Microsoft announces Surface Laptop 2 with improved speed and performance

Microsoft announced the second-generation Surface Laptop 2 at its hardware event in New York, alongside the upgraded Surface Pro 6. The new Surface Laptop 2, not unlike the Surface Pro 6, is about the beefy internals and new matte black finish.

The Surface Laptop 2 packs 8th generation Intel processors and 8GB of RAM at base configuration, which is supposed to be 85-percent faster than the original Surface Laptop. The device’s appearance is identical to its predecessor, with the same 13.-5-inch PixelSense display at a 2,256 x 1,504 resolution and 14.5 hours of battery life. The storage options start at 128GB SSD (and goes up to 1TB). Like the Surface Pro 6, the Laptop 2 comes with a matte black finish and no USB Type-C port.

Microsoft says the laptop has a keyboard that’s quieter than ever, making typing easier with an improved mechanical layout. With the Surface Laptop 2 releasing October 16, Microsoft seems to have fixed a lot of shortcomings of the original Surface Laptop in this hardware refresh. The Surface Laptop 2 starts at $999 USD for the base model. Pre-orders are open now.