Surface Pro 12-inch review: A downgrade but it sure is cute

Microsoft’s new 12-inch Surface Pro is all about chasing the iPad dream, but at what cost? Thermally weighing merely 1.5 pounds with a slim profile of 7.8mm-thinnest Surface ever-it sits head-to-head with the 12.9-inch iPad Pro as far as size and feel are concerned. Now, a perfectly sleek line always has to have a few compromises. Under the sleek skin is a less-powerful processor than its predecessor, and the display? Lots has been downgraded. And a keyboard-which is so important for getting work done-still has to be bought separately for $149, and it provides no way to angle it for comfortable typing. Is the slimmed-down look really worth the sacrifices?

Was the discounted $800 Surface Pro worth it? That all boils down to your own considerations. If the idea of a lightweight Windows tablet turning into a cute 12-inch laptop sets your heart aflutter, then Microsoft unquestionably delivers on this promise. Just make sure to adjust your expectations. Being very light and very thin, much like the ASUS ZenBook A14, means some compromises must be made.

Microsoft

Surface Pro 12-inch

The Surface Pro: An adorable work pal that fully understands its limitations. This ultra-moisture device is truly the looker and feather-light at that, making it a gem to whip through tasks while on the go. For any kind of day-to-day work, it is entirely at home in its environment; you just cannot hope for performance that rivals the big daddy or a screen that does. In essence, it is the fashionably tiny one; officially cute, but remember the limitations before hitting on it.

Pros

• Lightweight and thin design
• Relatively low starting price
• 16GB of RAM standard

Cons

• Slow processor
• Keyboard is an extra $150
• Screen could be better
• No Surface Connect port

$800 at Microsoft

What’s new in the 12-inch Surface Pro

Forget the bulky laptop-attire-for-a-tablet. The 12-inch Surface Pro is anything but smaller-it is reborn. Losing half of a pound in weight and 1.5mm in thickness-the Surface Pro finally packs that iPad kind of glamour. Just holding it confirms the change: this brings a full-golden tablet experience right there, dropping the “laptop trapped in a slate” feeling of its predecessors.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

The secret behind the stunning redesign is in fact Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus. This chip is not just another chip; it is a revolution in power efficiency. With the use of this Arm wonder chip, Microsoft said farewell to clunky Intel-era designs and went for a slimmer, smaller tablet. Even those Surface Pros that were Qualcomm-powered last year, with the potent 10-core X Plus and 12-core X Elite, felt as if evolutionary steps. This design, however, constitutes a quantum leap.

Similar to the MacBook Air, the 12-inch Surface Pro also features a fan-less, silent design. Double-edged, this silence has its price, especially in the warmer climes of the world. In the honor of this soundless environment at home, ultra-portables of today barely make a sound. Fan noise, I dare say, belongs to the screaming game rigs and workstation monsters. You really don’t hear much fan noise from those because they have heat enough to fry an egg cos they have the huge performance to power it up.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

By trimming more than just the bezels, Microsoft made the Surface Pro smaller, with a pricing point to match. The 12-inch model shares no familial resemblance to its OLED-equipped bigger brother and settles instead for an LCD with a maximum refresh rate of 90Hz, obviously less smooth compared to the 120Hz. Resolution-wise, the baby has 2,196 x 1,464 (3.2 million pixels) against 2,880 x 1,920 (5.5 million pixels) for the 13-inch. It is not going to outdo the razor-sharp clarity of the iPad Pro Retina Display, but it definitely does not look cheap. The colors feel vibrant, and it sustains decent brightness outdoors. On the other hand, serious photographers and videographers might find this smaller screen with its decent-but-not-so-great resolution a bit limiting.

The satisfyingsnapof the Surface Connect is going to be no more now. Magnetic charging port? That’s such a thing of the past on this new Surface Pro-and uselessly so, I must say-on USB-C charging. The cable alone does come inside the box! Want to plug it into the wall? Make it a separate purchase just like that. Microsoft’s own 45W Surface USB-C charger is the price of $70, but seriously, have a look at those better options instead. Jump right into our quick-charging guide for strong and cheap alternatives that’ll keep your wallet happily intact.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

And then there was the keyboard for the 12-inch Surface Pro. Microsoft in its infinite wisdom decided not to put the keyboard into the package. What? Who buys a Surface Prowithoutany keyboard? It’s as if a car had no wheels and were being sold under the name of “customization.” So-called “choice” has become the privilege to pay an extra $150 if you want to use the Surface Pro as a Pro actually.

Microsoft’s $800 Surface Pro: a steal, I tell you. Well, not really. That price manages to conveniently exclude the pout-essential keyboard- a ploy aimed at unwitting customers. Customers lose trust in the brand with such underhanded marketing move, wiping away all goodwill of that brand in a mere moment. Hypothetically speaking, one may consider the possibility of a world where third-party keyboards could have seamlessly attached to the Surface, giving alternatives to consumers. The lack of any response from Microsoft is quite telling on that matter.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

In-use: An adorable Surface for the basics

The 12-inch Surface Pro utterly failed to set my soul ablaze. Where its 13-inch sibling powered by Snapdragon X Ultra was screaming potential, this just felt like a nice little cough. An M1-powered MacBook Pro was a supernova. This one was more of a candle flicker. It somewhat escorted me through the daily digital dance: a chaotic ballet of browser tabs, Evernote scribbles, Spotify tunes, and light photo edits. But benchmarks quietly muttered the truth: push harder, and this Surface Pro would likely wilt. It’s not bad. It’s just… underwhelming.

Forget blazing speed; the charm lies with a 12-inch laptop owing to extreme portability, just like Apple’s cherished, albeit languid, MacBook. The 12-inch Surface Pro knows this well. Untucking it out from my bag with the featherlight (0.3 lb) Surface Keyboard felt like freedom. The whole package weighs a measly 1.8 pounds, 0.2 lbs lighter than even the 13-inch without a keyboard! Yearning for city commutes; the Surface Pro invisibility cloak became an effortless co-pilot drifting around with ease, so subtle was its presence I almost forget it was there.

Normally, I might have gone about my life without really noticing the keyboard. After all, my expectation for a new Surface Keyboard had barely passed underground. I was set up to be disappointed. My fingers, however, stepped lively across surprisingly responsive keys. The first thing that ran through my mind were conditions-lack of space-being the downfall of the 13-inch model. Wrong. The fingers left the keys dancing, ignoring all perceived differences in sizes.

The trackpad shrink stings, undeniably. But even constrained, its surface remains silken, the cursor unerring.

The Surface Slim Pen waits just for those awfully eager to let their creativity loose ($130). It magnetically sticks to the top of the tablet, always ready for use. I must admit that my love affair with styluses has grown cold, but the Surface Pen did its job magnificently, turning the 12-inch Pro into a digital doodling and note-taking paradise.

Consider-Pro tries hard to be a tablet but, in the process, unsuccessfully squeezes Windows. Although it is forgivable as a one-trick pony, its touch thing just makes it less than pleasant to interact with when compared with the iPad, which is a smooth glide. Forget some casual web browsing-the Surface Pro gets to shine from being docked into a laptop, only to later have its keyboard ripped off for some reading. First and foremost, it is a laptop; secondly, it is that awkward dance of being a tablet instead of a smooth transition.

Crack open those bricks; this 12-inch tablet might bestow a featherweight title upon it, even under its price: keyboard tucked in! Performance-wise, Geekbench 6 reckons both are almost neck-and-neck, with the Surface Pro holding a slim advantage in single-core sprints. But, hold on to your hats, because on the 3DMark Wildlife Extreme, these systems barely get to prehistoric-low scores.

AAA gaming with a 12-inch Surface Pro should be thrown out the window. Its size and modest guts would bring down any expectations faster than a Windows update. Here, cloud streaming is a lifeline. I’ve entered Halo Infinite through the Xbox app in 15 seconds running the campaign streamed over Wi-Fi without a hitch, smooth as butter. Some lightweight titles may run, but good luck with Fortnite or Overwatch 2: They won’t launch because of the Arm architecture. Actually, they probably wouldn’t run particularly well even if they did.

Could I lay any claim whatsoever to an accurate battery life? The problem was that my PCMark 10 test had stopped because of software gremlins. While engaging in martial arts and trying to suppress these gremlins, I gleaned this much: in my eight hours of benchmarking attempts, the battery meter stood at 53%. That would simulate a real workday, where the battery stood at 30% come quitting time. Microsoft declares that this 12-inch beast will stick with you for 16 hours, although for reference, our 13-inch model tested at 12 hours and 15 minutes for PCMark 10. More on the battery once I’ve eradicated the errors.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Should you buy the 12-inch Surface Pro?

Forget logic. Toss out reason. The 12-inch Surface Pro is a siren song for your soul, not your spreadsheet.

Yes, with its blazing-fast performance and crazy specs, the 13-inch beast knows how to show off. And then, of course, purchasing the bigger sibling for $800 at Best Buy (I mean, a steal) would be the financially responsible thing to do. But who cares?

Not about numbers. It’s about craving. That want for an irresistibly portable, undoubtedly another “breeze,” Windows mate that fits right into your life wherever you take it.

Surface pricing from Microsoft: Now, doesn’t that sound like an ominous contraption? Just when you thought, “Hey, I got this,” there come rumors of price inflation as the cheapest 13-inch Surface Pros disappeared from their online store. Wonderful, really. So here we are, in this weird limbo where the price for both the 12-inchand13-inch model stays meaningfully identical at $800.

Post-follow-up? Microsoft tries a subtle Chinese-style house clearing by exhausting the available stock of entry-level 13-inch Surface Laptops. Price increase expected; the $1,400 configuration that is now down to a very tempting $1,030 might be the only way your Surface entry could ever be attained.

Devindra Hardawar for Engadget

Wrap-up

Erase from your memory anything you thought you knew about Surface. New Surface Pro presents itself not only as a tablet but also as a beautiful statement. Thin as a razor, featherlight in weight, and radiantly charming, this fresh incarnation of the talented cousin of iPad is ready to steal the spotlight. So it is maybe not winning any race of performance, and frankly, the screen is just second in competition to its older brother. Who cares? When it looks this good! Microsoft has basically concocted pure tablet envy, and that itself could make it worth every penny.

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