Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 13.5"

It's also a pretty small upgrade over the third-gen model, as the screen bezel is still too thick, but there's no doubting that the fourth-gen Surface Laptop is still an absolute favourite. Indeed, as we said up top, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 might just be the best Windows 10 laptop money can buy right now.

New silicon gives Microsoft's ultraportable even better battery life and a healthy performance boost. It's still not perfect, but can continue to trade blows with the MacBook Air.

That’s not to say it’s perfect. The display is beautiful but falls short outdoors, while performance and battery life are solid but not standout. Microsoft could’ve pushed harder with its port selection, and honestly it would’ve been good to see options like integrated 4G/5G. While the $1k starting price is competitive, you’re looking at $700 more for this particular configuration, and that still falls a little short of what Apple’s M1 is capable of in raw performance terms.

The Surface Laptop 4 might just be one of the best laptops for writers, with one of the best keyboards we've ever used. It could use a few more ports, but it's an easy laptop to recommend to anyone that is going to be typing a lot.

Microsoft's Surface Laptop 4 offers strong performance, impressive audio, a comfy keyboard and good battery life in a sleek (if slightly dated) design