REVIEW: Microsoft's newest laptop delivers a knockout punch to the MacBook — so long as you perform one simple step (MSFT)

microsoft surface laptop

There's nothing wrong with a good gimmick — sometimes, you have to do whatever it takes to stand out from the crowd.

Take the Microsoft Surface lineup, for example. Every Surface tablet, laptop, and PC created to date has had some kind of trick to it.

The Surface Pro is a tablet with a detachable keyboard. The screen on the Surface Book lifts straight off the laptop's base to become a tablet in its own right.

Those kinds of features have helped the Surface line succeed.

Other times, though, sheer quality is the only feature you need. Apple has often been slow to update its laptop lines, but its focus on building machines that "just work" has helped its MacBook products remain the industry's gold standard.

That's where the Microsoft Surface Laptop comes in.

The Surface Laptop, starting at $999, has no gimmicks, beyond a funky fabric-coated keyboard. It's "just" a laptop; although it's got a touchscreen, it doesn't turn into a tablet or fold backwards or anything like that. So it's a good thing that the Surface Laptop is good enough to stand on its own — even when put up against Apple's core MacBook laptop.

After using it for the better part of a month, here's the deal with the Surface Laptop — and the one thing you should look out for.