MSI Summit A16 AI+ vs Microsoft Surface Go 4 Comparison

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MSI Summit A16 AI+

16 inches | September 2024

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Microsoft Surface Go 4

10.5 inches | October 2023

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MSI Summit A16 AI+ vs Microsoft Surface Go 4 Comparison Overview

MSI Summit A16 AI+

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Microsoft Surface Go...

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MSI Summit A16 AI+

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Microsoft Surface Go...

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In this review, we will be comparing Summit A16 AI+ and Surface Go 4, two laptops from MSI and Microsoft. MSI Summit A16 AI+ was introduced to market in September 2024 and Microsoft Surface Go 4 was launched in October 2023. There is only 11 months difference between Summit A16 AI+ and Surface Go 4 so we are expecting this to be a fair comparison regarding age and technology level.

Click for Available Configurations of the Laptops

Here is a brief look at the main features of MSI Summit A16 AI+ and Microsoft Surface Go 4 before getting into our more detailed comparison.

MSI Summit A16 AI+ Key Specs

Launched in September 2024
16.0" TouchScreen - IPS LCD, 16:10 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: AMD Ryzen AI 9 365
GPU: Radeon 880M
16GB Ram
358 x 258.55 x 16.9-17.35 mm (14.09 x 10.18 x 0.67-0.68 inches)
Weight: 2.1 kg (4.63 lbs)

Microsoft Surface Go 4 Key Specs

Launched in October 2023
10.5" Touchscreen - IPS LCD, 3:2 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Processor N200
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics (32 EU)
8GB Ram
245 x 175 x 8.3 mm (9.65 x 6.89 x 0.33 inches)
Weight: 0.52 kg (1.15 lbs)

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how Summit A16 AI+ and Surface Go 4 compares and decide which one is better for you.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reasons to choose MSI Summit A16 AI+ over Microsoft Surface Go 4

Screen-to-Body Ratio	~80.2% vs ~76.5%	Larger screen area ratio
Side Bezel Thickness	6.7 mm vs 11.5 mm	4.8 mm thinner bezels
Display Size	16 inches vs 10.5 inches	Larger Screen Estate
Refresh Rate	165 Hz vs 60 Hz	Smoother media experience
Screen Resolution	2560 x 1600 pixels vs 1920 x 1280 pixels	Higher pixel count screen
Screen Type	Matte vs Glossy	potentially less reflections on screen
Max Brightness	400 nits vs 350 nits	Brighter Screen
CPU Fabrication Process	4 nm vs 10 nm	Newer Generation CPU
GPU Fabrication Process	4 nm vs 10 nm	Newer Generation GPU
GPU FLOPS	4.5 TFLOPS vs 0.74 TFLOPS	Easily increase the Storage when needed
Upgradable Storage	Yes vs No	Faster data transfers
NVMe Type SSD	Yes vs No	Better Sound capture
Number of Microphones	3 vs 2	More advanced Wi-fi connectivity
WiFi Standard	v7 vs v6	More advanced Bluetooth connectivity
Bluetooth	v5.4 vs v5.1	Easy login with fingerprint
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes vs No	Connect more device at the same time
Number of USB-C Ports	2x USB 4.0 vs 1x USB 3.1	Faster USB-C connection
USB-C Port Type	v4.0 vs v3.1	Connect to external monitors directly via HDMI cable
HDMI Port	1x HDMI 2.1 vs No	Fast way to input numbers
Numeric Pad	Yes vs No	Easily see the keys under low light
Keyboard Backlight	Yes vs No

Reasons to choose Microsoft Surface Go 4 over MSI Summit A16 AI+

Weight	0.52 kg vs 2.10 kg	1.58 kg lighter
Screen PPI	220 ppi vs 189 ppi	More pixels per inch
Dolby Atmos Speakers	Yes vs No	3D Surround Sound Support

Common Strengths of Microsoft Surface Go 4 and MSI Summit A16 AI+

Launch Dates	September 2024 vs October 2023	Both laptops are recent models
Screen Type	Touch Screen vs Touch Screen	Interact with your fingers
Fast Charging Support	Yes vs Yes	Charge the battery in a shorter time
VGA Output	No vs No	Connect to External Displays via VGA cable
Built-in SD Card Reader	Yes vs Yes	Read & Write SD Cards

Common Weaknesses of Microsoft Surface Go 4 and MSI Summit A16 AI+

HDR Support	No vs No	No HDR Support
Upgradable RAM	No vs No	No Option to increase the RAM size

MSI Summit A16 AI+ vs Microsoft Surface Go 4: Physical Specs Comparison

In this section, we will be comparing the physical specifications and body features of the MSI Summit A16 AI+ and the Microsoft Surface Go 4.

Physical Specs
Weight	2.1 kg (4.63 lbs)	0.52 kg (1.15 lbs)
Surface Area	926 cm2 (143.4 inches2)	429 cm2 (66.5 inches2)
Screen to Surface Ratio	~80.2%	~76.5%
Side Bezel Thickness	~6.7 mm	~11.5 mm
Weight per Inch of Screen	0.13 kg/inch	0.05 kg/inch
	0.286 lbs/inch	0.11 lbs/inch
Colors	Black	Gray
Cover Opening Angle	360Â°	360Â°

Comparison of the MSI Summit A16 AI+ and the Microsoft Surface Go 4 External Dimensions

Weight

Summit A16 AI+ weighs 2.1 kg (4.63 lbs), whereas the Surface Go 4 weighs 0.52 kg (1.15 lbs). There is a notable difference in weight between these two laptops. However, it's important to consider that comparing their weights directly may not provide a complete picture since they also have different display sizes.

Weight Comparison

MSI Summit A16 AI+ 2.10 kg

Avg: 16.0-16.9" 2.07 kg

Microsoft Surface Go 4 0.52 kg

Avg: up to 12" 1.04 kg

Thickness Comparison

MSI Summit A16 AI+ 17.35 mm

Avg: 16.0-16.9" 20.35 mm

Microsoft Surface Go 4 8.30 mm

Avg: up to 12" 16.43 mm

Another value that we use for comparing the weights of the laptops is the Weight per Inch of Screen, which is calculated by dividing the total weight of the model with its usable diagonal screen size. This value for the MSI Summit A16 AI+ is 0.13 kg/inch.In comparison, this value for the Microsoft Surface Go 4 is 0.05 kg/inch.Here are some of the best performing laptops in this area:

LG Gram SuperSlim 15.6 2023: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus Zenbook A14 UX3407: 0.06 kg/inch
Dell Latitude 7330: 0.07 kg/inch
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2022: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2-in-1 2022: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 15 2022: 0.07 kg/inch

MSI Summit A16 AI+ vs Microsoft Surface Go 4: Internals (CPU, GPU, RAM, Battery, SSD, etc.) Comparison

CPU Comparison

CPU Model	AMD Ryzen AI 9 365	Intel Processor N200
Base Frequency	2.0 GHz	0 GHz
Turbo Frequency	5 GHz
Number of Cores	10 (4P + 6E)	4 (0P + 4E)
Number of Threads	20	4
L3 Cache	24 MB	6 MB
Integrated GPU	AMD Radeon 880M	Intel UHD Graphics (32 EU)
CPU Fabrication Process	4 nm	10 nm

Above you can see the CPU options and the CineBench and GeekBench test scores for both laptops, which gives an idea about what kind of performance difference you may experience between the MSI Summit A16 AI+ and Microsoft Surface Go 4.

You may also read reviews of latest laptops with the same CPUs and compare them:

Laptops with: AMD Ryzen AI 9 365

Laptops with: Intel Processor N200

GPU Comparison

GPU Model	Radeon 880M	Intel UHD Graphics (32 EU)
Base Clock Frequency	800 MHz	300 MHz
Boost CLock Frequency	2900 MHz	1400 MHz
TGP (Total Graphics Power)	15 W	45 W
Type	Integrated	Integrated
FLOPS	4.5 TFLOPS	0.74 TFLOPS
Memory Size	System Shared	System Shared
Memory Type	LPDDR5X	LPDDR5
Memory Speed	7.5 Gbps	4.8 Gbps
Shading Units Cores	768	256
TMUs	48	16
ROPs	32	8

GPU is as critical as the CPU for graphic heavy applications and the table above gives a picture of how the two GPU compares. FLOPS is a measure of a GPU's performance based on the number of floating-point arithmetic calculations that the processor can perform within a second. MSI Summit A16 AI+ has a FLOPS value of 4.5 TFLOPS whereas the Microsoft Surface Go 4 ' has a FLOPS value of 0.74 TFLOPS. If graphical performance of the laptop is important for your use type, the MSI Summit A16 AI+ may be the better choice between these two setups.

RAM Comparison

RAM	16GB 32GB	8GB
Memory Bus	2x8 GB	2x4 GB
RAM Clock	7500 MHz	4800 MHz
RAM Type	LPDDR5X	LPDDR5
Upgradable	No	No
Memory Bus	PCI-E Gen 4.0 (4x)	Custom

With a larger RAM capacity of 16 GB, the Summit A16 AI+ offers an advantage for multitasking and resource-intensive applications compared to the Surface Go 4's RAM capacity of 8 GB.

LOCAL LLM Compatibility Evaluation

This quick guide shows what types of large language models (LLMs) each of these laptops could support, based on their respective hardware specifications. It's meant to help you compare their suitability for running AI models locally.

LLM Category	MSI Summit A16 AI+	Microsoft Surface Go 4
Small Models(1-3B):Examples: Phi-2, Qwen-1.8B	✔ Run smoothly.	✔ Run smoothly.
Medium Models(7-8B):Examples: Mistral-7B, Qwen-7B	✔ Good performance.	✖ Not supported.
Large Models(13-30B):Examples: Mixtral, Qwen-14B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Extra-Large Models(65B+):Examples: LLaMA2-70B, Qwen1.5-72B	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.

Note: Optimized (e.g., 4-bit) models may run on limited hardware. Performance depends on runtime and setup.

📌 MoE Models: Some models like Mixtral 8x7B and Qwen3-30B-A3B use a Mixture of Experts (MoE) design, activating only part of the model during inference. This means they can often run efficiently on laptops with 12–16 GB of VRAM when quantized.

BATTERY

BATTERY	82 Wh	29 Wh
Battery Type	Li-Po	Li-Po
Replaceable	No	No
Fast Charging	No	No
Charging Port Position	Left	Right
Charge Power	100 W	24 W

Moreover, the Summit A16 AI+ boasts a larger battery capacity of 82 Wh, offering extended usage time compared to the Surface Go 4's29 Wh.

Battery Comparison

MSI Summit A16 AI+ 82 Wh

Avg: 16.0-16.9" 74.15 Wh

Microsoft Surface Go 4 29 Wh

Avg: up to 12" 38 Wh

STORAGE
With a larger storage capacity up to 1 TB, the Summit A16 AI+ provides more space for storing files and applications compared to the Surface Go 4's max. storage capacity of 256 GB.

Storage Options	512 GB, 1 TB	256 GB
Upgradable	Yes	No
Storage type	SSD (M2)
NVMe	Yes	No

If your budget allows, we recommend opting for the largest possible disk size, considering the potential increase in storage capacity needs in the future. However, please keep in mind the question 'What will the laptop be used for?' when making this decision. Of course, you can later upgrade the hard disk capacity by getting a larger disk. However, if your laptop has only one disk slot, it may not be as straightforward as a RAM upgrade, where you simply add or replace a module, as moving or cloning files to a new disk may be necessary.

MSI Summit A16 AI+ vs Microsoft Surface Go 4: Display Comparison

The display is an essential aspect to consider when comparing the MSI Summit A16 AI+ and Microsoft Surface Go 4 since its is the component that you interact the most and significantly impact the experience.

Screen Area and Dimensions

Now let's look at the comparison of the actual display areas of both laptops below, keeping the bezels around the screens out of the equation. Summit A16 AI+ has a display size of 16.0".On the other hand, Surface Go 4 has a smaller 10.5" display.The total usable screen area of the Summit A16 AI+ is 742cm² / 115inch² whereas the Surface Go 4's total usable screen area is 328cm² / 51inch².

PPI (Pixels per Inch)
Additionally, the Surface Go 4 features a higher pixel density with 220 pixels per inch (PPI), ensuring sharper image details.

Screen PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Comparison

MSI Summit A16 AI+ 189 PPI

Avg: 16.0-16.9" 169 PPI

Microsoft Surface Go 4 220 PPI

Avg: up to 12" 139 PPI

Refresh Rate
The Summit A16 AI+ offers a higher refresh rate of 165 Hz, resulting in smoother motion and improved visual experience.

Brightness
The Summit A16 AI+ offers a higher maximum brightness of 400 nits, delivering a brighter screen.

Brightness Comparison

MSI Summit A16 AI+ 400 nits

Avg: 16.0-16.9" 413 nits

Microsoft Surface Go 4 350 nits

Avg: up to 12" 232 nits

MSI Summit A16 AI+ vs Microsoft Surface Go 4 Connectivity Comparison

In terms of connectivity,

Wifi
Summit A16 AI+ features a more advanced Wi-Fi standard v7, providing faster and more reliable wireless connections compared to Surface Go 4 (v6).

Below, you'll find a Wi-Fi Versions Table, along with their release dates and speeds, to provide a brief overview of its development.

Wi-Fi Versions and Speeds

Standard	Speed	Release Date	Network	Frequency Bands (GHz)
Wi-Fi 7	up to 40 Gbps (5 GB/s)	2023	802.11be	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6E	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2020	802.11ax	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2019	802.11ax	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5	up to 6.93 Gbps (866.25 MB/s)	2014	802.11ac	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 4	up to 600 Mbps (75 MB/s)	2009	802.11n	2.4, 5

* Please note that the provided transfer rates are maximum theoretical values, and real-life performance may vary based on environmental factors.

USB
Summit A16 AI+ is equipped with 1x USB 3.2 USB-A ports. Surface Go 4 does not have USB-A ports.
Both Summit A16 AI+ and Surface Go 4 have USB Type-C ports. Summit A16 AI+ has 2x USB 4.0 USB Type-C ports, while Surface Go 4 has 1x USB 3.1 USB Type-C ports.

Below, you'll find a table of USB ports, along with their release dates and speeds.
To mitigate the confusion caused by generation names, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) suggests using marketing names like USB 5Gbps, USB 10Gbps, and so forth, based on their respective transfer rates.

USB Type and Speeds

USB Type	Version	Speed	Date	Other Features/Explanations
USB4	Gen 4 (2.0)	80 Gbps	2022	Also known as USB 80Gbps
USB4	Gen 3×2	40 Gbps	2019	Also known as USB 40Gbps
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2x2	20 Gbps	2019	Double the data transfer rates of Gen 2
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.1
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.0
USB 3.1	3.1 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2013	Faster data transfer rates
USB 3.0	3.1 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2010	SuperSpeed USB, improved data transfer rates
USB 2.0	2.0	480 Mbps	2000	High-speed data transfer
USB 1.0	1.0	1.5 Mbps	1996	Original USB standard

Thunderbolt
Neither Summit A16 AI+ nor Surface Go 4 has Thunderbolt port.

HDMI
Summit A16 AI+ features an HDMI port (1x HDMI 2.1) for connecting to external monitors. Surface Go 4 does not have an HDMI port.

Below, you'll find a comparison table detailing different HDMI versions, including their bandwidth, color depth, maximum resolution, and release dates. This information can be helpful in understanding the capabilities of each HDMI version and choosing the most suitable one for your needs.

HDMI Comparison Table

HDMI Version	Maximum Resolution	Bandwidth (Gbps)	Color Depth (bits)	Release Date
HDMI 2.1-2.1b	7680 x 4320 *(8K)* @ 60p 3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 120p	48.0	48	2017
HDMI 2.0-2.0b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 60p	18.0	48	2013
HDMI 1.4-1.4b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 30p	10.2	48	2009
HDMI 1.3-1.3a	2560 x 1440 @ 60p	10.2	48	2006
HDMI 1.0-1.2a	1920 x 1200 @ 60p	4.95	24	2002

* Please note that the provided resolution values represent the maximum supported resolution, and actual display quality may depend on other factors such as source content and connected devices.

SD Card Reader
Both Summit A16 AI+ and Surface Go 4 come with an SD Card Reader for easy access to memory cards.

Audio Jack
Both Summit A16 AI+ and Surface Go 4 are equipped with a 3.5mm Audio Jack, providing seamless connection to headphones and speakers.

To summarize the connectivity and ports details, please refer to the table below to see them listed.

Connectivity and Ports
WiFi Standard (latest: v7)	v7	v6
Bluetooth (latest: v5.4)	v5.4	v5.1
USB-A (latest: 3.2)	1x USB 3.2	No
USB Type-C (latest: USB4 2.0)	2x USB 4.0	1x USB 3.1
Thunderbolt (latest: 4)	No	No
HDMI (latest: 2.1)	1x HDMI 2.1	No
Display Port (latest: v2.0)	No	No
VGA	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	Yes	No
Optical Drive	No	No
Audio Jack 3.5mm	Yes	Yes
Ethernet RJ45	No	No
SD CardReader	Yes	Yes
Proprietary Charging Port	No	Yes