Customer Ratings & Reviews

## TL;DR PROs - Speedy performance and beautiful display - Cool AI image generation/enhancement features that happen locally - Great battery life CONs - Limited local AI features - Some apps (VPN, anti-virus) may not yet be compatible with ARM processors ## What's new with Copilot+ Surface PCs? How are they different from "regular" PCs? The key difference between the new "Copilot+ PCs" announced by Microsoft and existing PCs is the requirement of a powerful Neural Processing Unit (NPU) with at least 40 Trillion Operations Per Second (TOPS) performance. This NPU hardware is necessary to run the advanced AI models and features that Microsoft is introducing with Copilot+. This Copilot+ PC's processor uses an ARM architecture for energy efficiency and longer battery life. Existing x86-64 applications are able to run based on Microsoft's emulation technology, but you may initially run into some issues with 3rd-party drivers and VPN clients until updates are made by those vendors. However, if you do most of your work in the browser, you should be fine. ## Design The Design of this Microsoft Surface Pro (11th generation) is very similar to previous generations. In fact, I even found that screen protectors from the previous Microsoft Surface seem to fit fine. The all-glass front is supported by an aluminum casing with a kickstand on the back. The kickstand is fine for working at a desk, but less ideal for working from your lap where you'll probably find a traditional laptop hinge is more comfortable. The keyboard (sold separately) is comfortable to type on and magnetically stores the Slim Pen when not in use. It is thin and can feel a little flimsy when typing on it (especially if you're using it on your lap). However, the keys seem to be spaced normally and it did not feel like a huge adjustment moving from a full-sized keyboard to this. Both the laptop and keyboard fold together nicely to protect the screen and they make the unit very portable to carry or slip into a backpack. ## AI Features I was excited to hear about the local AI features available on the CoPilot+ PCs, but in practice, I found them a little confusing to find. ### Image Co-Creator The first feature I tried to test out was the new "Cocreator" in Paint. I open the Paint program from the Start Menu, but there is no Cocreator button to be found on the toolbar. "Ah, maybe I need a Windows Update to enable it," I thought. Nope, all available Windows Updates had already been installed. I tried looking through the "Help" system and checking for an update in the Microsoft Store (and when did Windows 11 get so many pop-up ads for service plans and Xbox Live?!), but still could not locate a reason as to why the button was missing. At the risk of defining "insanity," I open the Paint app again hoping for a different result. And behold, the "Image Creator" and "Cocreator" buttons have magically appeared, although nothing seemed to download nor update. Nevertheless, I selected "Image Creator" first as I would like to create some cool 8-bit backgrounds for my blog about retro technology. My dreams of generating beautiful pixel art are immediately dashed by a "Join the Waitlist" button. What?! I click to join, and I'm immediately given access with a limit of 50 credits, with no information about when credits are replenished. Do I get more tomorrow or am I stuck with just 50 credits for the life of this PC? I click to the help article which simply states: "You will receive 50 credits to create images when you join Image Creator." That's it, no further details on how to get more credits. Perhaps it was a misunderstanding on my part, but what is the point of the local, AI-enabled NPU processor that is still spending "credits" to produce images from the cloud? Turns out that it was a misunderstanding on my part, as the local NPU image generation doesn't kick-in until you use the "Cocreator" button. It looks basically the same, asking for a prompt and a style to generate the image. The difference is, it won't do anything until you start drawing something first. So, when using the Paint program, the NPU doesn't actually create a new image, it simply enhances something you've already started creating. And don't think you can hop on a plane, turn on Airplane Mode, and create to your heart's content on a long flight: even though the feature uses the local NPU, it still requires internet access to function. ### Photos Now, forget everything I said about the Image Creator in the Paint app, as the Photos app also has a feature with the same "Image Creator" name, however it does NOT use credits, it DOES appear to use the local NPU processor, and it does NOT require you to draw something first. Confused? Yeah, me too. However, the "Image Creator" in the *Photos* app does what I assumed the "Image Creator" would do in the *Paint* app: generate new images based on a prompt using the local NPU. It does still require an internet connection, but the actual image creation seems to happen locally. It was a confusing user journey to understand what AI capabilities this PC can perform locally, but I eventually got there. You can also use AI to edit photos you have stored in the Photos app. Open a photo, click the "Edit" icon, then select the new "AI" icon. You can add a prompt, but depending on the photo, there is only so much you can do with it. If a face is detected, then you can only change the background of the image and it won't mess with people's faces. ### Live Captions While Windows 11 already offers real-time Live Captions on "normal" (non-CoPilot+ PCs), the dedicated NPU adds the ability to translate these captions in real-time. This can be accessed by pressing the Windows + CTRL + L keys and downloading a language file. I fired up a Spanish YouTube video and was impressed with the real-time translation to English, although it was all one long paragraph (no speaker differentiation). The process does appear to be very efficient, with the NPU averaging between 3-4% utilization while the feature was actively translating Spanish to English. It's also nice that you don't need to specify the source language; only the language you want it to be translated into needs to be set. Unfortunately, there is no dedicated "Translate" app like on your phone, although you could use the Sound Recorder app to record someone speaking, then play it back to get the translation. ### Windows Studio Effects There are some AI-powered effects that you can add to the camera for your video calls: - Standard Blur: This provides an unnaturally blurred background as you've probably seen on your "regular" PC. - Portrait Blur: The blur effect is not as pronounced and appears more like a natural bokeh effect from a DSLR camera. I was most impressed by this effect. - Portrait Light: Brightens your face as if a ring light is in front of you. - Creative Filters Illustrated, Animated, and Watercolor: Less practical as it makes you look like a cartoon. - Eye Contact: Makes your eyes appear so that it appears you're looking directly at the camera, when in reality you're looking at the screen. - Automatic Framing: The wide-angle camera lens zooms in on you and follows you around as you shift to the left or right. ### My Wishlist for Local AI After seeing Apple's implementation of AI throughout iOS and macOS, I wish there were some more offline AI features available on the Surface Pro, such as summarizing incoming emails, creating summary transcripts of meetings, or text generation tools throughout the operating system. To be fair, some of these features are available through Microsoft 365 Copilot, which is a separate subscription service. Also, Microsoft does make their regular Copilot chat assistant available for free and it is only a button press away (as long as you have an internet connection) and perhaps more local AI features will be coming in the future. ## Performance The reviewed configuration of Microsoft's 11th generation of the Surface Pro features a Snapdragon X Plus processor, an ample 16GB of RAM, and a roomy 512GB of storage. The Snapdragon processor seems to provide very good performance, as Edge and Office applications open almost instantly, and web pages render just as fast. The 16GB of RAM is a good amount for Windows 11, and it allows me to run multiple applications and have multiple browser tabs open at the same time with only the occasional stutter. The 512GB SSD provides ample storage, but only about 416GB was available after installing operating system updates and the offline AI models. The OLED display on this unit is bright, vivid, and a joy to view whether working on a Word document or watching a YouTube video. In fact, I find the screen a tad too bright, even at the dimmest setting, when working late at night. Thankfully, Windows has implemented dark mode! The speakers on this unit are also surprisingly good. Not as good as many Bluetooth speakers, but better than I was expecting for a tablet's built-in speaker system. ## Battery Life The Surface Pro's AMD architecture does indeed appear to be energy efficient. After about an hour of video watching, general web surfing and some AI image creation, I found the battery decreases about 10-12%. I don't know about 14 hours of video playback, but there seems to be enough power to at least get you through the work day. It comes with a proprietary Surface charging brick and cord, but I found the Surface is able to charge with a standard USB-C charger as low as 30 watts. ## Summary Like previous generations, the 11th generation of the Microsoft Surface Pro 11th generation has a great design complemented by great performance. The addition of new local AI features like image generation, image enhancement, studio camera effects and live translations is definitely cool, and I hope they expand the local AI feature to more areas like text generation and proofreading.

This is my 2nd Microsoft Surface, I had a pro edition a few years ago that I really loved and now that they have integrated AI via Copilot+, I felt it was time to try this new one. I still love the Surface Pro PC concept with Tablet screen and attachable keyboard with Pen. This is a 13inch unit with 16GB of Memory and a 512GB of storage. This is as much as most medium/high range laptops, yet this is less than 2lbs in weight and only .37 inches thick. That is impressive. The Surface Slim pen and keyboard are awesome, they feel much more tightly integrated than any other tablet/keyboard combo I have used. It truly is comfortable either on your lap, on a desk or just sitting beside you on the sofa. It is so comfortably usable. Face recognition works great for me as well. As for the basics, the new Surface Pro 11 is fast, with its Snapdragon XP Plus processor and NPU for AI, it is smooth and quick for me as I go between MS Word, MS Excel, Paint and over 10 different tabs in both Firefox and Edge. There is another Surface Pro 11 with the Snapdragon X Elite with OLED display that is available, but this one is powerful and beautiful enough for me with a 2880x1920 QHD display. Now, what differentiates this new round of Surface Pro is the inclusion of Microsoft’s implementation of AI/ChatGPT like capability called Copilot+. If you have ever used ChatGPT or similar you will be familiar with the usage of “prompts”. It can be as simple as just asking questions but so much more powerful. you can now get information, analysis and creation all together from Copilot+. There is a dedicated Copilot+ button on the keyboard which when pressed brings up the Copilot window. From there, you can just chat with it and ask questions, create and analyze. For example, you can select the Notebook, I then asked Copilot this: “In the role of an IT Cloud Leader, write me a job description for a Cloud Migration Specialist”. I have added a pic of this in my pics but literally within 3 seconds, it produced a very accurate job description for this type of role. I was very impressed. Moreover, you can choose to export the output to Word, PDF or text. Just think of the possibilities for this! I asked Copilot to create a 4month old birthday card for my new granddaughter and uploaded it a picture of my son, his wife and my new granddaughter while they were in a small kiddie pool. Copilot took the picture, created an drawing/image mimicking the 3 of them in the pool, down to the red hair of my daughter in law! It was amazing! I was also able to ask Copilot to “summarize” a web link that I posted. It wrote me a great summary of the contents. I am really excited for this as I frequently explore complex software and cloud services sites and this will allow me to quickly summarize the content and not waste time when I don’t see value in the content but have to read to the end to make that determination. Next, I asked Copilot Designer to create a picture. I said, “Chocolate Labrador running in a field”. It took about 3 or so seconds and produced 4 options, all beautiful! Now, they all were showing the dog in fields of sunflowers. lol, but they do remind you that AI is not perfect and you will have to tweak and adjust as needed. I then went into MS Paint. Now, I am not an overly creative person, but this is where Copilot can even make someone like me creative. I used Cocreator in Paint to start to draw a puppy but then in the cocreator window, you then tell it what you are trying to draw. Copilot analyzes what you are trying to draw against what you are telling it you are trying to draw and it then creates a polished version of what you think you wanted. You can then choose to select it and bring it into your canvas you’re currently working on. What is so amazingly cool about this is, if you are not a creative person, you now have a wealth of tools available to you to learn, grow and improve your creativity! If you are already a very creative person, you can take what you already know and be even more amazing with the content you create. It really is revolutionary, and the way Microsoft integrates this into their apps and Windows 11 is so very useful for so many. Overall, there is much to love about this device. I am still not a huge fan of the magnetic charging cable and block. The USB-C will work to charge so I am not sure why they just didn’t go with that and ditch the other. It does charge fast and overall battery life lasts me fine all day. The size, the weight, flexibility of this Microsoft Surface is compelling enough to make this my everyday device. The added AI capabilities with Copilot+ just provide an intelligent “icing” on top of a wonderful cake! The coolest part is with every use of Copilot+, it starts to make you think about all the things you can ask and do with it. I would highly recommend this to anyone! It is great and will continue to improve the technology but more importantly it will continue to improve my capabilities!

I just started using the Microsoft Surface Pro with Copilot+ PCs. It brings in a new age of AI-powered productivity and creativity. Its advanced tech improves my experience with its incredible features and unmatched performance. The design and display is just out of this world as this Surface Pro offers stunning visuals that features a stylish design with a 13" PixelSense Flow OLED display and has a resolution of 2880 x 1920 pixels. I was amazed by looking at the OLED panel that provides a 1M:1 contrast ratio and supports a dynamic refresh rate of up to 120Hz, ensuring sharp details and seamless transitions. The laptop has a 165-degree fluid kickstand that can be used at different angles to allows hands free access and let me view the screen as needed. Lastly, the Dune color not only is different but enhances the looks to the next level. Let me tell you that the Snapdragon X Elite (12 core) Processor works like lightning to deliver exceptional performance, intelligence, and power efficiency. With 45 Trillion Operations Per Second of NPU power, this laptop is perfect for influencers like me who require fast processing speeds and multitasking capabilities. I do not have any concerns when it comes to process multiple things at the simultaneously. The two cameras one at the front and the other one at the back along with speakers are of decent quality. The front facing camera has face tracking and is utilized for Windows Hello facial recognition. Both the cameras takes good quality photos and video and works nicely for video conferencing as well. Not to forget the new optimized Windows 11, the Surface Pro has a all-new Start menu with improved connectivity options. As with everything these days, we can't ignore AI and this has AI-Enhanced features that incorporates AI throughout its functions, from the Surface Studio Camera with automatic framing to the Surface Slim Pen enhanced by AI. These features empower me to turn ideas into artwork with generative AI tools. The battery life is unbelievable as it easily last up to 14 hours which is not common for a laptop but this one easily surpass that expectation. For connectivity, this comes with two USB-C 4 ports and support for up to three 4K monitors at 60Hz, the Surface Pro ensures versatile connectivity for peripherals and external displays. Overall I'm absolutely loving it! This laptop has truly become my go-to device for everyday use.I'm also really impressed with the battery life. The screen is stunning, the audio is top-notch, the processor is lightning-fast, and the AI features are a game-changer. Plus, it's the perfect size for on-the-go use. If you're looking for a Windows laptop in a compact size and travel-friendly then this Surface Pro with Copilot+ is definitely worth considering. It's a game-changer for productivity and creativity.

Windows has obviously been around a long time and is the known big name operating system for computers around the world, but its only been the last handful of years that Windows has been making their Surface laptop line. I have used many Windows computers in my day and it’s safe to say that this Surface Pro with Copilot+ is simply the best windows PC experience I have had! PROS: - Unboxing this and setup was a treat. Immediately you notice the top tier build quality that shows how thin it is but premium with how it feels and looks. The kickstand is very sturdy and can be adjusted in different angles, and it’s nice and light in your hand as well. Setup includes a smooth process of a few questions and you are ready to go! - The first thing you will notice when using this is how truly amazing this screen is, I mean wow! The OLED just makes everything pop and ever color feel like it stands out on its own. The whites are crisp and when the screen is black it is a true black. Makes for any work, play, or content you consume to be a real joy. I particularly enjoyed using this for movies and shows or games as the Dolby Vision with Dolby Atmos speakers really popped. - The Snapdragon processor brings a new level of speed as well. Often you think that you need a big machine to get you fast and efficient speeds but the Snapdragon processor along with the great ram and SSD specks make for a blazing fast experience when using multiple apps at the same time with either work or play. - Of course the big rollout of these new Windows PC’s are the built in Copilot+ which helps use AI for all your work and creative needs. I found the real world use cases for AI to be so beneficial as it helped my work look better and gave me ideas I had not considered before. I think it’s only going to get better with time as well but so far the AI features are a big perk for me in my use cases. - The surface pro also comes with some nice features like dual front/back cameras and 2 USB C ports. Both of these increase the versatility as the front camera is amazing for conference calls or streaming, the back is useful for taking pictures, and the two USB-C are the way of the future and work with all of my accessories I need. - Along with all this speed, AI, and OLED screen you would think that was too much power for a solid battery but I was very impressed with how long I could use this Surface Pro in between charges! It works wonderfully and only adds to its portability to be able to bring along like its nothing. CONS: - I really did not have too many downsides about this. Sure you could say it needs more ports but I find myself using them less and less, especially with docking stations and Bluetooth. Plus it keeps the profile more sleek and modern. BOTTOM LINE: - This is simply the Microsoft Laptop to buy. It has an incredible form factor that is great on the go, at your deck, or docked into monitors, its blazing fast, has an unreal OLED screen, and the built in AI features give you the real use case for AI that you may not have seen before. Microsoft has really hit a home run with this Surface Pro and it will easily be my daily driver for all my needs and I think it will cover yours as well!

I’ve owned a few Surface’s over the years, but I haven’t been excited about them for a while now - really since the very first one. I was a little skeptical about all the hype on the Snapdragon X processor and after using the new Surface Pro I can confirm that, unlike previous attempts, it mostly delivers on the promise of Windows on ARM. The performance is great on both native and x86 apps, the battery lasts forever (and it sleeps properly), the OLED screen is beautiful, and the build quality is as great as it’s ever been for a Surface. It’s not going to replace a high end desktop or a big beefy gaming laptop, but as an everyday device it does everything I want and I know I can depend on it to just work. The build quality is as good as it’s ever been from Microsoft, which is to say excellent. The ‘Dune’ color is a somewhat muted gold color that looks very classy. The aluminum casing feels nice and does a reasonable job of resisting fingerprints. The integrated kickstand folds out to just about any position and holds firm where you set it. For ports there is the proprietary Surface Connect port and 2 USB4 USB-C ports. The included 39W power adapter connects via the Surface Connect, but the Surface Pro supports 65W fast charging through USB-C or another Surface charger. Behind the kickstand there is a plate covering the 512GB SSD that can be popped open without any tools that reveals an M.2 2230 SSD that can easily be upgraded in the future. The keyboard and pen aren’t included in the price of the Surface Pro, so this is something to bear in mind when pricing it out. With the keyboard and pen attached, the overall weight is just a little over 2.5 lbs. The OLED display is new for Surface and it looks fantastic. It supports HDR and a 120Hz variable refresh rate. It also gets very bright. The 2880 x 1920 resolution provides a dense 267 ppi and the 3:2 aspect ratio gives you some extra vertical space that’s great for productivity. In the 5 or so days I’ve used the Surface so far the main thing I’ve noticed has been how great the battery life is. I’ve had other Windows devices with good battery life before, but the problem I’ve had with them is they tend to drain a lot even when you’re not using them to the point where I have lost 30% or more battery over the course of a day if I didn’t completely shut them down. This is not an issue with the Surface. The battery lasts to the point where I could very comfortably leave the charger at home for at least a day if not more. And it doesn’t need to be shut down; you can put the Surface to sleep and come back in a few hours or even a day to the same amount charge it had before. And it’s always ready to go right when you bring it on out of sleep. It opens up a lot of possibilities just from the simple fact of not having to have anxiety about whether or not your laptop is going to make it through whatever you’re doing. The performance so far has been great for me on both native ARM and x86 apps. Obviously native apps run better and don’t stress the battery as much, but I don’t feel hamstrung by the ARM processor. So far I’ve primarily been using Chrome and Adobe apps. I haven’t tried any gaming yet, but from what I’ve seen other places the results are underwhelming - not that I would have chosen any previous Surface device for gaming anyway. I know the x86 compatibility isn’t 100%, but for me I haven’t run into any issues and with so many more ARM-based Windows devices coming out I’m hoping compatibility will improve and more applications will get native ARM versions. Microsoft is calling the Surface a Copilot+ PC, which means it has a separate processor for doing AI tasks. So far in Windows this is mostly down to what I would call gimmicky things like eye contact in the front-facing camera, generative image generation in Paint based on what you draw, and a basic upscaler for gaming. These features are all good and even useful at times, but so far none of them are game changing. Windows 11 is still Windows 11 and while I’m a fan, many are not and nothing about how you interact with it with the Surface is going to change anybody’s opinion on it. The nice thing about it being a product directly from Microsoft though is the Windows bloat is reduced compared to other brands. The front-facing camera looks great and incorporates many of the aforementioned AI features. The built-in microphone is also high quality. You also get Windows Hello, which recognizes and logs me in in less than a second most of the time. The rear camera is just okay, but fine for basic photos or documentation purposes. The speakers get quite loud and don’t distort at high volumes. There’s also more bass than I was expecting for such a small device. Overall I’m really impressed with the new Surface. It’s got a beautiful build, a beautiful screen, a battery that lasts for days, and the performance to back it all up. It’s an almost no compromises portable Windows experience and aside from the higher price you’ll pay for that I’d have no problems recommending it to anyone.

Overview: You will probably love this new Microsoft Surface Pro Snapdragon X Plus with Copilot+ and the many tweaks that make this new Surface impressive. Most Windows apps were optimized to run for this new chip and workflow is very good. The Copilot+ suite of AI assistants at this early stage might still have room for improvement. Some of the AI works as intended and is fun to use, but not everything seems to work as easily as preview demo videos showed. It is definitely a quick PC that sips power and can be left on most of the time for quick and easy use all day long, much like you do with a cell phone. Yet, if you prefer apps and programs far from the Microsoft ecosystem, you might have a few growing pains running non-native apps in emulation mode. And most gaming at this early release date will not install through the on board services. Surface tablets were not usually considered for gaming anyways, but there could be hope for it someday soon. Copilot+: The demo videos I saw were very impressive. Sadly, maybe a few features are not fully at peak Ai readiness. Or are for a different type user other than myself. Camera: Only tried the camera briefly as I do not use tablet cameras much. Studio effects for Automatic Framing and Blur are the only beneficial features I thought worked well enough to use. The creative filters were too odd looking for me to use in the current state. Restyle: Editing photos with Restyle (any photo you load into image viewer and select edit option) is a fun tool with several art styles, or make one up, works well for decent edits to bizarre creations. This one works. Chat: The likely hero of Copilot+ in the long run. Chat collaborator seems to work pretty good and answers quickly and can be paired with a few plugins like Instacart and Kayak. It will also help create images in partnership with the DALL.E 3 Designer. The feature of Ai many, myself included, like to use to create fun pictures from text prompts. Image Creator/Cocreator: It is when I tried the Cocreator in Paint. Maybe I can not draw well enough or it does not know what my text description means. Every art project ends up a complete mess with very few of the elements described or drawn rendering correctly. Then there is the version of Image Creator also in Paint. Seems to be a pay to play feature as it shows I have zero coins and does not work to create anything. Everything with Ai is still in the early learning phases and daily there might be improvements pushed out that can make programs and features better. Today, certain features might not be as easy for users to implement as demo videos have made it seem. Surface Copilot+ improvements I like so far: Qualcomm Snapdragon Plus chip looks to have great potential if everyone gets on board and builds software and drivers for it. Windows tasks are a bit quicker than previous models. Now with a minimum of 16GB RAM helping multitasking abilities. Tip: buy the most RAM you can, since these are not user upgradable short of the SSD. Although, Microsoft has made this new Surface somewhat repairable should things need service down the road as noted online by i-fixit, thank you. Also new, and very welcomed addition this model series is the settings shortcuts on the far right side of the taskbar where battery level is (similar to settings drop down on Android phone). Also very happy with letting the unit go to sleep after 3 min. Then being able to anytime just pick the tablet up and it near instantly wake up and not have lost 5-10% of the battery because you did not fully shut down the PC. Much like a cell phone for battery life, you never turn those off, it sips power in standby/sleep. Wi-Fi 7 for the future of blazing internet speeds. And finally, this is the first tablet that Windows hello worked in portrait orientation, for me. Literally pick up the tab at almost any angle at it unlocks if the camera sees me. Maybe it worked before, and just didn't like me. Hardware unchanged in the base models: The screen and audio appear to be the same as previous model, good visuals and loud speakers. No Atmos just stereo. Kickstand is excellent on desk, still rough on the lap. Magnetic charger and USB-C ports are also unchanged for the most part. Charger is plenty long and flexible. My series 9 keyboard/pen can be carried over, but the pen needs to be paired/synced to work. Just no Copilot specific key like on the new updated keyboard. Tip: watch for those Best Buy combo deals where you can often get the keyboard and/or pen cheaper than when purchased separately. Sadly the SD card slot is still gone, not sure why it was ever removed. Gaming, First off, I don't think Microsoft ever claimed any gaming specs for Surface Pro tablets that I am aware of. Again it was demo videos, this time of the Snapdragon chip that gives us hope that maybe someday a Surface can play some current top titles. This Surface will play time waster games found in the app drawer or Edge tab (puzzles, card games or candy busters). I had no luck getting a larger game in Game Pass, Microsoft store or Xbox to install (did not want/try cloud gaming). Not even Minecraft would install! Games I own, clicking install, nothing happens. Besides, anything recent might need the Elite chip or better compatibility. Will try again later to see if support becomes available. Microsoft may leave this disabled to protect the Surface internals from issues games might cause, speculation on my part. Just know many games do not install.

Everything you need plus AI-based features that amp up how you work and play. This Copilot+PC Surface Pro Tablet is fast, slim, lasts longer on a charge and helps you get stuff done more quickly and easily. Highlights: * Fast! * Relatively light. * Sleek all-metal chassis with great build quality. * Great battery life. * Includes magnetic (proprietary) 35W charger. * Charging via USB-C also works. * Integrated Copilot features are useful and have potential. * Live Caption is amazing! Room for Improvement: * Copilot’s integrations into Windows still feel a tad disjointed. * Windows still isn’t completely easy to use with Touch. Setup: Windows continues to get easier to set up. Plug in the provided 35W AC adapter to the wall and the magnetic slot on the side of the tablet to charge it up. Power it on and run through the initial Windows setup which is not short, but at least it’s easy to progress through and shows informative stuff while you wait. The AC adapter has a permanently attached cable that goes to the tablet and a removable cable that goes to the wall so you can substitute it for a different one if you’re traveling to a foreign country. There’s no cable management but it’s a relatively small AC adapter. Once completed and you’re at the Windows desktop, you can start to use it right away or begin customizations and installing your favorite apps. I use both Windows and Apple for work and all of my work is done either via a web browser or in apps that are available for both Windows and MacOS. I started off by installing all of my core apps like Figma, Slack, Office365, Snagit and 1Password. Everything I needed installed quickly and ran smoothly. I’m even using Edge instead of Chrome to check it out. Usage: There are three aspects of this Copilot+ Surface Pro Tablet I’ll cover; the hardware, Windows 11 and the new Copilot+ features accelerated by this new hardware and Windows 11. This Surface Pro Tablet is fast, thin, has great battery life, so far runs everything I need and is built really well. It takes the standard Surface Tablet formula and refines it further. The display has rounded corners that add some flair and the touchscreen is responsive to both fingers and the optional Surface Slim Pen. The kickstand is sturdy and allows for a variety of support angles. The LCD screen is bright and crisp with a high resolution and great viewing angles. There is the proprietary Surface Connect port where the provided AC charger connects as well as two USB-C ports that support USB4, Thunderbolt 4 and DisplayPort 1.4a. You can even leave the AC adapter at home and charge from one of the USB-C ports if you have a big enough USB power brick (35W min). This tablet is thin and feels substantially built but isn’t too heavy. The 13” LCD screen is just short of 4k resolution at 2880x1920 (267 dpi). The Quad-HD (1440p) front-facing camera is great for video calls and the 10MP rear-facing camera is actually pretty good, too. The built-in 2W Atmos speakers are surprisingly loud and clear and with support for BTLE Audio, you can connect just about any Bluetooth speakers or headsets when needed. If you’re working in a private environment, the dual microphones with voice focus work great for voice and video calls without the need to connect headphones or a headset. Windows 11 running on this new Snapdragon X Plus chipset feels fast and fluid. So far, I’ve noticed no heat or noise while running my suite of work apps. Windows has come a long way to being “finger-friendly”, and while I enjoy using touch to navigate occasionally rather than a trackpad or mouse, there’s still a lot within Windows that is hard to do with a finger. For that, the optional Surface Slim Pen works well. There is nowhere to leave the pen when you’re not actively using it, but it works great for writing on the screen or doing stuff where more precision is needed than your fingers can provide. Copilot+ is a suite of AI-based integrations to help you through your work day or home computing adventures. The most obvious and useful is a new Copilot “app” that is launched from the Windows Taskbar but also has a dedicated button on the optional keyboard. This opens a window with two main functions; Copilot and Notebook. Copilot is similar to the chatbots that you might have tried on other systems. You type or verbalize your question and it compiles an AI-summarized response. It’s nice that there are citations and references to the data sources used for the response so you can research further and read the original information that was used to compile the summary. You can also rate the summary, copy the text to put it elsewhere, have it read aloud or download it. Conversations are threaded in that you can build on the last question and answer without repeating yourself. If you’re done with that rabbit hole, just tap the “new topic” button to start a conversation on a different topic. You can even upload a photo or use the built-in cameras to take a photo as the source for the question. When generating the answer to your question, the response appears on screen almost as if you’re watching someone else type the answer live…. I’m not sure I like that versus just showing the answer, but it’s not a huge distraction as the responses seem to be accurate, fast and appropriate. The Notebook aspect of Copilot lets you use the AI to create new content based on the idea that you provide. For example, I wrote “A poem about squid” and the AI came back with iambic pentameter about the ocean creature. Fun. Again, you can type or use a photo as the idea and let the AI create something new from that. It can also translate into just about any language using spoken or typed content on either end. The standalone Copilot app is fun, helpful and handy. Some other AI-based features of this Copilot+ Surface Pro Tablet are integrated into standard Windows apps such as the Edge web browser, Paint, the built-in Camera, and others. For example, in the Edge browser, there is a Copilot icon that opens the same Copilot features in a sidebar in the browser window. Here, the two tabs are called “Chat” and “Compose” versus “Copilot” and “Notebook” but they essentially do the same things. There’s a handy “Generate page summary” button that takes the contents of the web page being shown and summarizes it for you. Another fun thing it can do is generate questions to investigate based on content in the web page. You can still upload an image to use as the source of a query or take a new photo with the built-in cameras, but when accessed from within Edge, you can also easily take and include a screenshot as the source. In Paint, you can describe the image you want to create and have Copilot make an image to match your vision. This is powered by DALL-E and as of the time I write this review, this feature is in Preview and only allows 50 uses. Perhaps this will change later? Another AI-based feature in Paint is “Cocreator” which takes the image you start drawing and embellishes it to create something more professional or in a different artistic style. The Snipping Tool for screenshots has a few new tricks. It can quickly find text in a screenshot to be copied elsewhere as text (OCR). It can also detect phone numbers and email addresses in the image and redact them so that information is hidden in the resulting image that is shared. When on a video call, the live caption feature will add real-time automatic subtitles for every word spoken in any of 40+ languages. Have a video chat with people who speak different languages but never miss a beat! The camera has some cool effects, too. Automatically zoom and focus on where you are in the frame, adjust your eyes so they appear to be looking at the camera even though you’re really looking at the screen below it, change or blur the background or apply filters to your appearance - all live in the moment. Even with all of this new AI goodness sprinkled throughout, this Copilot+ Surface Pro Tablet isn’t slowing down or heating up, and the battery is still chugging along. Overall: The Surface line of laptops and tablets has always been a great example of how great a Windows PC can be. These Copilot+ versions are faster, buttery smooth, last longer on a charge and get more done more easily. They take everything you need in a Windows PC and add in some AI smarts to tie things together better and be more creative. If a Windows PC is what you need, these Copilot+ PCs will exceed your expectations.

So far this has been a surprisingly painless experience. It's my first foray into an ARM powered windows machine, and so far the experience has been almost indistinguishable from a typical x86 machine. There are a few hiccups, some x86 programs don't run well emulated (or at all), although they're usually niche things that most people don't need. Also, because Windows on ARM isn't quite mainstream, it can be hard to find programs compiled for it - I had to go to a few different websites to find Java 21 compiled for ARM. Most of this will be resolved with time however, and it's already quite usable. Regarding AI and Copilot+, honestly at the time of writing they're mostly just a gimmick. most of the available features are rather useless in daily usage. And in case this isn't clear to anyone, the copilot AI assistant does NOT run locally, it's purely cloud based. Won't even load without an internet connection. Studio effects (camera stuff) could be useful in online meetings, and live captions can be useful to view content in other languages. I hope to see some more useful features come out eventually, but right now it's mostly just a shiny new gimmick. The camera is great quality - compared to almost any other laptop webcam, this is in another class altogether. From what I've heard, Qualcomm actually has an image signal processor on the SOC, and typical x86 laptops rely on whatever cheap ISP is inside the webcam - which usually leads to really low quality, even if the webcam is "1080p" or even "4k". It also helps that the Surface Pro is a tablet form factor and has much more room for a quality image sensor. I was hoping to dual boot Linux, however at the time of writing the Snapdragon X aren't supported on Linux yet. As far as I'm aware, these chips are designed in such a way that you have to add support directly to the Linux kernel for each specific chip to be able to run it, which is unfortunate. However, Qualcomm is actively working on making Linux work with these chips - which is really nice to see. Now to the device - The OLED screen is gorgeous, brightness is great - even sufficient outdoors (at least in shade, haven't tested in direct sunlight). As it is a touchscreen device, there is a slight pattern from the digitizer visible up close to the screen - I can only see it from distances unreasonable for any average user (say, 6-8 inches away from the screen). HDR looks great, 120hz is fluid, VRR provides a nice power saving option. Battery life has been pretty good compared to some other laptops I've owned, it lasted quite awhile even streaming HD content for hours. The build is solid, the hinge feels pretty durable. The power and volume buttons are plastic which is a slight disappointment but not a huge issue. The SSD is easily accessible through a magnetically attached door, which is great to see from a repairability standpoint, albeit a little odd. The form factor is a bit uncomfortable sometimes, it's a bit hard to use they keyboard cover if you're not at a desk or table. As a tablet it works great wherever though, as most tablets do. Windows is fairly usable touch only, minus a few UI quirks. You tap with two fingers to "right click," but if you need to do that with any sort of precision then you long press with a single finger - unfortunately there's no haptics, sound, or visual indicator to let you know it's been long enough, so you end up wasting time holding it too long. Could get used to it with time, but an indicator of any kind would be a much better option. Overall it's a great device, just needs a bit of time for software to catch up.

I think it's important to ask yourself what you are looking for in a tablet. What are you looking to get out of it? I think sometimes the use case you will find is better suited for a laptop or vice versa, maybe your use case does indeed justify a tablet. This is important to establish because it will correctly set your expectations for the device. For me, I wanted something ultra portable that I could do some non intensive tasking with such as browsing the web, shopping, checking email but also something I could do some post processing of photos on and some light video editing. I don't expect to game or do any sort of heavy production that a performance desktop or laptop would be more suited for. I also wanted to dive into the world of AI and I feel these new devices sporting the new NPUs would be perfect for this. Specs Up Front: Processor: Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus - 10 cores Neural Processing Unit (NPU): Qualcomm Hexagon - 45 trillion operations per second Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno GPU Memory: 16GB LPDDR5x RAM Storage: 512GB Gen4 SSD Display: 13-inch LCD PixelSense Flow display Operating System: Windows 11 I/O: 2x USB-C/ USB4 supporting: -Charging -Data transfer -DisplayPort 1.4a -Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock and other accessories Surface Pro Keyboard port Surface Connect port with fast charge support Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth v5.4 Audio: 2W stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos Dual Studio Mics with voice focus Battery Life: Approximately 14 hours of video playback Weight: 1.04 lbs Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches Build Quality: I appreciate the design and craftsmanship Microsoft put into the Surface Pro 11. This is my first tablet style Surface so I wasn't entirely sure what to expect but I’m impressed with the quality materials and simple design. The power button and volume button location is convenient and well placed as are the two usb-c ports and the power port. The webcam is perfectly placed in the center of the device making great for video conferences. I also appreciate the rounded edges which makes the tablet more comfortable to use and hold. I also want to mention that upgrading the SSD storage in this device is easy as you can access it directly from the rear of the device without having to disassemble the device to get to it. This is a fantastic feature. Setup: Setup includes your typical Microsoft Windows software setup guiding you through everything you need to setup and establish your Microsoft account on your new device. Very straightforward and easy to accomplish with minimal effort. I did my Microsoft updates immediately following the setup as I always do with my systems. Features: Along with the hardware features I listed above, are some included AI features with CoPilot+. The “Neural Processing Unit (NPU)” is the new hardware built into the tablet that allows us to take advantage of these new AI features and processes them on-device. This allows greater security by keeping this data local as well as allows for faster processing for AI. I have used Live Captions and Cocreator and although these both are still new, they are very powerful. Live Captions has the ability to caption other languages, in real time, and translate them to English. I tested Live Captions in several different scenarios, playing foreign movies off youtube, as well as other video sources. I didn't feel that it was able to keep up very well with the foreign language when I tested it. It definitely a neat concept but in my testing, so far, it falls short of being impressive. Cocreator is neat and I definitely feel like it will improve over time. I tested Cocreator with several different hand drawn images in MS Paint and was pretty impressed when I described my drawing and adjusted the creativity slider to achieve different levels of effects. This is really neat to play around with but I’m not sure there is a specific use case I have for it at this time. Maybe in the future I can find a reason to use it but right now, I think at least for me, it's just something fun to play around with. CoPilot itself from a conversation based AI assistant is a nice feature for any operating system and I see myself using it more and more for different things even if its just to look something up really quick. I used to use search engines but I feel like I get pretty good results from using the AI assistant. I can see these features only growing to provide additional features and benefits for us in the future. I asked myself the question, would I purchase this just for the AI features it includes? But I don't feel that is a practical question to ask. I feel like this is a great device for my use case with the added benefit and future proof of having the ability to take advantage of these features, even if they aren't something I need or currently use today. Performance: I was somewhat apprehensive about the Snapdragon ARM architecture but I honestly have not had any performance issues at all with the Surface Pro. It is very fast and the battery life is excellent. I can heavily use it for hours without having to recharge it and when I do need to recharge it, it seems to charge pretty quickly. I didn't start a timer to determine exactly how much time the battery lasted from 100% to 0% nor did I time how long the device took to charge so I have no real data numbers but for someone who DOES pay attention to these details, I am happy with both. I did notice when I was working with Cocreator that the images took some time to display. I think this may be a software delay as it has its own processor (the NPU) for these tasks. Like I mentioned above, the AI features are still in their infancy and will grow and become better and faster in time. But this is truly an awesome piece of technology and I look forward to watching the updates and rollouts in the future. I also want to state that this has one of the best looking LCD panels I’ve seen on a tablet and the 120Hz refresh rate makes it very enjoyable to use. The peak brightness is also perfect for me. The speakers are also fantastic on this device. Everything sounds fantastic and the volume goes up pretty high. The sound quality and the speaker placement is really good. I've had other devices in the past that really didn't sound good and it's a big deal if you are using your device for anything dealing with audio and video so I'm very happy the speakers are so good on this tablet. Overall Impressions: I love it! It has become my daily driver from a tablet perspective. I feel like I can do more with this tablet than I can my Android or IOS tablets because it's running Windows 11 and many applications are not as fully featured on Android/IOS as they are on a Windows system. They are getting there but I really feel more comfortable using those applications on this tablet. With the beautiful screen, excellent audio, fast processor, AI features, and perfect size for portability, this makes a perfect tablet for my use. I'm very impressed with the battery life as well.

Out of the box, the unit doesn’t break any new designs looking pretty like all surface tablets, which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. Case is anodized aluminum. My unit came with; Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPU’ NPU (Neural Processing Unit – can you say Terminator) Copilot+PC 512GB Samsung MZ9L4512HBLU-00BMV 2230 NVMe Gen4 SSD. This can be upgraded through a nifty magnetic “door” you just flip open. 16GB LPDDR5X ram – not upgradable OLED 2880x1920 3:2 13-inch 120 Hz touchscreen. Gorillas Glass 5 and unit still has the 165-degree kick-stand, which I really like. 2 USB-C (4.0 ports). Supports charging, data transfer, DisplayPort 1.4 as well as Thunderbolt 4.0 dock User facing 1440p ultrawide camera with studio affects and facial recognition (windows hello) Rear facing 10-MP UHD camera. Built-in microphone Built-in 2 W Dolby Atmos Qualcomm Aqstic adapter speakers. They sound nice for their size and somewhat immersive. Wifi 7 Bluetooth 5.4 Surface Pro keyboard port Surface Connect 39-watt AC adapter. About 7 ft long with inline brick. Lithium-ion battery Windows 11 home I also received the Surface Pro keyboard and Pen. Very light at just under 2 lbs. (before adding keyboard/pen). 1-year warranty Use This is my 1st machine using ARM architecture and I was pleasantly surprised by the performance. It tested very well using Cinebench. I did, however, run into an unexpected issue trying to install some of my “go-to” security, testing and taskbar software. It appears not all x86 based software will install/work with ARM. I had not considered this, and it is certainly disappointing – but I am not sure where the fault lies exactly? So just be aware. OLED screen is very impressive and supports HDR (my info shows 900 nits) but is very reflective. The 4:3 aspect ratio seems a tad odd, nice for docs, scrolling, etc. but lacks a little when viewing a movie. But movies look almost 3-D they have so much color/resolution. Very responsive touch as well. Easily connected to my wifi 7 mesh network. Battery life is very impressive. In recommended mode I looped a movie (stored on SSD – not streaming) with Wifi and Bluetooth both on and at 13-hour mark there was still 6% battery left. Best-performance mode ran about 75% of that. Super quiet while running and size/weight makes it very portable. AI experience. Co-pilot key was easy enough to use. It opened a search engine type window. Co-creator in Paint is easy to access. You draw in a box on the left side, giving a description of what you would like to create while also selecting a style, on the right. I described Godzilla (grandsons) and drew a very rudimentary figure but what it generated certainly wasn’t what I was looking for. Photos AI inspired Restyle tool accessed by selecting edit then AI colored button. Has options such as Fantasy, Anime, Watercolor, etc. Fun to play with but needs better rendering. Photos also has Image Creator where you can give description and it will generate photos/pic. I tried dinosaurs (again grandsons) and it provided several nice options. This was my favorite out of the 3. As with any new software/process there are going to be issues. Mine are not really with the software per se but with the fact you must sign into your MS account and have an internet connection to use them. You cannot use these features off-line. With that being the case there are any number of online editing tools you could also use. Negatives. Not great for gaming Touch-screen is reflective. No keyboard included (additional cost). This is kind of a must have for me to give it some semblance to a true laptop. No pen included (additional cost). Using finger to paint, etc. is nice but you really need a pen. No headphone jack – easily “fixed” with USB-C to mini connector. No Micro SD to easily add storage. No HDMI connector. Given tablets sleek design is not surprising. Easily “fixed” as well with USB-C dongle or hub. Since you can charge using USB-C connection I would prefer an additional USB-C connection replacing the Surface connect. ARM/X86 software issues but should be resolved soon hopefully. Cannot use AI software off-line. Also, for an additional monthly charge you can access CoPilot Pro. While I feel that AI is not ready for prime time yet, this unit should have you ready when it is. It is a nice compact unit filling that line between a tablet and laptop. Powerful, compact/light and energy efficient for everyday use I would recommend but it is a tad pricey especially if you add keyboard and a pen. There are more AI machines coming out every day. Also, I had Copilot rewrite the above and this is what it produced; • The tablet features an anodized aluminum case and a 13-inch OLED touchscreen with a 2880x1920 resolution and 120 Hz refresh rate. • It’s powered by a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPU with an NPU (Neural Processing Unit). • The storage includes a 512GB Samsung NVMe Gen4 SSD, which can be upgraded via a magnetic door. • The tablet has 16GB LPDDR5X RAM, user-facing 1440p ultrawide camera, rear-facing 10-MP UHD camera, built-in microphone, and 2W Dolby Atmos speakers. • Connectivity options include USB-C (4.0), Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4, and a Surface Pro keyboard port. • It runs Windows 11 Home on ARM architecture. • The OLED screen supports HDR but is reflective due to Gorilla Glass 5. • The 3:2 aspect ratio is great for documents but may not be ideal for movies. Regarding compatibility, some x86-based software may not work on ARM architecture. Keep that in mind when installing applications. Overall, it’s a lightweight tablet with impressive performance and features! 😊📱

Over the years, Microsoft has shown innovation with its Surface line. At one point, the Surface was the best all-around Two-In-One available for users who wanted to experience a device that offered the benefits of a tablet and a mobile laptop. The Surface Pro was first introduced in 2013, and even though it's been a solid choice, it has yet to evolve exactly how Microsoft wanted it to. Enter Surface Pro 11, equipped with the latest computer world's latest buzzword: A.I. Or, more specifically, Microsoft's Co-Pilot. A.I. has pushed harder than anything I can remember. It's everywhere. No matter what company you're loyal to, Apple, Google, or Microsoft, you'll be constantly reminded that A.I. is the future and the future is now. It's been talked about so much that you'd think this new Surface Pro will be a personal assistant you can converse with and ask to do projects on your behalf. But sadly, it is not. The A.I. aspect, as of right now, is underwhelming. There's just not much here yet, however. I'm sure a lot is around the corner. The most unique aspect of it is a dedicated "Co-Pilot" button. It does open up the co-pilot program, but not much else yet. On the other hand, when you get past the A.I. hype, you get an excellent machine that will impress with its quality hardware. This thing is beautiful. The OLED screen pops with contrast and solid blacks. I'm a sucker for OLED and find it difficult to use any other screen with anything bigger than a phone, and Microsoft did not disappoint in the screen. The built-in kickstand is as solid as ever with the Surface, and the new Dune color separates itself from the pack of devices out there. The entire package is very stunning. I received the Snapdragon X Elite version, and the speed and power of the machine can be seen immediately. Everything is snappy and quick, with no hiccups or delays. Power consumption is well managed, as the battery life is better than most 2-In-Ones I've used in the past. I wish Microsoft would market the build quality of these machines more than the A.I., because working on this has made me forget it even has A.I. features. I don't use them yet, but I am a freelance writer and do a lot of photography editing. I haven't delved too much into the editing capabilities yet, but writing on this with the Pro keyboard has been comfortable. If you haven't had a Surface Pro and have always thought about it, then I'd say it's the perfect time to get one with the 11. PROS: • OLED screen is beautiful • build quality is excellent • battery life is impressive • speedy and powerful CONS: • A.I. is underwhelming • Pen can be a bit more hefty

There are some real advantages and a few disadvantages to this Surface Pro 11. You get the portability and long battery life of a tablet with the processing power of a laptop. Beyond this you get the cutting edge AI capabilities offered by Microsoft and possible AI applications that are just being released. But you also have to worry about possible compatibility issues due to the ARM64 architecture used in the Surface Pro especially if you are a gamer. Most programs are written to run on the older x64 architecture but more programs are now being written to run the Windows-on-Arm (ARM64) natively. Those that are not native to ARM64 use Microsoft’s emulation software to operate but this is not the preferred approach. Overall this Surface Pro 11 matched with the Surface Pro keyboard provides an opening into the AI computing world and the ARM64 architecture. How significant this Surface Pro is over other Windows x64 capable devices will be determined as more AI apps are released and more apps become ARM64 compatible. Here are the benefits as I see them: - The new Snapdragon Plus has 10 Cores and scored high in Geekbench testing see below - The display is a touch screen with a resolution of 2880 x 1920 with a 120 hz refresh rate - There are two USB-C ports and a proprietary power port - It comes with 16 gb of DDR 5 memory but this memory also gets used to support video processing and it’s not upgradeable - There is a 512 GB SSD that can be easily upgraded but not necessary for most uses - Front and rear facing cameras for conferencing - Matched with the Surface Pro keyboard it becomes a competitive Windows laptop - Wi-Fi 7 wireless capabilities Here are some counter points as I experienced them: - If you are gamer its best to research your games. Using my Steam library War Thunder and Forza 5 will not play but Humans Fall Flat worked fine. In time I expect more games to be compatible. - The lack of a dedicated GPU means the 16 GB of memory is shared for video and cpu processing and accounts for the poor benchmarking scores for video see below - Not all the popular programs run natively in ARM64 as can be checked in Task Manager Overall Thoughts: The Surface Pro does not come with a keyboard or pen, its more tablet than laptop. After using it though I would highly recommend purchasing the Microsoft Surface Pro keyboard because it really adds to the overall value and use of the Surface Pro. The keyboard magnetically connects to the Surface Pro so you remove it when you want a tablet or install it when you want a laptop. The display and speakers are good and typical of what you get in a laptop in this price range. The kickstand allows you to adjust the viewing angle to your preference. The touch screen is responsive and using the optional Slim Pen 2 enhances the capabilities. The proprietary power plug has a magnetic attachment but it still seems to come undone too easily. I am a fan of CoPilot so having AI capabilities built in makes this even better. So far the only issues I have had are that many of my games are not compatible. I continue to research and monitor which programs work on Windows-on-Arm natively and which are being emulated. So far McAfee, Steam Client, DuckDuckGo and HP Smart are not native to ARM64 and are being emulated but work just fine. You can check this by viewing the Details tab in the Task Manager and looking for x64 vs ARM64. Before I install any new programs I use CoPilot to help research any compatibility issues because the emulation can cause problems. I have also used CoPilot to give me a list of the best AI programs to explore based upon my interest and I am just starting to look into those. Setup and Testing: Once I charged the Surface Pro and attached the Surface Pro keyboard I updated all the software and set the System power setting to Performance. I then ran it through several benchmark test including Geekbench 6 and 3DMark. The Geekbench scores were comparable to laptops that I own with Intel i7 and AMD R9 processors so this has great computing power. But without a dedicated GPU the video scores were quite low. For 3DMark I tested using the new Steel Nomad Light which is geared towards Windows-on-ARM laptops. Because this software is so new it does not give fps scores for various games yet. Geekbench 6 Single Core = 2453 Multi Core = 13191 Open CL = 19743 Vulcan 23542 3DMARK 3DMARK score for Steel Nomad Light Graphics = 1965 3DMARK Steel Nomad Graphics test = 14.56 fps

I’ve been intrigued by the Microsoft Surface for many years but I haven’t had the chance to try it out until now. I’m an Apple user for the most part but I do use Windows machines for gaming and my fiancé uses them sometimes for work. But neither of us have had the chance to try out the flagship tablet from Microsoft. My fiancé was immediately taken with it. She said the screen was breathtaking and one of the first things she wanted to try was watching high-quality video on it. We set up Netflix and Disney+ on it and watched some videos. The speaker quality is very good on the Surface Pro and we didn’t feel the need to immediately connect it to external speakers. The tablet comes with a full version of Windows 11 on it. My fiancé works with software developers so she’s done a lot of prompt training with bots and she asked a variety of questions to Copilot+. It was quick with responses and one of the things that we both really liked was that it provided references for where it found its answers. We tried image creation and looking up answers to some basic questions and it worked just as well as ChatGPT. The best part is that it’s integrated into the system. There are other system enhancements that Copilot+ provides, but they are a work in progress. We ran a Geekbench test on it to see how it compared to the benchmark. The single-core score was 2440 and the multi-core score was 13196. Both of these scores surpassed the top Android device listed in Geekbench’s Benchmark Charts (Samsung Galaxy S24 Ultra, Qualcomm Snapdragon 8 Gen 3, 2.3 GHz) and was in line with Intel Core i5 13th and 14th generation processors. The tablet is quiet and it doesn’t seem to get overly hot — even with prolonged use. The battery life is very good. We had it on standby for a couple of days and it still had 18% battery left when we picked it up again. It seems to be very efficient power-wise. The only thing I would change about its power features is its charging method. While it will charge using USB-C the charging option that came with it is a magnetic connector and a two-part power supply/cable that is quite bulky to lug around. The Surface Pro is sleek and easy to transport — except for the charging cable. One of the most remarkable things about this tablet is that it’s running Windows 11 — and running it very well. It’s a fluid experience and even though there was pre-installed software on it, the system didn’t seem to be bogged down at all. Overall, the Surface Pro Snapdrago X Plus is a remarkable device that provides a high level of productivity for the end-user. We certainly like having it as an additional machine in our home.

The new Microsoft Surface Pro Copilot+PC OLED is a thing of beauty! This is clearly a big move forward in the future of laptops/tablets. Externally, it really doesn't differ much from previous Surface models. That's not a bad thing as Microsoft already had a good thing going with the design. The changes from previous models are under the hood. Most notably the new Snapdragon X Elite chip. This new ARM processor is a game changer. A lot of hype has been made of this chip and it delivers. Incredibly fast and the battery life is simply amazing. 12+ hours of use is not out of the question. You heard me right, A Windows laptop that can do 12+ hours! Not sure I ever thought I would see the day. Everything I have thrown at this chip has worked great. Web browsing, spreadsheets, videos (4K at that) all work fast and without hesitation. I was particularly interested in the Surface Pro as a portable Photoshop/Lightroom station that I could fit in my camera bag. I've tried other small & lightweight tablets and laptops for this use and they all have left a lot to be desired. Not the case here. I can honestly say the full Windows versions of Photoshop and Lightroom run very well. In fact, better than others I have tried that cost more. The new OLED screen (a Surface Pro first) is beautiful with accurate color. Copilot is of course a big selling point. I'm still new to it, but so far I'm impressed with the abilities of Copilot. It is really an all around assistant. Using it for information search has worked well. I'm getting the hang of using it for photos as well. I wasn't really sold on the use of AI until now. Copilot has shown me enough so far to see its great potential. It can do a ton already and it's still new. Downsides. Well, keep in mind this is an ARM based machine. That means there are still some programs that may not run natively. However, the emulator works so flawlessly that it's not much of an issue. The only issues it has caused for me so far is that a few of my favorite Photoshop plugins won't work. But, these are also older plugins so that isn't surprising. Not a deal breaker in any way. It should be obvious, but I should mention this is for productivity and creation. There are games that will work with the Surface Pro, but this is in no way a gaming machine. The Surface Pro 11 Copilot+PC has finally closed the gap between PC and tablet and has clearly shown that ARM is the future and that's a great thing. I couldn't recommend this more highly.

The new Surface Pro 11 is remarkably fast and power-efficient, thanks to the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite CPU. It blazes through native apps and, more importantly, emulates older apps without much struggle. Essentially, it’s a killer laptop – or more accurately, a killer tablet with amazing battery life. This leads to perhaps my main issue. While a tablet is certainly useful in certain situations, as a general productivity tool, it’s not the most practical. For instance, I’m writing this review on the Surface Pro, but doing so with the virtual keyboard would be excruciating. I received this Surface, but the optional Flex Keyboard, which was supposed to come with it, was delayed over a week. I ended up relegating the Surface to the corner of my desk and waited for the keyboard to arrive. Once it did, the narrative changed immediately. The Flex keyboard is easy to attach and a joy to use – you can even detach it, leave the Surface on the desk, kick back in your chair, and use the keyboard from your lap. It gives the Surface a different personality and makes it a joy to use. The crisp display makes it easy to use for extended periods, the keyboard has a great feel, and you can use it just about anywhere. So why is this an issue? Well, the keyboard (which comes with a pen) is optional, and it’s a significant investment that drives the price of the total package up considerably. It’s an excellent keyboard, but is it worth the cost of other inexpensive laptops by itself? So, what’s this Copilot+ AI thing? Other than a marketing term to get consumers excited about AI, it doesn’t offer much in my opinion. Microsoft has held back the main AI feature, leaving the AI features of Copilot+ largely pointless. There’s an AI restyle that lets you experiment with images, but I found it doesn’t do much. There’s an automatic language translator that might be useful in specific instances, but unless the speaker is clearly enunciating the words, it’s slow and not particularly accurate. You can also do AI image generation, which happens on the device using the NPU (neural processing unit), but it’s very underwhelming compared to what you can do in the cloud. There may be some better uses for the NPU with new apps that leverage the chip, which I haven’t tried, but given the built-in uses, I don’t have high expectations. The battery life is exceptional – I used it all day for off-and-on work and still had 50% remaining at the end of the day. The Surface did get warm a few times (mainly when I was playing Forza Horizon), and it has fans you can hear in a quiet room, but it’s not distracting in most situations. The webcam was of good quality, and the speakers were very good for such a small device. Audio from movies and YouTube videos was heard clearly. Overall, I found the Surface to be fast, and with the Flex keyboard, I could work with it just about anywhere. Battery life was superb, and while there are some compatibility issues, none of the apps I ran exhibited any. The Surface Pro 11 isn’t a revolution—it’s an evolution, bit in my opinion it’s the best Surface Pro yet. Whether you’re a creative pro, a student, or just someone who wants a sleek 2-in-1 companion, this little marvel deserves a spot on your radar. Just remember to budget for those peripherals…

I bought the new Microsoft Surface Pro (11th Edition, OLED, Snapdragon X Elite) for my son to use for college, and he absolutely loves it! He takes it to class every day and uses it for homework, assignments, and everything in between. It’s incredibly fast and smooth, with an amazing OLED display that’s bright and crisp. The lightweight design makes it easy to carry around, and it feels sturdy and durable. I also bought the keyboard and pen, and they’re worth every penny — great typing feel and perfect for note-taking. Battery life is impressive, and overall it’s a powerful, reliable device that makes schoolwork easier and more enjoyable. Highly recommend!

The Surface Pro with Copilot+ Snapdragon X Plus is fast, lightweight, and perfect for work on the go. The battery lasts all day, the screen is beautiful, and Copilot makes tasks so much easier. Super smooth performance—I highly recommend it!

The Microsoft Surface Pro has exceeded my expectations in every way. Its sleek and lightweight design makes it incredibly portable, while the powerful performance ensures smooth multitasking whether I’m working, streaming, or creating content. The high-resolution touchscreen is crisp and vibrant, perfect for both productivity and entertainment. I especially love the flexibility of switching between laptop and tablet mode, making it ideal for work on the go. The Surface Pen support is a game-changer for note-taking and drawing, adding to its versatility. Battery life is impressive, lasting through my entire workday without needing a recharge. Overall, the Surface Pro is a reliable, fast, and beautifully designed device that combines the functionality of a laptop with the convenience of a tablet. Highly recommended for professionals, students, and anyone who values performance and portability!

The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is one of most exciting tablets/laptops to come out in many years. The main benefit of using ARM64 instead of Intel/AMD is in power efficiency. Devices using ARM64 can usually run longer on battery without charging and provide exceptional performance while generating less heat and noise. The main drawback of using ARM64 for Windows is that there are fewer native applications so good emulation of legacy x86/x64 software is essential for it to succeed. With the new Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus SOC and Microsoft’s Prism emulation layer, Microsoft is now in the same position as Apple was with their first M1 based MacBooks. Emulation of legacy x86/x64 software is now more than “good enough” for a successful expansion of the Windows OS to ARM64. --Quick Specifications— My review unit comes with the following specifications: 1. Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 10-core X1P6400 SOC with Adreno GPU and Hexagon NPU 2. 16GB LPDDR5x Memory (non-upgradable) 3. Samsung MZ9L4512HBLU 512 GB SSD (upgradable but it’s only recommended for repair and security purposes) 4. Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 Mobile Connectivity System for Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 5. PixelSense 13-inch Touch Screen LCD Display with 2880 x 1920 resolution, 1200:1 contrast ration and dynamic refresh up to 120Hz. 6. Built-in kick stand 7. Surface Connect port 8. Surface Pro Keyboard port 9. 2 USB-C ports (supports charging, data transfer, DisplayPort 1.4a) 10. 1440p Quad HD Front camera (supports Windows Hello) and 10MP Ultra HD rear camera. --Setup and First Impressions-- The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 comes in a premium looking but echo friendly box where the unboxing experience is very Apple-like. Inside the box is a 39W Surface Connect magnetic charger, a Quick Start Guide, and warranty and safety pamphlets. You can also charge through either of the two USB-C ports. The build quality is excellent and has a very premium feel. Setup is identical with other Windows based devices and was very quick and easy. Just turn the device on and follow and answer the prompts. The ability to seamlessly run both native ARM64 Windows applications and x86/x64 Windows applications side by side is so well executed that I would never have known the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 was using an ARM64 processor instead of an Intel/AMD processor without looking at the specifications. The display is sharp, vivid and provides rich colors so watching videos is fantastic. It probably has some of the best speakers I’ve ever heard in a tablet/laptop. The sound is crisp and clear while providing a surprisingly spacious soundstage and decent bass for a tablet. As a result, it is an excellent media consumption device. It is also the quietest Windows laptop I have ever used. Even during firmware and software updates, I didn’t hear any fan noise. On all other laptops these types of activities have always caused the fan noise to rev up. The only time I heard any fan noise and noticed that it got slightly warm was when I used Handbrake to transcode some video during my benchmarking. The webcams are also very good (much better than a lot of other tablets and laptops) so this would also make a great video conferencing device. --Application Experience— I have successfully run x86/x64 legacy applications like Quicken, KeePass 2, and Handbrake and they all ran without problems. For Quicken and KeePass2, I didn’t feel any difference at all compared to running these applications on an Intel/AMD based laptop. Starting up the applications felt normal, and they both felt zippy. With Handbrake, the transcoding process was noticeably slower compared to my newer Intel/AMD computers. I was getting only about 70 fps on the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 vs 1359 fps on an AMD Ryzen 7 7700 based desktop system. However, I think the reason for this was because Handbrake currently doesn’t support hardware encoding on the Qualcomm Snapdragon X SOC. If Handbrake ever gets this support, then I would expect much better performance. Even so, it’s amazing to me that Microsoft’s Prism emulation works as well as it does. The type of x86/x64 legacy software that I have experienced trouble running has been drivers for odd devices that I have in my home. I have a Silex USB network hub that allows me to share USB devices (such as older USB printers) with my computers at home. This requires installation of some client software on each computer that needs access to the shared USB printer. This driver software didn’t work. If you have some esoteric hardware, and there isn’t any native ARM64 based drivers for it, then it will probably not work. So, if you absolutely require some x86/x64 based application to run or need to have your laptop be able to work with some hardware, you should do some research before buying this tablet/laptop. The best experience will be using native ARM64 Windows applications such as Microsoft Edge and Microsoft 365. There is an ARM64 version of Visual Studio that I installed and from my brief experience with it, it seems to function exactly like the Intel/AMD based version that I have on my other computers. I did a quick little experiment with Visual Studio. I have a project that I created a few years ago for a BitString library that allows the user to easily manipulate bits in memory using a string like notation. There is a benchmark in my project that takes 14 seconds to run on my AMD Ryzen R7 7700 based computer. On the Microsoft Surface Pro 11, it takes 31 seconds to run the x86/x64 version of the benchmark using the Prism emulation layer. When I compiled the library to target ARM64, the benchmark took only 17 seconds. In my opinion, this illustrates how impressive Microsoft’s Prism emulation layer is (emulating an Intel/AMD processor only seems to cut performance in half for this situation) and it also illustrates that we can expect even better performance if an application is targeted to native ARM64. For general computing tasks (surfing the web, paying bills, creating reports, software development etc.) and media consumption (watching videos and listening to music), most people would probably be very happy with the Microsoft Surface Pro 11. --Gaming Experience— I personally wouldn’t buy this device solely for gaming, but it can play some games in a pinch. For my brief test, I installed the Steam client and downloaded my current gaming obsession “Age of Wonders 4” which was released in 2023. I was surprised both installed successfully, and the game plays! There were some graphical glitches in the game menus, but I didn’t see any glitches during actual gameplay. I was only getting about 14 fps at full resolution and 30 fps using 50% render resolution, so it wasn’t the best playing experience, but it was playable. --A.I Features— For the most part, I think that the A.I features are cool but somewhat gimmicky for now. I played around with Cocreator in Paint, and you can use it to generate one-shot artwork for stuff like posters, greeting cards, and video thumbnails. But it doesn’t seem suited to help with generating artwork for something like a comic book where you would need to generate multiple images containing a consistent looking character in a consistent world. One feature that I was excited to try was Live Captions. I wanted to see how it performed in translating foreign language films. I tried it with a French language movie and a Cantonese language movie. I think it handled translating French to English better than translating Cantonese to English. It didn’t quite handle Cantonese well, but I was impressed with the attempt. I see a lot of promise with this feature. Another feature that I think could be very useful is the Teleprompter feature (where it makes it look like you are looking at the camera instead of reading text from a teleprompter), but I didn't have a chance to test it. The last A.I feature I played around with was Windows Studio Effects in the Camera app where you can enable settings such as Automatic Framing so that even if you move around, the camera keeps you centered on the screen. It works very well. Other features that work well are background blurring. They also had Creative Filters (which makes your image look as if it was Illustrated, in Watercolor, or Animated). I had a hard time seeing the difference between the three effects. --Battery Life— Battery Life has been very good. I’ve been getting about 10 to 12 hours doing stuff like writing this review and watching YouTube videos in the background. It seems to drain about 10% for every hour or more of use. For me, the most impressive thing was how quiet and cool it was during these activities. --Summary— The Microsoft Surface Pro 11 is a very exciting tablet/laptop. It would be an excellent choice for anyone who wants a new tablet/laptop for general computing tasks and media consumption. It would also be an exciting choice for a software developer who wants to develop native ARM64 Windows applications. Surprisingly, it can run games, but I would not buy this expecting it to be your sole gaming system. The A.I. features are promising but somewhat gimmicky now. This wouldn’t be the primary reason I would buy this device. But it’s good to have as a differentiating feature from other devices. If you have a specific need to use some older peripherals or legacy x86/x64 applications, you should do some research to make sure they are compatible before purchasing. As more and more native ARM64 Windows applications arrive, the Microsoft Surface Pro 11 will only get better. And Microsoft did a great job with making the internal SSD user upgradable so you can expand it as your needs grow. Overall, I can easily recommend this exciting new tablet/laptop.

My wife is an EMT and uses this Surface Pro daily for entering patient reports and navigating various work systems—and it’s been flawless. The lightweight design makes it easy to carry on shifts, and the 13" OLED display is stunningly sharp and bright, even in outdoor lighting. It boots quickly, runs smooth with zero lag, and the battery life comfortably lasts through long shifts. The 16GB RAM and 512GB SSD provide more than enough performance for multitasking between apps, reports, and cloud systems. The detachable keyboard (Sold seperate) and touchscreen combo give her flexibility whether she’s at a desk, in the ambulance, or on the go. It's durable, sleek, and handles everything a mobile professional needs without weighing them down. Highly recommended for anyone in a fast-paced field who needs speed, clarity, and reliability in a portable device.