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00:00Do you ever get the sense that Microsoft are up to something?
00:02I mean there hasn't been any major change to their lineup for a while now and the refreshes like this new surface laptop 5
00:09Are pretty minor. I mean they ditched AMD CPUs across the lineup
00:14Also, the new surface studio 2 plus is a bit ridiculous for like over 4 grand and it still comes with a 11th gen
00:21CPUs, although they have put a 3060 in there and also the new surface pro 9
00:25I haven't had hands-on with it properly yet
00:27But there's two variants of that an Intel one and an sq3 one
00:30Which is basically a collaboration between Microsoft and Qualcomm and while there are advantages particularly to battery life
00:35It is still emulating software. So for most apps performance isn't as good as if you use the Intel version
00:41But then let's come back to this guy the surface laptop 5 which is still don't get me wrong a very nice laptop
00:47I really do like this
00:48But it's barely any different than the surface laptop 4 which itself was barely any different from the surface laptop 3
00:54Which all makes me think Microsoft has to be working on something bigger
00:57My guess is it's their own ARM based chip
01:00Which means they can control hardware and software just like Apple did with the m1 and the m2
01:05Okay, massive digression over although I think it's important for context. Let's talk about this guy
01:10This is my review of the laptop 5 and it is a lovely machine with Apple level build quality a fantastic keyboard and trackpad
01:17It's just that when it comes to performance and battery life right now
01:21There's no Windows laptop that can really catch their similarly priced m1 or m2 MacBook Air
01:26so the question is is this a good alternative to the MacBook Air or something like the Dell XPS 13 or
01:32Has dropping the Ryzen CPU option and reusing the same design again with its fairly limited ports
01:37I mean, it's tough to recommend. I mean as Windows machines go
01:40This is a pretty refined device
01:41And if you are just using it to browse the web watch Netflix do some office work maybe a bit of Lightroom editing
01:47You really can't go wrong. Now. Once again, there are two options
01:50You've got the 13.5 inch which I have here and it's bigger brother the 15
01:53What is new this year is we have Intel's 12th generation i5 and i7 CPUs
01:58Although only the i7 on the 15-inch as well as faster DDR 5x RAM and finally Thunderbolt 4
02:04We also get this new sage green color
02:06Which is quite nice as well as platinum and sandstone black and Alcantara which carried over from laptop 4 and each color even gets
02:13Matching Windows wallpaper, which is nice I guess and that is it new chip Thunderbolt 4 new color
02:22Not the most exciting upgrade and it is a shame that Microsoft chose to drop the AMD CPU option as Ryzen chips had been the
02:28Better choice for more demanding multi-threaded apps and also for longer battery life last time around now with this guy
02:34I get around 10 hours of light use with a screen set to about half brightness
02:37Which is around 200 nits and closer to 11 hours in my full screen video test. That's not bad at all
02:42It's actually very good
02:43but it's still less than most people were getting with last year's Ryzen based laptop for in similar tests and pretty much everything else has
02:50Carried over from the laptop for we've got the same 3 by 2 pixel sense screen, which is a very nice screen
02:55I do appreciate it's a touch screen, which of course you don't get on the Mac's but we do have these fairly chunky bezels
03:00The webcam has not really been improved. It's still 720p and
03:03While the design hasn't changed at all, but come on, this is still gorgeous even closing it just then listen to this
03:09Just sounds premium. I also have absolutely no complaints about build quality
03:14There isn't a creak or a wobble or anything out of place and the screen even gets Gorilla Glass 5
03:19So it's a little bit more durable. The screen will be a bit divisive though
03:23Not everyone loves 3 by 2 and personally I think 16 by 10 is the sweet spot
03:28So basically this is a bit
03:29Squarer and a little bit taller than most screens that you'll probably be used to and also of course if you're watching videos and movies
03:34You're gonna have thicker black bars
03:36Also while the image quality is good
03:38It's no match for OLED alternatives like we get on the Asus VIVA books or more expensive Dell XPS is and of course being stuck
03:45At 60 Hertz unlike the surface Pro models kind of bottlenecks. Just how smooth the performance feels
03:49Anyway, I think overall the screen is a good fit for the base models, but definitely not in the 1700 pound top spec form
03:56Brightness is also pretty average. We get around 380 to 400 nits
04:00Although we do have Dolby Vision IQ support, which is great
04:03If you're watching something on Netflix that supports Dolby Vision
04:05But the lack of basic HDR 10 means there's actually no HDR option in Windows or YouTube
04:10But then that 400 net brightness wouldn't give you a particularly good HDR experience
04:13Anyway, but overall it is still a very nice screen and for most work and movies and maybe some basic gaming
04:19It's absolutely fine
04:20But if your projects are more color sensitive
04:23I would probably look elsewhere because while the 100% sRGB coverage is good
04:27The 67% Adobe RGB and 69% P3 is pretty average
04:32Although at 1.3 kilograms for this 13.5 inch model
04:36It's a smidge heavier than the MacBook Air and also a fair bit thicker actually
04:40So it's not the thinnest or the lightest but you can easily carry around all day
04:43There's this classy mirrored Windows logo on the lid
04:46We get these nice rounded corners and angled edges that keeps everything feeling slim and our supports
04:51Well, there aren't really an awful lot of them
04:53We have the surface connector charger on this side
04:55That is all you have on the right side as you're looking at it on the other side
04:59We have a full-size USB a a USB C Thunderbolt 4, which is very good to see and also a headphone jack
05:05but the good news is that Thunderbolt 4 port means that you now have a ton of other options for hubs and
05:10Connectivity and also means you don't have to rely on Microsoft's overpriced surface dock to which attaches via the surface connect port
05:17There's still no Wi-Fi 6e, but it's not the end of the world
05:20One of the best things about the surface laptop 5 and really any surface device is the keyboard
05:25This is still one of the best keyboards for me at least on any Windows laptop. There's good feedback
05:30It's not too clacky and my fingers always found the right key
05:33There isn't a ton of travel
05:35But this is still a great keyboard and as for the touchpad it could be a little bit bigger but feedback is nice
05:40It's responsive and it's accurate
05:42I also think maybe I could have forgiven these fairly chunky bezels for a
05:452022 laptop if they'd improve the webcam if there was a really beefy high quality webcam in here
05:50Well, it's still 720p no change there
05:52They say they have improved the image quality the processing. So let me know what you think in the comments
05:57I think it's doing a pretty good job. If I change the
06:01Lighting conditions a little bit you can see how it copes
06:03We also get dual far-field microphones and I am impressed actually how good the microphone quality
06:08Sounds on this webcam. And of course also we get an IR sensor for Windows. Hello face and locking
06:15Now considering the only real upgrade with this of any significance is that jump to 12th gen Intel processors?
06:21The question is how fast is it?
06:23Well performance in everyday apps is totally fine even editing your photo and playing some less demanding games
06:28It's no problem and impressively even in the top spec form with the i7 the fans only come in under serious load and even then
06:35They're still pretty quiet with temperature sitting around the mid 80s and the chassis stayed nice and cool even under moderate load
06:41I did try a little bit of video editing and while it's fine for basic 1080p projects
06:46If you have a lot of assets or you're editing with 4k, you'll probably want something with a bit more grunt
06:50Also, the iris XE integrated graphics got me just over 50 FPS in Rainbow Six Siege
06:55We'll be on low settings and around 60 in overwatch 2 so they're both just about playable
07:02As for the speakers, they're okay
07:05They can be a bit tinny sometimes but these omni sonic speakers do support Dolby Atmos
07:09So if you are watching something that does support Atmos, I did find this surround sound was actually quite good
07:13But regular videos it's a little bit tinny
07:16Even so, voices are clear and they can get loud enough for watching movies if you're sat close by
07:21But of course a pair of headphones will always be better and you do have this 3.5mm jack if you prefer
07:27So how much? Well the 13.5 here starts at £9.99 here in the UK with a 15-inch model
07:33Starting at £12.99, £300 more for the bigger model
07:36Now if you don't mind the Alcatel keyboard and can live with 256 gigs of storage
07:40Then I would just go with the base 13.5 inch model as at about £1,000, same in dollars
07:45It's easily the best value
07:47But the trouble is if you want it to feel like a proper premium laptop
07:50Then you'll need to drop an extra £2.50 or so to get one of the colour metal finishes along with 512 storage
07:56So that's probably the overall sweet spot for me. And at this price, I think it's still a decent buy
08:01But if you go any higher, I don't think the value argument is anything like as strong
08:06However, you may also want to consider
08:08One of these. This is the Dell XPS 13 and the base entry-level spec is about a grand and gives you pretty much
08:15Identical specs to this but with 512 storage, we also get an extra Thunderbolt port. It's a little bit thinner
08:20It's a little bit lighter. Yes, it misses on the touchscreen in this base spec
08:22But for my money, I reckon the Dell's a better choice
08:25And of course don't forget we also have the M1 and M2 MacBook Airs to consider
08:29Both of which are thinner and will probably give you a better battery life and performance
08:33But obviously without the touchscreen support
08:34What I think I would do if you are really considering the laptop 5 because you want Windows, you want a nice
08:40Ultrabook laptop and perhaps for whatever reason you don't want the Dell XPS
08:43I would consider last year's laptop 4
08:46It's pretty much just as good and you can probably get it for 1 to 200 pounds less
08:50But what do you think tempted by one of these or do you think Microsoft's just got a little bit lazy?
08:54If you do have any questions about this, and I don't know why I'm holding the box
08:57I'm actually not the laptop itself. Let me know in the comments as well
09:00I'll do my best to answer them
09:01And if you enjoyed this review, then a cheeky like and subscribe will be very much appreciated
09:05Thank you so much for watching guys. I'll see you next time right here on the tech chat