Announced at Microsoft’s hardware-packed event where we saw a new Microsoft Band, two new Lumia phones, Microsoft’s first laptop and an update on HoloLens, the Surface Pro 4 once again raised the bar for hybrid devices. This isn’t Microsoft resting on its laurels, this is it proving that its Surface range is – and always will be – the best hybrid device you can buy.
At a glance
Price: Starts at $1,349
Release date: 12 November
Specifications: 12.3-inch “Pixel Sense” display, Skylake Core M processors, up to 16GB RAM, up to 1TB SSD, 8-megapixel rear camera, Windows Hello-enabled front-facing camera, full-size USB 3.
Release date
While we’ve been itching to know more about when we can expect the Surface Pro 4 to release, Microsoft pulled the veil off its latest hybrid and announced it would be shipping in just a few weeks.
Available for pre-order from 7 October, you’ll be able to pick a Surface Pro 4 on 12 November.
Design
On the surface everything about the Surface Pro 4 looks the same as before. It has the same hinge as seen on the Surface Pro 3, and besides being just 8.4mm thick, it’s still 290mm wide and 201mm high. However, in that same frame Microsoft has managed to pack in an extra 7mm of screen space by reducing the Surface Pro’s bezel size and creating the the thinnest screen they’ve ever made.
According to Microsoft’s head of devices, Panos Panay, the Surface Pro 4 could be thinner than 8.4mm, but they wanted to keep a full-size USB in the body. It’s unclear exactly how true that is, but it’s impressive Microsoft has managed to create a Surface that’s so thin and light, yet packs in more power than its predecessor.
Specifications
Microsoft promises us that the Surface Pro 4 is no slouch. During its announcement, Panay revealed that the next-generation hybrid would contain Intel’s Skylake set of Core chips, have up to 16GB of RAM and up to a whopping 1TB of storage space.
Interestingly, Microsoft has removed the Intel Core i3 from the base model Surface Pro 4, replacing it with a Core M3. The Core i5 and Core i7 still remain and because of Skylake's power-efficiency Microsoft boasts a run time of nine hours at full power.
This raw power translates into the Surface pro 4 being 30 percent faster than the Surface Pro 3 and 50 percent faster than a MacBook Air. Of course, it’s not clear if these figures are from an entry-level Surface Pro 4 or a top-of-the-line model, but either way those are impressive figures and largely due to the added processing boost of Skylake.
Microsoft has also overhauled exactly how its touchscreen works, layering the thinnest Gorilla Glass 4 ever produced on a mobile device (just 0.4mm thick), directly onto the 2,736 by 1,824 pixel 12.3-inch high-resolution display. It's not just any display either, Microsoft claims its PixelSense screen has an incredible 1300:1 contrast ratio and 100 percent sRGB colour accuracy – although we'll be the judges of that when we get to go hands on with the device.
While we didn’t actually see any evidence of an improved camera, the Surface Pro 4 comes with an 8-megapixel rear camera and a front camera that supports Windows Hello. That may not mean much to some of you, but for Windows Hello to work it needs to be able to sense depth to work out a “map” of your face. If Surface Pro 4 supports the new security measure, then it’s clearly capable of recording footage in 3D.
TypeCover
Microsoft has also overhauled the Surface Type Cover making it lighter, thinner and sturdier than before.
Working with both the Surface Pro 3 and the Surface Pro 4, the new TypeCover features a full-sized keyboard with proper ciclet spacing and key travel of 1.3mm. The trackpad is also 40 percent larger than before and features a super-thin polished-glass finish – something many Surface Pro 3 users had an issue with, apparently.
If that wasn’t enough of an improvement, Microsoft has also thrown in a fingerprint reader so you can unlock your Surface via Windows Hello. It’s unclear if this will work with the Surface Pro 3 or not, but as the Surface Pro 4 has support for Windows Hello’s facial recognition, we’d imagine the fingerprint reader is to help bolster Surface Pro 3’s security.
Surface Pen
Available in multiple colours, with interchangeable nibs and a built-in eraser, Microsoft has tried hard to differentiate the Surface Pen from Apple’s iPad Pro Apple Pencil.
The new Surface Pen doesn’t appear to be just a cosmetic tweak on last year’s design. Instead, Microsoft has decided to keep what worked with the old Pen and add in new useful features, including an “all-year” battery life.
One such addition is an eraser on the end of the Pen, doing pretty much what you’d imagine an eraser to do. It’s a small tweak from the previous method of pressing down a button to erase, but it could really make a big difference in how people adapt to using the Surface Pro 4.
Microsoft has also seen fit to introduce 1,024 points of pressure to the Pen, allowing for refined pressure control when digitally painting, sculpting or simply writing. Combine this with interchangeable nibs and you’ve suddenly got a professional-grade “stylus” on a consumer-level product.
While it’s unclear if the Surface Pen will be sold separately from the Surface Pro 4, it’s unlikely we’ll see them come together as Panay revealed that 50 percent of Surface Pro 3 users have a Surface Pen. If you didn’t know already, the Surface Pro 3 did not come with the Surface Pen included.
Price
As you can imagine, the Surface Pro 4 isn’t cheap.
The basline model, which will consist of a Core M3, 4GB of RAM and a 128GB PCIe 3 SSD will cost $1,349. The most expensive model, which contains an Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM and 512GB PCIe SSD will cost a rather pricey US$2,199. For some reason Microsoft hasn't supplied a price for the 1TB model, possibily indicating it's arrivial at a later date.
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