I'm considering getting a Snapdragon X Elite Surface Laptop 7 since it's on sale for $1400, which includes 32GB of RAM and a 1TB storage. Most of my work involves using RDP and SSH, particularly for Active Directory management, Powershell scripting, document editing, and occasionally running virtual machines. I know the MacBook Pro has more power and is a newer device but it costs $1000 more than the Surface. There's also the Dell Pro 16 with a Ryzen AI 9, but I'm really drawn to the battery life of the ARM chips. With Snapdragon X2 coming soon, I'm wondering if I should take the plunge on this laptop and save some budget for other projects. Can this laptop hold up for 3-5 years for my varied workload?
5 Answers
I love my Lenovo with the Snapdragon chip! Battery life is amazing, but expect some driver issues. For example, I had a hard time with printer drivers, especially for Zebra labels. Still, it runs all my daily essentials smoothly.
Just make sure your remote access tools are compatible with ARM. Many haven’t caught up yet.
You really don’t need 32GB just for RDP and SSH. Even an old Celeron could handle that! Instead, consider if standard machines with lower RAM can work for you.
But in my organization, we've made it a rule to only get machines with at least 32GB of RAM. Plus, I handle everything on servers now.
Developers gonna develop, I suppose!
Just be sure your endpoint security runs well on ARM. If your security tools are compatible, I’d say go for it!
Checked, and it’s all good on that front!
I've used the Surface Laptop with ARM, and it's been fine for my sysadmin tasks. The battery life claims feel exaggerated though; it’s decent but not revolutionary.
Yeah, I’ve heard mixed reviews on battery life. I've also noticed many claims are unproven.
That's great to hear! What USB to serial adapter do you use? I’m concerned about that for my workflow.