Microsoft’s new Surface devices, by the numbers

Microsoft’s recent Windows 10 devices event saw the unveiling of the widely anticipated Surface Pro 4, and the somewhat less anticipated Surface Book. The former is a 12.3-inch upgrade to the 12-inch Surface Pro 3 tablet/laptop hybrid (tagline: ‘The tablet that can replace your laptop’), while the latter is a high-end detachable-screen 13.5-inch laptop (tagline: ‘This is the ultimate laptop’).

The Surface family was born in October 2012 with the ARM-based Surface running Windows RT. Since then, we’ve seen one more ARM/RT-based device (the Surface 2), three iterations of the Core ix/Windows-based Surface Pro (Pro, Pro 2 and Pro 3) and the Atom x7/Windows-based Surface 3.

Design, build quality and performance have generally been good, although criticism, at various points along the way, has been directed at the Windows RT platform (which has since languished and is not part of the Windows 10 family), battery life, the kickstand (and, more generally, ‘lappability’ with the Type Cover keyboard attached), the power connector, the lack of a ‘home’ for the stylus, the lack of GPS and mobile broadband, plus wi-fi connectivity and overheating issues. Still, the aggregated review scores (from AlaTest) for the different Surface models, arranged in chronological order, have been impressive:

A consistent feature of Surface devices has been their relatively high prices, especially when you factor in the keyboard (a necessary component if a tablet is to ‘replace your laptop’), which is a $130/£110 optional extra. Microsoft’s ‘brief’ for the Surface range has always been to demonstrate to OEMs what can be done with a Windows-based tablet/laptop hybrid, so the premium pricing may be designed to avoid competing too keenly with its own hardware partners — two of whom, Dell and HP, are now actually reselling Surface devices (along with added enterprise services and apps).

Despite this premium pricing, after a slow start — Microsoft had to write off $900 million-worth of Surface inventory in fiscal Q4 2013 — Surface sales have climbed to $888 million in the most recent quarter (Q4 2015), having topped a billion dollars in Q2:

As the Surface range has matured, Microsoft has felt confident enough to explicitly compare its devices to Apple’s iPad tablets and MacBook laptops in presentations and adverts. This is fair enough on technology grounds, but the comparative sales figures show that Microsoft has a long way to go in that department:

Let’s have a look at how the new Surface devices stack up in terms of their key specs and pricing.

Surface Pro 4

In his Jobs-style presentation (complete with ‘one more thing’ in the shape of the surprise Surface Book) at Microsoft’s 6 October launch event, VP of Surface Computing Panos Panay took a dig at Apple and its recently announced iPad Pro, saying “the category is transforming, it’s reinvented…we have competitors, you may have noticed, they’re chasing it — it’s pretty cool,” before vowing to “reinvent the category again” with the Surface Pro 4.

Here are the key specifications for the fourth-generation Surface Pro tablet/laptop hybrid compared to its predecessor:

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There’s plenty to get potential buyers excited about here, including the high-resolution 267ppi PixelTouch display, the 1,024-pressure-level Surface Pen (which docks magnetically with the tablet when not in use), the redesigned Type Cover with island-style keys and glass touchpad, plus memory up to 16GB and SSD storage up to 1TB. However, we’ll have to wait for the hands-on reviews to confirm that the Surface Pro 4 delivers the functionality, performance and usability promised by the spec sheet.

Assuming it delivers satisfactorily, what about the pricing? True to form, the Surface Pro 4 is a premium device, ranging from $899 for the entry-level Core m3/128GB SSD/4GB RAM configuration to $2,699 for the top-end Core i7/1TB SSD/16GB RAM model. That’s just for the tablet: to use the Surface Pro 4 in laptop mode, you’ll need to shell out another $129.99 for a Type Cover, or $159.99 for one with Fingerprint ID. Want to use it on the desktop, with a couple of large monitors plugged in? That’ll be another $199.99 for the redesigned Surface Dock. Fully maxed-out, the Surface Pro 4 will cost you a princely $3,188.97 (Core i7/1TB SSD/16GB RAM/Type Cover with Fingerprint ID/Surface Dock).

How do these prices compare with Apple’s 13-inch MacBook Air? There are three roughly equivalent configurations, and here’s how they match up:

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When you factor in the Type Cover keyboard, the Surface Pro 4 comes out slightly more expensive than the MacBook Air — especially with the higher-end Core i7 configuration. Note though, that the MacBook Air lacks a touchscreen and a stylus, and can’t be configured with more than 256GB of SSD storage or 8GB of RAM.

And what of the 12.9-inch iPad Pro? If you’re happy to run a mobile OS rather than a desktop one, you’ll pay $799 for the 32GB model, $949 for the 128GB model and $1,079 for 128GB plus LTE mobile broadband. Apple has also taken a leaf out of Microsoft’s book by charging extra for iPad Pro accessories, including the Smart Keyboard ($169) and Apple Pencil ($99). So a 128GB iPad Pro with 4GB of RAM, a keyboard and a stylus costs a total of $1,217 — that’s $88 more than the equivalent Surface Pro 4 with a Type Cover ($1,128.99).

Surface Book

When it came to the Surface Book laptop, Panos Panay mused: “What if you wanted a Surface, but a laptop Surface?…what if we could do for laptops what we did for tablets?” before unveiling what Microsoft is calling ‘the ultimate laptop’.

That’s a bold claim, but this 13.5-inch convertible has some impressive specs to back it up. Here’s how the Surface Book stacks up alongside its Pro 4 stablemate:

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Once again, we’ll need to wait for hands-on reviews to pronounce on the industrial design (particularly the Dynamic Fulcrum Hinge mechanism linking the tablet and keyboard sections), the performance (particularly the interplay between the CPU-integrated graphics in the detachable tablet and the optional discrete Nividia GPU in the keyboard section), the cooling system and the claimed 12-hour battery life (there are two batteries, one in the tablet, one in the keyboard).

It should come as no surprise that the Surface Book is an expensive beast — it’s considerably more costly than Apple’s equivalent 13-inch MacBook Pro configurations, for example:

* These configurations lack a discrete GPU (dGPU)

Once again, it should be noted that the MacBook Pro lacks a touchscreen and a stylus, and the 13-inch model also lacks a discrete GPU option.

Outlook

Microsoft’s 6 October event was not just about Surface — it was designed to showcase the evolving Windows 10 ecosystem and also included the new Microsoft Band, developments in the HoloLens mixed reality headset, and new flagship Lumia smartphones.

As far as Surface is concerned, Microsoft may not generate anything like Apple’s revenues in the tablet/laptop space, but its latest Pro 4 and Book devices should give pause for thought in Cupertino, and generate a lot of interest from business and professional users — well-heeled ones at any rate.

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