The Bezel

[Indistinguishable]

It stands to reason that the reason that previous Surface Pro and Book models have the bezel that they do is because it just makes sense for tablets to have an area of on the sides of the display that can be held without interacting with the display.

But the Surface Laptop doesn't have a detachable display that needs to be held. So why, in this age where less bezel is seen as a good thing (See XPS Laptops and Samsung Galaxy S8), did Microsoft decide to include a sizable bezel in this device?

 

[Drael646464]

*shrug* because its also touch and stylus active? You might want to handle the display without triggering the apps on your desktop, or throwing icons into the recycle bin.

 

[Pcrispy]

I noticed during the presentation how Panos held the screen when using the pen. If you have a perfectly balanced one finger lid lift, then it only makes sense to need support when you choose to touch it.

 

[Indistinguishable]

I noticed during the presentation how Panos held the screen when using the pen. If you have a perfectly balanced one finger lid lift, then it only makes sense to need support when you choose to touch it.
View attachment 135493

Yeah, I noticed that too. He unintionally demonstrated how silly using a stylus on the Surface Laptop is.

You have a good point about the finger lift. But you can have a bezel on the top, along with the camera. and not have the bezels on the side.

I just think that the Surface team could have pushed the boundaries a bit more by not having the bezels that they have.

 

[someoneinwa]

This is a first world discussion if there ever was one. That said, there is a lot of tech that goes into these screens, particularly with touch, and as the design goal here was to make the device thin, and the screen is the thinnest there is according to Panay's comments, some of that tech goes into the space under the bezel I assume.

 

[Indistinguishable]

This is a first world discussion if there ever was one.

Well... You are in a forum subsection about a >$1,000 laptop... So... Yes?

And you have a good point about the thinness of the display. I suppose they chose to go for that as opposed to less bezel.

 

[Steve78UK]

I don't have a problem with the bezels on the Surface laptop. Plus I'd much rather have a top bezel that allows the camera etc to be housed in a sensible place rather than go for the horrific compromise Dell made with the XPS 13.

 

[Srb01]

The side bezels are there to be perfect aligned to the base...since the keyboard goes almost to the edge...so to shrink down the bezels means to shrink down the keyboard...so this one it is a nice logic that came from Apples Macbook that the keyboard made the size of the laptop. Yes they could make it 13.7" and with thiner bezels but the display is already used for surface book, so from business and profits point of view this was cheaper

 

[RBuschy]

My current TV's have edges 2" or 3" Thick and they are flat panels... Given the way things are now they almost look ridiculous in comparison. But for a touch screen, I can see the practicality of having a decent edge on the screen. My Cell is practically edge to edge on the horizontal and I am always moving or activating things unintentionally. And even more annoyingly, icons right on the edge can be a total pain to activate properly because there is no room to start the swipe motion etc.

 

[AndreAC_920]

I dont think its something for you guys to REALLY be afraid off.
The Surface Laptop its just a new device that supports every new hardware accessory Microsoft has right now, but i cant imagine people using the Dial or the Pen on that.

 

[Caleb Hester]

Not sure how you could attach the Dial on the Surface Laptop as it has a bit of weight to it and tends to slide when the screen is pointed straight up. The Surface Pen is a maybe but not a day to day thing. I think the bezel looks fine. It's clean and still has a nice premium look so I can deal with that, the 360 flip would be a great addition though.

 

[Jeffery Holderness]

Not a deal breaker. In a world where the competition is working so hard to "innovate" to the point where they make unnecessary changes that don't innovate. I'm glad Microsoft was like, "lets make a more efficient battery and a better form factor. Oh, and it's a touchscreen."

 

[Joshua Muldoon]

It stills has less bezel than my Hp, so I can deal with it.

 

[Username92]

They probably wanted to use left over screens from surface book and they don't support bezel-less. Just economics....

 

[kashgohel]

I actually prefer the bezels, though would have wished for a bigger screen in the same form factor. The larger the base the better the battery, so I think its a decent compromise for having a small screen with bezels.