I've tested well over 59 laptops during my career as a tech reviewer. I've seen terrible laptops, mid laptops (devices that are OK, but have better competitors for your money), and extraordinary machines that are worth every penny.
I look at the durability of the chassis, the clickiness of the keys, the visual enticement of the display, how hot it gets when you run intensive tasks, whether it gets slow when you overwhelm it with Google Chrome tabs, and more. On top of that, I run industry benchmarks from the likes of Geekbench and PCMark 10 to determine how the review units — with hard numbers — compare to other rivals.
When it comes to reviewing laptops, I always ask myself one crucial question: "Would I buy this with my hard-earned money?" If the answer is no, I'm not recommending it (unless it's still a great laptop, but would better suit a specific consumer niche).
That being said, among the many laptops I've reviewed thus far, there's only one Windows machine that's truly the best laptop of 2024: the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7.
A few years ago, I was smack talking the Surface Laptop 5 when I reviewed it for a different publication. I had so much faith in Microsoft. I wanted it to win so badly, but it couldn't live up to my expectations at the time.
Microsoft was arguably the software king, but it just couldn't get its hardware right. It's not that Microsoft Surface laptops were awful — they just kept getting outperformed by cheaper, better competitors. As such, I couldn't, in good conscience, recommend them.
Now, if you were to tell me that, in 2024, I'd be recommending a Surface laptop, I'd say, "You're out of your mind!" But here I am, as a laptop expert, actually suggesting a Microsoft laptop to my readers. But you know what? I'm backing this up. I have proof that it's the best Windows laptop of the year. Here are my three reasons:
I don't want to bore you with too many details about chipsets, but they're crucial to bring up to help you understand why Microsoft Surface family now has positive critical reception from testers after a tumultuous few years of less-than-favorable reviews.
Long story short, Intel, the most popular chipset maker for Windows, was holding the Microsoft Surface series — and other mobile Windows machines — back from laptop nirvana. Even Apple stopped dealing with Intel a few years ago. In 2020, the Cupertino-based tech giant introduced its new in-house, custom ARM chips (i.e., M-series processors). Apple debuted its non-Intel-based M1 MacBook Air and M1 MacBook Pro laptops and it never looked back. (Apple's current-gen MacBooks are now rocking M3 series chips and it's reportedly eyeing an M4 release soon).
Now, non-Apple laptop vendors have finally hopped aboard the "Intel ain't it" train, thanks to Qualcomm, an Intel rival. Qualcomm announced it had a chipset, dubbed the Snapdragon X Elite processor, that is so good, it beats all M3-based MacBooks. Now, I was skeptical, but this Snapdragon X Elite processor was packed inside the new Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 that dropped this year — and it blew its rivals out of the water.
With "Best performance mode" turned on in Settings, the Surface Laptop 7 notched an incredible multi-core score of 14,548 on Geekbench 6. For context, here are the multi-core scores of other laptops I've tested this year:
14-inch M3 MacBook Pro - 11,998
15-inch M3 MacBook Air - 12,057
And yes, I purposely highlighted M3 MacBooks here to prove a point (i.e., Qualcomm was right). This wasn't just a fluke either. The HP OmniBook X I reviewed this year, also packed with a Snapdragon X Elite chip, is almost as good as the Surface Laptop 7, but delivered a multi-core score of 13,888.
When I tested the Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 to see how long it could last on a single charge, it just. wouldn't. die.
Qualcomm wasn't kidding when it said that the Snapdragon X Elite chip is power efficient. To my surprise, the Surface Laptop 7 delivered a battery runtime of 22 hours and 50 minutes. That's nearly 23 hours! This is literally unheard of for Windows laptops these days.
This is the best runtime we've ever recorded at Mashable in recent years. Here are some of the other runtimes of our laptops:
15-inch M3 MacBook Air - 10 hours and 52 minutes
HP OmniBook X - 16 hours and 47 minutes
Lenovo Yoga 9 2-in-1 - 7 hours and 21 minutes
Can you guess which chip was inside the Lenovo Yoga 9 2-in-1, which lasted only a measly 7 hours? It certainly wasn't a Qualcomm chip.
Remember when Windows used to be fun? As a kid (I'm now a Millennial adult for context), I used to mess around on Paint, play Microsoft 3D Pinball, and watch visualizers bounce along to the music I played on Windows Media Player.
Now, Microsoft has revitalized that excitement with a flurry of new AI features. From the new ChatGPT rival Copilot to AI additions that seduce you back to Paint (e.g., Cocreator), getting to play around with the AI on Windows has captivated me. If Microsoft is using AI to seduce users away from Apple (though Apple Intelligence is officially landing on supported Mac systems very soon), it's working — at least for me.
The Surface Laptop 7's AI capabilities are possible thanks to the NPU, an AI accelerator packed inside the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite.
However, as a laptop reviewer, I know more than anyone that no machine is ever perfect. One flaw that I spotted with the Surface Laptop 7 is app incompatibility. It's something I spotted when I tried to install the Apple Music app. I typically have no issues with doing this on other Windows systems, but it looks like some developers haven't enabled Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite support for their apps yet.
The Surface Laptop 7 isn't a gaming PC, but I'll admit that you can get away with some light gaming on it. Keep in mind that some games, according to this list, may not run properly on the Surface Laptop 7.
Overall, though, the Surface Laptop 7 has never-ending battery life, engaging AI features, zippy performance, a sturdy, anti-fingerprint chassis, and more. How could it not be the best Windows laptop of 2024?
The Surface Laptop 7 is $1,599 on Amazon.
