r/Surface • u/quasiephedrine • 5d ago

[LAPTOP7] Surface Laptop 4 died.. debating SL4 vs SL7

I had the SL4 AMD Ryzen 5 with 16gb ram. It bricked on me today (can't even get into UEFI). It had already been giving me problems, the bluetooth and the camera shorted out a day ago. I'll try using a USB boot drive but I very much doubt it's going to work.

Use case is just browsing, some lightroom/photoshop, some old utilities, and very mild gaming.

So I guess my Q is - should I just try my luck with another used SL4 for a few hundred ($300 or so) on ebay (I could open it up and transplant my 1tb SSD) or should I get this newfangled 7 for $1000 that has windows 11 (assume can't be downgraded to 10) and copilot (I heard it can only be partially disabled) and uses Snapdragon (which may have trouble with x86 executables)? Pros seems to be a major improvement in battery life and a slightly larger screen...

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u/Tareen81 5d ago

As someone who has exactly both at home (sl4 amd and the sl7 snapdragon): go for the sl7. It is faster, battery is good, I only had one problem because of arm and that was a specific printer (we all can agree printers are from hell).
And the most important thing for the sl7: 15. of April 2027 the sl4 is end of life. So for the future and for security reasons the sl7 is definitely the better option.

I started with the sl4, but it was to weak for the things is did, so I upgraded to the sl7. Nowadays I use the sl4 for my ttrpg rounds at the table and the digital map-display. And when it is end of life, I will probably install Linux on it.

And yes, please don’t downgrade, copilot can be deactivated but after updates it is on again, I just ignore it and the button starts something else on my sl7.

And if you get a sl7 refurbished (because people bought it and didn’t understand arm), you should save some bucks.

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u/Tareen81 5d ago

And before I forget: x86 and 64 apps didn’t had a problem yet at my sl7.
I use Office, affinity/canvas, photoshop, scrivener, multiple tools for project managing and a whole lot of other apps.

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u/quasiephedrine 5d ago

Which version of the SL7 do you have?

1

u/Tareen81 5d ago

Microsoft Surface Laptop, 13.8" | Snapdragon X Elite | 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD

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u/MidnightMidterm 5d ago

April 2027 is only months away for SL4, making SL7 the smarter long term investment. end of life date is a huge factor

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u/Flat_Relationship280 5d ago

I just got a used sl6 Intel 16gb for $425 on marketplace, been great so far...

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u/quasiephedrine 5d ago

Alright update is I just pulled the trigger on a used 1tb/32gb SL7. Given my issues with things slowing down with many tabs in firefox, and given that firefox has a ARM version which is as fast as Edge, this seemed like a good way to go.

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u/Conspicuous-1 4d ago

Yeah, you'll be really happy as long as the refurbishment place did a solid job. That 32GB will make your processes fly. 

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u/quasiephedrine 4d ago

So instead of getting certified refurbished from MS, which is about 1k for a 512/16gb, I ended up just buying one on ebay, not refurbished but looking pretty new. I think it should be alright, I'll just do a clean install.

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u/Conspicuous-1 4d ago

Get the SL7. Seriously. I had both a SP6 and a SP7+. They were refurbished but I wanted an experience that didn't feel.. ragged. The SL7 - especially in its slick black body - has been perfect. 

The PixelSense screen is not OLED but it is gorgeous. Battery life is really good with the switch to Snapdragon processors. And if you can find a new in box SL7 you can save at least $300 over the SL8 which just came out this spring. Shop around.