Living in the Now (Premium)

Too much of the media and fan attention for last week’s Microsoft hardware event is focused on the future. What Microsoft did for us today is far more important.

Which is this: It has now upgraded its entire product portfolio to support USB-C.

Yes, I’ve been harping on Thunderbolt 3 for three years. And yes, I still feel that Microsoft has ceded some of its leadership and authority by not embracing the same standard that the rest of the premium PC market embraced long ago.

But there are different ways to lead and different kinds of authority. And as the maker of the software platforms on which its PCs and other devices run---and remember, there are multiple platforms, including Windows 10, Surface Hub OS (soon, in multiple versions), and now Windows 10X---Microsoft is in a unique position in this market. And what it is trying to accomplish---combining hardware, software, and services so pervasively---while common in mobile is still relatively new in the PC market.

I already wrote about why I think that Microsoft’s moves beneath the surface, if you will---sorry, Brad---are so important, both today and going forward. And I and others have commented on the quality of last week’s presentation, which lagged in part because Panos Panay seemed out of sorts if not literally sick. But let’s not lose sight of the actual products that Microsoft announced. And of how these new releases neatly fill out of the Surface family of products, which has something for just about everybody.

The biggest problem in the lineup, of course, is the underwhelming entry-level offering, Surface Go. I was really hoping to see Microsoft fix at least some of this tiny PC’s problems, but perhaps it’s just too early, given its mid-2018 release date. But the Surface Go is a complete strikeout today. Its Pentium Gold processor and eMMC storage on most configurations deliver terrible performance, the battery life is laughable, and the tiny keyboard and screen make it impossible for most to use as a real PC.

Many expected or even hoped that Microsoft would move Surface Go 2 to the ARM platform. But as the Surface Pro X demonstrates, to get acceptable performance on that platform, you need a new and high-end chipset, and those products are expensive. It is therefore much more likely that the next Go will be based on M- or Y-series Core processors instead. Either would be a big upgrade over the current Pentium Gold processor. (Plus, adding incompatibilities to the already compromised Go would be a huge mistake.)

What the Surface Go does have going for it is the tablet 2-in-1 form factor that was first used by the original Surface Pro and then really popularized with the 3:2 Surface Pro 3. So it feels strange to point out that the Surface Pro 7 was the only real disappointment in the new product announcements last week. And it’s a minor disappointment, to be sure: Surface Pro is the workhorse in the Surface lineup and the most beloved, and most ...