Surface Pro 7 Launches With Upgraded Internals, Promises Laptop-class Performance

There’s a new Surface Pro in town. And it looks exactly like the Surface Pro 6 from the outside. Don’t worry, though: Microsoft is actually launching two new Surface Pro devices this year. The company is expected to introduce a new ARM-powered Surface Pro with a sleek new design along with the brand new Surface Pro 7.

And although this next-gen Surface Pro looks very exciting, the new Pro 7 packs the power you might actually be after. Microsoft is upgrading the Surface Pro 7 with new internals that offers laptop-class performance. The company is upgrading the Pro 7 with a laptop-class processor from Intel, offering 2x power than the Surface Pro 6. You can choose between the Core i3. Core i5, and Core i7. You can get up to 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM and up to 1TB of SSD storage on the device. Because of the new internals, the battery life on the Pro 7 is taking a big hit. It now offers 10.5 hours of battery life which is significantly lower than the Pro 6’s 13.5 hours of battery life.

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On the outside, the Pro 7 is practically unchanged. It features the same 12.3-inch PixelSense display with a resolution of 2736×1824 pixels and 267 PPI. It has the same old thick bezels that don’t really look that attractive, and the same Alcantara keyboard which now comes in Black, Cobalt, Ice Blue, and Poppy Red colors. Microsoft says the new Pro 7 comes with a new Surface Pen that’s faster than before, though it’s sold separately as usual.

In terms of ports, there’s finally a Type-C port on the Surface Pro 7, along with a full-size USB Type-A port, a 3.5mm headphone jack, and a Surface Connect port.

Surface Pro 7 starts at $749 for the Core i3 variant with 4GB RAM and 128GB of storage. Pre-orders open today.

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Conversation 11 comments

  • Rob_Wade

    02 October, 2019 - 10:41 am

    <p>LOL, who gets anything close to 13 hours out of the SP6? Don't get me wrong, I really like my SP6 (as I did my SP 2017 until the SSD died at month 13 and as I did my SP3). I might get 6 hours out of the SP6, though…and it's the i5 version.</p>

  • crp0908

    02 October, 2019 - 12:26 pm

    <p>2x the performance of the Surface Pro 6? Is this 10th gen Comet Lake?</p>

  • codymesh

    02 October, 2019 - 1:25 pm

    <p>did anyone actually ever get 13 hours of battery on the Surface Pro 6? Here's hoping Microsoft just moved to a more realistic battery life measurement </p>

  • RobertJasiek

    02 October, 2019 - 1:30 pm

    <p>Faster but shorter battery life is the opposite of what I want. That said, we need to await real tests for every CPU.</p>

  • lezmaka

    Premium Member
    02 October, 2019 - 3:14 pm

    <p>It has a USB-C port, but what features does it actually support? Is it still USB 3.0 or can it support 5/10Gbps speeds? Does it support Power Delivery or is the Surface connector still needed to charge it? Does it support the alternate modes for passing DisplayPort/HDMI/Ethernet?</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      04 October, 2019 - 2:33 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#474226">In reply to lezmaka:</a></em></blockquote><p>There is no Surface Connector.</p><p>I'd guess USB 3.1 10Gbps, plus DisplayPort on one of the ports, but I haven't seen the specs yet.</p>

  • connor981332

    02 October, 2019 - 3:30 pm

    <p>When are they going to get rid of the surface connect port? I'm glad they got USB-C (finally) but it came at the expense of the mini display-port.</p><p><br></p><p>THAT means if you want to drive two external displays with this thing, then you still need to buy an outrageously expensive surface dock.</p><p><br></p><p>PLEASE just give us two type-C ports, and ditch the surface connect port.</p>

  • jsmj

    02 October, 2019 - 5:00 pm

    <p>Hi Paul (if you read this),</p><p><br></p><p>Since I've left the Surface Pro 3, I never came back to the product line </p><p>and have been waiting for Microsoft to offer Thunderbolt 3 ports (at least 2), </p><p>a P3 color display or 4K, and the ability for usage as an external display….</p><p><br></p><p>I know many who feel similarly, Microsoft Surface could have been the tool to win over artists.</p><p>Instead, I carry an iPad, Pencil, laptop with dual thunderbolt, and have a Wacom…</p><p><br></p><p>It would have cost Microsoft close to nothing to integrate the features in working with Intel, but instead we see them spending millions with Qualcomm introducing products on their competitor's platform (Android), so they can steal and sell metadata via Android contract clause… from loyal Microsoft Windows users?</p><p><br></p><p>When something so obvious as this means you make your customers go elsewhere, </p><p>I have to question the CEO suitability to be in charge of hardware…</p><p><br></p><p>Can you question Microsoft on this Thunderbolt debacle, as this has nothing to do with hardware but instead philosophy, and I think the CEO &amp; marketing team are sabotaging Microsoft shareholders,</p><p>and need to be pressed on this by real journalists…</p>

  • alamfour

    03 October, 2019 - 12:14 am

    <p>Hi Paul, </p><p><br></p><p>I am laughing at how you have missed what Microsoft just did with the battery life numbers. The battery life rating of SP6 and SP7 do not corelate because Microsoft has changed their methodology for measuring battery life. The battery life of SP6 was measured using a video playback test but SP7 reflects real world usage. If you don't believe me check the surface website. In the footnotes they explain how they measure battery life for each device. What this means is that SP7 has finally cracked the 10hr marking doing real world things such as Web browsing, office applications and the like which will translate to even longer video playback than SP6. </p>

    • RobertJasiek

      03 October, 2019 - 3:30 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#474959">In reply to alamfour:</a></em></blockquote><p>Thanks! Details are in footnote 2 of Microsoft's "compare devices" page and run at 150nits.</p><p><br></p><p>Microsoft states up to: 10.5h / Surface Pro 7, 13h / Surface Pro X, 11.5h / Surface Laptop 3.</p><p><br></p><p>If Microsoft's test turns out to be similar to Notebookcheck's WLAN surfing test, which also uses 150nits, these battery lives would be a revolution for Microsoft devices and barely enable outdoor use for most of the day with recharging once during lunch.</p>

  • ksysalman

    07 October, 2019 - 3:00 am

    <p>incredible laptop i must use it.</p>

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