Microsoft surprised attendees and onlookers at its big Surface event in New York by unveiling a new Surface device known as the Surface Pro X. It comes with a Microsoft designed processor, a new A.I. engine, and huge leaps in battery life and performance — it’s said to be three times more powerful per watt than the Surface Pro 6.
Right from the get-go, it was clear that the Surface Pro X was something different. At just 5.3mm at its thinnest, it is the slimmest Surface device ever made and weighs 1.68 pounds for ultra-portability.
The SQ1 onboard system on a chip (SoC) was co-developed between Microsoft and Qualcomm and is built on the Snapdragon mobile design. It includes both a CPU and a GPU and is designed to be extremely powerful, with as many as two teraflops of graphical power. It’s also excellent at A.I. tasks, thanks to its new A.I. engine, all without using much power. It doesn’t even need to leverage the GPU for it.
It’s a 7w chip, but will typically run around the 2w range which means great battery life, and when combined with fast charging, it should help keep the Pro X going for longer than other Surface devices.
It features plentiful wireless connections with the latest generation of Wi-Fi and LTE Advanced support. It has a removable hard drive for expandable storage. The new-generation slim Surface Pen has its own dock in the Pro X chassis, meaning it is always available and always recharging. It’s also hidden away behind the touch cover if you want it to be out of sight and out of mind.
The official size is 12 inches, but it packs a 13-inch screen with a resolution of 2,880 x 1,920. The bezels have rounded corners for a softer look than other Surface devices, although the overall look of the device is still a typical Surface arrangement. That’s not a bad thing, but compared to the still-under-development Surface Neo and Surface Duo, it’s not such a head-turner.
The Surface Pro X is up for pre-order now starting at $999. It will start shipping on November 5.