Laptop equivalent to a Surface Pro 8

My Surface Pro 8 failed the other day. It was bought new in September last year. I had started a reset, but it failed at the logo screen to complete its re-boot. The shop techs couldn’t restore it either, so it has been sent back to Microsoft for repair or replacement. I had to cancel a gig soon after as the Surface was my only machine.

I have had a good run over the years with several Surfaces. They all have performed well and given me a good run. Yesterday I started looking for a laptop equivalent to use as a backup. So far I have taken home three and all have been under performers (a Dell and two Lenovos with similar specs to the SP 8). The specs I need are:

  • i7 processor
  • 16 gig ram
  • 5i2 gig SSD
  • Two thunderbolt ports.
  • Screen able to fold back on itself

My intention would be to use the two computers as individual machines. If one stops, then the other would be booted up during a break. My budget would need to be less than the equivalent cost of a SP 8.

Is there a forum reader that uses a laptop successfully that could be recommended? If so, I’d like to hear back. Many thanks.

I have a Dell G15 5511 which gives me complete satisfaction and leaves me at least 50% headroom on the cpu and ram.
But the results obtained with the requested capacities and performances depend on the specific needs of each person and the software used - and on the quality of the OS optimization.

15.6 inch FHD screen
i7-11800H (up to 4.6 GHz, 8 cores, 24MB cache)
1 Thunderbolt 4 port
1 USB 3.2 Gen 1 port with PowerShare
2 USB 3.2 Gen 1 ports
16GB DDR4 3200MHz, 2x8GB
2 x 1TB NVMe M.2 drives
NVIDIA® GeForce RTX™ 3060 graphics card, 6GB GDDR6
Backlit keyboard (so useful on stage)
OS: Windows 11 21H2 with only audio applications and fully optimized with the ultimate guide :wink:

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Thanks very much for taking the time to reply. After trying out the three machines, I’ve decided to bite the bullet and buy an identical second Surface pro 8. That way, I know everything will work.

I have a further question. I have a Macrium image from my first SP 8. When I get the second identical machine, will that image from the first machine install ok on the second one?

It should, provided that hardware is the same.
If something is different, try this: ReDeploy a system to new hardware

I wouldn’t know: I only use it to backup and restore a disk image on the same PC.
I think that to transfer to another PC, it is better to use the cloning method rather than the disk image, but this is only a guess.
In both cases you should not forget to copy the other partitions of the system at the same time (they are smaller than 1 GB) otherwise you will not be able to restore the system correctly (this happened to me for a restoration on a dual boot - 2 Windows OS on 2 partitions).
The best thing to do is to try… after having first made a backup of your new Surface system.

@npudar Damn! I got passed again at the finish line :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I had great experience with Acronis’ feature - Universal Restore. For example, if a hard disk is different, you supplied the driver directly to the Acronis wizard.

Acronis does the rest, i.e. replacing the driver in the backup and restoring the right driver.