I really want to like the Surface Pro. A full Windows 8 Pro device in tablet form has the potential to shake up the mobile computing world, offering genuine computing power in a truly portable package. To be *that* device the Surface Pro doesn't need to match the iPad or Nexus 10 in terms of thinness and lightness, or even battery life - after all, it offers functionality more akin to that of a laptop than a Windows tablet. But it does need to come close.
The Surface Pro launches in the UK on 23 May 2013. It will cost £719 for the model with 64GB of onboard storage, and the larger 128GB model will cost £799. So now the Surface Pro is available in the UK, should you rush out and buy one?
The good news is that the Surface Pro offers Ultrabook performance in a chassis only marginally thicker than the Surface RT. The bad news is that it is hot and heavy and the battery life isn't what we'd hoped for. It's a B+ product. A four-star device that is almost, but not quite, the one device for all. Here's why...
Surface Pro: Design and build
It's difficult to know how to judge the Surface Pro's design. It's a hybrid device, designed to replace your Ultrabook or Macbook Air and to do away with your need to travel with an iPad or Nexus 7. I'm writing this on a business trip on which I have brought a Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch touchscreen Ultrabook and a Nexus 7 tablet. Compared with the former the Surface Pro is a true lightweight. It is unmistakably thicker than the 9.4mm Surface RT - and for that matter the iPad - but next to the 22mm X1 Carbon Touch its 13.5mm thickness means it's a baby. Use the kick stand and Touch or Type keyboard and you will feel like you have a tiny laptop on the go. But try to use the Surface Pro and you will realise what a chunk of tech this is.
Make no mistake: the Surface Pro is one hot and heavy device. The fact that it weighs around 900g doesn't tell the whole story. In our tests it ran really hot - as might be expected of such a small Core i5 device - and holding it in one hand for any period of time is a trial. There are two near-silent fans working to dissipate heat, but they do a far from perfect job. It also looks and feels almost fatally chunky. This is a subjective thing, but unlike the svelte Surface RT the Pro has a certain Fisher Price asthetic. It just doesn't look like something I'd want to show off to my friends.
The Surface Pro does retain the design plus points of the Surface RT. That 22-degree kickstand is a neat solution, albeit one with no gradient so you have your screen angled at 22 degrees or not at all. And the way the Type keyboard clicks in is a joyous thing. But the gap between the back and the top of the chassis remains. It's presumably there to allow for air flow, but we can't say it adds to the way the Surface Pro makes us feel.
The Surface Pro has a better display than did the RT. It is a 1920-by-1080-pixel, 10.6-inch screen. That makes for 208 pixels per inch - somewhat behind the iPad or Nexus 10, but not so as you can really notice. It's a decent screen for a tablet, but on size alone it can't match up to that of a decent laptop. Viewing angles are pretty good though, at least side to side. It's a pretty reflective screen, however. We found it all but useless outside.
Surface Pro: storage
The 128GB Surface Pro we tested offers only 83GB of usable storage capacity. The Surface Pro supports USB 3.0 so you can expand your storage using an external drive. There's also a MicroSDXC card slot in case you want to add onboard flash memory.
Surface Pro: performance, connectivity, battery
Here we meet only good news. With an average PCMark7 benchmark score of 4751 the Surface Pro is a Windows 8 PC offering the performance of a high-end Ultrabook. Consider the specs. Like the previously mentioned ThinkPad X1 Carbon Touch (and the Dell XPS Duo 12, Lenovo Yoga 13, et al) the Surface Pro is supplied with a 1.7GHz Core i5 CPU, 4GB of RAM, 64GB or 128GB SSD, and integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000. It's a power laptop in tablet form, and it performs as such. It's truly zippy in use - there are compromises being made here, but not in the general performance of the Surface Pro.
The connectivity options are good, too. You get a Mini DisplayPort which can drive HDMI and VGA displays - get a full-spec keyboard and a decent display and the Surface Pro could be your primary PC when not in tablet use. My PCWorld.com colleague Jon Phillips tested the Surface Pro driving a 24in Dell monitor with a 1920x1080 resolution with no problems at all. (He also used the Surface Pro for Photoshop work which worked well.)
The Surface Pro has integrated graphics, which means it's not much of a gaming rig. In PCWorld.com's Civilization V and Dirt Showdown gaming tests frame rates were described as 'unplayably poor', with numbers in the mid-teens at best. We did, however, see a playable 34 frames per second in Dirt Showdown after reducing in-game resolution to 1366 by 768 and setting visual quality to low.
Battery life is good, but perhaps not good enough for the new category of device that the Surface Pro represents. With a 42-watt-hour battery the Surface Pro has Intel Ultrabook battery life, rather than that of an Arm-based tablet. In PC World's video rundown test, the Pro lasted only 5 hours, 8 minutes. This compares poorly in comparison with hybrid tablet/Ultrabooks such as the W700 (6 hours, 7 minutes), and the Yoga 13 (5 hours, 37). Perfectly useful, but nothing compared to the Surface RT or the iPad, both of which offer more than 9 hours of in use battery life.
Surface Pro: pen
The Surface Pro comes with a pen that offers a drawing and writing input for the tablet. It's a passive device that doesn't draw power and attaches magnetically to the side of the device. According to Microsoft the Surface Pro's pen offers 1024 levels of pressure sensitivity and it's true that it is a very sensitive tablt pen. In use it can be laggy however, and it feels flimsy and plastic - if you're spending this much money on a tablet you want premium quality, and the Surface Pro's pen doesn't feel like that at all.
The pen does offers a certain amount of useful functionality, however. In essence it's useful when you need a drawing pad, and pointless at all other times. And sitting on the side of your Surface Pro it can feel a little in the way.
Surface Pro: software
For the full low-down on Windows 8 read our Windows 8 review. For the Surface Pro suffice to say that it offers the full no-holds-barred Windows 8 Pro experience. So you can run any software that you have installed on any other Windows device, as well as Windows apps. That means you can run Office on your tablet, making the Surface Pro a more than useful travelling companion for business people.
Surface Pro: keyboards
The two Surface keyboards are compromise devices. The Touch and Type Covers are brilliant keyboard/covers, but you have to consider what the Pro is good at, and then wonder if a combination case and keyboard is good enough. I started typing this review on the Type Cover... and gave up. It's perfectly useable, but with a full laptop keyboard within reach it just seemed a compromise too far to have to wrestle with what is a mobile keyboard. The keys are small, don't have much travel, and suffer from a perceptable lag. Both covers are as good as it gets in tablet cover keyboards, but that isn't as good as a proper keyboard or even that of an Ultrabook.
Comments
John Barlow said: Oh cool then I didnt know Not change the review but maybe and addendum or two Ive yet own anything Ive deemed perfect I try to find as many features that Im looking for before I finally make my purchase I spent months reading and collecting data before I decided on a next gen tablet Google Nexus and Asus were in the running until I decided I would drop Android for a Windows device
Matt Egan said: And there was me thinking it was the quality of my prose Theres no doubt that as a truly portable true Windows device the Pro has no peers But it has its flaws which is why I gave it four stars And for the record I have the Surface on my desk as I type The initial review was done over two days but I now have one I see no reason to change the review
John Barlow said: Matt my favorite thing about your post is that it has kept going now for weeks You have to admit as Surface owners we are pretty passionate about our love for it Ive been reading tech reviews for decades and for me the major flaw in your review is that you only spent two days with the SurfaceFor me the Surface has no peers It should be judged on its own merits and I can tell you that it is the most versatile computing device I have ever owned I can take it anywhere At home it has replaced my desktop Ive got it plugged into a 40 Sony XBR and it looks great Id like to see more connection options in future versions At home I use a USB 30 hub Bluetooth does help tremendously I had a pretty good gen 1 Android tablet and it was okay but wasnt Windows Windows 8 is fun Im familiar with Windows and like having mobile devices with Windows OS I cant wait to see the improvements the next Surface will have
Matt Egan said: Wow Thanks Bob for your interesting is someone incoherent post Youre wrong on pretty much every point but I really appreciate you trying For the record my job and the job of all PC Advisor reviewers is to use all of our collective experience and tech knowledge to test and review key products in an objective way Your way sound more interesting but its pure fantasy Im not sure you understand our business but pleasing the website website revenue isnt a big part of not least because I dont really know what that means The Pro is a good but not great product for the reasons I outline in my review which you appear not to have read
Bob said: Please excuse my syntax typed on crappy android phone
Bob said: Ppl you all missed the point about the review an the reviewer He is not biased because he paid by apple or he didnt understand the product I am sure he gives no monkey about either applw nor ms I am sure matt went to cheap journalist course where he was told by some ex star now alcoholic that a good journalist is like a prostitute and simply need to please majority of clientele but never get climaxed himself as it would exhaust his hormone glands and make him look older young matt simply is very obedient learner and does exactly that - pleasing what he believes is majority of the website website revenue - bunch of vocal anti microsoft anarchists who are everywhere however in real world this bunch doesnt have any power cos they dont have any money - to busy discussing microsoft online 247 so I think we should excuse matt for doing his job he is to going to take any opposite points because simply its against his pocket interests
Alan said: That was impressive 4 months on thats the correct price
Matt Egan said: With respect there isnt a user community in the UK and frankly not much of one in the world No matter I dont understand whats wrong with the review - even by your terms The Surface Pro is portable PC with excellent performance and portability But you compromise on the keyboard and battery life The build quality isnt perfect and it runs hot And its expensive If you need a truly portable full-spec PC it is about as good as it gets right now - but its not perfect Therefore it gets four stars good but not perfect Is any of that unfair And for the record I now have a Surface Pro in my possession At the time I initially wrote the review I didnt because it wasnt out here in the UK I will update the review if my experiences change But if you are suggesting that I have to own a product in order to review it I think you are mistaken
HighDefJunkies said: I think its another classic example how reviewers miss the point You cant test a product for a couple of days and post a review on it Funny how people who actually bought the product and have it used for quite some time have a different view I dont know what more you want from a product Surface offers more then any other tablet in the market right now It boils down to does the user community approve and reading these comments they do
Blake Molloy said: I read the comment section of this article first for some reason and prepared myself for a horribly biased review I did not find this to be the case I thought the review was fair and did not deter me from getting a Pro when they are released in Australia later this month
WebUser said: PC Advisor is generally negative about everything aobut MSFT However this article is generally fair comparing to that from other asshole bloggers It is still far from the truth Simply state Surface RT restricted Surface Pro with better battery life lighter profile If compare to the ishit Surface RT is a computer the ishit is a toy They are on different levels Its like comaparing a PC to a calculator
Matt Egan said: The Surface Pro is good thats why I gave it four stars But its not far superior to anything on the market I spent a couple of days using it I benchmarked it I compared it to every other product on the market I am happy with my review Youre happy with your product Thats great Lets both be happy
CDB said: MattThis is a horrible article I own a Surface Pro and have sold my laptop and iPad The Surface Pro is a far superior device from anything that is on the market I recommend that you put down your Lenovo and iPad and actually test the Surface Pro not just for a day Did you really use the Pro and if so for how long
John Barlow said: Really 500 When you compare it to other 500 tablets The Surface Pros build quality smashes all competitors
John Barlow said: For maximum portability the Surface Pro has no equals When you take build quality into account
John Barlow said: You dont sound genuine Im guessing youre a troll
Herman Van Der Blom said: Matt I dont think any of you are corrupt For what a free Phone or other Goodies We have a biased guy ourself in Holland May be it has to do with the weather or how the wind blows That guy was a Apple iSheep now he has a GS3 and is a crapDroid fan But I give you something to think about All stockbrokers have iPhones in their pocket those are Good phones so when Nokia came it had to be to late and not Good and Nokia has to go Bankrupt but thats not completely the case Its a marathon not a sprint I think Windows Phone will surprise you over time I like reviews like ZDNet He takes his Phone to a Baseball match makes movies thats real life comparison Same like PhoneDog editor she had two Phones Her conclusion was I want a Tool not a Toy Lumia 900 vs OneX
Vanstraaten said: I believe one of the largest draw back of acquiring the Surface Microsoft tablet is their rather poor attemt at providing a B-2-C online facilityI purchased the tablet without the keyboard as I live in a country that only provide AZERTYthere are many people using QUERTY as well but no option provided so I need to order one from the NetherlandsThis has become a two day mission as the usual logic that needs to be followed in the B-2-C on-line sale is notset up by MicrosoftA word of recommendation to Microsoftemploy someone from the on-line business to assist you work out you processes and improve your on-line functionality and start all overYoudirect telephone support on a scale from1 to 10 ranks a poor minus 2I should known as I come from a large corporate org who started self-service on-line business 12 years ago and what I have experienced here is something just short of a shamblesB2C is highly specialized so one needs to be on the money if you are to be successfulWhy can Microsoft not compete with the other tablet saleslook no further to what I have explained above
Matt Egan said: Couldnt argue with any of that
Sal Purpurajr said: my only problem with the device is that it is heavy for a tablet but perfect to replace a heavy bulky laptop So if you are looking for a tablet and laptop in one then this is the perfect device but if you are looking for just a tablet I would say you could do better if Size and Weight are a driving force The Surface Pro is awesome if you are a developer or just have lots of windows software you want to use on a tablet form factor