The Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 15-Inch Review: Refreshing Ryzen
by Brett Howse on May 6, 2021 8:00 AM ESTWireless
For years, Microsoft leveraged the Marvel AVASTAR wireless adapters, which were reasonable quick, but unreliable, and were really one of the most disappointing areas of any Surface device. Thankfully, they started to deviate away from Marvel last year, mostly thanks to the introduction of Wi-Fi 6, and Intel’s semi-integrated AX200 solution. But, on the previous generation AMD powered Surface Laptop 3, they instead chose a Qualcomm networking solution which was underwhelming, to say the least. The good news for 2021 and the Surface Laptop 4 is that Microsoft has righted this wrong and are now leveraging the Intel AX200 Wi-FI 6 solution even in the AMD powered Laptop 4.
Performance is excellent. The Intel Ice Lake / Tiger Lake powered notebooks have the CVNi connected AX201, which does offer a slightly higher maximum transfer rates, but even the more traditional AX200 does very well over Wi-Fi 6. As is usual for Intel network adapters, reliability was top-notch.
Audio / Video
Microsoft offers Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Atmos support, and they conveniently locate the speakers underneath the keyboard. This faces the speakers towards the listener, and the result is surprisingly good.
Audio separation is quite good for a laptop computer, and while they lack the low-end performance of all notebooks, the speakers sound good in the mid and high ranges, and get plenty loud, with 84-85 dB(A) measured an inch over the trackpad.
On the camera front, the Surface Laptop 4 offers just a 720p webcam, although it does include Windows Hello IR support for fast logins. The laptop includes dual far-field microphones as well.
Thermals
Packing in eight cores, sixteen threads, and 8 CUs of Vega integrated graphics, the Surface Laptop 4 is the most powerful Renoir powered laptop in its class. The Ryzen 7 4980U offers the highest peak frequency, at 4.4 GHz, of the Renoir U lineup, which is the 15-Watt range.
Sadly, the performance monitoring tools we use were not able to poll the processor for power usage data, so we can’t get a proper feel on what kind of sustained power draw the laptop achieves, but Renoir has been quite power efficient, so it is likely in the 15-20 Watt range. We were able to poll sustained frequencies though. The Surface Laptop 4, under 100% load, quickly hit its 4.4 GHz peak, and then ran at a sustained 3 GHz for the rest of the run. There was no frequency degradation over time which would indicate the laptop was overheating.
Cooling was also very impressive. Despite the performance, Microsoft has been able to tune the fans to keep very quiet. Under most conditions, the fans are not even active, but under full load, the fans only registered 44 dB(A) even after over an hour of sustained load. That is very impressive.
Software
One of the most refreshing points in Surface ownership is that the Surface team does not install any extra software on the notebook. You don’t need to worry about browser plug-ins, antivirus trials, or the like. The only app that is installed is the Surface App, where you can get information about the device, and configure accessories such as the pen.
The Surface App works well, but it would be nice to see Microsoft give it some love. It has not really changed much in the last several years. Some additional functionality would be appreciated. It offers only the most basic functionality and support access.
One such feature that would be appreciated is the ability to set the maximum battery charge level. If you are a person that normally docks the device, being able to set the maximum battery level to something other than 100% can help prolong the life of the battery, and is functionality that other manufacturers do add. The Surface device offers two color profiles, with sRGB and Enhanced, and would it not be nice to be able to choose that in the Surface app, where the Surface app could explain what the settings do, rather than just a drop-down in the display settings with no explanation? It feels like there is a lot more than can be done here to enhance ownership. The Surface app is easy to use, it looks great, and it could use a bit more functionality.
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Cliff34 - Friday, May 7, 2021 - link
Bt mouse connection is not reliable.evilspoons - Friday, May 7, 2021 - link
I've been using a Bluetooth LE mouse (Microsoft 3600) with my Surface Pro 3 for years now. It's as reliable as any device that needs a separate receiver and I don't have to worry about breaking the damn thing off in a laptop bag.mrochester - Saturday, May 8, 2021 - link
Try a Logitech bluetooth mouse. MX Anywhere 3, MX Master 3 I'd highly recommend.s.yu - Sunday, May 9, 2021 - link
Same here, beware Logitech's battery scam but there's nothing wrong with the reception. It might suffer the BT power-save bug but AFAIK that's not mouse-specific but laptop-specific. The workaround is to turn BT power save off or if that doesn't work, one of those BT scanners that pings the mouse every few seconds.The Garden Variety - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
"no external optical drives"Are you for real?
TheinsanegamerN - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
not everyone is a silicon valley darling. Many people still have movies or photos or optical media. Sure you could make the argument that those people likely are not the primary surface market, but "most people" are not the surface market, and "most people" is what's being discussed, not people who gladly use no external devices with their $1500 computer.Would it have really killed them to have another type A port? Even $200 chromebooks can maanage that.
The Garden Variety - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
You're falling into the typical Anadtech commenter fallacy. If they had two USB-C ports, you'd ask for USB-A ports. If they have one USB-A port, you ask for two. If they had two USB-A ports, you'd find something else to bitch about. User-upgradable memory. A bigger battery. A brighter screen. A different screen ratio. Who knows; who cares! It's all fallacious, feature-itis by this tiny little very loud segment of the computer-using population that wants everything to still be floor-standing desktop towers and all sorts of other why-can't-things-just-stay-the-same-isms.It has one USB port. And I guarantee you not one person who buys one will care that it only has one, nor would it cause so much as a single additional sale if it had two. People don't make decisions that way, any more so than when people go buy a car do they look at torque curves. It's *fucking* mental how myopic you people can be and how what you find important doesn't represent even the tiniest sliver of importance to computer manufacturers anymore.
But not to worry. I'm sure there will be a smartphone review posted soon, that way you can get back to bitching about removable batteries.
Reflex - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
This right here. It's pretty easy to see what consumer demand looks like at a given price point. Go look at what the popular models are and recognize that whatever assumptions you have about your personal use case may not be what the market is requiring.All sorts of stuff I want on a given bit of hardware that isn't commonly there. It's okay, I adapt. The market does not exist exclusively for me.
alexvoda - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
Well, with regards to ports, if you are offering less to the user than the chipset offers you and you don't have a good reason for that, you are just cheaping out on the customers.This is part of the reason Surface devices suck from some POV. If the CPU gives you Thuderbolt for free (Intel versions), than as a user I expect you to give me Thunderbolt ports because it only costs you the traces on the board and the ports themselves. Microsoft has been very very late in adopting Thunderbolt for some reason (I know the latest versions do have Thunderbolt).
Rookierookie - Thursday, May 6, 2021 - link
Of course people who buy it won't care, the people who care won't buy it. I certainly won't buy a laptop with just one USB-A port.