Microsoft’s New Surface Devices Arrive With Much Higher Prices

Earlier this month, Nvidia unveiled its new RTX Spark “superchip,” and Microsoft took the opportunity to show off its most powerful Surface laptop ever, the Surface Ultra. Now Microsoft is back with new versions of its existing standard Surface and Surface Pro machines. They’re powered by a Snapdragon processor and arrive with significant price bumps.

Both the Surface and Surface Pro devices feature Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X2 chips. The Surface (8th Edition) and Surface Pro (12th Edition) promise “more performance for the work people do every day,” according to Microsoft.

The new Surface Pro 2-in-1 laptop only comes in a 13-inch version, which is smaller than the 15-inch standard Surface Laptop. Its 13-inch screen is an HDR touchscreen and is available with an OLED upgrade, a 120Hz refresh rate, and 267 PPI resolution.

Microsoft notes that the Surface Pro, powered by Snapdragon X2, delivers 53% faster graphics performance than the previous generation. The standard version ships with an X2 Plus (10-core), while an upgraded variant has a 12-core X2 Elite. Memory starts at 16GB and ranges up to 64GB, while storage starts at 256GB and goes up to 1TB.

It’s not only the speed that has increased with the Surface Pro, though, it’s also the starting price. The machine now starts at $1,499 ($1,700 with the X2 Elite) and can reach $3,549 with upgrades. As WIRED notes, the previous-generation Surface Pro starts at $999 when it launched last year before increasing to $1,199 earlier this year. The laptop also doesn’t include the detachable keyboard by default, which is an extra $120.

“This is the 2-in-1 for the makers who want a lightweight tablet without stepping down from the power and flexibility of Windows. No tradeoffs required,” Microsoft says of the new Surface Pro.

The standard Microsoft Surface Laptop comes in 13.8-inch and 15-inch variants and starts at $1,599. The 13.8-inch version offers up to 20 hours of battery life, while the larger 15-inch model promises up to 19 hours.

Both models sport “bright, color-accurate” LCD panels, although the 15-inch model gets a bump to a higher-resolution LCD with 262 PPI, up from 201.

The most notable change, though, is the starting price. As with the Surface Pro, the standard Surface is much more expensive than the previous generation was at launch. The $1,599 starting price is $600 higher than before, partly because Microsoft has moved from 256GB of storage to 512GB, and flash memory is absurdly expensive these days, even for a company like Microsoft.

It is worth noting that all three new Surface devices, the Surface Pro and both Surface Laptop models, are made with a 100% recycled aluminum enclosure. They also both ship with Affinity software pinned to the Start menu, which is a major win for Affinity as it tries to become the go-to creative software choice for artists across both macOS and Windows.

The new Microsoft Surface devices are available now. Surface for Business versions will begin shipping next month.

Image credits: Microsoft