LG V40 ThinQ vs. Samsung Galaxy S9+: Which should you buy?

We’re a virtual company made up of tech experts from across the globe. We live and breathe Android phones, and do extensive research to find all of the best choices.

LG V40 ThinQ

All-arounder

$900+ at LG

Pros

• Fun and interesting triple camera setup
• High-quality headphone DAC
• SD card slot and wireless charging
• Simpler software with Google integrations

Cons

• Phone this large should have a bigger battery
• No high storage option
• Secondary cameras struggle in low light
• Arguably too expensive

LG has made a great all-around capable flagship phone, hitting all of the big points with no real downsides. The V40 has all of the latest specs and features, plus an intriguing five-camera array and huge OLED screen. The only potential worrying point is the proportionately small 3300mAh battery.

Samsung Galaxy S9+

The standard

$815 at Amazon

Pros

• Amazing display
• Great pair of cameras
• SD card slot and wireless charging
• Stereo speakers
• Available with 128 or 256GB storage

Cons

• Software can be cumbersome
• Slower wired charging

The Galaxy S9+ is the flagship phone all Androids are measured by. It consistently outsells the competition for a reason: it has everything people want, with few caveats. Build quality, performance, specs and features are all here, plus a fantastic camera and well-known brand to wrap it all together.

The two South Korean phone makers have arrived at very similar conclusions with their latest flagships. The V40 and Galaxy S9+ are nearly identical in so many areas, choosing between them comes down to just a handful of points — and most of all, personal preferences.

Which phone is right for you?

In the hardware, specs and core features of the smartphone experience, you get basically the same package from either the V40 or Galaxy S9+. They’re near-identical in physical dimensions, and sport the same metal-and-glass construction. Both have good speakers, water resistance, a convenient fingerprint sensor, headphone jack, SD card slot, wireless charging and a huge display.

Even the areas where these phones differ are merely small differences in implementation or personal preference, which means choosing between these phones comes down to the finer points.

They go toe-to-toe in every respect — the differentiation comes in the minute details.

Both phones have great, high-resolution OLED screens — Samsung’s is simply a little better. Both have solid, but unspectacular battery life, though the Galaxy S9+ battery is 10% larger. You can argue Samsung’s main camera is better, but LG offers more variety with its wide-angle camera and dual front-facing shooters. The V40 can charge faster thanks to Quick Charge 3.0 tech, but the jump over the GS9+’s Quick Charge 2.0 isn’t necessarily perceptible. The V40 has a higher quality DAC for headphone listening, but you may not even notice or know what a DAC is in the first place.

These phones have the hardware and specs to be an Android phone you’ll love to use every day.

Really, both of these phones have the hardware and specs to be an Android phone you’ll love to use every day. There are a few differences to take note of in the software department, though. If you haven’t use an LG phone in a few years, it’s worth resetting your expectations with the V40. LG has cleaned up and simplified its experience to the point where it’s generally less cluttered and cumbersome than Samsung’s take on Android — and that is, of course, a good thing. The V40 still has its quirks, but you can turn off its most-annoying features and don’t have to grapple with tons of duplicate apps and bloat. The Galaxy S9+ is infinitely customizable, but the number of features and options can be daunting if you’re just looking for something simple.

Finally, you have to look at the price. With the Galaxy S9+ being several months old, it’s regularly available around $750-800. The new V40 starts at $900, and U.S. carriers have it for as high as $980. Depending on where you go it’ll be about a $150 premium to pick up the V40 — that may be a tough sell for you considering just how similar these phones are.

LG V40 ThinQ

All-arounder

$900+ at LG

A great all-around phone with very few shortcomings, and a fun camera combination.

LG made an amazing flagship phone, and did so by simply following Samsung’s lead. The V40 is effectively a Galaxy S9+, with a few tweaks to make the camera experience a bit more rewarding and the software a bit less annoying. It goes toe-to-toe with the GS9+, and in a few ways bests Samsung’s latest.

Samsung Galaxy S9+

The standard

$815 at Amazon

The benchmark Android phone that does it all, and looks great doing it.

It’s hard to argue with Samsung’s formula. The hardware is beautiful, well-built, and filled with top-end specs and features. The GS9+ has an industry-leading display, fantastic camera and every feature a phone buyer wants. The software just requires some massaging to work the way you need it to.

The LG Watch W7 is a $449 Wear OS smartwatch with physical watch hands

More than just another Wear OS smartwatch.

Alongside the announcement of the new LG V40, LG took the wraps off of its latest smartwatch, the LG Watch W7. This is the first new wearable from the company since the Watch Sport and Watch Style launched in partnership with Google back at the start of 2017. LG is hoping to ride the momentum of launching at the same time as Google’s rollout of a new Wear OS interface, but the company is doing something altogether unique: this is a “hybrid” smartwatch with physical hour and minute hands, like a standard mechanical watch.

At its base, this is a standard Wear OS smartwatch. It has a 1.2-inch circular LCD at 360×360 resolution, Bluetooth 4.2, IP68 resistance, and all of the typical sensors. It’s also worth noting that it’s running the last-generation Snapdragon Wear 2100 processor (LG can’t do a whole lot about that, the new chip just isn’t ready), and has the usual 768MB of RAM and 4GB of storage.

But beyond that, things get a little odd — there’s a small cutout in the center of the display that supports an hour and minute hand to sweep the dial to display the time. The hands run on a quartz movement, like a standard watch, meaning it can keep time independent of the “smart” parts. With regular use the Watch W7 has the usual two-day battery life of other Wear OS watches, but after the “smart” watch dies you continue to get a basic ambient watch face with the moving hands for another two days. You can also switch over to a standalone “just watch mode” and let it only use the physical hands with no display — and get this, it can last for 100 days on a full charge.

This is an old-school solution to a smartwatch-created problem.

So how do you use a smartwatch that has its display obscured by the watch hands? LG has a few tricks. First, this is still a touch screen device — LG was able to separate the “touch” layer from the “display” layer, and place the touch components up against the glass while putting the display underneath the hands. Really neat. In that respect, you can just use the Watch W7 as you would any other smartwatch.

When you’re trying to read something on the screen that’s blocked by the hands, just press a side-mounted button and it will bring the hands together at one position, or separate them (at 12 and 6, or 3 and 9) to get out of the way as best as possible. We don’t yet know how well that’ll work in practice, but LG is at least thinking about the complications of having a display underneath physical hands. Given the relatively low information density of Wear OS screens, this shouldn’t be a huge problem.

For all of that hybrid watch goodness, you’ll pay a bit more than you would expect for a standard Wear OS smartwatch. The LG Watch W7 is $449, sending a signal that it’s focused on quality rather than mainstream appeal. And despite its unique watch hands, it’s available almost immediately — you can get one from Best Buy on October 14.

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

Here’s where you can pre-order the LG V40, and how much it’ll cost

Here’s how much you can expect to pay for LG’s latest.

LG’s going for the extreme high end of the market with the V40, and unlike the G7 earlier this year it has the support of all major U.S. carriers to do it. The V40 starts at $900, which puts it at the absolute top of the range for most people, so carrier financing plans are going to be key to get this phone out the door.

Here’s what you can expect to pay from each carrier and retailer out there, along with all of the current deals and incentives on offer to try and lighten the blow of that price tag.

AT&T

AT&T is promoting its “Next” plan, which gets the monthly cost for the V40 down to $31.67 per month … though that’s spread over 30 months rather than the typical 24-month payment plan. The total price for the phone is $950 all-in.

See at AT&T

T-Mobile

T-Mobile is the cheapest of the big four carriers, coming in at $920. That breaks down to $38.34 per month over the course of 24 months on a regular payment plan, though many of you have T-Mobile’s Jump! program that will get you an upgrade far sooner.

See at T-Mobile

Sprint

Sprint has the V40 listed for $960, or an even $40 per month over 24 months. The carrier’s likely to push its leasing deal, though, which will save you a bit over the course of 12 or 18 months, but you’ll be obligated to upgrade your phone at the end of that period.

See at Sprint

Verizon

Verizon has the highest price tag on the V40, coming in at a smooth $980. That breaks down to $40.84 per month on a 24-month financing plan, which we suppose lightens the burden a bit.

See at Verizon

US Cellular

US Cellular, as it usually does, comes in with the absolute cheapest offer for the V40: just $900, setting the benchmark for the phone’s price. We don’t yet know what the unlocked pricing will be, but US Cellular gives us a good indication of what to expect.

See at US Cellular

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

LG V40 specs: 6.4-inch OLED display, 3300mAh battery, five cameras

Everything that’s inside.

The LG V40 doesn’t make a whole lot of changes from the G7 from earlier in the year, but where it does change it’s for the better. You get a larger display, larger battery, a couple spec changes and new camera hardware to look forward to it LG’s new V-series flagship.

Here’s everything you’ll find inside the LG V40.

LG V40

• LG V40: Rumors, news, specs and more!
• LG V40 wish list
• Do you think you’ll get an LG V40?
• Join our LG V40 forums

Apple CEO Tim Cook to Speak at European Data Protection Conference in Brussels Later This Month

Apple CEO Tim Cook will be the keynote speaker at the 2018 International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners, the European Data Protection Supervisor announced today.

Cook will give the keynote speech at “Debating Ethics: Dignity and Respect in Data Driven Life,” a public session of the conference set to take place on Wednesday, October 24.

“We are delighted that Tim has agreed to speak at the International Conference of Data Protection and Privacy Commissioners. Tim has been a strong voice in the debate around privacy, as the leader of a company which has taken a clear privacy position, we look forward to hearing his perspective. He joins an already superb line up of keynote speakers and panellists who want to be part of a discussion about technology serving humankind.”

The session Cook is headlining is meant to start a global discussion on “right and wrong in the development and use of digital technology.”

As TechCrunch points out, Cook’s attendance at the conference comes as U.S. lawmakers are considering online data protection rules similar to the General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR) Europe implemented earlier this year.

Apple is a major advocate for privacy and the tech company that is the most invested in protecting consumer data. Cook and other Apple executives speak often on the importance of consumer data privacy.

In a June interview, for example, Cook said that privacy “from an American point of view” is one of the “key civil liberties” defining what it means to be American. He also often points out that Apple’s customers are not its product.

“We could make a ton of money if we monetized our customers,” Cook said in March. “If our customers were our product. We’ve elected not to do that. We’re not going to traffic in your personal life.”

Just yesterday, Cook spoke passionately about privacy and the need for government privacy protections in a VICE News Tonight interview.

I see privacy as one of the most important issues of the 21st century. We’re at a stage now where more information is available about you online and on your phone than is in your house. Chances are, your phone knows what you’ve been browsing, knows your friends, knows your relationships, has all of your photos.

I mean, just think about this and the magnitude of information. We take that seriously. I’m not a pro regulation kind of person, I believe in a free market deeply when the free market doesn’t produce a result that’s great for society, you have to ask yourself what do we need to do? And I think some level of government is important to come out of it at this time.

Cook went on to explain that there’s a need to work with Congress to make sure that tech companies are doing their jobs of helping regulators come up to speed on what’s possible in terms of the data being collected and how it’s being used.

Apple just recently sent longtime employee and Vice President of Software Technology Bud Tribble to a Senate Commerce Committee to offer support for federal privacy regulations, where he explained Apple’s approach to privacy and the company’s effort to minimize the amount of data collected.

To Apple, privacy means much more than having the right not to share your personal information. Privacy is about putting the user in control when it comes that information. That means that users can decide whether to share personal information and with whom. It means that they understand how that information will be used. Ultimately, privacy is about living in a world where you can trust that your decisions about how your personal information is shared and used are being respected. We believe that privacy is a fundamental human right, which should be supported by both social norms and the law.

Cook is likely to share many of the same sentiments again at the data protection conference he’s attending later this month.

Other “Debating Ethics” panel attendees will include World Wide Web inventor Sir Tim Berners-Lee, philosopher Anita Allen, former chief justice of India Jagdish Singh, HKUST AI research director Pascale Fung, and computer philosophy writer Jaron Lanier.

Note: Due to the political nature of the discussion regarding this topic, the discussion thread is located in our Politics, Religion, Social Issues forum. All forum members and site visitors are welcome to read and follow the thread, but posting is limited to forum members with at least 100 posts.

Tag: Tim Cook
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Review: Ten One Design’s Stella Helps You Plug in Your MacBook in the Dark

Ten One Design is known for some useful Mac and iOS products, like the Blockhead that changes the orientation of your MacBook power adapter and the Mountie+ that transforms the iPad into a second screen for a Mac, but it’s newest product, the Stella MacBook Power Cord, is perhaps the company’s most interesting accessory to date.

Stella features a built-in LED that activates whenever it senses a faint electrical field next to an electrical receptacle like a power outlet, resulting in a bright light that comes on whenever you go to plug it in.

The idea behind the Stella is to provide a bit of light when attempting to plug your cord in while it’s dark, which, admittedly, is not a situation that most people are likely to encounter on a regular basis.

Stella snaps onto a MacBook’s power adapter where the extension cable would normally go, essentially replacing the standard Apple extension cable (or short prong portion). The part of the Stella that connects to the power adapter is white and it looks rather similar to the regular extension cable, so there are no surprises there.

The cord of the Stella is made from a nice, flexible braided material that looks great and is a less unwieldy than the Apple branded extension cable. The cable itself is 1.8m long, like the Apple extension cable.

I don’t use an extension cable with my MacBook Pro power adapter because the USB-C cable is generally long enough for most places where I need to plug in, so I do wish that there was an option for a set of light up prongs sans extra cable.

Ten One Design accounted for extra cord, though, with a handy bi-directional slide out clip that can hold the additional wound up cable in place. There’s so much cable that it doesn’t work well on the 29W/30W MacBook adapter, but winds up nicely on the larger 87W MacBook Pro adapter. Because the cord is flexible, it stays wound up neatly.

The Stella website says the cord was designed with the 85/87W chargers in mind, wrapping around them eight times. It also works with the 61W chargers, but you’ll need to wrap it around an additional time or two.

The plug part of the Stella is grooved and shaped in a way that’s simple to grip, and it comes in either blue or aqua. The plug is smaller than the plug of the Apple extension cable, and it is two pronged instead of three pronged. It also takes up less space than a MacBook power adapter without an extension cable, so it’s a good way to save outlet real estate if you have a lot of things plugged in.

The Stella’s LED is located right above the two prongs, and in my testing, it reliably lit up every time it was next to a power outlet, providing sufficient light to find the outlet’s holes even in the darkest room.

It starts lighting up when it’s about a foot away from the outlet, which seems to be an ideal distance. Ten One Designs says this distance can vary, though, depending on the strength of the outlet and based on factors like the material covering the outlet.

Stella also lights up near other devices that are plugged in, so you’ll see it light up if it’s located near your MacBook, your toaster, your TV, or anything else. It needs to be in close proximity, though, so I never found the LED to be irritating.

I didn’t run into any issues with Stella failing to light up, but Ten One Design says that if you hold it sideways against a receptacle it will always light up, which can be useful in situations where an outlet has low signal.

Once plugged in, the light on the Stella goes out within a few seconds, so it’s not going to keep shining in a dark room.

Stella is compatible with all MacBook chargers, 10W and 12W iPad chargers, and PC laptop chargers, though there are different editions for PCs and Macs.

Bottom Line

Ten One Design’s Stella is neat, but it’s something of a novelty. At $34.95, it’s rather expensive when you can just use the flashlight on your phone or a light switch.

Stella is undeniably useful when you might want to plug in your MacBook cable with the lights out, but I can’t imagine that such a situation is a regular occurrence for most people.

Apple’s USB-C MacBooks don’t ship with an extension cable anymore, with Apple instead selling them for $19. Stella is priced at $34.95, which means it’s a $15.95 premium over what you can get from Apple.

Whether that’s worth it for the braided cable and the built-in light will depend on your needs. If you work in the dark a lot or travel often, the Stella is potentially worth the upgrade, but if you’re not moving your power adapter on a regular basis, it’s probably not worth the extra cost.

Ten One Design has said that it plans to license Stella technology to other manufacturers, so it’s possible we may see more useful applications in the future with the light up functionality perhaps added to power adapters of other types, such as those meant for iPhones or iPads.

How to Buy

The Stella MacBook Power Cord can be purchased from the Ten One Design website for $34.95.

Note: Ten One Design provided MacRumors with a Stella MacBook Power Cord for the purpose of this review. No other compensation was received.

Tag: Ten One Design
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Wi-Fi Alliance Simplifies Wi-Fi Naming Scheme With Upcoming ‘Wi-Fi 6’ Release

The Wi-Fi Alliance, dedicated to developing new wireless networking standards, is planning to make Wi-Fi naming simpler with the upcoming launch of the newest Wi-Fi standard, 802.11ax.

802.11ax will be known as “Wi-Fi 6,” making it easier for Wi-Fi users to understand the difference between 802.11ax, 802.11ac, and 802.11n.

With the launch of Wi-Fi 6, 802.11ac will be known as “Wi-Fi 5,” while 802.11n will be known as “Wi-Fi 4.”

“For nearly two decades, Wi-Fi users have had to sort through technical naming conventions to determine if their devices support the latest Wi-Fi,” said Edgar Figueroa, president and CEO of Wi-Fi Alliance. “Wi-Fi Alliance is excited to introduce Wi-Fi 6, and present a new naming scheme to help industry and Wi-Fi users easily understand the Wi-Fi generation supported by their device or connection.”

Wi-Fi 6 will introduce higher data rates, increased capacity, better performance in dense environments like concerts and sporting events, and improved power efficiency so Wi-Fi won’t eat up as much battery on future devices.

In 802.11ax tests, speeds of up to 4.8Gbit/s over the 5GHz band have been reached. In demonstrations at CES, speeds maxed out at 11Gbit/s.

The new capabilities being introduced are outlined below, as specified by the Wi-Fi Alliance.

• Uplink and downlink orthogonal frequency division multiple access (OFDMA) increases efficiency and lowers latency for high demand environments
• 1024 quadrature amplitude modulation mode (1024-QAM) enables peak gigabit speeds for emerging, bandwidth-intensive use cases
• Improved medium access control (MAC) control signaling increases throughput and capacity while reducing latency
• Increased symbol durations make outdoor network operations more robust

Wi-Fi 6 is expected to provide performance improvements to smart home setups with multiple Internet of Things devices, as well as businesses and those running large-scale deployments. The Wi-Fi 6 standard is expected to be finalized next year.

Tag: wi-fi
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Apple Looking Into LTE Connectivity Issues Affecting Some iPhone XS and XS Max Owners

Apple is looking into reports that some customers are experiencing LTE connectivity issues with the newly released iPhone XS and iPhone XS Max.

According to one iPhone XS Max owner, Apple is conducting an outreach program with some customers who have a new device that is experiencing LTE problems.

Apple has asked him to install a baseband logger to track his cellular connection, presumably to figure out if there are any serious issues that need to be resolved. We’ve heard similar reports from MacRumors readers who have been asked to provide device logs to engineers when troubleshooting the issue.

@reneritchie Apple just reached out to me to see if I could answer some questions about my Xs Max reception issues they’re doing an outreach to some affected users and are asking to install a baseband logger to track my connection to the tower

— Devin Meredith 🇺🇸🧐 (@Devmer11) October 3, 2018

iPhone XS and XS Max owners began complaining about LTE connectivity and signal problems shortly after the two devices launched on September 17. Many users have discovered noticeable differences in cellular reception between iPhone XS models and older iPhones like the iPhone 8 and the iPhone X.

Affected users have noticed fewer bars and poorer signal on iPhone XS and XS Max compared to older devices, but it doesn’t appear to be a universal problem. While some people have complained of weak connectivity and slow speeds, others have noticed LTE improvements, which confuses the issue.

Many of the early complaints came from Verizon users, suggesting there are perhaps carrier firmware issues that need to be resolved, but it’s unclear if carrier firmware is the full extent of the problem.

In the most recent iOS 12.1 beta, Apple updated the modem firmware in the iPhone to version 1.01.20-1, up from 1.01.12 in iOS 12.1 beta 1. On the Verizon network, the iOS 12.1 update also introduces new 33.5.6 carrier firmware.

New firmware on left, iOS 12.1 beta 1 firmware on right
Modem firmware updates are a routine part of major .1 iOS releases, so it’s not yet clear if the new firmware specifically addresses issues that customers have been experiencing with LTE connectivity.

Early reports on the MacRumors forums have, however, suggested that iOS 12.1 does indeed bring some improvements. MacRumors archer75, for example, says the update has doubled his LTE speeds. Other users, though, have said the update does not address LTE problems.

Regardless of whether a fix has been bundled into the iOS 12.1 update, Apple is taking reports of LTE problems seriously and investigating what might be going on, so should this be a software-related issue, a resolution is likely in the works.

Related Roundup: iPhone XSTag: LTEBuyer’s Guide: iPhone XS (Buy Now)
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Razer’s new Sila router is primed to deliver lag-free gaming connections

Although Razer made its start in the gaming space by building sleek laptops, mice, and keyboard accessories, the company seemingly wants to own more of the gaming ecosystem. Newer product categories include a gaming phone and speakers, and today, October 3, Razer is entering the wireless router market. The Razer Sila is a tri-band (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac) router that promises to deliver lag-free gaming connections for $250, or 300 euros, starting today.

“Meet Razer Sila — our first gaming router that isn’t just built to deliver unhindered speed, but lets you prioritize your applications for smooth wireless gaming performance,” Razer said on its website. “Say goodbye to congested Wi-Fi networks and experience reliable throughput anytime and anywhere at home.”

As a router, the Sila shares a similar design language with Razer’s recent phone and Blade 15 gaming laptop. Unlike some other offerings in the space, it doesn’t come with a bunch of protruding antennas, and Razer applied its minimalist design philosophy by housing the router’s nine antennas internally in a slim black box.

To give gamers the connection speeds they crave, the Sila relies on Razer’s FasTrack QoS engine to prioritize bandwidth for gaming applications and manage traffic when there are too many devices in use. “By using deep packet inspection and adaptive learning technology, Razer FasTrack allows users to prioritize traffic based on application and device types, from mobile phones and smart TVs through to laptops, PCs or consoles,” Razer said in a statement. “With built-in detection for PlayStation, Xbox, and Switch consoles, users can easily fine tune their networks for the smoothest gaming or streaming experiences. Razer FasTrack also features a one-touch gaming mode, to automatically reserve bandwidth for online gaming.”

The Sila is an 802.11ac wireless router that also adds support for wireless mesh networking. By linking multiple Sila routers together, users can blanket a larger home or space with fast Wi-Fi coverage. It supports multi-user MIMO and beam-forming technology to improve coverage. And like most modern mesh networking devices, Sila comes with its own companion app, available as a free download on iOS and Android devices, that allows users to quickly setup their routers, manage guest networks, and configure parental controls.

If you prefer to use a wired connection instead, the Sila also comes with four Gigabit Ethernet ports. It has two USB ports, one of which is a slower USB 2.0 port, for connecting devices like a printer or external storage drive.

Though not entirely new to the router market, Razer is heavily promoting its Multi-Channel ZeroWait DFS technology on the Sila. This allows the router to scan and automatically switch you to the best channel to avoid congestion. Razer claims that it “utilizes radar-sensing hardware that grants you exclusive access into normally restricted bandwidth frequencies.” We’ll have to test Sila to see how it performs compared to its peers.

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Microsoft Surface Pro 6 vs. Surface Laptop 2

Microsoft kicked off the modern 2-in-1 with the Surface Pro, a detachable tablet that packs all of the power of a “real” PC into an extremely thin and light slate. But that wasn’t enough for the company from Redmond: it also jumped into the mainstream notebook market with the Surface Laptop, a thin and light machine in its own right that adds a little flair to the traditional form factor.

Each of these notebooks have just received annual updates, incorporating 8th-gen Intel CPUs and introducing a new black color scheme. We took a look at the latest models, the Surface Pro 6 and the Surface Laptop 2, to see which offers the best value and performance.

Design

Microsoft

The Surface Pro 6 epitomizes Microsoft’s highly recognizable Surface design and aesthetic, as a sliver of silver-grey color magnesium allow thin, light, and eminently robust. It looks solid and feels like it in the hand, creating what’s likely the most elegant and modern Windows tablet around with by far the smoothest and most flexible kickstand around. Even this late in the game, connectivity is minimal, with just a single USB-A 3.0 port and a mini-DisplayPort to go with the now-aging Surface Connect port for power and docking. Look elsewhere for USB-C and Thunderbolt 3 — the same goes for the Surface Laptop 2.

Of course, the Surface Pro 6 is the consumate 2-in-1, supporting every conceivable form of input. There’s the Type Cover, a $100 keyboard add-on with a crisp key mechanism and effective backlighting, a very good Microsoft Precision touchpad with full Windows 10 gesture support, and a magnetic attachment to the tablet that props up the keyboard at a comfortable angle. And then there’s the Surface Pen with its 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt support, and the fastest response times among all Windows 10 tablets. Needless to say, the display is also touch-enabled.

The Surface Laptop 2 is Microsoft’s nod to the tried-and-true clamshell mechanism. Take one look at the Laptop 2 and you’ll see, though, that it’s anything except usual. There’s Alcantera fabric on the keyboard deck that Microsoft introduced in its Signature Type Cover for the Surface Pro line, and it’s just as comfortable and attractive here. The chassis is aluminum, which is a switch of the company’s usual choice of metals, which makes the Laptop 2 both durable and light — with the usual Surface solid-as-a-rock build quality.

The Surface Laptop 2’s keyboard is excellent as well, with plenty of travel and a satisfyingly click that makes for a precise feel. The touchpad is a Microsoft Precision version and it’s plenty big for efficiently utilizing Windows 10’s full suite of gestures,  and the touch display also supports the Surface Pen — albeit it’s not as comfortable to use with a pen as the Surface Pro 6.

Both machines offer different color schemes, via the Signature Type Cover on the Surface Pro 6 and the keyboard deck and chassis on the Surface Laptop 2. A deep black color is an option on both, and that’s extended to the Surface Pro’s chassis as well. These are two very well-made notebooks, and choosing between them really comes down to what kind of machine you’re looking for a — the best Windows 10 tablet on the market or a lovely and quite usable notebook with some elegant panache.

Performance

Both the Surface Pro 6 and the Laptop 2 received upgrades this round up to Intel’s 8th-gen U-Series processors. The Core i5 and i7 Whiskey Lake processors are quad-core CPUs with eight threads — both fast and efficient. That’s a lot of power tucked away inside the Surface Pro’s tablet portion, and it’s more than enough to make the Laptop a real competitor. We haven’t had a chance to test either machine, but they performed similarly relative to each other when they were equipped with 7th-generation Intel CPUs.

We’ll note that the solid-state drive (SSD) in the previous Surface Pro was a fast PCIe version that scored much higher than the SATA SSD in the previous version of the Laptop. We’ll have to wait for our testing to see if the same holds true this time around.

Another area where these two notebooks are closely matched is in display quality. The Surface Pro 6 uses a 12.3-inch IPS display that’s incredibly sharp given its 2,736 x 1,824 (267 PPI) resolution in the very productivity-friendly 3:2 aspect ratio. For its part, the Surface Laptop 2 has a 13.5-inch IPS display that runs at 3,000 x 2,000 (201 PPI), also in the 3:2 aspect ratio. Both displays use Microsoft’s latest Pixelsense technology that squashes all of the various layers — LCD and touch screen most notably — into as thin a panel as possible, making the image pop and pen and fingertip presses as natural as possible. If they’re like previous versions, then they’re both also bright with excellent contrast — like all Surface devices, they enjoy some of the best displays you’ll find on a Windows PC today.

The Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 are going to provide comparable performance and both offer excellent displays. You’ll find both of them to be excellent choices for even demanding productivity work.

Portability

The Surface Pro 6 is an eminently portable device at just 0.33 inches thick and 1.69, at least for the tablet portion itself. Add on the Type Cover and it’s naturally a bit thicker and heavier, but it’s still quite easy to toss into a backpack and carry from place to place. The tablet houses 45 watt-hours of battery capacity, which is very good for the slate format and powered the Surface Pro to over 10 hours of playing a local test video and more than five and a half hours of web browsing. That promises nearly all-day battery life for productivity tasks and is commendable for such a thin machine.

The Surface Laptop 2 isn’t quite as thin and light as the Pro, but it’s quite competitive with the rest of the traditional notebook field. It’s just 0.57 inches thick and around 2.76 pounds (depending on the CPU), making it also easy enough to carry around. Its 47 watt-hours of battery life is less impressive, comparatively speaking, and yet the original Laptop still fared well in our battery life tests. It made it past 12 and a half hours looping through our test video, and over eight hours when browsing the web. Those are excellent results that place the Laptop at the upper echelon of notebooks we’ve tested.

The Surface Pro 6 is the more portable notebook when it comes to its thickness and weight, but the Laptop 2 is likely to last longer on a single charge. Which is better therefore depends entirely on whether you want one of the thinnest and lightest notebooks or you want to make sure you can leave the charger at home.

Tablet or laptop? The Surface Pro 6 stands out most

The Surface Pro 6 starts out at $900 for a Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD in the Platinum color scheme. That doesn’t include at least $130 for a Type Cover or $100 for a Surface Pen, both necessary if you want to make full use of the 2-in-1. You can spend as much as $2,300 if you splurge on a Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and a 1TB SSD. The Surface Laptop 2 is similarly premium, starting at $1,000 for a Core i5, 8GB of RAM, and a 128GB SSD, also in the Platinum color. The notebook tops out at $2,700 for a Core i7, 16GB of RAM, and a 1GB SSD.

Frankly, you’ll just need to decide if you want a detachable tablet or a standard notebook — because we can’t say that either of these Surface devices are better than the other for productivity users. They’re both well-built, perform well, and look great. At the same time, if you’re looking for the best in their class, then the Surface Pro 6 qualifies — whereas the Laptop 2 is much less of a standout among its much stiffer 13-inch notebook competition.

Editors’ Recommendations

• Microsoft Surface Pro (2017) review
• Microsoft Surface Laptop review
• Surface Go vs. Surface Pro
• Microsoft Surface Book 2 13-inch review
• Microsoft Surface Go review