Figured I’d make this review as these are the two mainstream devices in this niche of device and i had a chance to have both and return the one I didn’t like.

To preface i had a surface pro 6 for many years and grew attached to the form factor.

Summary: The Flow Z13 has higher highs and lower lows, but i went with it for my use case.

The Surface device is an absolute pleasure to pick up and hold as a tablet. It gives you a novel amazement that so much computing power can be fit in a small lightweight package. That sleek cold smooth metal is a pleasure to touch. The Z13 in comparison is awful tactilely to feel in your hands and heavy, but usable.

The surface has wayy better speakers and the display (IPS) is better to look at; the colors have a neutral vibrancy you’d expect of a flagship Microsoft/Apple tier device. The Flow Z13 in comparison has a blooming effect and more “desaturated” look despite which color profile you set it to.

With that said, the 180hz refresh rate of the Z13 along with 64gb of ram makes it seem way more responsiveness than the surface pro’s 120hz, and possible nearly-imperceptible stuttering due to the 16gb ram this one had. The Z13 just feels more responsiveness, fast, and is the better experience in this regard.

The large trackpad of the Z13 is a pleasure, and this surface didn’t have the Flex keyboard but I’m being mindful of this. The smaller trackpad of the regular keyboard on surface is honestly unacceptable in this day and age, it seems it’s only small to upsell you on the Flex keyboard.

Now I’m not sure if the flex keyboard is sturdier in regards to how the edges are glued on, but with my experience with the older surface pro 6 keyboard, these surface keyboards are a time bomb for the corners to delaminate and begin peeling after about 5-6 years, amplified by humid weather, though it seems the newer ones appear a bit sturdier in this regard. The Z13 however has a much sturdier feeling keyboard that I’m much more confident will not delaminate around the corners for a decade at least if at all.

Both have strong magnets, which imo is stupid because you have to be careful when yanking off the keyboard. The surface pro 6 i had had a weak magnet which is actually great, strong enough to hold onto tablet but you can yank it off without a care in the world about damage.

For future repairability, I like that the Z13 does not use any adhesive around the screen, it’s only clipped on, while the Surface has adhesive. Better than previous years, possibly necessary so it never creaks, but still makes me think of it as future e-waste if you gotta get past glue to open it.

Final word:

The Asus Flow Z13 has both higher highs but lower lows compared to the Surface. The Surface is aesthetically and tactilely pleasing, it’s a beautiful minimalistic device that’s a pleasure to own and use. The Lunar Lake processor is used in gaming handhelds, so it’s fully competent for older and light gaming.

Obviously the Z13 is stronger in raw power, giving you solid local LLM capability with at least 64gb ram and plays the latest AAA games with ease on 1440p. In receiving this power though, you trade those beautiful minimalist aesthetics and the tactile pleasure that comes with the surface. It’s a more crude machine.

I decided i valued the raw power more and returned the Surface, but if local LLM and gaming isn’t a concern to you, and you’d rather prefer a great tablet experience, lightweight, minimalist design and feel, you might be better suited for the Surface. You could still attach an eGPU and get on par for gaming.

I see Surface pro 11 with flex keyboard for $1200 at the lowest on eBay for 16gb ram, while i got this open box Z13 with 64gb ram for $1600 at Best Buy, so it was a no brainer for me to sacrifice the tactile pleasure of the surface for 4x more RAM, double the SSD in the Z13.

My Surface Pro 4 had this issue 11 years ago. I am surprised it is still a thing in 2026.

Hello all! My Surface laptop 7 recently had issues (people at Geek Squad thought that it was likely water damage). I was just wondering if there was another replacement laptop for cheaper that still has 60Hz, LCD IPS LED-backlight Pixelsense flow (Pixelsense flow not required for me if it doesn't affect the display), the same antiglare coating, fairly high resolution (~200ppi or a little higher), no detected backlight flicker, sRGB, very low minimum brightness; whether or not it has a touchscreen or the same aspect ratio doesn't matter to me. I honestly don't care about the RAM or Storage too much; I'm ok with 8GB of RAM and 128GB of storage.

I accidentally broke the touchpad on my MS Surface Typecover. My machine self-identifies as a MS SURFACE PRO (11th Edition) my typecover shows "Model # 1095". The web states these two are COMPLETELY INCOMPATIBLE but I've been using them together for years with no issues.

All images attached. I just want to try and find an AMAZON RENEWED replacement for cheap or, barring that, buy a brand new one .... but I am HOPELESSLY LOST on which model to buy.

Any help is sincerely appreciated.

My Surface Laptop 6 for Business 13.5", Core Ultra 7, 16 GB RAM, 256 GB SSD was stuck in an automatic repair loop. It would reach the Microsoft logo stating “Preparing Automatic Repair”, but never loaded the Windows or Windows Recovery Environment. I have a working booting from a Windows installation USB that I know works on other machines which failed on this laptop. In UEFI, USB was confirmed as the first boot device, and Secured-core and Secure Boot were relaxed to allow third-party media. Neither change made a difference.

I then used Surface Recovery Image (Windows 11 Pro 25H2) that was downloaded for the device’s serial number and written to a USB stick on a Windows PC. The Surface then accepted the stick at boot, but hung at the Microsoft logo with the loading dots, and on some attempts powered off, like before.

To rule out some of the fault, the original SSD was removed and a replacement SSD fitted. With the new ssd, the device POSTed and correctly reported no boot option. However, booting the recovery USB still hung at the Microsoft logo. The same USB boots normally on other hardware, so the boot media, the original SSD and the UEFI boot configuration have all been ruled out.

The device POSTs and UEFI is accessible, but it cannot load any Windows environment from any source. The RAM is soldered to the motherboard, so a motherboard fault is the most likely cause, and it can’t be repaired in-house.

Has anyone had anything to do like this? And if so what was the fix?

This device is out of warranty.

I’ve had my SB2 for a few years now and I loved it but the gpu had stopped working a few months ago due to both batteries being basically dead. As the title suggests, I was wondering if the dgpu would work again if i only replace the keyboard battery? I wouldnt wanna replace the tablet battery and risk damaging the display.

Was going through the review by notebookcheck and this looks really bad. I'm looking for a long term windows device and don't want to end up with any downsides especially on something basic/important like the display. I also thought pwm was not an issue on mini leds...

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-Surface-Laptop-Ultra-RTX-Spark-Review-The-2000-nits-Mini-LED-panel-is-a-problem.1426103.0.html

Hey everyone! I've now released a Windows version of iXpat, alongside the Mac app.

It's a free, open-source app for the Surface Mouse (2nd Edition). I built it because I wanted more control over the mouse's haptics and action button in everyday use.

You can:

- Choose haptic feedback for clicks, scrolling, menus, controls and text selection.

- Remap the action button's press, double press and hold, and use hold-and-move gestures for things like volume and media controls.

- Open an Action Ring with up to eight shortcuts around the pointer.

- Set different actions and preferences for different apps.

- Adjust kinetic scrolling and the wheel's haptic feel.

Windows builds are available for x64 and ARM64, with a signed installer for x64. The app runs on Windows 10 (1809+) and Windows 11; the Mac version needs macOS 14+. No extra driver or admin rights are needed. One Windows limitation: it doesn't shape input in elevated/admin windows. Platform-specific actions differ.

Project page and downloads: https://knightynite.github.io/ixpat/

Source and issues: https://github.com/knightynite/ixpat

If you have this mouse, I'd love to hear which interactions feel useful, which feel too busy, and how it behaves in your usual apps. For bugs, please include your OS, iXpat version and what you were doing. I'm the developer and happy to answer questions.

Hey everyone, I'm thinking about buying a new tablet that I can use for drawing/animating. I currently have the old Apple iPad 6th gen and urgently need something current.
Since I have a PC myself and am comfortable with Windows, I was thinking about getting a Microsoft Surface tablet.
My question is: Which model is currently very popular and also equipped with Intel so that you can use programs like Krita, Photoshop, Clip Studio Paint, or OpenToonz?
My budget is around 1.2k €

Hello! Has anyone who owns a Surface Headphones 2 notice that after a recent update to the Surface app their Surface Headphones has disappeared?

FYI My computer is a Surface Laptop Studio 2 running Windows 11 Pro.

This is reproducible if you are pairing to Bluetooth the first time or after unpairing and re-pairing. I've also discovered it will also sometimes disappear from the Surface app by updating to the latest version published on the Microsoft store.

Unrelated to this problem, I had to do a factory reset via the Surface BMR recovery image and after installing the latest Windows 11 and Microsoft store updates, the Surface Headphones will disappear from the app after it installs the latest update.

recently purchased a surface pro flex keyboard and I’ve heard it is a bit sensitive in the ribbon cable region from where it folds. I want to know what’s the best way to use it to keep it running as long as possible. Can’t throw this kind of money around for a type cover, this is literally arm and a leg price for a keyboard cover.

I won’t fold it around like in tent mode and strain it but can I keep it connected and just use it like folio cover when putting it in my bag or should I detach it completely and keep the keyboard separately inside to keep the ribbon cable straight.

Can keeping it connected and using it just like book cover cause the ribbon cable issue.

If so how's the performance of 26H2 on this tablet

​Hi everyone,

​I recently purchased a Surface Laptop Studio 2 (i7 13th Gen, 16GB RAM, RTX 4050). The device came with a brand-new, original replacement battery already installed. I verified its authenticity and perfect health (currently on its 4th charge cycle) using the Windows battery report. However, the battery life is terrible: it dies after 4 hours of basic web browsing. The percentage also drops in 2% increments, especially fast from 100% to 90%.

​Regarding recent changes, I installed Windows 11 Pro 26H2 and manually updated all Intel and Nvidia display drivers using their official websites. Task Manager shows 0% GPU usage, but HWiNFO reveals a massive idle power drain. The Nvidia GPU pulls 17-26W, and the Intel i7 draws 24W at idle, even with Battery Saver fully enabled. The system refuses to enter low-power sleep states, and the memory clock seems stuck at max frequency.

​I suspect the generic drivers I manually installed broke the Surface-specific power profiles. I plan to run DDU in Safe Mode to wipe all display drivers and let Windows Update exclusively install the Microsoft-certified versions. Has anyone experienced this exact idle power draw issue, or is there a known power management bug in Win 11 Pro 26H2?

Hi,

I've had my Surface Laptop Studio 1 since 2022, and it's the best laptop I've ever had. I have never had any issues with its performance. However, this past month, the bottom rubber came off, and my keys are sticking because I spilled a drink on it (surprisingly, nothing else is wrong). So I think it's time to get a new laptop. I want a Microsoft laptop, and I like the 2-in-1 foldable feature. I did hear the SLS2 wasn't the best, though.
I'm a college student.
Any recommendations?

Is it just me? initial install was ridiculous at hours. now boot time is 90-120 seconds. why is it so slow?

On the slim chance anyone else still has a Surface Dial and switched to a Mac (lol): mine was collecting dust since I moved to an M4 Mac mini. macOS pairs with it but treats it like a broken mouse. So I forked the old open-source mac-dial project and, with a lot of help from Claude (Opus 5.5), rebuilt it as a native Apple Silicon app.

Huge credit to andreasjhkarlsson, whose original mac-dial app this is built on. He worked out how to talk to the dial on macOS in the first place.

What it does:

• Press and hold for the radial menu, like on Windows. Turn to pick a tool, click to choose it.
• Haptics work: detent ticks while turning, plus a buzz when you switch modes.
• Modes you set up yourself. Each one gets its own turn, turn-while-pressed, click, double-click and press-and-hold actions.
• Turn actions: smooth scroll, volume in fine ¼ steps, brightness, switching desktops, ⌘⇥ app switching, tabs, zoom, undo/redo, tracks, or any custom shortcut.
• Press actions: left/right/middle click (you can hold it to drag), play/pause, Mission Control, show desktop, any shortcut, or opening an app.
• Liquid Glass UI on macOS 26 that follows light and dark mode, plus a little dial glyph in the menu bar.

It needs macOS 14 or later and an Apple Silicon Mac. It’s free and MIT licensed.

https://github.com/camerondehart/mac-dial-AppleSilicon

The app isn’t notarized (no paid developer account), so the first time you open it you’ll need to click Privacy & Security › Open Anyway.

Hi,

I've just bought a Surface pro 12" (model EP2-83448), and am trying to work out which docking station I can use with it.

I am in the UK.

I've already got an older surface pro 7, and the docking station for that plugs in using the surface connect plug, and works well.

The new Surface doesn't have the surface connect port though, it just has 2 x USB C ports.

So, I understand I need a surface dock 2, as the power rating is higher, but the ones on Amazon either don't specify compatibility with my Surface, or they have a surface connect plug.

The alternative is that I'm not looking properly.

I need to run 2 x monitors off of the dock, need a 3.5mm audio out, and have a couple of spare USB ports.

Anybody either already got something working for this, or can suggest what I need? I much prefer to use Microsoft OEM kit, but if that's not possible, I'd go for an after-market device.

Thanks

Processor AMD Ryzen 5 Microsoft Surface (R) Edition (2.10 GHz)

Installed RAM 8.00 GB (5.98 GB usable)

Graphics card AMD Radeon(TM) Vega 9 Graphics (2 GB)

Storage 193 GB of 238 GB used

Product ID 00342-23776-82360-AAOEM

System type 64-bit operating system, x64-based processor

Pen and touch Pen and touch support with 10 touch points

Hi,

So as the title says, my surface pro 7+ i bought used suddenly no longer works on battery.

Could this be related to the fact that i just tried to upgrade the ssd to a 512gb kioxia gen3 ssd? I did reinstall the original 256gb ssd and it still doesnt run on battery. On the original ssd the battery icon is present and shows 100%, the new install on the 512gb ssd was so slow because of low clock speeds (sub 1ghz while under almost 100% load) that it didnt even grab all the drivers yet.

Am i cooked and need a new battery or is this saveable?

TIA

I Updated windows 11 after updating secure boot got disabled and when I am trying to change it back secure boot I am getting this error message. What should I do

Ocasionally, I'll be doing stuff then suddenly my pen cursor vanishes, and the Surface screen no longer reacts to my fingers either. I'll have to reboot entire thing but I don't want to, so I'll have to go connect my mouse and bluetooth keyboard (type cover stopped working long ago, different subject). Why does this happen and is there some service I can just restart to bring it back instead of rebooting?

Should I get this laptop? I’m only going to use it for personal use, so browsing, streaming and Microsoft Office. It’s a good price but heavily discounted which is a bit suspicious and the RAM is only 8GB. Is the RAM an issue if I’m not going to use this for gaming and editing?

I’m returning my ASUS Zenbook, Intel Core Ultra 5, 16GB RAM, 512GB SSD, 14 Inch OLED Laptop, UX3405CA-QL241W because even though it’s OLED the display is a bit dim and fuzzy and I’m not a fan of the size.

Is this in the works? Just bought a black surface laptop and would like matching accessories

Just wanted to share my brief experience. I experienced the same issues like many others:

1- the screen blurring and black text unreadable

2- Very poor battery life (loosing over 50% in under an hour) when only downloads are happening in the background and browsing with edge (3-4 tabs)

3- Unbearable reboots and time it takes to restart. And the initial setup+updates download time was hours

4- The deal breaker was it running very hot on both sides of trackpad specially left side. It became so hot multiple times that it was unbearable to rest the hand. This happened on battery and when plugged in. This was a 64gb machine and it happened while playing with 12b, 20b and 27b Param local models using Ollama. And it also happened when setting up OpenClaw with nothing else running at all. I have owned SB2, SL3, SL4, SL5 and SL8 (whole family on surface devices) and none of them has ever got close to being hot. Yes, I had updated the latest NVIDIA driver available as well. Someone might say that a future firmware update might fix this but it's hard to ignore the fact that thermals are under the palm rest as well. With so much money spent, not worth the risk.

No matter what someone says, if this machine gets hot with the models that would fit in a 64gb RAM without a NVIDIA N1X chip, it's a disappointment then. I might be unlucky with this specific hardware but it's the first impressions that make you count on something.

Hope this helps someone.

Edit: those who believe I am lying or never bought this device or was on a different device, please tell me a legit way to prove that I'm not lying 😊 happy to share anything from serial number to purchase/return screenshot. Understandable that people have strong affiliation with brands but so do I.