Microsoft Surface Pro 9, 8 or X - Signature Type cover - Black - and Slim Pen 2 - Black - bundle

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Having said all that, the Surface Pro 8 is a very hard act to beat for sheer versatility. Used solo, it’s an excellent tablet, but when combined with the Surface Pro Signature keyboard it’s a thoroughly competent and powerful laptop replacement, while the Surface Slim Pen 2 turns it into a handy graphics tool. All of these options will technically work on any modern Surface device, and in fact, on a lot of modern Windows laptops. Many of these devices, including any Surface PC released after the Surface Pro 3, feature the Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP), which all these pens support. Prior to that, Surface devices used Wacom technology, so these pens won't be compatible, but any of these is technically functional for other devices. However, there are some things to be aware of. The Surface Slim Pen 2 is ideal for newer devices The first reason for this, as we've mentioned, is the design. For the Surface Pro models, starting with the Pro X, Microsoft removed the magnetic attachment from the side of the tablets. Instead, you're supposed to store the Surface Slim Pen 2 inside the Surface Pro Signature Keyboard, where it also stays charged. At the same time, the Surface Laptop Studio and Laptop Studio 2 are designed to store the Surface Slim Pen 2 on its underside, and with the Surface Duo 2, you can attach the Slim Pen 2 magnetically to the outside using the Surface Duo 2 Pen Cover. All of these options also charge the pen at the same time. How long the battery will last is dependent on a variety of factors, the chief of which is what processes you are running and what screen settings you’re using. I only got 16 hours when I completely shut down all superfluous settings and lowered the screen brightness to levels most people wouldn’t find comfortable using. One of the biggest updates Microsoft has made to the Surface Pro 8 relates to its screen. It hasn’t updated the panel to use Mini LED tech, like the stuff seen on the new iPad Pro. It hasn’t even made the jump to OLED.

This is one of the best 2-in-1 laptops for those who plan to use it in each form equally, it switches between laptop and tablet without any fuss. If you don’t intend to use it much as a laptop, this is one of the most powerful tablets you can buy. It’ll be great for note-taking and drawing too. The Surface Pro 8 is Microsoft’s flagship convertible tablet-come-laptop from 2021, letting buyers use it as a Windows tablet or portable laptop/sketch station when paired with the optional Signature Cover case and Slim Pen 2.It also ran creative workloads okay. I’ve been able to digitally paint in Krita and do basic 3D modelling in Blender on the Surface Pro 8 without any real fuss. Though more hardcore workloads like large-scale vector projects and video editing will give it pause. To compare it to other PCs, I ran the Geekbench 5 benchmarking test where the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 scored 1,142 in single-core and 4,133 in multi-core. That’s lower than other similarly priced PCs like the Samsung Galaxy Book Pro 360 and the Huawei Matebook 14s, but it’s not that far off either. On 3DMark’s Timespy test, it scored 1,328 so the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 should cope fine with video games. Surface devices traditionally have fairly utilitarian designs, with Microsoft tending to make minor refinements, rather than outright changes year-on-year. This changed with the Surface Pro 8 and its contemporary design boost, but the new Surface Pro 9 reverts to type with no visual differences, sans a new Forest green colour option. But the flipside, when paired with a Type Cover, and the Slim Pen 2 its Windows 11 software lets it function much better as a full fat laptop replacement than its Apple rival, making it better for office use. Design My real-world findings rang true when I ran PCMark 10’s synthetic battery test. This is a benchmark that simulates everyday office workloads, like video calling, web browsing and document editing, on a loop until the battery is completely drained.

Under the hood, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 is powered by one of Intel’s 11th Gen CPUs, that’s compared to newer 12th Gen chips available on the Surface Pro 9. The exact CPU and RAM configuration can be customised in the Microsoft Store. The version I tested features an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU and 16GB of RAM. Outside of the difference in CPU, the specs of the Surface Pro 8 are the same as the Surface Pro 9. This puts it in direct competition with Apple’s iPad Pro line of tablets. Microsoft has refined its design and added upgrades like more powerful components and a 120Hz screen. But niggling issues with its software make it feel a little difficult to use as a standalone tablet. Tactile signals with Microsoft Surface Slim Pen 2 can be experienced on some applications on Surface Pro 8 running Windows 11. Microsoft Surface Slim Pen 2 sold separately. I ran a video over two hours on full brightness and in that time the battery level dropped by nearly 40% so it would have lasted just over 5 hours in total - that’s okay but I have definitely seen better. Using the charger in the box, it took less than an hour and a half to recharge it from empty to 100% which is pretty good by any standards.

Following on from the Microsoft Surface Pro 7, the 8th generation has had a few significant upgrades. The most obvious change is the display which has increased in size from 12.3-inches to 13-inches, without too much of an impact on the dimensions of the whole device. It’s also a slightly higher resolution this time around with a brand new 120Hz refresh rate as well as the usual option for 60Hz. And battery life isn’t all that impressive, either. The Surface Pro 8 ran for 7hrs 16mins in our video rundown battery test, four minutes shy of the Surface Pro 7, which kept going for 7hrs 20mins. That’s despite the Surface Pro 8 having a bigger battery (51.5Wh versus 43.2Wh). That’s enough to see you through a full day of work, but the iPad Pro and Galaxy Tab S7 Plus, not to mention countless regular laptops, can do much better. Not everything about it is perfect, the battery life could use a boost and it’s a shame there’s no MicroSD card slot. But when it comes down to it the only reasons I would say not to buy this is if you already own the Surface Pro 7 or if you’re only planning to use it as a laptop because you can get more power for your money elsewhere and the design of the keyboard means it’s not going to be quite comfortable enough to use on the go. Microsoft Surface Pro 8 review: also consider The Microsoft Surface Pro 8 improves on what came before it in a few big ways whilst maintaining the essence of the Surface Pro series.

System software and updates use significant storage space. Available storage is subject to change based on system software and updates and apps usage. 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. 1 TB = 1,000 GB. See Surface Storage for more details. Maximum brightness is good rather than great at 335cd/m² (the Pro 7’s panel was 400cd/m²) but it is handily colourful with a total colour volume that’s 106.9% of the sRGB gamut. Battery life varies significantly based on usage, network and feature configuration, signal strength, settings and other factors. See aka.ms/SurfaceBatteryPerformance for details. The Surface Pro 8 is more than powerful enough for everyday use. Using it as my work laptop, I never had any issues, even when running a quite frankly ridiculous number of tabs in Chrome and doing some basic image retouching work in GIMP. The model I tested out uses the 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1185G7 processor, 16GB of RAM and 256GB of internal storage. It’s certainly powerful enough for most tasks, I never had any problems with long loading times or opening up software. As a tablet, it’s seriously powerful. As a laptop, it’s not quite as impressive but it’ll still do more than enough for most.Running on Windows 11, the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 is a pleasure to use. Everything about it is designed to make your life easier. An example of that is the new Snap Layouts that use the proportions of your specific display to suggest how best to organise the windows you have open. 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. Comparison of viewable content on Surface devices with 3:2 aspect ratio v. laptops with 16:10 or 16:9 aspect ratio. While only two USB ports may be seen as rather restrictive, keep in mind that the bundled 65W charger uses the Surface Connect port to charge so you don’t lose one of the USB ports when you need to plug into the mains. Usefully, the power supply also has a USB-A port so you can charge two devices at the same time. That’s a considerate touch.