 13-inch Surface Laptop ditches the infrared Windows Hello camera and replaces it with a fingerprint reader built into the power button. Memory is capped at 16GB, and storage options are limited to 256GB or 512GB of UFS storage, not SSD.

Still, you’re getting a backlit keyboard, a solid haptic touchpad, and all the standard Copilot+ perks. Microsoft includes a charger in the box this time, unlike the Surface Pro 12-inch, which now ships with just a USB-C cable.

As for ports, the 13-inch Surface Laptop includes two USB 3.2 Type-C, one USB 3.1 Type-A, and a 3.5mm audio jack. The old Surface Connect port isn’t available, hinting at Microsoft’s full transition to USB-C across the new Surface line. You can also drive up to two external 4K 60Hz displays through the Type-C ports.

The 13-inch Surface Laptop is available to preorder now starting at $899 for the base 256GB model. It starts shipping on May 20, 2025.