We've thought that a new Microsoft Surface Laptop 4 has been on the way for a while and now it appears the time is coming rather soon.

How do we know? Because Microsoft basically told us - it set placeholder web pages live in its driver Download Centre for the Surface Laptop 4, one labelled for the device with Intel chips and another for AMD. The placeholder pages were spotted by well-known tech tweeter WalkingCat. 

Update: We also now know the Surface Laptop 4 passed through a certification process in the US thanks to Windows Latest. There are four FCC certifications that were published yesterday so there will be four different Surface Laptop 4 models. It looks like the new device will come with Wi-Fi 6 support as a result of the certifications. 

The support for AMD isn't a surprise since the current Surface Laptop 3 - released in late 2019 - also comes with a choice between Intel's Core i5 or i7 and AMD's Ryzen 5 and 7. It would be the latest versions of all these chips.

Some previous leaks have pegged the range as having the Intel i5-1145G7, Intel i7-1185G7, AMD Ryzen 5 4680U and Ryzen 7 4980U as the options. Both the Intel chips there have just been launched as part of Intel's 'Tiger Lake' series. The Ryzen chips date from mid-2020.

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We're not expecting the new Surface Laptop to have much of a design change over the earlier versions, although we have heard rumours that a new version of the Surface Headphones - called Surface Headphones 2+ - will launch alongside the upgraded laptop and be Microsoft Teams Certified to appeal to that audience.

Expect the Surface Laptop 4 to retain the same $999 starting price point as the Laptop 3.