The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is the ideal tool to address Microsoft Surface Pro 6 shortcomings. Sadly, without any major changes, Microsoft revealed the system that would have revived this thread.
The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 has received updates that make it a more capable platform than its precursor. To its credit. However, still those are not sufficient to explain the price, without noting that the battery life is still trading for this increase in power.
There have still been lots of missed chances. Moreover, small things, such as slimmer rounded edges and USB-C integration, would have been appreciated on Microsoft Surface Pro 7. Since the Surface Pro X was also a subdued update, many people believe that Microsoft might lose its grip.
Hopefully, it will not be its saving grace, and its next generation of equipment – the last one launched was the Surface Laptop 4 in April 2021. Microsoft will hopefully be pursuing its major developments in the future with more innovative tech, whether that’s the very delayed Surface Neo or the potential Surface Pro 8 successor of the Pro 7. However, you are currently looking at a product that is hard to recommend, particularly when it comes to Microsoft Surface Pro 7.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – Price & Availability
On the 22nd of October, the latest Surface Pro 7 was announced. The Type Cover and the Surface Pen are not included starting at 749 bucks exactly like the previous models. This price is the same as the lineup.
Moreover, you get a 4 GB (RAM) with Intel Core i3 processor (CPU) and a 128 GB (SSD) memory drive with the above upgrade points, each with a capability of as much as 16 GB and 1 TB. This is how these new updates are priced down.
- Intel Core i3 (4GB, 128GB) – $749
- Intel Core i5 (8GB, 128GB) – $899
- Intel Core i5 (8GB, 256GB) – $1,199
- Intel Core i5 (16GB, 128GB) – $1,399
- Intel Core i7 (16GB, 256GB) – $1,499
- Intel Core i7 (16GB, 512GB) – $1,899
- Intel Core i7 (16GB, 1TB) – $2,299
What bugs us the most is the fact that you will have to spend a good 1000 bucks and still you will not be getting the full accessories or the experience. The pricing is also retained from the older variants.
The Surface Pro 7 that we tested for this write-up roughly cost $1,199 in America without the type cover and the surface pen. According to Microsoft, if you need to fully experience the Surface Pro, you will have to spend 1,460 bucks.
Similarly, a 12.9-inch iPad Pro with a capacity of 256GB would cost you around 1,480 bucks in America, along with the Smart Keyboard Folio and the Apple Pencil of the second generation. Apple is equally responsible for the individual sales of accessories which are most important to the user experience.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Design
Talking about the design – there is nothing to talk about except for the addition of a USB-C port. Other than this, every aspect of the design is similar to the old surface pro 7 design. Even the dimensions are the same – 11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches. The weight of the laptop is about 1.7 pounds. Also, the tablet color is the same as before – silver aluminum and matte black.
The touchscreen of the tablet still measures around 12.3 inches diagonally. The aspect ratio is 3:2 and the pixel resolution is 2,736 x 1,824. The touch feedback and the overall quality of the tablet’s display are quite amazing – just like the older version. The display configuration hasn’t changed at all in many years. Microsoft should at least update the display for the surface pro 7. They can include stuff like enhanced color gamut support or HDR support. Also, the tablet’s bezels are thick for a gadget that comes in this price range.
Now that the tablet has been almost the same for the last two years, it is becoming obvious that Microsoft has hit its boundaries concerning the initial Surface Pro version, or the firm doesn’t want to change the Surface Pro anymore – apart from tweaking here and there with the Pro X.
It feels instead that Microsoft is motivated even more by the emerging dual-screen computers, which probably we all know how popular they are in the hardware architecture of the business.
The biggest interface update for Surface Pro 7 is finally USB-C, but this is USB 3.1 yet not Thunderbolt 3. This ensures that this new link is versatile without the raw Thunderbolt 3 technology.
Thunderbolt 3, which makes its absence in Surface Pro 7 more glaring, has been commonly embraced by Apple and several other rivals at comparable price points. While Apple didn’t include it in the iPad Pro, for example, it did with the MacBook Pro, which is a comparable price of 13 inches.
Now that you are using Cortana for your voice input, Microsoft has upgraded the Studio Microphones of Surface Pro, but it is hardly worth noting the slight upgrade.
On the advantage of Microsoft, though, the Type Cover keyboard is now deeper and more bouncy as your fingers leave the buttons. This is an improvement, but for Surface Pro customers, it would certainly be a change – well, for some moments at least. On the other hand, the touchpad of the Type Cover is as smooth and touch-sensitive as ever.
We like the Alcantara fabric which returns with this type of cover – tighter than it was before. Hopefully, as Microsoft says, this would make the material more stain-resistant.
This is the same Surface Pro that you have known for many years now, except only now, instead of display-port connections, it has a more powerful USB-C port. Why not remove the original USB-A with an additional USB-C? There is a lot to do to enhance the Surface Pro 7 at the same cost that was not done, so excuse us for having no feelings of excitement in regards to the design and feel of the surface pro 7.
The Surface Pro 7 is the first one of its kind to use one of the latest 10-nanometer (NM) Intel chips in all requirements, and this is shown by the figures.
For this, expect a computer to perform both daily and popular tasks much more quickly, not to mention greater graphics capability with Intel Iris Plus graphics from an Intel HD graphics processor (GPU). This should lead to improved streaming video and a slightly expanding gaming profile, particularly at higher resolutions.
The 2018 Surface Pro 6 used a 14nm Intel Core CPU which was good (and is probably still fine), although the current CPU reduced its transistor size to 10nm, meaning more transistors for a total CPU die. In essence, more transistors do well.
The Surface Pro 7, for example, has a remarkable 25% improvement over the Surface Pro6 in the Geek-bench 4 multi-core benchmark. Similarly, in Pro 7 versus Pro 6 the Cine-bench graphics test shows a 15% improvement in efficiency, reaching the all-powerful 60 frames per second.
Would you imagine yourself playing games on Surface Pro 7? Certainly, because Intel promises the newest CPUs with smooth 1080p gaming, but for this, we definitely won’t buy this tablet. You can get Fortnite at 1080p to enjoy, but why worry about grabbing this laptop when you can easily buy a legit laptop for gaming at the same price!
All in all, this tablet can chew on any ordinary computer job and perform double the number of duties as a fine compact multi-tasker. The brunt more graphics can also be useful for booting and helping visual musicians. The leap of performance is there but it is not noticeable.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – Battery Life
Interestingly, we cannot see the same battery life as the previous Surface Pro generation and its 14 nm Intel Core CPU when it comes to lasting capacity. The Surface Pro 7 dropped more than two hours below the eight hours and forty-five minutes reached in our local battery rundown test during our testing.
The Surface Pro 7 also came up with a straight clocking of 4 hours last year, more than 45 minutes behind the PC-Mark 8 test.
Normally, as you move towards a more powerful processor architecture, your battery life will improve. Core i5 and i7 models of recent Intel CPUs, however, made significant increases to graphic efficiency at the cost of power consumption.
Hardware and tech suppliers of Microsoft – had to optimize their devices for Intel’s 14 nm silicone for 50 years now. They only had a fraction of the time to plan and transition to the shiny new Intel 10-nm processors, and this may explain why the battery life of the Surface Pro 7 is lower than the previous one.
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 – Software and Features
The Surface Pro7, as with almost any surface before, doesn’t inherently contain many features or a lot of main software programs which has its advantages and disadvantages. The biggest benefit here is that this tablet has almost no bloatware since it comes from Microsoft directly.
Another advantage is the Windows Hello facial recognition, which is as fast and precise as before using the infrared camera next to its webcam. Again, from the Type Cover, we can open this tablet and it’s already logged in to Windows 10. Talking regarding the fast performance.
Moreover, the distinguishing characteristics and software are essentially nothing more. You can have it on every other Windows 10 tablet if it’s on this tablet. This includes the phone tab, which lets you synchronize a Windows Android phone to see and answer SMS messages, modify calendar entries or even make calls.
Final Thoughts
With all this in mind, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 is the most powerful tablet of the business to date. But this power gain continues to be battery life-cost – at least for now.
You will still hop into the most innovative technical surface ever if you are ready to wait for battery life upgrades and you do not need to sit all day, so you can. But know that these technological gains are not very large, especially the battery, and they come at the cost of other facets of efficiency.
We would genuinely have needed some more progress from Surface Pro’s seventh tablet. USB-C is cool, but Thunderbolt 3 should be used for a device at that price, and the bezels for a tablet in 2019 are extremely thick. However, Microsoft claims to have saved all the progress made on its Pro X this year.
Go ahead – Buy it if
If you consider yourself a Microsoft freak and you need something old with a vastly improved performance. You should probably opt for the Microsoft surface pro 7 laptops. Moreover, the C-type USB ports are finally here so if you have gadgets that require the C-type ports for connecting and charging – the surface pro 7 is now equipped with it. Lastly, the Wi-Fi 6 is a component that provides a lot better speed, hence, you can buy the new Microsoft surface pro 7 if you want all of the above on your laptop.
Don’t buy it if
As discussed above, the overall battery life of the laptop has decreased with the arrival of this new variant. Secondly, the USB C-type support is the standard one, don’t expect that you will get the fast charging feature with it because it is not the thunderbolt 3. All in all, Microsoft has given little to no priority at all to the design and structure of the machine, it looks and feels like the same old 2018 surface pro.
With this, we conclude the Microsoft Surface Pro 7’s review. Let us know what you think about it.
All Specs of Microsoft Surface Pro 7
Laptop Class | Detachable 2-in-1 |
Processor | Intel Core i5-1035G4 |
Processor Speed | 1.1 GHz |
RAM (as Tested) | 8 GB |
Boot Drive Type | SSD |
Boot Drive Capacity (as Tested) | 256 GB |
Screen Size | 12.3 inches |
Native Display Resolution | 2736 by 1824 |
Touch Screen | Yes |
Panel Technology | IPS |
Variable Refresh Support | None |
Screen Refresh Rate | 60 Hz |
Graphics Processor | Intel Iris Plus |
Wireless Networking | 802.11ax, Bluetooth |
Dimensions (HWD) | 0.33 by 11.5 by 7.9 inches |
Weight | 1.7 lbs |
Operating System | Windows 10 Home |
Tested Battery Life (Hours:Minutes) | 11:58 |