Microsoft Surface Pro 9, 8 or Pro X - Signature Type cover - Silver

Product Information

The Geekbench 5 CPU test told a similar tale with the Pro 8 easily outstripping both the Pro 7 and Pro X Surface tablets and the chipset even has performance enough to allow a little light gaming, the Metro Redux benchmark returning an average frame rate of 57fps at 1,920 x 1,080 (although only 22.3fps at the native resolution of 2,880 x 1,920). The GFXbench Car Chase benchmark also shows good performance at 1080p. Finally, the connectivity. There was a time when the complaint was that the Surface Pro included no USB-C ports, for longer than it should have gone without them, but one USB-C was finally added with the Pro 7. Now, the Pro 8 includes not one but two USB-C ports, both boasting Thunderbolt 4 support for faster throughput. Colors available on selected models only. Available colors, sizes, finishes, and processors may vary by store, market, and configuration. Microsoft’s Surface machines have always had good webcams and the 1080p affair in the Pro 8 is no exception. It delivers a crisp, colourful video feed even in low light and supports Windows Hello facial recognition log-in. There’s also a 10MP camera at the rear, which doesn’t do a bad job, but that doesn’t make it any less irrelevant.

If anything, it does feel slimmer, but we know that must be an illusion given the dimensions. The Surface Pro series set the bar for these types of devices, and while it may have inspired others since, the build quality still stands out. It’s certainly not the only good detachable 2-in-1 in the game, having helped create a competitive market: Our favorites this year to date have been the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable and the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable. For Windows 10: Go to Settings > Ease of Access > Keyboard (scroll down to the Interaction section.) To adjust the settings, toggle the settings to either on or off, depending on your preferences. The accompanying 2W stereo speakers are equally competent. Not only are they surprisingly loud, but there’s plenty of bass too. Microsoft’s ability to get such high-quality sound from what, by definition, must be pretty small drivers continues to impress. Microsoft Surface Pro 8 review: Performance and battery life The main benchmark of UL's PCMark 10 simulates a variety of real-world productivity and content-creation workflows to measure overall performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheeting, web browsing, and videoconferencing. We also run PCMark 10's Full System Drive test to assess the load time and throughput of a laptop's storage. (See more about how we test laptops.)Pressing the fingerprint reader at the Windows sign-in screen results in an error or other message such as "Fingerprint not recognized." At its core, the design ethos is the same as it’s been for years with the Surface Pro, which may not thrill you as a prospective buyer looking for radical changes. Microsoft has made upgrades beyond the general shape, though, so let’s dive into those.

The past few iterations of the Surface Pro hadn’t seen much physical design change, but some noteworthy alterations finally—ahem—surface with the Pro 8.

Components and Configurations

Battery life varies significantly based on usage, network and feature configuration, signal strength, settings and other factors. See Surface Battery Performance for details. Make sure the language you're using on your Keyboard (the Keyboard’s layout language) matches the one you're using on your PC (the display language). For best typing results, the Keyboard and display language should match. Having trouble with your Surface device keyboard, Surface Go Type Cover, Surface Pro Type Cover, or Surface Pro Keyboard?

Comparison of viewable content on Surface devices with 3:2 aspect ratio v. laptops with 16:10 or 16:9 aspect ratio. System software uses significant storage space. Available storage is subject to change based on system software updates and apps usage. 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. 1 TB = 1,000 GB. See Surface.com/Storage for more details. That said, this is an exceedingly compact and portable device to begin with, so those margins are mostly negligible (and if anything, slightly more thermal space may lead to improved performance, which we’ll get to). The chassis has also swapped from magnesium alloy to recycled anodized aluminum, which is another recent example of Microsoft employing more environmentally conscious design.

We'd also like to note the quiet operation during these stress tests. Even after 10 minutes of crunching through repeat runs of the CPU-intensive Cinebench, the Pro 8's fans were audible if you listened for it, but if anything were quieter than average despite the slim design. There is active cooling happening beneath the hood, but the Pro 8 kept surprisingly quiet through testing, which hasn't always been true for Surface Pro devices. It's not totally silent under load—there is heat that must be dispersed—but it's still commendable. Graphics Tests System software uses significant storage space. Available storage is subject to change based on system software updates and apps usage. 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. 1 TB = 1,000 GB. See Surface storage for more details. The 11th generation octa-core Core i7-1185G7 processor in our review model gives the Surface Pro 8 a useful turn of speed. In our 4K media benchmark, it scored 134 points, almost double the score of the 10th generation Core i7-powered Surface Pro 7, which scored 68 points. We test Windows PCs' graphics with two DirectX 12 gaming simulations from UL's 3DMark, Night Raid (more modest, suitable for laptops with integrated graphics) and Time Spy (more demanding, suitable for gaming rigs with discrete GPUs).