Surface Laptop 7 vs. Lenovo Slim Pro 9i: Battle of the ultraportables

• Editor’s choice

  Surface Laptop 7

  The Surface Laptop 7 has a brand new, thinner design with a haptic touchpad. It’s now powered by Snapdragon X chips, comes in 13-inch and 15-inch models, and still retains the classic Surface styling. The only thing it’s missing is a discrete GPU option, something that the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i offers.

  Pros

  • Power-efficient Snapdragon chips
  • Affordable starting price
  • New haptic touchpad

• 

  Lenovo Slim Pro 9i

  $1900 $2150 Save $250

  The creator-focused Lenovo Slim Pro 9i is a powerful, svelte laptop packed with 13th-generation Intel Core processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. It also has options for mini-LED displays for better brightness and contrast, and an overall higher resolution than the Surface Laptop 7. Then again, it’s nearly twice the price.

  Pros

  • Sharp, bright, high-refresh rate displays
  • Compact but powerful
  • Powerful Intel CPU and Nvidia GPU combination

  Cons

  • Limited battery life
  • Webcam is pretty bad

If you’re always doing your work on the go, you know the importance of a great laptop that can enable you to power through your tasks and also be portable enough to comfortably tote it along. The latest crop of slimline laptops all have one thing in common: they’re powered by the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips, which are Arm-based, power-efficient, and also very powerful. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop 7 is the first in the line to be powered by an Arm-based chip, and it comes in two screen sizes now. Options are great though, so we’ve put it up against another slim and sleek notebook, the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i, which also comes in two sizes but is powered by Intel processors with discrete Nvidia graphics. Can the Arm-based Surface Laptop 7 best this powerful x86 beast?

Price, specs, and availability

The Surface Laptop 7 is available now to order, with a release date of June 18. Pricing begins at $1,000 for a 13.8-inch display powered by the Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of storage, and scales up in cost as you choose other models.

The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i was announced in March 2023, and has had spotty availability since then. The launch price was $1700 for the 14-inch model and $1800 for the 16-inch model, but once launched, that became $1900 for the 14-inch model and $2150 for the 16-inch variant. Pricing scales pretty quickly once you start adding options, although the only ones we could find in stock were preconfigured.

• 	Surface Laptop 7	Lenovo Slim Pro 9i
  CPU	Up to Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite	14-inch: Intel Core i7-13705H; 16-inch: Intel Core i9-13905H
  GPU	Qualcomm Adreno	14-inch: Nvidia GeForce RTX 4050 (80W); 16-inch: Up to Nvidia GeForce RTX 4070 (100W)
  Display (Size, Resolution)	13.8-inch, 2304×1536 or 15-inch, 2496×1664	14.5-inch IPS, 16:10 aspect ratio, 3072×1920, 400 nits, 120Hz, touch14.5-inch mini-LED, 16:10 aspect ratio, 3072×1920, 1,200 nits, 165Hz, touch16-inch IPS, 16:10 aspect ratio, 3200×2000, 400 nits, 165Hz, touch16-inch mini-LED, 16:10 aspect ratio, 3200×2000, 1,200 nits, 165Hz, touch
  RAM	Up to 64GB LPDDR5x	32GB LPDDR5x-6400
  Storage	Up to 1TB Gen 4 SSD	512GB/1TB PCIe 4.0 NVMe SSD
  Battery	54-66Wh	75WHr
  Ports	2x USB4, 1x USB Type-A, 1x Surface Connect	14-inch: 1x Thunderbolt, 1x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-C, 2x USB Type-A, 1x HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, SD card reader; 16-inch: 1x Thunderbolt 4, 3x USB 3.2 Gen 1 Type-A, 1x HDMI, 3.5mm headphone jack, SD card reader
  Operating System	Windows 11	Windows 11 Home
  Dimensions	11.85 x 8.67 x 0.69in; 15-inch: 12.96 x 9.41 x 0.72in	14-inch: 12.87 x 8.8 x 0.69 inches (326.95 x 223.54 x 17.6mm); 16-inch: 14.27×9.64×0.71 inches (362.44×244.82×18.16mm)
  Weight	13-inch: 2.96 pounds; 15-inch: 3.67 pounds	14-inch: 3.7 pounds (1.68kg); 16-inch: 4.92 pounds (2.23kg)
  Speakers	Omnisonic speakers	14-inch: 2x 2W woofers, 2x 1W tweeters; 16-inch: 4x 2W woofers, 2x 2W tweeters
  Colors	Platinum, Graphite, Sapphire, Dune	Storm grey
  Price	Starts at $1,000	14-inch: $1,870; 16-inch: $2,150

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Design

Both are slim and come in two sizes

The Surface Laptop 7 got a design refresh, where the previously chunky bezels around the screen became much slimmer. That makes it smaller and lighter than the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i by three-quarters of a pound, for the 13.8-inch model compared to the 14-inch Lenovo, and by a full pound-and-a-quarter for the 15-inch model compared to the 16-inch Lenovo. You do get some benefits on the heavier Lenovo models though, like discrete GPUs and higher-resolution screens.

The Surface Laptop 7 gets two USB-C ports with USB4, which means they support fast charging, external monitors via DisplayPort 2.1, and high-speed data transfer, and one Surface Connect port. And yes, you can still use your favorite Thunderbolt accessories with it, it just can’t use the Thunderbolt branding since that is limited to Intel and Apple. The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i has a wider variety of ports, with the 16-inch model having one Thunderbolt 4 port, three USB Type-A ports (all with 5Gbps speeds), HDMI, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a full-size SD card reader. The 14-inch model has almost the same selection, switching out one USB Type-A for a USB Type-C that’s used for charging.

And if you place importance on the color of your laptop, we should note that the Surface Laptop 7 comes in Platinum, Sapphire, Graphite, and Dune, while the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i only comes in Slate Gray. This can often be the deciding factor when purchasing, so the Surface would win on color selection alone; but it also takes the crown for the other reasons mentioned.

Winner: Surface Laptop 7 (unless you need the other ports)

Display and camera

Both have bright touchscreens

Surface devices have a reputation for quality, high-definition displays, and the Surface Laptop 7 keeps that tradition going. The PixelSense screens are IPS panels running at a 120Hz refresh rate and a 3:2 aspect ratio, which lets you keep more of your documents on screen while working. The 13.8-inch display has a 2304×1536 resolution, while the 15-inch model has a 2496×1664 resolution. Both support touch input, making them slightly glossy thanks to the glass layer needed for that functionality.

The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i has a more traditional 16:10 aspect ratio on both models. This makes it better for movie watching, but does squish the available space for reading websites or documents. There are two display types to choose from, with IPS and mini-LED on offer. The 14.5-inch model has a 3072×1,920 resolution at a 120Hz refresh rate, with 400 nits of brightness for the IPS and 1200 nits for the mini-LED. The 16-inch models have a 3200×2000 resolution at a 165Hz refresh rate, with 400 nits brightness for the IPS and 1200 nits for the mini-LED option. These are great specifications, but our testing found that the mini-LED display on the 16-inch model didn’t measure up to its claims of color gamut coverage. It is still a quality screen with a bright picture, but could be better. These screens are also very reflective, thanks to the glass touchscreen, and don’t seem to have an anti-glare coating.

The Surface Laptop 7 finally has a 1080p webcam, the capable Surface Studio Camera. It’s also AI enhanced thanks to Copilot+, with a bevy of enhancements to make you look your best. The Slim Pro 9i has a 5MP webcam capable of 1440p, but we found it was very grainy in use, and didn’t perform anywhere near how we expected based on the specifications. These laptops both have high-resolution, high-refresh rate displays, with the aspect ratio being the only real difference, so it’s a choice between a slightly taller or a slightly wider screen.

Winner: Tie

Performance and battery life

Do you need more power or all-day use

The Surface Laptop 7 is powered by the Arm-based Qualcomm Snapdragon X chipset, which, like Apple Silicon, is powerful while still incredibly power-efficient. That means the 54Wh battery will go further, and the 15-inch Laptop 7 has an even bigger 66Wh battery. That could mean all-day use, without needing to carry around a charging brick.

It’s also full of AI functionality, as the Qualcomm chips are fully supported by Copilot+, including features like Recall and Live Captions. Plus, that 1080p webcam will look even better, with a slew of AI image enhancements.

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The Lenovo Slim Pro 9i is no slouch either, with Intel Core i7 processors in the 14-inch model, and i9 processors in the 16-inch model. That’s paired with a selection of Nvidia RTX GeForce 40 series discrete graphics chips, so the Slim Pro 9i is possibly the better option for content creators. That said, we haven’t had much time to benchmark the Snapdragon X series just yet, so we’ll wait for a definitive decision until we can test things like video editing thoroughly.

We have, however, had plenty of time to benchmark the Slim Pro 9i. We found that both size options perform very well, and could be pushed into gaming use as long as in-game settings are reduced. The discrete graphics chip and powerful CPU mean battery life suffers though, as the 75 watt-hour battery could only manage roughly four hours of use from the 16-inch and almost five hours from the 14-inch model. That’s pretty good for the type of laptop that it is, but pales when compared to the battery life of Arm-based devices.

Winner: Surface Laptop 7 (unless you need the additional GPU power)

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Which laptop fits your workday best?

The Qualcomm Snapdragon X-powered Surface Laptop 7 is better for most users by any metric you can choose. It has a longer battery life, similar performance in everyday tasks, and a sleeker design. The webcam is now 1080p and comes with AI enhancements powered by Copilot+. It’s also cheaper, starting at nearly half the price of the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i. We haven’t tested it fully (yet) but our hands-on preview experience felt more modern, as a premium device should be. The touchpad is now haptic too, which will make using it more enjoyable.

Surface Laptop 7

The Surface Laptop 7 has a brand new, thinner design with a haptic touchpad. It’s now powered by Snapdragon X chips, comes in 13-inch and 15-inch models, and still retains the classic Surface styling. The only thing it’s missing is a discrete GPU option, something that the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i offers.

However, if you’re a content creator that needs extra discrete GPU power, or if you prefer a landscape ratio for your display, the Lenovo Slim Pro 9i is worth a look. It’s got plenty of power, a bright, crisp display if you opt for the mini-LED, and will handle tasks like video editing with ease. Bear in mind, you will have to carry the power brick along with you too, since the battery life isn’t great, and it will be even shorter if you’re doing intensive tasks.

Lenovo Slim Pro 9i

$1895 $2000 Save $105

The creator-focused Lenovo Slim Pro 9i is a powerful, svelte laptop packed with 13th-generation Intel Core processors and Nvidia GeForce RTX 40 series GPUs. It also has options for mini-LED displays for better brightness and contrast, and an overall higher resolution than the Surface Laptop 7. Then again, it’s nearly twice the price.