Microsoft Surface Pro
Still the tablet hybrid everyone needs to beat, as long as you can afford it – and the accessories
SCORE ✪✪✪✪✪ PRICE £1,790 (£2,149 inc VAT) from microsoft.com/en-gb/store
The Surface Pro was always a great concept for a hybrid tablet/laptop, but one that needed the 12in, 3:2 aspect ratio form factor of the Surface Pro 3 to really make sense. Since then, it’s gone from strength to strength, working as a tablet with the Type Cover removed and excelling as a thin-and-light laptop with it clipped into place. The Surface Pro 2017 only enhances the winning formula.
As a tablet it’s a little on the big and heavy side – even the 12.9in iPad Pro is slimmer and lighter – but it’s great for small-scale presentations, making notes and watching video. Yet with the keyboard connected it functions perfectly well as a lightweight laptop, with the updated and improved stand – now with a smaller, less obtrusive mechanism – allowing for a huge range of viewing angles and enabling the Surface Pro to lie only slightly raised for drawing and making notes. The only problem? As with previous Surface Pro models, it still doesn’t feel comfortable or stable when used on the lap.
Pull out Microsoft’s Surface Pen and you have a fantastic device for art and design; arguably the best outside Microsoft’s own Surface Studio. Not only is the Pen sensitive to 4,096 different levels of pressure but to variations in angle, making it easier to mimic natural media tools onscreen.
That screen is little short of brilliant. With a slightly higher 2,736 x 1,824 resolution than the Surface Laptop, and a 276ppi pixel density, it’s capable of handling near-4K levels of detail, while we measured its maximum brightness at an eyesearing 433cd/m². Despite this, colours are extremely accurate, with an average Delta E of just 1.01 and coverage of 89% of the sRGB gamut. Sound is exceptional for a tablet, not quite hitting the same heights as the Surface laptop, but still delivering music and movie soundtracks with a sense of space, a decent punch and a modicum of finesse.
The Type Cover keyboard may remain a sticking point for some. Covered in Alcantara fabric, it has a soft, velvety feel that you either like or don’t, while the thinness of the cover means the keyboard flexes and bounces slightly as you type. If you can cope with that, the keys have a likable fast action and adequate travel, while the layout makes the most of the available space. It’s backlit for typing in darker conditions, and while the trackpad at the bottom isn’t massive, it’s more than accurate enough for Windows purposes.
Some of its clones are now outpacing the Surface Pro on connectivity, with just a headphone/ microphone jack, USB 3 port and a mini-DisplayPort to be found, plus the proprietary magnetic connector for the power supply. That’s fine for use on the move, but if you use the Surface
“As for battery life, the Surface Pro once again triumphs, holding out for over 11 hours of looping video playback”
Pro on your desktop, you may want the Surface Dock – available for a mildly outrageous £190.
Microsoft offers the new Surface Pro in a range of configurations, starting with a cheap and cheerful Core m3/4GB number and extending to a Core i7 with 16GB and a 1TB SSD. Our review model matched the latter spec on everything except the SSD – still 512GB – and delivered a benchmark score of 60: the joint highest in this test. That’s extremely impressive for such a lightweight device, particularly one so quiet.
Even more impressive was that the CPU’s Intel Iris Plus Graphics have reached the point where some gaming becomes possible. Having Forza Motorsport 6: Apex running on a laptop is a thrill, even if the frame rate falters and the track textures disappear from time to time. Older or less intensive 3D games should run flawlessly.
As for battery life, the Surface Pro once again triumphs, holding out for more than 11 hours of looping video playback at a brightness level of 170cd/m². That outpaces all the competition, guaranteeing that you’ll get a working day and then some unless you’re pushing the processor to its limits.
The Surface Pro is competitively priced for a premium laptop, but less so once you factor in the costs of the Type Cover and Pen; the first should be considered an integral element of the device. No machine in this form factor will suit every kind of user, but if you’re looking for an ultra-light, super-thin, versatile laptop that looks the part, you’ll be hard-pushed to find anything better.