STACK #200 Jun 2021

LIFE TECH FEATURE

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In Intel, on the other hand, the 11th Gen is their most ambitious system-on-a-chip, delivering advances for real world use cases that are not measured by clock speed alone. This brings benefits when it comes to serious multitasking. And that coveted productivity boost is reflected in the pricing premium of the Intel-based Laptop 4. Performance for today The process of iteration in the Laptop 4 reflects the modern demands from our portable devices. It’s slim, stylish, and eminently portable, while sporting a generous 3:2 screen ratio. The battery life is impressive. A 13.5” with the AMD Ryzen 5 has up to 19 hours. Even a 15” with the Intel i7 can give you up to 16.5 hours of portable power. This will vary greatly depending on individual workloads, but based on these manufacturer tested specs, you won’t be running out of juice during a regular workday. The battery life, and a screen with a 3:2 aspect ratio, lay the foundations for a productive work space you can take anywhere. Together with a HD front-facing camera with low-light capability and studio microphone array, you can run split screen and multitask on the 15” without compromise. Whether it’s video conferencing and evaluating a spreadsheet at the same time, or creating multimedia presentations on the fly, the Laptop 4 and Microsoft 365 apps have you covered. The choice between AMD and Intel processors comes down to personal preference. Both choices will excel at all tasks assigned to modern laptops. You can hedge on AMD’s 8 core if gaming is important. Intel’s 11th Gen brings advancements in how the device works as an entire system, to boost workflow and productivity. In this latest iteration of the Laptop 4, Microsoft offers a well crafted device that will work seamlessly within its ecosystem, while delivering the performance you would expect from a premium device.

SURFACE MATERIAL In the office or out and about, the new Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 will have you making a splash.

THE SURFACE FAMILY The Surface family of devices encompasses a whole range of touchscreens:

They even come as high-spec desktops in the Microsoft Surface Studio 2 range.

And for a purely conventional laptop, you can choose between the lightweight Surface Laptop Go or the brand new Surface Laptop 4 .

If your preference is for a tablet that can moonlight as a laptop, there are the Surface Go 2 , Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X .

If you prefer the form factor of a laptop with the option of a detachable touchscreen, you can choose the Surface Book 3 .

Let’s run through what’s on offer with this iteration of the Surface Laptop 4:

First looks The Surface Laptop 4 retains the sleek design of the Laptop 3. You can choose between 13.5” and 15”. In 13.5” there are four colour options – Matte Black and Sandstone are metallic finishes, while Ice Blue and Platinum furnishes the keyboard in hard-wearing Alcantara fabric, giving the tactile feel of suede. The 15” is offered in two metallic finishes – Platinum or Matte Black. The keyboard itself is nice and roomy for your palm to rest on, yet manages to fit in an outsized precision trackpad. A Signature touchscreen The 13.5” Laptop 4 has a 2256 x 1504 resolution, while the 15” has 2496 x 1664. A resulting 3:2 aspect ratio has been a signature of the Surface Signature, and delivers 18 per cent more vertical screen real estate than typical laptop devices of 1920 x 1080 resolution. It’s optimised for much of

the spreadsheet or document work you would do in Office 365. Being a touchscreen, too, the 3:2 aspect ratio affords gesture room to better capture your ideas whenever creativity strikes. Beneath the Surface Under the hood, Microsoft is employing their recent strategy of sourcing from AMD and Intel. With the latter, you get the all-new 11th Gen Intel i5 or i7. AMD has developed a custom Surface Edition silicon, based on their preceding generation of processors. The architecture of the AMD CPU may not be as shiny and new, but Laptop 4 configurations with AMD are priced lower than the Intel equivalent. You also get an 8 core processor with AMD, compared with the Intel’s 4 core. In general terms, this means better performance with speed-reliant tasks like gaming.

MICROSOFT SURFACE LAPTOP 4 CONFIGURATIONS CPU: AMD Ryzen 5 Storage: 256GB Memory: 8GB Finish: Platinum CPU: Intel i5 Storage: 256GB Memory: 16GB Finish: Matte Black CPU: Intel i5 Storage: 512GB Memory: 16GB Finish: Matte Black CPU: Intel i5 Storage: 512GB Memory: 8GB Finish: Ice Blue CPU: Intel i5 Storage: 512GB Memory: 8GB Finish: Matte Black CPU: Intel i5 Storage: 512GB Memory: 8GB Finish: Platinum CPU: Intel i5 Storage: 512GB Memory: 8GB Finish: Sandstone 13.5”

CPU: Intel i7 Storage: 512GB Memory: 16GB Finish: Sandstone

15”

AVAILABLE AT

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 Storage: 512GB Memory: 16GB Finish: Matte Black

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 Storage: 256GB Memory: 8GB Finish: Platinum

CPU: AMD Ryzen 7 Storage: 512GB Memory: 8GB Finish: Matte Black

CPU: Intel i7 Storage: 512GB Memory: 16GB Finish: Matte Black

CPU: Intel i7 Storage: 512GB Memory: 16GB Finish: Platinum

68 JUNE 2021

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