Microsoft has updated the Surface Laptop with 8th Gen Intel processors and a matte black finish. The second-generation model, called the Surface Laptop 2, is supposed to be 85 percent faster than the previous generation and use the “thinnest ever LCD” on a touch laptop. The product’s entry-level price is dropping by $100 for this generation to $899. It goes on sale October 16th, and preorders start today.
Like the original Surface Laptop, Microsoft’s up-to-date Laptop computer comes with Alcantara fabric keypad. The frame is still aluminum.
The most affordable variant of the laptop features Intel’s quad core Core i5-8250U processor with a 1.6GHz base clock rate and 3.6GHz on turbo, 8GB of RAM and 128GB of SSD storage.
The previous original Surface Laptop was available with dual-core processors and from 4 GB of RAM. The new Surface Laptop 2 still has a 13.5 inch touch screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio and a resolution of 2256 × 1504 pixels.
Gizchina News of the week
With upgraded CPUs, Surface Laptop 2 has up to 85 percent more performance than before. However, battery life is still up to 14.5 hours.
While the first Surface Laptop is still one of the best laptop options around, this new model faces some stiffer competition. In recent months, Huawei has claimed the title for best laptop, thanks to a model with ultra-thin bezels, a simple and light design, and plenty of power (and ports). But that laptop starts at a much higher price — $1,500 — and is going for a somewhat different audience.