Microsoft announces new Surface lineup

[gjsman]

Summary

Microsoft announced the Surface Pro 8, Surface Laptop Studio, a Surface Pro X Wifi-only model, Surface Go 3, and Surface Duo 2 today.

 

Quotes

Quote

Surface Laptop Studio. This stunning replacement for Surface Book dispenses with the detachable Clipboard display and instead uses a pull-forward display that remains attached to the keyboard base whether it’s in Laptop, Stage, or Studio mode. It features a 14.4-inch PixelSense display—splitting the difference between the previous Surface Book display sizes—storage space for the new Surface Slim Pen 2, 11th-generation H-series Intel Core processors, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, and NVIDIA GeForce RTX graphics. The most powerful Surface that Microsoft has ever built starts at $1599 and is available for pre-order today.

Surface Pro 8. The first major update to this design since Surface Pro 3 features a larger 13-inch PixelSense display with Dolby Vision and Adaptive Color capabilities, 11th-generation Intel Core processors with Evo capabilities, two Thunderbolt 4 ports, a 5 MP front-facing webcam, a 10 MP 4K rear-facing camera, Dolby Atmos sound, and dual far-field Studio Mics, and Microsoft says it will deliver up to 16 hours of battery life. It starts at $1099 and is available for preorder today.

Surface Pro X. This year, Surface Pro X is getting a new Wi-Fi-only model that brings this ARM-based design to its lowest price point yet. Everything else is the same, from the design to the internal components, but of course with Windows 11, Surface Pro X is more useful thanks to its 64-bit software emulation capabilities. The Wi-Fi version of Surface Pro X starts at just $899 and is available for preorder today.

Surface Go 3. Microsoft’s smallest Surface PC is now up to 60 percent faster thanks to the addition of a more acceptable Intel Core i3 processor option, optional 4G/LTE connectivity, and Dolby Audio. It appears that everything else is the same as before, including the basic form factor and the 10.5-inch display. Surface Go 3 starts at $399 for a Wi-Fi-only model and is available for preorder today, with LTE models arriving in the coming months.

Surface Duo 2. Microsoft’s questionable entry into the smartphone market is updated this year with a new version that features larger 8.3-inch PixelSense Fusion displays, a more powerful Snapdragon 888 5G Mobile Platform architecture, a triple-lens camera system, stereo audio, NFC, and an array of optional new accessories. Surface Duo 2 will be available in Glacier or a new Obsidian color and will start at $1499 (ugh). It’s available for preorder today.

 

My thoughts

What's wrong with this picture?

• Surface Laptop Studio with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD with Intel Core i7 processor: $2,099.
• Surface Pro 8 with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD with Core i7 processor, official keyboard and pencil: $2,179.
• MacBook Air with 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD with Apple M1 processor: $1,449.
• iPad Pro with mini-LED display, 16GB of RAM and 512GB SSD with Apple M1 processor, official keyboard and pencil: $1,877.
• iPad Pro in above configuration but with Cellular 5G: $2,077.

Surface makes Apple look cheap.

 

Sources

Microsoft Store Preorder Page which shows pricing

 

https://www.thurrott.com/mobile/microsoft-surface/256744/microsoft-announces-new-surface-pcs-and-devices

(I hate quoting Thurrott - but of all the Google search results he had the best one-paragraph description of the updates.)

[gjsman]

Also, because I've seen some people pointing out, 15W Apple M1 is no match for a 35W Intel Core i7 used in the Surface Laptop Studio, that's incorrect. The M1 is faster than the Surface Laptop Studio's i7. 

 

https://www.cpubenchmark.net/compare/Intel-i7-11370H-vs-Apple-M1-8-Core-3200-MHz/4048vs4104

[Commodus]

8 minutes ago, Grand Admiral Thrawn said:

You pay for the privilege to play Fortnite.

You can still play Fortnite on a Mac, just not on an iPhone or iPad!

[8tg]

11 minutes ago, Commodus said:

You can still play Fortnite on a Mac, just not on an iPhone or iPad!

It’s on iOS.

it has a mobile variant

[mecarry30]

16 minutes ago, Commodus said:

You can still play Fortnite on a Mac, just not on an iPhone or iPad!

Yes, but actually no.

Yes, you can download and launch the game, but you will be stuck in the season which took place over a year ago.

[LAwLz]

Seems like Microsoft fixed most of the hardware issues with the Surface Duo. New processor, better cameras, etc. Now it just remains to be see if they can fix their awful software.

Microsoft said that they would support the Surface Duo for 3 years and it still hasn't received a major update yet. It's still on Android 10 despite 11 being out for almost a year, and 12 being released soon. 

[dizmo]

My thought: your comparisons make absolutely no sense. 

 

The thing that's wrong with this picture is you comparing laptops that aren't equivalents. 

[DrMacintosh]

3 minutes ago, dizmo said:

My thought: your comparisons make absolutely no sense. 

 

The thing that's wrong with this picture is you comparing laptops that aren't equivalents. 

The iPad comparisons makes a lot of sense imo. 

[Roswell]

MacBook Air doesn’t have a dedicated GPU. It also doesn’t have a costly hinge design.

 

Beyond that though, you generally get what you pay for. If you want a cheap plastic ridden laptop with a poor screen and tinny speakers, you can’t then point your finger at machines that provide much better build quality, materials and components and cry foul.

[LAwLz]

19 minutes ago, Roswell said:

Beyond that though, you generally get what you pay for. If you want a cheap plastic ridden laptop with a poor screen and tinny speakers, you can’t then point your finger at machines that provide much better build quality, materials and components and cry foul.

I think the surface line is an example of how you don't get what you pay for. The surface devices have in general been shit. Very buggy (especially their awful wifi), often behind on specs and really high price.

[OrangeSunshine]

2 hours ago, LAwLz said:

I think the surface line is an example of how you don't get what you pay for. The surface devices have in general been shit. Very buggy (especially their awful wifi), often behind on specs and really high price.

I second this. It's not just specs though. It's the inane design decisions that not only kill repairability, but outright reduce the lifespan of the device. A great example is literally putting a heatpipe and spreader directly on top of the battery in the surface pro 4. Thus, cooking the battery and dooming almost all units to be a spicy pillow in about 4 years. 

[lostcattears]

They did a ton of things right with the surface laptop studio like a TON 120hz touch display, haptic larger touch pad, 2 thunderbolt, 

 

They actually downgrade the screen to 2400 x 1600 basically a 2560x1440! If it was still 3000x2000 or 3200x2100 the 3050ti would have done nothing.

 

Now it can actually be used to play games at an ok setting. With a 3050ti laptop chip.

 

Now... if they stay with the resolution the next edition... would use a 4050ti... Which means it would finally be useable at near max settings 

 

Then they added a storage space for the surface pen slim 2

 

[IAmAndre]

It's interesting to think that for the price of an entry level Surface Pro 8 with the keyboard and stylus, you can get a base model MacBook Air and an iPad. The MBA is just a superior laptop and the iPad a superior tablet.

[dizmo]

5 hours ago, DrMacintosh said:

The iPad comparisons makes a lot of sense imo. 

Oh, sorry, I thought I'd specifically mentioned the laptop one.

[suicidalfranco]

The epitome of form over function.

A garbage line-up from Microsoft as always.

[Arika]

I like the concept of the laptop studio, but i absolutely hate the bottom case design.

 

Also the slim pen is inferior to the original surface pen.

[Sorenson]

4 hours ago, lostcattears said:

They did a ton of things right with the surface laptop studio like a TON 120hz touch display, haptic larger touch pad, 2 thunderbolt, 

 

They actually downgrade the screen to 2400 x 1600 basically a 2560x1440! If it was still 3000x2000 or 3200x2100 the 3050ti would have done nothing.

 

Now it can actually be used to play games at an ok setting. With a 3050ti laptop chip.

 

Now... if they stay with the resolution the next edition... would use a 4050ti... Which means it would finally be useable at near max settings 

 

Then they added a storage space for the surface pen slim 2

 

But you’re spending all that money to probably have a subpar gaming experience. The displays that Microsoft has used in the past have not had fast response times and the CPUs thermal throttled.

 

It might be different now, but why wouldn’t you just buy a MacBook and a gaming laptop for the same price if mobile gaming is that important?

[lostcattears]

55 minutes ago, Sorenson said:

But you’re spending all that money to probably have a subpar gaming experience. The displays that Microsoft has used in the past have not had fast response times and the CPUs thermal throttled.

 

It might be different now, but why wouldn’t you just buy a MacBook and a gaming laptop for the same price if mobile gaming is that important?

Well, they did a lot of things right but they went in reverse with a ton of things they brought back an ancient laptop design 2 in 1. Yea, I say pencil storage but really it is just under the tablet. The thing looks thicc. There could have been much better cpu options...

 

There are many laptops with gpus and cpus  that are also similar convertibles to this one... The surfacebook at least was unique. 

 

Truthfully, it isn't that good at all. But I was hoping for something better, microsoft serviceability is what I am really after, a lot of windows laptop CS is just a pain in the butt.

 

I would have been so happy with a surfacebook 4... 2400 x 1600 screen with a amd cpu 6 cores 120 hz screen.

The new larger touch pad and better sounding speakers on the bottom portion with a 3060 mobile which can actually play real games. Bigger battery.

The surface slim pen 2... ehhh slim pens are not my thing. Could have made space... Truthfully this was all the surfacebook 3 needed as a spec bump and EVERY surfacebook 4 would have been sold out.

 

I think microsoft shot itself in the foot. If it was suppose to be a surfacebook replacement. There are plently of cheaper and better similar options microsoft... 

 

I am still hoping a surfacebook 4 is coming... if not... well... crap...Dell XPS 17/G14

 

[BlueChinchillaEatingDorito]

The moment I saw the Surface Laptop Studio, my first thought was Sony Vaio Flip

 

 

Shame this thing was never appreciated at the time. 

[lostcattears]

There is one good news they support thunderbolt 4 meaning we can just 100% ignore this laptop studio, and just buy external gpus for the surface pro 8

 

Or wait until the surface laptop 5 with thunderbolt then connect it to the egpu.

[saltycaramel]

I like that, 13 years later, the 2008 Unibody Macbook Pro design is still the go-to design to shamelessly copy (see the lower part of the Surface Laptop studio).

 

Makes me even more curious about the new M1X Macbook Pros next month that will be the first departure from that 2008 design.

[Techstorm970]

Microsoft, your new laptop is shit!  My ROG Zephyrus matches or smokes it in every category for $300 less!!!  DOA unit!

10 hours ago, dizmo said:

My thought: your comparisons make absolutely no sense. 

 

The thing that's wrong with this picture is you comparing laptops that aren't equivalents. 

They don't need to be equivalent, because the MacBooks are what Microsoft is competing with.  Apple is known for being expensive, and Microsoft is trying too hard to change that perception.  When money matters, the Air is a better buy than this new Surface Laptop without question, given that those laptops are mainly used for the same things in the user space.

[Icarus_Radio]

No one talks about Surface Go 3? I have both Go and Go 2 and I am having a good time with it.

[rattacko123]

The Surface Pro 8 looks fantastic! The addition of thunderbolt 4 and 120Hz makes this the biggest update to the Pro line in many years IMO. 120Hz is better for watching 24Hz films than 60Hz is, and thunderbolt 4 gives people the option to use an eGPU (and, thus, HDMI 2.1) if they need it. 
The new signature keyboard looks really cool as it has built-in wireless charging for the slim pen 2. As for the pen itself I have mixed opinions about it due to its shape and lacking magnetic attachment to the side, but combined with the new keyboard I think it’s a reasonably compelling upgrade to the original pen for most people.

 

So, in summary, not only do we have the most compelling upgrade to the Pro in a while, we also have the first proper-but-not-really upgrade to the original surface pen (albeit, only for Pro users). I think microsoft has done well here. 

 

As for what this means for me, I don’t think the surface laptop is a good enough upgrade to my current gaming laptop so only the tablets look like something I might want to buy. If I do get a new tablet I’d want a small tablet (for ergonomics, mainly) so I’d probably end up getting the Surface Go. The new iPad with 256GB of storage looks tempting but I need the features of windows. In addition, I find that Drawboard PDF is better than most iPad annotating software and PotPlayer is the best touchscreen video player ever so despite the mediocre specs I am content with getting a Surface Go. The touchscreen on my Surface Go 1 is beginning to fail (the top and bottom of the screen no longer register touch input so I’ve had to change my aspect ratio to widescreen as a stopgap) so I’m quite tempted to get the Go 3 in the near-ish future. I’m mildly disappointed they haven’t upgraded the GPU much since the Go 1 but the better CPU makes up for that as CPU speed was the biggest downside of the older generations of the Go.

[Doobeedoo]

Cool and all, in general I like how they make them, though prices are very high especially for those specs, seriously.

The Duo could really have a better design overall, larger display and also way less bezels. I'll be curious to see their none Studio laptop eventually. I mean they're working with AMD for XB you'd expect they'd partner for an APU for their Surface lineup and for their laptop a dGPU option. We'll see. 120Hz is good to see.