It’s a shame Microsoft’s upgraded Surface Laptop 7 is just ‘for business’

Microsoft has offered 5G connectivity on the Surface Pro 11 since the laptop launched, but for the first time ever, Microsoft is expanding 5G support to its Surface Laptop 7, which ranks at the top of our list of the best laptops. There’s just one small caveat; it’s only available for business customers, at least right now.

There aren’t a ton of details right now, but Microsoft says the Surface Laptop 7 for Business with 5G — I don’t make the names, folks — will start rolling out “later in 2025.” The company also promises to share more details on the laptop in the “coming months,” which will hopefully clear up if this model is coming to the consumer market, as well.

Microsoft has been accepting pre-orders for the Surface Laptop 7 and Surface Pro 11 for Business since August of last year, according to a report from Windows Central. Now, however, Microsoft is offering the two devices with both Snapdragon X and Intel Core Ultra Series 2 processors, otherwise known as Lunar Lake. The Lunar Lake models, which are certified Copilot+ PCs, will be available for businesses starting on February 18, starting at $1,500 for both models.

These are ostensibly the same devices that you can get from your local Best Buy, but the security and management capabilities are cranked to the max. In addition to Windows 11 Pro preinstalled, these devices will have access to the new Surface Management Portal for IT admins who are managing a fleet of devices.

Although it’s unclear if Microsoft will eventually release a consumer-facing version of the Surface Laptop with 5G, you can buy the “for business” Surface devices directly from Microsoft, though at a bit of an upcharge. For instance, you can get the Surface Pro 11 with the Snapdragon X Plus, 16GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage for $1,000 directly from Microsoft. The business version starts at $1,100 for the same configuration. The actual price difference depends on your configuration.

The new Lunar Lake versions are significantly more expensive than their Snapdragon counterparts — around $400 more expensive, in fact. Both models can go up to a Core Ultra 7 268V chip with 32GB of memory and 1TB of storage. However, the base model comes with a Core Ultra 5 236V, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of (user-upgradable) storage.