The newest 2-in-1 from Microsoft is the Surface Pro 11, which leans heavily into Arm technology as close as one can get to a Jack of trades laptop-tablet hybrid.
For 11 years, the Surface Pro has been Microsoft’s best representation of its vision for the future of personal computing: the durability of a Windows laptop with the flexibility and the battery life of a tablet. However, x86 chips constricted from power drainage, and Arm chips were slow in their processing capabilities.
This led Microsoft to split the Surface lineup into two: have an accelerated Surface with an x86 chip but a short battery life, and a slower Arm variant with exceptional battery life. The choice between them was never the goal.
With the Surface Pro 11, Microsoft is trying to conquer it all, and for once, it does a rather decent job of it. Notably, this is the first Surface Pro based on Arm and that is a result of the new Snapdragon X processor; The device has no problems running Windows and most of the apps. Even more impressive, it is incredibly fast, stunningly designed, relatively easy to maintain, and has the new Flex Keyboard, which is witchingly good.
I have been using the Surface Pro 11 as the only primary device this past month, thereby leaving behind my diplomatic desktop, business MacBook Air, and a business iPad. Each of these devices surpasses the Surface Pro in at least one aspect: it has better app compatibility; its midrange GPU which is eight years old performs better than the Surface Pro’s GPU. Battery life is better on MacBook and the operating system is less crowded which will be more comfortable when used on the laps. Bottom line only the iPad is a far superior tablet.
The Surface Pro 11, however, is much pricier, and for that, I shall not be able to afford it even if I pool together the prices of two of these devices. Still, it outperforms all of them in all the necessary functions and is even more multifunctional than any of the three. That was the closest which Microsoft is ever going to get; to attain its vision.
The Surface Pro 11 begins at 1 thousand dollars and arrives with a 10-core Snapdragon X Plus CPU, 16 gigabytes of RAM, 256 gigabytes of SSD, and a 13-inch, 2880 x 1920, operating LCD with touch screen, however, the keyboard and stylus are not included. The new model having a 12-core processor, 512 GB SSD, and OLED display starts at $1,500. That is my $2,100 of top-shelf Version of Envy x 15; a 12-core Snapdragon X Elite; 32 gig of RAM, 1 terabyte storage, OLED screen. The new Flex Keyboard and stylus increase the total costs to $2,550.
The hardware is also as refined and sleek as you would anticipate with any item in the 11th-generation category. The chassis is very similar to the 9th edition from the ports to the peripheral venting around the positioning of the tablet on the top. The main dissimilarities comprise of the superior model OLED panel, Flex Keyboard, and the Snapdragon X processor.
The first OLED display that Microsoft has put to use is bright and rather stunning at times. HDR video is impressive, especially in scenes such as the FOV of the wasteland in Fallout. But, HDR support of Windows is an issue, as it reduces contrasts of screenshots taken with the Snipping Tool thus, I switched it off most of the time. If you are a person who spends more time in a document than a video, probably in case the Surface Pro 11 is interesting to you, the OLED may not be for you.
The subpixel array can make the image look grainy, particularly on a white background something that annoys some users but does not annoy me probably because I do not have other OLED laptops to compare with. I do perceive the glare that he is giving both me and the other person as well. The screen does not have an anti-reflective coating; it remains somewhat too bright when used near a window, with the sun not shining directly.
Towards the end of my trial with the OLED Surface Pro 11, I bought a $1,199 type of Surface having an LCD display. The LCD appears to be good and does not have the grain. If I had employed it from the beginning, everything would have been satisfying. It is slightly less vibrant than the OLED, which makes it seem rather washed out, and has the same issue with glare. Nonetheless, with grain, glare, and the extra $300 cost, I would go for the OLED.
In other words, it can be said that Surface Pro is fundamentally different from a conventional notebook as its focal feature is an option, namely a detachable keyboard. And whether you would like to write or draw on the screen with a stylus, get better ergonomics, have a different keyboard preference, or just want to attach the device to an airplane tray table to watch a movie, the keyboard’s ability to be detached and used as a standalone or for the operation without the screen is vital.
Most types of covers become ineffective when detached, but the new Flex Keyboard cover comes with Bluetooth capability to keep working without interruption. Bluetooth connection was seamless and switching between the physical connection and a Bluetooth connection was perfect The keyboard was impressive. It should be $349 ($ 449 with the stylus). Although the keys are quite shallow they have got a passable travel and an even better silica feel on the depress and a happy rebound like I’m typing on a somewhat bendy MacBook Air. Microsoft added some extra thickness to the base, specifically to protect the battery, which eliminated the bounce observed on earlier type covers.
The haptic trackpad feels good, it’s solid, simple, and has a smooth texture, but the haptic trackpad of iPad mini 5 seems to be short. The compact keyboard deck is covered in a heathered Alcantara fabric so that it is warmer to the palms compared with metal surfaces; however, it changes color readily as my review unit can attest, it turns yellow rather fast.
Thus, while the Flex Keyboard is costly, it is not used as an auxiliary to my usual keyboard and mouse at home, yet I employ it in this way because of its availability. Luckily, the Surface Pro 11 can be used with multiple current and previous Surface Pro keyboard covers that range from $140.
Notably, Flex Keyboard is compatible with the Surface Pro generations starting from the 2019 Surface Pro X. The Surface Pro 11 comes with a cheaper keyboard than the Surface Pro 7 / 7+ costs $159 for the bundle or $99 for just the Flex Keyboard for the older Surface Pro.
Of the three, the OLED display is on the optional level, the new keyboard is on the optional level, but the Arm chip is included as a set. The Surface Pro 11 runs on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X platform, aiming to replicate what Apple Silicon achieved for Macs and iPads: that melds the computing power of a laptop with the battery life of a tablet. Microsoft Office looks like it was made to be conveniently used with the Surface Pro.
On average, the Surface Pro 11 chooses the pace of other Snapdragon X laptops that we have witnessed previously and even surpasses the Intel and AMD chips that we have lined up against it. More importantly, it feels ‘fast,’ something that’s new to many Arm-based Surface Pro models. The one with a 10-core chip in the base further adds that it is slim but delivers fairly well.
Nonetheless, it is not a perfect slab to replace for an Intel Surface Pro. Many Windows applications are still linked to x86 processors, so Arm computers take more time for emulation. While the new Snapdragon X chips are relatively faster at emulation compared to old Arm processors, some apps do not run well on them and especially graphics-intensive apps still face issues, some programs do not run at all on them. If you plan to get new Arm laptops, make sure that all your critical applications are fully optimized.
This was not a problem for me as my main work computer for a whole month was the Surface Pro 11. All my regular use apps have Arm64 versions, these are Slack, Spotify and the browser with many tabs opened. That is as of the time of this writing still largely true; many apps do not have native Arm64 builds, and ones that do include Beeper and Obsidian both run perfectly well in emulation.
Of the ones I tried, the app I miss most is the Arc browser (sorry, Edge), though my VPN client no longer works with it and I had to switch to my desktop Via keyboard remapping software. Most games do not work well on Arm yet, but GeForce Now game streaming is much better than it was in mid-June.
In most cases, I was able to get roughly a day and a half of battery with the screen brightness being set to around 50-60%, and all of Microsoft power saving features enabled, such as dark mode, and putting the Pro into sleep mode after 3 minutes of idle time. Once even I came very close to a total of 11 hours.
However, applications that require power, especially the ones we tested using Cinebench, and video calls, draw battery power quickly. Excluding these, it offered an hour of usage with a 9 to 10 percent battery drain. Thus, it doubled during video calls, and on the days with many meetings, I was closer to six hours per charge. Once again, on the calls made using the tablet the standard of the cameras that came up was not so good.
The device has a front camera that is an ultrawide 1440p with fish eye view, the default view is off-putting since, makes the subject look like they are looming threateningly over the people on the other end of the call. Currently, there is an automatic framing that the camera digitally zooms in on the subject’s face and maintains the center but has over-sharpened the face to increase the resolution which hardly works in the first place. This is not the best computer one would wish for when doing frequent video calls.
On the positive side, the Windows Hello face authentication works well at protecting the Surface Pro 11 as soon as it wakes up, which is an unexpectedly pleasant feature.
Microsoft has been trying to sell the Surface Pro as a tablet and a laptop at the same time; however, it is easy to realize that when one tries to combine two different products into one, sacrifices are made. It is kind of in between a laptop and a tablet, which costs as much as buying both a laptop and a tablet. Still, no tablet provides the utility of a fully-fledged office environment and no notebook can be as versatile as it is now that consumers no longer must sacrifice decent battery life for being able to run applications and terribly stutter.
Despite this, if you are sold on the idea of the Surface Pro 11, the wise thing to do is to wait for six months perhaps to track the progression of Arm compatibility depending on the tasks you need to accomplish each day, your love for gaming, or in case you’ll need 5G in the future. It is recommended that one does so.
One month into using the Surface Pro 11, it’s hard to pack it up and transition to using a ‘normal’ laptop. At least, I can live with the OLED grain and would probably live with the webcam compromises as well. Frankly, I wasn’t gaming that much to begin with and I am looking forward to the Arc browser to support Arm64 down the line.
I like the ability to physically disconnect it and put the Surface Pro on a book stand for better posture, or just plug it in under my desk and then use my normal keyboard and mouse. As much as I am not prepared to make it my only computer, we are getting close like exceptionally close.
