Karim Anderson | November 30, 2021 | News, Reviews

Microsoft's Surface Pro series is undeniably the king of niche hills, but with Surface Pro 8, the company has expanded its lead, but the price is higher.

The basic model of Surface Pro 8 starts at US$1,009.99 and costs US$899.99, which is about US$150 more than the traditional cost. However, the 120Hz refresh rate screen technology reduces the bezels and adds a full inch of screen space. Battery, Intel’s most optimized GPU and Windows 11.

Microsoft's Surface Pro 8 has been on the market for a few months, and the overwhelming discussions surrounding the product have been about price increases, which may be the best result of the company after the 8th generation.

Microsoft has not been ridiculed for its hardware implementation or software implementation errors. On the contrary, fans, users and critics are complaining about the company's eighth attempt to define the only other flaw in the detachable market, namely price.

This is not to say that the price complaint is not worth discussing, because it is Microsoft's 8th generation product, and economies of scale should be taken into account at some point, but the company may invest some R&D into new hardware features. Want to save it.

In the year when Surface Pro 8 brought many hardware improvements, such as a larger 13-inch screen, 120Hz refresh rate panel, more powerful processor, Thunderbolt 4 ports, 10MP 4K rear camera, Wi-Fi 6 bandwidth, With larger batteries and larger SSDs, almost no one has complained about flawed implementations.

Sometimes, the easy task of hardware upgrades can quickly become a pain point for product releases. For example, when trying to introduce a new 120Hz refresh rate panel, manufacturers may encounter dead pixels, super touch sensitivity, color calibration, ghosting, or tearing issues.

On the contrary, Microsoft's Surface Pro 8 has one of the best detachable 2-in-1 panels to date, and has checked a short list of hardware features that previous generations of users or users who have been waiting for a long time to make the leap desire.

I received the Surface Pro 8 equipped with Intel Evo Core i7 processor, 16GB RAM and 1TB SSD. This is one of the high-end devices with a retail price of US$2,199. The baseline model is equipped with Intel Core i5, equipped with 8GB RAM and 128GB SSD, starting at $1,009.99, but is now priced at $899.99.

As I mentioned, for only $899.99, users can get one of the two colors of this year's Pro 8, including traditional magnesium gray or graphite black. Graphite Black Surface Pro 8 is reminiscent of Surface Pro X, but is unexpectedly lighter than X, but heavier than 7 and 7 Plus. The weight of the new Surface Pro 8 is 891 grams (=31.43 ounces/1.96 lbs), while the weight of the Surface Pro X is 1.048 kg (=36.97 ounces/2.31 lbs), and the weight of the Surface Pro 7+ is 790 grams (=27.87 ounces) /1.74 pounds)).

Surface Pro 8 got rid of the strange weight and finally solved the frame problem. Perhaps, since the Surface Pro 4's improvements, quite a few Pro users have asked the company to reduce the border around the display.

For many years, Microsoft has insisted on its usability argument to justify the aging bezel design. Although others have perfected the anti-palm touch technology in the process, they believe that the tablet will lose its function due to accidental touch when using the tablet. It wasn't until Surface Pro X that Microsoft finally succumbed to the reduced bezel movement. Even so, the company managed to squeeze out Surface Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus and still insist on its long toothed bezel design.

In Pro 8, 2 of the 4 bezels have been trimmed and give way to the beautiful 13-inch PixelSense Flow touch screen, which can increase its refresh rate to 120Hz and will soon follow the new variable refresh With the advent of speed technology, it is automatically reduced to 60Hz to Windows 11, on supported hardware.

As a detachable, there are only two main hardware points that really need to be emphasized, the screen (the main computing area) and the keyboard. Microsoft has made a good evolution of the Surface Pro 8 screen. The shape of Surface Pro 8 is much sleek than Surface Pro 7 and Pro 7 Plus (think of the evolutionary type from iPhone 4 to iPhone 6). Pro 7's completely flat panel is dotted with the same angular edges, while Pro 8 exudes a seamless circular aesthetic from its edges.

What's interesting is that with such a deep and rounded beauty, the fan vents of the Surface Pro 8 are more obvious than previous generations, mainly because it is still as flat as before.

For professional editors, the colors on the Surface Pro 8 screen are flat and accurate, but not as powerful as other comparative OLED panels from companies such as Lenovo, Samsung, and even Asus. The black looks more "dry" than the OLED panel, but the resolution of 2880 x 1920 (267PPI) is still clear and the aspect ratio is 3:2. The Pro 8 panel is ideal for content creation.

Microsoft has also added more technologies to the screen, including GPU ink acceleration, Dolby Vision support, and reduced flicker and response time. Overall, the picture has been greatly improved.

Moving to the outside of the display, Microsoft replaced its USB-A port in favor of an additional USB-C that supports Thunderbolt 4. Adding another Thunderbolt port allows Surface Pro 8 to be used as a 4K workstation for some users, as it can now provide travel content creators with dual 4K-enabled displays.

Except for the addition of ports and a circular profile, most of the Surface Pro 8 is still similar, even if it is not exactly the same as the Surface Pro 7. The SSD panel can now be used to expand storage, but this also exists in the commercial Surface Pro 7 Plus release.

The Surface TypeCover keyboard has also been updated with a new carbon fiber chassis to make it stronger, and the curvature in the middle is the same as the old version. The stiffness of the new TypeCover is not the only change, Microsoft has also improved its pogo pin arrangement, and now only works on the updated Surface Pro.

Unlike the four metal bumps usually found in the connection ports, there are now two elongated tips connected to the bottom of the Surface Pro 8 screen.

It is speculated that this new design is related to the built-in charging area of ​​the new Surface Slim Pen. The new Surface Pro 8 TypeCover design has been tested and inherited from Surface Pro X, which also has a similar embedded Surface Slim Pen charging stand.

The pressure sensitivity and key stroke feel are about the same as other TypeCoover, and the touchpad is largely unaffected. The trackpad still feels a bit cramped on the keyboard as before, but thanks to the new rigid chassis, the sound of pressing the touch point is louder. When using the touchpad on Surface Pro 8, the sound of clicking to confirm is louder. For anyone using the device in the library, they may have to be content with simply using the touch screen, otherwise they may be kicked out due to noise complaints .

Finally, the Surface Slim Pen 2, which feels a lot like the original, but the slender nib feels more like a pen, and the new haptic engine in the hardware adds a great experience. I am not an artist, and I suspect that most artists will cover up the new haptic engine in Slim Pen 2. Although tactile provides an extra level of sophistication, it is not a fundamental game changer, and unless it is fully activated, it is almost impossible to feel upward through the settings menu.

The gem-like quality of Surface Pro 8 is enough. How does it perform compared to previous generations and current market options?

Although Surface Pro 8 is a more commercial competitor, Apple iPad Pro still outperforms Surface Pro 8 in native tasks. Pro 8 reaches a better per watt than any other Intel or even AMD detachable products. The peak power can also be compared with other thin and "powerful" notebooks.

The Core i7-1185G7 has a clock frequency of up to 4.8 GHz, stable at 35W at the beginning of high-intensity tasks, and idle at 28W for the rest of the time, which helps to keep fan noise to a minimum and reasonable heat.

With the updated Toshiba M.2-2230 PCIe-SSD configuration, starting from zero and launching applications from memory is fast and responsive. The dual-channel RAM graphics of the Iris Xe G7 96EU makes the navigation of Adobe’s application suite and other third-party graphics-intensive applications such as Affinity Photos, Da Vinci Resolve, OBS, Autodesk, CATIA and Sketchbook very smooth .

Perhaps the most impressive thing is the sustained performance when the device is unplugged. This is a low-key development of Surface devices this year, and the company has optimized its Intel products to perform well on battery and plug-in power.

Generally, Windows devices can only get boost and full-capacity performance when plugged into a power source, but due to optimized profiles for workloads on the maximum core clock of 1350 MHz and fast sync, the GPU performance of Surface Pro 8 is when the battery is turned on and off. Can be consistent.

Surface Pro 8 is still not a native gaming equipment, but in most games with medium settings, its performance is indeed better than traditional Surface Pro. For first-person shooters, gamers can expect up to 50-55FPS, while for some open world games, such as GTA V, you can reach 96 FPS. At the highest resolution setting, most game numbers will be reduced by half, and performance will quickly become very tight.

Speaking of games, although Surface Pro 8 uses a newer processor and GPU to be more efficient, fan noise is still a problem with Surface Pro 8. The installation and update of the application may arouse the interest of fans. Under the heavy workload of Autodesk, Da Vinci Resolve and Premier, I managed to make the device rotate at a speed of about 40 db(A), which is roughly the level of Pro 7 Plus same.

However, the noise level is still lower than other competitors, such as Dell Lattitude 13 and ThinkPad X12.

Compared with the 48.9 Wh battery on the Surface Pro7, the Surface Pro 8 battery is 51.5 Wh, which can maintain about 6 hours of battery life under moderate workloads. The more the workload, the shorter the battery life of the Surface Pro 8. Under heavy usage, I managed to push it to about 4 hours.

I can imagine due to the new screen technology in Surface Pro 8 and the slightly larger battery consumption form factor. There is also an idle problem in Windows 11, which is expected to be resolved in future operating system iterations, which will benefit Surface Pro 8.

Some people say that turning off the 120Hz refresh panel can help extend battery life by more than one and a half hours. I haven't seen any anecdotal evidence myself. Of course, 120Hz sounds like a good list item, but it is hardly noticed or missed in daily use, but its existence has not negatively affected my use, so I choose to keep it now.

To switch between 60Hz and 120Hz, the user needs to enter the refresh rate in the settings search menu, because it is now a hidden function. Microsoft said it will enable variable refresh rate, which will also help extend battery life in the near future.

Surface Pro 8 now offers support for Thunderbolt 4, better GPU performance, a faster but hungry Core i7 chip, and a bright 13-inch large screen.

The upgrade has some disadvantages, but it is not enough not to recommend Pro 8 to anyone with an older Pro model, stay away from the iPad Pro or currently exclude Dell and Lenovo from competing in the United States through Latitude 13, 7320 and ThinkPad X12.

Surface Pro 8 runs heavier, louder, and hotter than some older models, but its performance is better than the most detachable on the market, and it also doubles as a dedicated workstation and ultra-portable all-rounder.

Buy Surface Pro 8 at the Microsoft Store

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