Update: Microsoft responded to Tom's Guide inquiries saying the company had nothing to share at this time.
Buyer beware. The Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite-powered Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 now features a "frequently returned" label on Amazon.
The warning was spotted by our sister site, Windows Central on certain configurations of the ARM-based laptop.
It's surprising label for a product with over 400 user reviews, most of them in the 4- or 5-star range. However, Amazon is claiming the laptop is returned often. The disclaimers tells prospective buyers to "check the product details and customer reviews to learn more about this item."
Amazon doesn't specify why the laptops are being returned but we can hazard some guesses based on the user reviews.
What the Surface Laptop 7 Amazon reviews are saying
In our own 4-star Microsoft Surface Laptop 7 review, Dave LeClair said that "Microsoft got it right with the latest version of the Surface Laptop 7." Though he did ding the laptop for underbaked AI features and a lack of ports.
Amazon customers had different complaints.
We read through every review 3 stars and under and several of the 5-star ratings.
The biggest complaint we kept seeing regarded compatibility. The 5-star reviews were concerned with software compatibility but many noted that you could find replacement programs in the Microsoft Store. Though many 3-star and under reviewers were upset that the laptop refused to connect to some of the best VPN services.
3 stars and lower
The lower rating issues for the Surface Laptop 7 focus more on external peripherals, especially printers and scanners, which don't seem to connect to the Qualcomm-powered system. Some also claimed that the USB-C architecture and how it connects to the Snapdragon X Elite was limiting what products could be attached to the laptop.
As noted by some comments on our sister site, some people appear to be buying multiple versions of the Surface Laptop with either the Qualcomm chip or AMD's Ryzen AI processors and returning the one they like least, which may be the Qualcomm version. Plus, the Intel versions are starting to make their way into the wild.
What configurations have the 'Frequently returned' label?
Not every Qualcomm Surface laptop has the 'Frequently returned item' label. Here are the ones that are affected.
As far as we can tell, the Snapdragon X Plus variant, which has 10 cores, does not have this label on any of its configurations available from Amazon.
Chipset | Screen size | RAM and Storage | Frequently Returned label |
|---|---|---|---|
Snapdragon X Elite | 15-inch | 16GB / 1 TB | Yes |
Snapdragon X Elite | 15-inch | 32GB / 1 TB | Yes |
Snapdragon X Elite | 15-inch | 16GB / 256 GB | Yes |
Snapdragon X Elite | 13.8-inch | 16GB / 1 TB | Yes |
Snapdragon X Elite | 13.8-inch | 32GB / 1 TB | Yes |
Snapdragon X Elite | 13.8-inch | 16GB / 1 TB | Yes |
Snapdragon X Elite | 13.8-inch | 16GB/ 512 GB | No |
Snapdragon X Elite | 13.8-inch | 32GB / 256GB | Yes |
x86 vs ARM: Customers may not know the difference
There are currently three different versions of Microsoft AI PCs available to customers interested in not just the Surface but Copilot + PCs in general.
You can choose from Snapdragon X Elite (or Plus), Ryzen AI and Intel Lunar Lake laptops from 2024 or 2025. It's a wealth of options and not everyone knows the difference between x86 or ARM.
What they want is to pull the laptop out of the box and know that it works with their programs, especially for laptops that cost close to $2,000.
Reading through the Surface listing on Amazon, this isn't really mentioned beyond hyping up the power of the Qualcomm chips. There is one mention of apps with a graphic that reads, "With 87% of app usage now with native ARM versions, you're getting a top-notch, efficient and secure experience."
You can scroll that graphic to see apps like PhotoShop, Excel, Discord and more. However, nowhere does it discuss peripheral connectivity or what apps aren't available.
We reached out to Microsoft for comment about this issue and about the Amazon listings.
A Microsoft spokesperson told Tom's Guide that the company had nothing to share at this time. We asked for clarity on how Microsoft plans to educate customers about the differences between the various chips and what they can and can't do.
More from Tom's Guide
You must confirm your public display name before commenting
Please logout and then login again, you will then be prompted to enter your display name.
