tldr; Best Windows laptop for Mac-like experience. Excellent trackpad and display. ARM Snapdragon X Elite chip - check app compatibility first.
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Best praise vs top criticism for Microsoft Surface Laptop 7
“The main thing is sturdiness, I am not sure of the latest models, but older models are rock solid, if you look at 10-15 yr old laptop 7 out 10 laptops have worn out plastic due to which screws fiting break open and hinge issue the most common, somehow thinkpads have very less of this issue. Now nothing is perfect and it might have issues but since its of premium quality considering it get bulk manufactured for companies and then tossed off, its a pretty high chance you grab a durable one for cheap. And older thinkpads not to forget are good on ports, extremely upgrade friendly and easy to repair and parts are available for quite older models as compared to normal laptops. So its more of a choice of consumer at end of day. Moreover since thinkpads are upgradable its a popular in modding community and linux community. You can see people upgrade like crazy and experiment different distros on thinkpads. You can get betters answers at [https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/](https://www.reddit.com/r/thinkpad/) and other similar subs filled with enthusiasts.”
“You could look at laptops like the Microsoft surface laptop 7 (The intel version for compatibility reasons) or other newer laptops from other manufacturers. The macbook air has some real good value for 1k though. If you do end up going with windows, I recommend that you go with the newer AMD and Intel chips (those AI pc things) because they have great battery life and good performance and most laptops with them are quite thin too. You should avoid those windows laptops with Qualcomm Snapdragon CPUs though cuz compatibility is still a hit or miss.”
64 Reddit opinions analyzed • Last updated 2/24/2026