May 6, 2025 – Redmond, WA — Microsoft has officially introduced a more compact and budget-friendly addition to its Surface lineup: the all-new 13-inch Surface Laptop. Designed with portability and performance in mind, this latest model aims to bring AI-enhanced computing to a broader audience, starting at just $899.
At first glance, the 13-inch Surface Laptop stands out as Microsoft’s slimmest and lightest model to date. Crafted from anodized aluminum, it’s available in three stylish finishes, including a fresh Violet colorway. Though smaller than the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop 7, it promises to pack a punch in both speed and battery endurance.
Under the hood, the device runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus processor, an 8-core chip featuring a 45 TOPS NPU that powers next-gen AI features in Windows 11. Microsoft claims the machine is 50% faster than its predecessor, the Surface Laptop 5, and even offers performance advantages over Apple’s M3 MacBook Air in select tasks.
Battery life is a key selling point. Microsoft boasts up to 23 hours of video playback or 16 hours of web use—setting a new record for endurance across the Surface range.
Naturally, some trade-offs were made to keep the price accessible. The device features a 13-inch Full HD touchscreen with a 60Hz refresh rate, 16GB RAM, and UFS storage options of 256GB or 512GB—falling short of SSD performance. It also ditches facial recognition in favor of a fingerprint sensor embedded in the power button.
Still, it retains quality-of-life features like a backlit keyboard, haptic touchpad, and a generous port selection: two USB-C 3.2 ports with display output support, one USB-A, and a headphone jack. However, the legacy Surface Connect port is no longer present.
Preorders for the Surface Laptop 13-inch are open now, with shipments scheduled to begin on May 20, 2025.