App compatibility, top-notch battery life

But what Microsoft has ultimately delivered with the Surface Pro amounts to a nice upgrade over its predecessor. To think that it ushers in a new era of artificial intelligence is a bit far-fetched. At least for now.

The Surface line of computers isn’t a major revenue driver for Microsoft. The company reported $1.07 billion in revenue from devices, including Surface PCs, in the first quarter, a small portion of its total revenue of $61.86 billion.

I tested the Surface Pro for two weeks. Here’s what you need to know about it.

The Surface Pro’s hardware is top-of-the-line. Microsoft sent me a review model equipped with Qualcomm’s 12-core Snapdragon X Elite chip, a 512GB SSD, 16GB of RAM, and an OLED display. The device starts at $999, but this model costs $1,499.99. Performance is snappy for web browsing (Google shipped an Arm version of Chrome for Windows in March), and productivity software and a few games, including “Retrowave World” and “Poly Bridge 3,” run smoothly.

The display is detailed and bright, with smooth scrolling thanks to a 120Hz refresh rate. The touchscreen is responsive. The iconic kickstand that supports the display is still sturdy. Under the kickstand, you’ll find a compartment that protects the SSD, making it easy to replace or upgrade the hard drive.

In my early testing, the Surface Pro delivered more than eight hours of battery life. Microsoft promises up to 10 hours of web browsing. The Surface Pro 9 with Microsoft’s Arm-based SQ3 chip, coming in 2022, was advertised as delivering up to 19 hours of battery life, but reviewers found that app compatibility remained an issue. And unlike previous Arm-powered Surface PCs, like 2019’s Surface Pro X, this model can run a wide range of apps, meaning buyers won’t have to make big compromises when it comes to compatibility.

That’s because Microsoft has introduced a new emulator called Prism to help these new computers run programs designed for Intel and AMD chips.

Almost every day, developers introduce intelligent software that uses AI models for various applications. Most often, the programs use servers in data centers to perform difficult processing tasks. But increasingly, developers are offloading some of the processing to users’ phones and computers. A Copilot+ PC should be well-suited for this type of emerging software, thanks to a neural processing unit, or NPU. The architecture helps extend battery life because the rest of the chip can handle other tasks.

Microsoft has built some of its own AI features into Windows 11 that rely on the NPU. If you’re on video calls, you can open the Settings app on the Surface Pro Copilot+ PC and enable an option called Eye Contact. It’ll make it appear as if you’re looking directly at your webcam during calls, even when you’re reading text. Apple has a similar simulated eye contact feature for FaceTime calls on the iPad.

In Paint, you can enable a Co-Creator mode to produce an image inspired by what you draw on the screen and using a description you type. The computer’s NPU generates the image, but only after Microsoft sends your text prompt to the cloud to make sure you’re not trying to create something harmful or offensive.

I found it amusing to see how Cocreator would interpret my suggestions, but the results weren’t very impressive. I was better off pressing the Copilot key on my keyboard, which opens a window to chat with Microsoft’s Copilot, and asking it to create images in a text conversation. But you only get a limited number of free image-generation credits with Copilot before it starts processing requests more slowly, whereas the Paint function is consistently fast.

An included power adapter in the box magnetically attaches to Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connect port. It’ll be familiar to those who’ve bought Surface devices in the last decade. But you can also charge with one of the two USB-C ports, which is convenient.

The Surface Pro can connect to three displays with 4K resolution, while the MacBook Air with an M3 chip can drive a single external display with up to 6K resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate.

The $999 tablet doesn’t have a headphone jack. It also doesn’t come with a keyboard, as is traditional. After all, an iPad still doesn’t come with a keyboard.

A standard Surface Pro keyboard that magnetically attaches to the bottom of the Surface Pro sells for $139.99, and if you also want a model with Microsoft’s Slim Pen, you’ll pay $279.99.

Microsoft sent me its new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with an included Slim Pen, a bundle that costs $449.98. It’s more expensive than the regular detachable keyboard because it connects via Bluetooth. Microsoft promises 41 hours of continuous typing with the accessory. It charges while attached to the Surface Pro.

For some users, it may be useful to remove the keyboard and use it while keeping the tablet a short distance away. I didn’t find this accessory to be a big improvement over the good old Surface Pro keyboard.

The biggest AI feature coming to this new Surface Pro and other PCs Copilot+ isn’t available yet.

When Microsoft announced Copilot+ PCs in May, executives spent a lot of time talking about Recall, which will let you type a few words to search through your PC’s activity and see matching results. The company delayed the launch and said Recall would be turned off by default after security researchers discovered that hackers could be able to access users’ private data through the screenshots the feature captures.

Meanwhile, some apps, including Google Drive and ExpressVPN, still won’t work on these new computers, at least for now. And as Windows on Arm grows in popularity, there may be times when a traditional version of an app is available in Microsoft’s App Store, but a native Arm version is available on the developer’s website. (That’s the case with VLC media player, for example.) But generally speaking, software is now less of an issue on Surface PCs with long battery life.

And Microsoft has scaled back Copilot’s powers to control your PC on that device, making it feel like a simple chatbot visit on the web. When the company brought Copilot to Windows 11 last fall, the assistant could open programs, switch to dark mode, and turn off Bluetooth.

The Surface Pro 11th Edition is worth considering, provided you can be confident that the apps you need will run on an Arm-based machine. That’s probably truer than it was five years ago.

The battery life is good, I like that it’s easy to upgrade and swap storage, and the display is excellent. It’s a solid upgrade over previous models. Microsoft made the right decision to move to Arm-based processors. However, the company has billed this product as an “AI PC,” but the bigger AI features aren’t there yet.