Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 (13.5-Inch, 2018)

Competitive power level, Lovely new black color scheme, Quieter keyboard, No more Windows 10 S Mode

No Thunderbolt 3 option, Too few ports for its size

Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 2 is, from top to bottom, a worthy sequel to the original device. This new model vastly improves the laptop’s power profile and, while it doesn't include tangible design changes, it ultimately achieves the most pure Windows...

Compact, trim design. Superior build quality. Exceptional battery life. Sharp touch display.

Limited selection of ports. Performance isn't quite as fast as some competitors. Touchpad clicks are loud.

Bottom Line: Much the same as the original, Microsoft's Surface Laptop 2 remains a sleek ultraportable with a top-notch build, a stellar screen, and a very long-lasting battery. Add a port or two, and it would be a superstar.

Windows 10 instead of 10S ; Faster internals for more versatile work ; Fantastic screen and keyboard

Carpeted keyboard can get dirty ; Could do with more ports

The Surface Laptop 2 is far from a revolutionary sequel, but it changes just enough to retain all the accolades we heaped upon it last year

Stunning design ; Speedy performance ; Outstanding build quality ; Great touchscreen display

Tad pricey ; Limited ports ; Shorter battery life than original

Beautifully designed ; Great to type on ; Powerful

No USB-C ; Expensive

The Surface Laptop 2 is one of the very best Windows ultraportable laptops, but for our money the Dell XPS 13 offers a better all-round package.

Light in weight ; Touchscreen ; Thin bezel ; Good backlit keyboard ; Better sound quality

Small screen size ; No separate numeric keypad ; No ; Integrated ; Low storage

New quad-core CPU is powerful, Much better SSD performance, The instant-on feature is now quicker, The black color option looks fantastic

No Type-C or Thunderbolt 3, No option for 4G LTE, Expensive

This is one of the most beautiful, enjoyable and expensive laptops around, but it has stiff competition.

The nicest, and truest, thing I can say about the Surface Laptop 2 is that it's just a joy to use. No gimmicks, no weird drawbacks. It's just a good laptop with a good keyboard and a good trackpad with good battery life that's a pleasure to use.

great keyboard, good trackpad, Alcantara, sleek design, USB-A port, great screen, great battery life, Windows Hello, powerful processor

no USB-C, no SD card reader, no fingerprint scanner, limited configuration options, Windows 10 Home not Pro, only Intel UHD 620

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 is arguably the finest example of what a Windows laptop should be. It is beautiful, simple, powerful and well made. It works better than most of the competition, from super quick startup to seamless all-in-one update...