Microsoft launched the Surface Pro 8, its next-gen 2-in-1 on Wednesday night at its fall hardware event. The Surface Pro is getting its biggest redesign yet—since 2014—with the eighth-gen model bringing it up to speed with the times. The Pro 8 with its sleek looks and slim bezels will remind you of the ARM-based Pro X in many ways which is nice, but there are other more noticeable upgrades across the board here that combined make it one of the most exciting Surface Pros that Microsoft has come out with recently.
For starters, the Pro 8 finally makes way for Thunderbolt 4—there are two of those ports in fact—which means you can hook multiple 4K monitors, high-speed external storage or, even an e-GPU to it. The other big change comes by way of the screen. It’s bigger—at 13-inch—for one, and it can get brighter, has a higher resolution— 2880 x 1920—and supports up to 120Hz ‘dynamic’ refresh rate, Dolby Vision and Adaptive Colour. Microsoft goes so far as to call it “the most technically advanced display we’ve ever built.”
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The company has also designed an all-new Signature Keyboard for this generation of Surface Pro and a brand-new Surface Slim Pen 2 that can attach magnetically to it, also charging wirelessly at the same time. There are a couple of things to note about this stylus. It packs a haptic motor inside that Microsoft says will help create “the feeling of pen on paper.” The company is also touting ultra-low latency as one of its key features.
Expectedly, the Surface Pro 8 brings faster hardware and will be available in both consumer (with a choice of 11th Gen Intel Core i5-1135G7 and i7-1185G7 processors) and commercial (11th Gen Intel Core i3-1115G4 Wi-Fi, Core i5-1145G7 Wi-Fi or LTE, and Core i7-1185G7 Wi-Fi or LTE) SKUs. It comes with up to 32GB RAM and up to 1TB storage.
Microsoft says the Pro 8 is over 2x faster than the Pro 7 with “over 40% higher sustained CPU performance and 74% faster graphics.” It is further rated to deliver up to 16 hours of usage on single charge.
You get a 5MP camera on the front and a 10MP camera on the back both capable of doing 1080p video (the rear camera can also do 4K). Rounding off the package are dual far-field mics, dual speakers with Dolby Atmos and 3.5mm audio jack.
Surface Pro 8 will start at $1099.99 and will be available starting October 5—same day Microsoft launches Windows 11. Surface Slim Pen 2 will be available for $129.99. Both are available for pre-order now in ‘select’ markets. India prices and availability are yet to be announced.
