Microsoft’s 2022 Surface Devices: Cool But A little confusing.
You know something’s up when you’re excited by the software
at a hardware event
Microsoft held its Surface Event for 2022 yesterday and for
the most part it was kind of the standard fair. We got an update to the Surface
Pro with the Surface Pro 9, a Surface Laptop 5 , and the more sight-for-sore-eyes Surface Studio 2+ (that’s right, it’s not the Studio 3). All of these machines are a standard upgrade on paper, and at least one of these has me excited, but they all come with some odd caveats, which makes this recent Surface offering…a little.….Different.
Surface Pro 9 : great minus one embarrassing caveat
Now let’s start with the star of the Surface Family, the Pro 9. Now with last
year’s Surface Pro 8 bringing the huge visual overhaul and 120Hz screen, it
makes sense that despite this product being the 10Th anniversary
Surface, it’s most of the same standard fare from last year. At least when
we’re talking about the Intel models. This sleek fighter comes with updated 12th
Gen CPUs that Microsoft claims bring a 50% speed boost over comparable Pro 8
models, it’s gotten some sound and mic improvements courtesy of Dolby, better
battery due to the new processors and even more color options including a
special 10th anniversary edition made in partnership with Liberty
Design Studio. There’s also a new 5G version that uses a Snapdragon powered
Microsoft SQ3 processor. This basically means Microsoft has merged the Surface
Pro X and Surface Pro 9 , making their Windows on ARM efforts more mainstream.
They’re billing this version as the Pro 9 with 5G, and considering how ARM Windows PCs are basically fancy chromebooks at the moment , I’d say don’t opt for this version until Windows gets it’s ARM efforts on lock. Unfortunately one
more flaw is present on both versions of the Pro 9 as well, as for whatever
reason, Microsoft decided to remove the headphone jack from the Surface Pro
line with the Pro 9. I recently lambasted Dell’s own Surface clone the XPS 13
2-in-1 but I guess now Microsoft has put egg on my face. I won’t rant about the
need for the jack (we literally have two articles on that) but this will likely
have me going for the Pro 8 instead, or maybe a Pro 8 Plus if they go for the
same formula that they did with the Pro 7 Plus (newest internals, older body
and ports).
| Surface Pro 9 | Surface Pro 9 with 5G | Surface Pro 8 | |
|---|---|---|---|
| OS | Windows 11 Home | Windows 11 Home | Windows 11 Home |
| Processor | 12th Gen Intel, Intel Evo | Microsoft SQ3 | 11th Gen Intel, Intel Evo |
| Core i5-1235U, Core i7-1255U | Core i5-1135G7, Core i7-1185G7 | ||
| RAM | 8GB, 16GB, 32GB LPDDR5 | 8GB, 16GB LPDDR4x | 8GB, 16GB, 32GB LPDDR4x |
| Graphics | Intel Iris Xe | Microsoft SQ3 Adreno 8CX (Gen 3) | Intel Iris Xe |
| Storage | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB | 128GB, 256GB, 512GB | 128GB, 256GB (Removable SSD) |
| Removable SSD | Removable SSD | 512GB, 1TB (SSD) | |
| Display | 13 inches, 2880×1920 (267 PPI), touch, 3:2 aspect ratio | 13 inches, 2880×1920 (267 PPI), touch, 3:2 aspect ratio | 13 inches, 2880×1920 (267 PPI), touch, 3:2 aspect ratio |
| Up to 120Hz (dynamic refresh rate), Dolby Vision | Up to 120Hz (dynamic refresh rate) | Up to 120Hz (dynamic refresh rate), Dolby Vision | |
| Pen | Surface Slim Pen 2 (Sold separately) | Surface Slim Pen 2 (Sold separately) | Surface Slim Pen 2 |
| Ports | Two Thunderbolt 4, Surface Connect | Two USB-C 3.2, NanoSIM, Surface Connect | Two Thunderbolt 4, 3.5mm audio, Surface Connect |
| Audio | Dual 2W speakers, Dolby Atmos, dual far-field mics, Voice Clarity | Dual 2W speakers, Voice Clarity, Windows Studio Effects, dual far-field mics | Dual 2W speakers, Dolby Atmos, dual far-field mics |
| Wireless | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1 | Wi-Fi 6E, Bluetooth 5.1, NanoSIM, eSIM, 5G, mmWave, Sub-6 | Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5.1 |
| Camera | Front-facing 1080p, IR camera, rear-facing 10MP (4K video) | Front-facing 1080p (Windows Studio Effects), IR camera, rear-facing 10MP (4K video) | Front-facing 5MP (1080p), rear-facing 10MP (4K video) |
| Security | TPM 2.0, Windows Hello IR camera, Windows 11 Secured-core PC | Microsoft Pluton, Windows Hello IR camera, Windows 11 Secured-core PC | TPM 2.0, Windows Hello IR camera |
| Battery | Up to 15.5 hours | Up to 19 hours | Up to 16 hours |
| Dimensions | 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches | 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches | 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inhces |
| (287mm x 208.3mm x 9.4mm) | (287mm x 208.3mm x 9.4mm) | (287mm x 208.3mm x 9.4mm) | |
| Weight | 1.94 pounds (879g) | mmWave: 1.95 pounds (883g) | 1.96 pounds (891g) |
| Sub-6: 1.94 pounds (878g) | |||
| Color | Platinum, Graphite, Sapphire, Forest | Platinum | Platinum, Graphite |
Surface Laptop 5 : Looks good but can we have the bezels
sorted now?
Microsoft’s Surface Laptop line has been the usual third
option in the XPS vs MacBook Air vs Surface Laptop competition, and I’d argue
that’s only because the XPS scores higher design points. Last Year’s Surface
Laptop 4 for example started at a slightly cheaper price, was actually more
powerful than the Intel offerings , and even had better battery life too. It
was the definition of a sleeper hit, and most of us probably thought this year
Microsoft would throw in another AMD offering with power and speed to spare.
But it seems Microsoft instead took the Intel route, throwing in the same
U-Series chips that the Surface Pro 9 has. It all sounds well and good
honestly, but one can’t help but wonder if Microsoft missed an AMD win here.
Honestly though, the only thing that bothers me about the new Surface Laptop is
the bezels. Like honestly Microsoft by this point we shouldn’t even be talking
about this. I still like the overall design but those bezels do feel dated
considering what Dell and Lenovo are bringing on their machines. Speaking of
that, the fact that these processors are U-Series Chips, even for the 15 inch
model does make me raise an eyebrow. After all, the P-series chips in Lenovo’s
Yoga 9i and Dell’s XPS 13 Plus(even LG’s gram) have all been shown to put even
Apple’s M-series chips on notice, so shouldn’t Microsoft have opted for those
instead? It’s just the tech nerd in me demanding more probably, but the Surface
Laptop has always been the lesser noticed yet more reliable middle child of the
Surface Family, in my view, it could use a big win.
The Surface Studio 2+ : What’s in a name
The Surface Studio is maybe the biggest “coast” product Microsoft has. And By that we mean due to it’s beautiful design, unique form factor and customer base, Microsoft kind of always puts minimum effort on this machine because they figured they nailed how it looks and works and don’t need much else. They aren’t completely wrong, even now on it’s third iteration there’s very little I would actually complain about the Surface Studio (expect allowing display in maybe?) As such the Surface Studio 2+ gains its name because even the Surface team doesn’t think it’s a huge step up. This is despite the fact that it now has 3 thunderbolt 4 ports on it’s port selection, a pretty impressive NVIDIA RTX 3060 , and an 11th gen, Intel core i7 11370H processor.
That last part might shock you a bit because well, we’re on
12th Gen now and about to go into 13th gen Intel
processors so why is Microsoft putting this processor in the 2+ ? My guess,
either the machine actually should have come out earlier this year but couldn’t
, or Microsoft is sure that the i7 being packed in this machine will be
adequate for the job. Both seem plausible , the Studio has never needed to be a
complete powerful beast and chip shortages were still a thing in the earlier
part of the year . And honestly while like the other products it’s still a
caveat, I feel like here it’s more acceptable. And clearly Microsoft themselves
may have some ideas brewing if they didn’t just want to straight up call this
thing the Surface Studio 3. Though I doubt that will come soon, let alone soon
enough to make anyone buying this $4500 beauty feel bad.
The Software Announcements
Here’s the thing, The Software announcements Microsoft made yesterday are probably the ones I’m most psyched about. These are starring Microsoft Designer, a graphics and creativity app that they’ll release with office 365, which does seem like a bit of a cross between known graphical tools like Canva and illustrator, and even Microsoft’s own Publisher software (remember that one?) . The app also has DALL-E 2 built in, the AI image generation software that has everyone excited and scared this year, and presumably Microsoft paid DALL-E’s creators quite a bit of money to have it built in here and ready to work for you as an Office 365 subscriber since designer will be part of that package.
Except designer isn’t the only product getting this. Microsoft will be bringing the AI image tools to Bing as a product called Bing Image Creator, which means that it DALL-E will now be even more widespread and working for everyone, which is pretty awesome if you think of it( I know it will save me on a lot of time creating article graphics).
But that’s essentially it. Microsoft’s Surface event was a little more understated this year, but it still seems more than compelling enough for one to want to get at least one of these machines. I for one personally know I want to jump on for the image creation tools and as I say every time I see one, you are more than free to buy me a Surface Studio if need be. We’ll be seeing how these machines perform out in the wild so keep your eye open for that.
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