Specs for Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 appear to have been leaked almost completely, previewing the internal construction and design we can expect from Microsoft's next clamshell laptop. It may be released sooner than expected.

Leaker Roland Quandt, writing for German site WinFuture, said Microsoft hopes to launch the Surface Laptop 4 "starting in April." The report also quotes an anonymous retailer as saying that, like the Surface Laptop 3, there will be a choice of Intel and AMD processors in both 13.5-inch and 15-inch sizes.

As suggested in previous Surface Laptop 4 leaks, these latest specs indicated that Microsoft would offer both Intel's Tiger Lake-U processor and AMD Ryzen 4000 chips as CPU candidates. Specifically, the Intel i5-1145G7, Intel i7-1185G7, AMD Ryzen 5 4680U, and Ryzen 7 4980U are mentioned.

There are a few things to note here. First, these two AMD chips are not listed anywhere in AMD's current Ryzen 4000 lineup, probably because they are proprietary "Surface Edition" chips tuned specifically for the Surface Laptop 4. However, it is odd that Microsoft does not appear to have chosen the new Ryzen 5000 family instead.

Leaked specs show SSD storage options of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB for both Intel and AMD models, but also reveal that only the Intel-powered Surface Laptop 4 model will have a 1TB option. The same is true for RAM, with up to 32GB of RAM available only on the Intel model.

It is also reported that Intel models will use the integrated GPU Iris Plus Graphics 950, while AMD Surface Laptop 4 models will use unspecified Radeon graphics.

Battery life for the Surface Laptop 4 is not specified, but the specs list the battery size as 49 Wh for all models. This is a modest 45Wh battery for the Surface Laptop 3. Conversely, the exterior design is not expected to change from the Surface Pro 3, and the screen resolution appears to be exactly the same, 2256 x 1504 for the 13.5" model and 2496 x 1664 for the 15" model.

In terms of reliability, Quandt has a better track record than other leakers, revealing numerous accurate information, including the price of the Google Pixel 5 and color options for the Samsung Galaxy S21.

Nevertheless, a leak is just a leak, so let's wait for the Surface Laptop 4's official announcement and release date before making plans to toss our current laptops. In particular, we want to see how well these CPUs will allow the Surface Pro 4 to compete with the M1-powered MacBook Pro.