
The 8th-Gen CPU brings the Surface Laptop 2 to parity with its competitors, enabling a score of 12,676 on the Geekbench 4 general performance benchmark, which is slightly above the 12,533 premium laptop average.
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I didn't notice a single stutter as I split the screen between a 1080p YouTube video and more than 12 Chrome tabs (including Giphy, TweetDeck and the Google Doc for this review). The speakers did better with the high end of the sound, giving detail to vocals and guitars, but they lacked that strength in the low-end on the bass lines.Īrmed with an Intel 8th-Gen Core i5-8250U processor and 8GB of RAM, the Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 provides enough speed for serious multitasking. The Surface Laptop 2's speakers produce sound that I'd classify as "OK, but could be better." As I listened to my daily playlist - ranging from Music City's "Pretty Feelings" to Wheatus' "Teenage Dirtbag" - I kept wanting more warmth from the speakers, which sounded a touch too flat and cold. Not only did it accurately register my clicks as I navigated the desktop, but it recognized Windows 10's three-finger app-switching gestures. The 4.1 x 2.7-inch glass touchpad in the Surface Laptop 2 offers excellent scrolling and input. While the former is shy of the 1.5 to 2.0 millimeters we hope to find, the latter clears the 60-gram minimum we look for, and helps compensate for the shallowness of the keys. The Surface Laptop 2's keys offer 1.3 millimeters of vertical travel and require 69 grams of force to actuate.

Testing the Surface Laptop 2 out on the 10fastfingers typing test, I clicked my way to 78 words per minute, coming close to my 80 wpm average. The Microsoft Surface Laptop 2's keyboard offers a comfortable typing experience with cushy keys. Edge-swipes from the left and right sides of the screen activated the timeline and control center, respectively, without lag. I saw barely any lag as I drew in Paint 3D, and TweetDeck columns scrolled smoothly. Tapping, swiping and doodling on the Surface Laptop 2's touch screen is speedy and responsive. Colors stayed bright, though, when viewed 45 degrees to the left.
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We saw brighter displays in the 372-nit XPS 13, 439-nit MacBook Pro and 458-nit MateBook X Pro. The Surface Laptop 2's screen is also plenty bright, emitting up to 321 nits, which exceeds the 311 premium laptop average. The Surface Laptop 2's screen also beats the panels in the XPS 13 (117 percent), the MacBook Pro (119 percent), the Spectre 13 (111 percent) and the MateBook X Pro (124 percent).
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According to our colorimeter, the Surface Laptop 2 produces 176 percent of the sRGB spectrum, a rating that rockets past the 114 percent category average.
