Why Buy the 2024 Surface Laptop Instead of the 2026 Model?

Microsoft began refreshing its Surface Laptop lineup in 2026 with new Snapdragon X2 chips. When tested in other laptops, including the Lenovo IdeaPad Slim 5x, these processors delivered meaningful speed improvements, particularly for graphics performance.

However, Microsoft did not provide the new models to reviewers for independent testing, so their real-world performance in the Surface Laptop remains unverified.

The bigger issue is pricing. Microsoft, like many laptop manufacturers, has significantly increased prices this year. You can still find the 2024 Surface Laptop with 512 GB of storage for $999 on Amazon. That configuration is currently available in Dune, while the black and silver versions cost $50 more.

Although these prices are higher than they were in 2025, they remain a strong bargain compared with the 2026 model. An otherwise identical configuration can cost more than $400 extra and, in some cases, sell for $1,600. That is a substantial premium for the hardware you get, and the performance difference does not appear to justify the higher price.

As long as the 2024 model remains available, it is difficult to recommend buying the newer Surface Laptop at full price.

Choose Between the 13.8-Inch and 15-Inch Surface Laptop

The standard Surface Laptop comes in two screen sizes: 13.8 inches and 15 inches. Both models are excellent options, but the 13.8-inch version offers enough screen real estate for most people while remaining the more practical choice for everyday use, especially with this aspect ratio.

Microsoft Surface Laptop Ultra: The Most Powerful Surface

The Surface Laptop Ultra may look like a standard Surface Laptop, but its internal hardware makes it a fundamentally different device. It offers substantially better performance than the 15-inch Surface Laptop while maintaining the same thickness.

Its Nvidia RTX Spark N1X chip delivers graphics performance typically associated with discrete GPUs in gaming laptops. In many ways, the Surface Laptop Ultra is Microsoft’s answer to the MacBook Pro.

The laptop is designed for content creators, media professionals and a growing group of AI enthusiasts. It can be configured with up to 128 GB of unified memory, giving the GPU more memory for running large AI models locally on the device.

The tested model had 32 GB of memory, which limits its ability to run larger AI models, including models with more than 70 billion parameters. In practice, users need a more powerful GPU to handle the underlying model and achieve performance comparable to cloud-based AI services.

The case for running AI models locally is still developing, but the Surface Laptop Ultra makes local AI workloads possible in a thin Microsoft laptop.

Which Surface Laptop Is Best for You?

• Best value: The 2024 Surface Laptop with 512 GB of storage, currently available for $999 on Amazon.
• Best size for most people: The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop.
• Best performance: The Surface Laptop Ultra, especially for graphics-intensive work and local AI experiments.
• Best upgrade choice: The 2026 Surface Laptop is difficult to justify while the less expensive 2024 model remains available.