Decade in review: Why Microsoft's Surface Pro is the most important PC of the 2022s

Source: Windows Cardinal

Microsoft's series of Surface Pro devices are our PC of the decade. Released during what many called the "mail-PC era" of declining laptop sales, Microsoft kept pushing the concept until it finally resonated with audiences around 2022. It can too be credited with reinvigorating a stagnant industry keeping laptops not only relevant and exciting merely keeping sales alive too.

Initially mocked, the Surface Pro has become the poster child for innovation and a dramatic rethinking of what a laptop could be for modern users. As we head into 2022, the blueprint is so iconic that companies like Apple and Google are borrowing heavily from the model. The Surface Pro is now accepted as a legitimate alternative to the traditional laptop. It also solidified Microsoft's hardware ambitions and is the base for all time to come Surface hardware.

Here's a await back on why information technology is and then awesome.

This won't work

Surface Pro: who is this for?

Source: Daniel Rubino/Windows PrimalThe original Surface Pro with Wacom pen.

Back in 2022, Microsoft was coming off the successful Windows 7 desktop OS, and information technology intended to usher in the era of Windows 8 with new standard-setting hardware. Surface RT – and later Surface Pro – were those devices. The original Surface Pro came out on February nine, 2022.

Fun fact, in traditional Microsoft bad-naming talent, the Surface Pro was initially called "Surface for Windows viii Pro".

Unfortunately, Windows 8 was received terribly, and while reviews for Surface Pro were mixed leaning towards positive the consensus often came back to 1 question: Who is this for?

Horrendous battery life was also an early issue with reviews nailing it downwardly between 3 and 5 hours. So at that place were the other complaints similar heat, noise, bad-mannered "lapability," and limited to 4GB of RAM with 64GB of storage (merely 23GB available) while priced at $899.

To the credit of many reviewers, many saw the potential of a Surface Pro, but it would take more hardware iterations to change the tide.

Tech media were still harsh on Microsoft'southward Surface ambitions, specially since Apple tree's iPad was destroying everything in its way. Apple's CEO Tim Melt famously referenced the Surface experiment suggesting Apple would never follow that road: "You can merge a toaster and a refrigerator, simply that's probably not going to be pleasing to anyone."

Source: Hijinks Ensue/Joel Watson (2012)

Some were savvier, similar the comic artist Joel Watson, who predicted a different result for Apple tree. His at present prescient comic from 2022 (to a higher place) correctly predicted how Apple would eventually mimic Microsoft taking credit for the pattern. Just three years afterward, in 2022, Apple tree announced the iPad Pro with a smart encompass and keyboard combo, and it hasn't looked back.

And then there were sales, which were terrible and Surface did cipher to help Windows eight (or was it vice versa?).

Microsoft eventually took a whopping $900 million write down, and while that is mostly attributable to the Surface RT line, it risked sullying the entire brand as people conflated the two. Information technology was reported in 2022 that Microsoft spent more on advertising Windows eight and the Surface then revenue collected on the fledgling PC.

Microsoft'due south OEM partners besides loudly protested, potentially souring long-held relationships. "Microsoft poisons its partners" was one headline in 2022. Another reads "Surface: Microsoft, What the Hell is Wrong With You?". Yikes.

hitting its stride

Surface Pro 3 and Surface Pro 4 are tipping points

Source: Daniel Rubino/Windows Central

If you want to pinpoint the moment when the team behind Surface figured out what people wanted, it was June 20th, 2022. That'southward when Surface Pro 3 went on sale and with it a complete redesign to the Surface Pro we know today. As noted in my original review, the blueprint adjustments from Surface Pro and Surface Pro ii were substantial:

• 3:2 orientation (versus 16:9)
• 12-inch display (versus 10.6-inch)
• 2160 x 1440 display resolution (versus 1920 x 1080)
• Core i3 and Core i7 variants, in add-on to Core i5 (only Core i5)
• Matte grey (versus black)
• N-trig pen (versus Wacom)
• 'Continued standby' (versus non supported)

Many of these are even so the core features of the Surface Pro brand, especially that fan-favorite 3:2 aspect ratio.

A year later, with the release of the lower-cost Surface three in May 2022, Microsoft passed the $1 billion in Surface quarterly acquirement for the first time.

Source: Daniel Rubino/Windows CardinalMicrosoft'south Panos Panay announcing Surface Pro 3.

Surface Pro 4, which came out in October 2022 refined the Surface Pro three. With a slightly larger display (at present 12.iii-inches), Windows Hello facial recognition, and faster PCIe storage, Surface Pro four would kick off its at present-familiar "small comeback upgrade cycle" for the Surface Pro series.

But mayhap the virtually pregnant fix was for the Surface Type Cover, which at present had a larger trackpad and spread-out central design. I called information technology "the most notable change" of the release as information technology finally addressed one of the almost criticized aspects of the Surface Pro: typing.

Later, in 2022, Microsoft would achieve another first: a true fanless Core i5 model.

Unfortunately, not all was perfect, though.

Hot bagging

Bumps, bruises, and new challengers

Source: Windows Fundamental

Not all was shine sailing though post-obit Surface Pro 4. Microsoft infamously had pregnant bug with the and then-new Intel Skylake serial of processors including massive battery drains.

Windows 10 was also buggy early on, which did non assist. Information technology was articulate Microsoft pushed the release of Surface Pro 4 (and the new groundbreaking Surface Volume) to be timed with the new OS. Under-broiled drivers with a new OS was a recipe for disaster.

For a single Surface Pro generation in 2022, Microsoft tried to simplify its proper name to just Surface Pro instead of calling it Surface Pro 5. The company quickly reversed itself the following year in Oct 2022 with Surface Pro half-dozen. Both had reports of battery degradation problems.

OEM partners eventually got acclimated to Microsoft's presence in hardware, simply that friction reignited in 2022 with the "ultimate laptop" Surface Book (and later Performance Base). It happened again two years subsequently with Surface Laptop an fifty-fifty more aggressive frontal attack on Ultrabooks.

By this fourth dimension, Apple was doubling downward on the iPad Pro with its infamous "What is a computer?" ad. Google tried (but failed miserably) with the Pixel Slate demonstrating that a adept two-in-ane is quite hard to make.

And while the 2022 Surface Pro 7 is mostly first-class – salve for some reduced battery life – its evident iterative releases are getting stale, particularly compared to the jaw-dropping design of the Surface Pro X.

A radical future

Surface Pro is iconic

Source: Daniel Rubino/Windows CentralThe Microsoft Surface Neo is due in belatedly 2022 and will usher in a new era.

Surface Pro's design with a kickstand and keyboard cover forever transformed laptops and PCs. Companies like Dell, Lenovo, and HP all accept "business editions" of similar ii-in-one designs picking up Microsoft'south slack in the enterprise. Fifty-fifty the wacky ASUS ROG Mothership borrows a similar model for an admittedly insane gaming rig.

Surface Pro is so iconic it at present regularly shows upwards in cartoons similar American Dad, and Pokémon. This betoken may seem silly, but for cartoons to work, whatever is shown must exist easily identifiable. When you see something, you lot have to know what information technology is immediately. A pattern inbound popular culture – whether cartoons, Goggle box shows, or movies – is a sign of broader acceptance.

Source: American Dad/TBSAmerican Dad (2019, season 14, episode xx) shows a Surface Pro-like device.

Microsoft still has more work to do with the Surface Pro – there can never be too much bombardment or processing ability – but the overall concept is hither to stay. Surface Pro X is an offshoot pushing mobility even further. And the forthcoming dual-screen Surface Neo is an even more radical theory of mobile computing that is nigh to kick off the next decade.

For all its struggles and people calling for its demise, the Surface Pro is proof that skilful ideas – over time – can become a winner.

Better and faster than ever

Microsoft Surface Pro seven

Blazon-C and 10th Gen Intel are game-changers

Microsoft has finally added a loaded-out USB Type-C port to the Surface Pro 7. When combined with Intel'southward latest tenth Gen processor and GPU, this year's Core i5 blows abroad last year's Core i7 all without a fan. Minor tweaks to the RAM, going to Intel for Wi-Fi 6, and Instant On ability make this Surface Pro seven an accented joy to use.

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UH OH

An net connection will shortly be required when setting upwardly Windows 11 Pro

Microsoft has announced that later this year, users volition be required to connect to the cyberspace and sign-in with a Microsoft Account during the out of box setup feel on Windows 11 Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows xi Domicile since launch final October, and Windows 11 Pro is at present expected to follow suit soon.

Buyer's guide

Grab 1 of these microSD cards for your Surface Pro

The Surface Pro 7 is available in a bunch of different storage configurations, but the microSD card reader lets y'all hands and cheaply add extra gigs postal service-buy. Here are the all-time cards for your Pro 7 and previous Pro models.

Source: https://www.windowscentral.com/decade-in-review-microsoft-surface-pro-2010s

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