14 DAY TRIAL // One of the most exquisite features of the Surface Laptop, in addition to powerful hardware, is the Alcantara fabric that Microsoft used to give it the premium feeling that you’d normally expect from a $1,000 laptop.
Typically used on car models manufactured by high-end brands, like Porsche, or on products created by luxury fashion brands such as Louis Vuitton, the Surface Laptop is undoubtedly more delicate and fragile as compared to the other notebooks on the market, mostly because every little stain can damage the fabric.
In reality, however, the Surface Laptop is tougher than it looks at first glance, with Microsoft’s general manager of Surface Engineering, Pete Kyriacou, explaining in a discussion with The Verge that the device was developed from the very beginning to require only basic caring after the purchase.
Stains need to be wiped out ASAP
The Alcantara fabric is covered by a special polyurethane coating that’s supposed to protect the more exquisite materials from the liquid that you typically spill on the device by accident. The mandatory requirement is that you wipe all stains as quickly as possible, and this guarantees that the Alcantara cover will look like new even after a longer period of time.
“The balance there was making sure we maintained the luxury feel of the product,” Kyriacou was quoted as saying. “Because you can coat it with a Scotchguard or something like that and make it rubbery, but it won’t be luxury.”
Kyriacou goes on to compare the Surface Laptop with luxury handbags, shoes, and expensive cars, emphasizing that there’s a care needed for the device. Wiping away stains is the only thing customers need to do to make sure the Alcantara fabric looks brand new even after a year or two.
“There’s a simple way of doing that with a microfiber with a soap and water solution on it. You don’t need any special chemical and you can wipe it off. Then just care [for it in the same way] that would go into anything that luxurious. That’s more of a periodical thing, not super frequent, something you might look at doing every six months or something. And so if you think of the livelihood of this laptop, somewhere between four and five years, it’s not that often you have to do it in terms of taking care of it,” the Microsoft exec says.
The Surface Laptop is already up for pre-order should you want to get one, with pricing starting at $999 for the most affordable configuration, while the top-of-the-range version costs $2,199.