Microsoft Announces Surface Pro 7+ for Business

Surface Pro 8 is not a thing: Microsoft today announced Surface Pro 7+, a small revision to its predecessor that’s aimed solely at commercial customers. The firm is also ready to start shipping the 85-inch version of the Surface Hub 2S.

“Today, we are pleased to share the next step in our journey to support our commercial and education customers with the introduction of Surface Pro 7+ for Business,” Microsoft corporate vice president Robin Seiler announced. “And to help organizations bridge the digital and physical divide in today’s hybrid spaces, we’re beginning to ship Surface Hub 2S 85” in select markets this month.”

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As its name suggests, Surface Pro 7+ is simply a new set of models of Surface Pro 7, the 2-in-1 tablet PC that Microsoft launched in late 2019. As such, it shares the same physical design, which has remained basically unchanged in several years, and some updated internals.

Key among those changes are 11th-generation Intel Core i3-1115G4, i5-1135G7, and Core i7-1165G7 processors and optional LTE Advanced cellular networking capabilities with the middle processor choice only. The Core i3 variants offer Intel UHD Graphics, but the i5 and i7 versions include Intel Iris Xe Graphics. Each includes Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth 5, and Dolby Atmos stereo.

Surface Pro 7+ can also be outfitted with up to 32 GB of RAM and 1 TB of removable internal storage. And Microsoft claims battery life of up to 15 hours, with Fast Charging capabilities that will add 80 percent of capacity in one hour.

As for the long-delayed Surface Hub 2S 85, Microsoft says that it has already begun shipping to commercial and education customers in select markets. And in addition to Windows 10 Team, customers can now take advantage of more mainstream Windows 10 Pro and Enterprise configurations if desired.

“As different parts of the world plan for their returns to the office or classroom or rethink what hybrid and satellite environments mean for their organizations, Surface Hub will be there to ease that transition, helping to bridge the digital and physical divide,” Seiler says.

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Conversation 37 comments

  • andrey_medvedev

    11 January, 2021 - 9:23 am

    <p>A BUSINESS computer without an audio jack? Yeah, sure, the batteries in my wireless headphones to run out in the middle of my business meeting is exactly what I want to worry about.</p>

    • wright_is

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2021 - 9:37 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606899">In reply to Andrey_Medvedev:</a></em></blockquote><p>We have supplied our users with around 200 headsets, due to the pandemic. All of them were USB headsets, because most of the PCs didn't have audio jacks.</p><p>In fact, it was easier to find USB headsets than headsets with a jack – a few, older ones, had jacks, plugged into a USB adapter.</p>

    • Hifihedgehog

      11 January, 2021 - 10:44 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606899">In reply to Andrey_Medvedev:</a></em></blockquote><p>The Apple USB-C Headphone adapter has higher audio quality anyway (https://www.audiosciencereview.com/forum/index.php?threads/review-apple-vs-google-usb-c-headphone-adapters.5541/) than most any onboard audio, and it costs just $9. I am not quite sure of the point of your comment, though. They still have the headphone jack in the Surface Pro 7+. I just verified this here:</p><p>https://youtu.be/wBOSZfzDgBE?t=195</p&gt;

      • andrey_medvedev

        11 April, 2021 - 4:43 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#606937">In reply to Hifihedgehog:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>Happy to hear. The Specs sheet I looked at originally didn't have it. </p>

    • paradyne

      12 January, 2021 - 10:46 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606899">In reply to Andrey_Medvedev:</a></em></blockquote><p>It has a headphone jack.</p>

  • madthinus

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2021 - 9:24 am

    <p>Curious why not consumers? </p>

    • sherlockholmes

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2021 - 9:47 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606900">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p>Because a consumer doesnt need a plus of attention? 😉 </p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2021 - 9:49 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606900">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p>There's a lot more demand for Surface products from businesses and this is a minor refresh.</p>

      • jaredthegeek

        Premium Member
        11 January, 2021 - 11:33 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#606918">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>I would say the return of LTE is huge but then everyone is working from home. Then again that still has its bonuses as if your home internet is down it keeps you working, its saved me a few times until I upgraded devices.</p>

        • Paul Thurrott

          Premium Member
          12 January, 2021 - 8:56 am

          I didn’t get into this but Microsoft’s announcement (which also includes Surface Hub 2S 85, another waste of time in the pandemic) is tilted toward a message of “life is going to change this year.”

          • kingv84

            14 January, 2021 - 2:58 pm

            <blockquote><em><a href="#607141">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>lol Maybe next year. Microsoft is being very optimistic.</p>

    • jchampeau

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2021 - 9:59 am

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606900">In reply to madthinus:</a></em></blockquote><p>My guess as to the "real" answer: because Microsoft isn't a PC maker. Surface accounts for 3-4% of their revenues and likely very little or none of their profits. If the Surface business went away tomorrow, it wouldn't have a material impact on their financials. If they sold PCs to make money, I think their high-volume models would have evolved like the PC makers' models have: slimmer bezels, Thunderbolt 3/4, removing proprietary connectors, 2-in-1 design with wraparound keyboard, etc. And they wouldn't do this kind of confusing marketing.</p>

  • RobertJasiek

    11 January, 2021 - 9:35 am

    <p>Probably, the commercial versions can be bought by individual customers from MS or retailers.</p><p>Up-to-date CPUs are appropriate and the 11th generation should slightly increase the battery duration but my complaints remain the same: mirroring display, unreplaceable battery etc. Probably also excessive storage / LTE price upgrades.</p>

  • brothernod

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2021 - 9:36 am

    <p>I really wish Microsoft would release a Surface Pro with a card reader so I could hope to get one at work some day.</p>

    • KingPCGeek

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2021 - 4:09 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606911">In reply to brothernod:</a></em></blockquote><p><br></p><p>It has one. </p>

  • solomonrex

    11 January, 2021 - 10:13 am

    <p>I remember posters insisting that MS was just 'showing OEMs the way' to quality PCs or something with Surface and now they're openly competing for commercial customers, the OEMs' bread and butter. I'm all for it, but everyone should have seen this coming. I believe Intel is working their way up, as well, with NUC, which is also a laptop now.</p><p><br></p><p>Taken all together MS had a huge year for their hardware, affordable laptops, new versions of their entry level tablet and Surface Duo. Hopefully they will get real x86 compability (x64) on their ARM tablet next and finally make some progress on the new world of app stores and ARM devices.</p>

  • harmjr

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2021 - 10:17 am

    <p>Finally Removable Hard Drives!!!!!!!!!!!!</p>

  • Hifihedgehog

    11 January, 2021 - 10:39 am

    <p><span style="background-color: rgb(249, 249, 249); color: rgb(3, 3, 3);">Fantastic upgrades: 50.4 watt-hour battery and the removable SSD drawer! Thank you for both keeping the microSD card slot and adding this removable SSD option. The exclusion of the microSD card slot in the Surface Pro X was a mark against it, so I am glad to see it not being removed here. Now, just bring us a Surface Pro 8 with eight-core Zen 3 mobile processors and Thunderbolt and it will be the perfect tablet PC.</span></p>

  • rmlounsbury

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2021 - 11:17 am

    <p>Removeable hard drives + extra battery are a big plus here. </p><p><br></p><p>I'm hoping the Surface Pro 8 is a design refresh that brings a more Surface Pro X style display to the regular Pro line. I absolutely love the screen on the Pro X and it would be great to have on the Intel based devices. </p>

    • mrkirbs

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2021 - 7:27 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606942">In reply to rmlounsbury:</a></em></blockquote><p>This move feels like one you make if SP8 is going to be a design refresh, but you need more time and need to get an internals refresh out there on cycle </p>

  • earlster

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2021 - 11:59 am

    <p>Now, if they also had a user-replaceable battery, this might be interesting again. Without it, I'm looking elsewhere for my SP4 replacement.</p>

    • jchampeau

      Premium Member
      11 January, 2021 - 9:14 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606958">In reply to earlster:</a></em></blockquote><p>Are there any tablets or ultrabooks that have user-replaceable batteries?</p>

    • kingv84

      14 January, 2021 - 2:55 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606958">In reply to earlster:</a></em></blockquote><p>Let us know what you find that has a user-replaceable battery in a Surface Pro like device.</p>

    • earlster

      Premium Member
      14 January, 2021 - 10:24 pm

      <blockquote><em><a href="#606958">In reply to earlster:</a></em></blockquote><p>While maybe not accessible from the outside, with a simple clip to open, most Dell, or HP ultrabooks make it reasonably easy to replace the battery by removing the back via screws, and then easy access to the battery. See iFixit for the XPS13 for example, now look at what it takes for a Surface Pro.</p><p>Also Dell's detachables are serviceable without being glued together. Surface is uniquely difficult to open up.</p><p><br></p><p>I stand by my opinion, that MS could do a lot better here, because I love my old SP 4, but the battery is a deal breaker for me.</p>

  • chrisltd

    11 January, 2021 - 12:17 pm

    <p>I’m starting to think a Pro X style refresh isn’t in the cards unless Intel can somehow reduce heat output on their CPUs.</p><p><br></p><p>I guess MS could still do smaller bezels, but the weight and thickness likely can’t be reduced.</p>

  • illuminated

    11 January, 2021 - 12:34 pm

    <p>Battery life up to to 15 hours sounds good but it takes only one crappy javascript page to bring that battery life to nothing. Would be interesting to see battery life comparison with M1 mac. 15 hours is OMG-REVOLUTIONARY-THROW-AWAY-EVERYTHING-ELSE good.</p>

  • will

    Premium Member
    11 January, 2021 - 12:49 pm

    <p>IMO it works better when you don't have a number after the device. Just Surface Pro, and the 2021 model year or 8th gen.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      12 January, 2021 - 8:49 am

      The reason Microsoft stopped using year names (mostly) was that it makes the products seem old quickly. If you are on a Surface Pro 6, or whatever, it’s just a number. But if you’re using Surface Pro 2017, it starts to feel old in a few years.

  • geoff

    11 January, 2021 - 8:44 pm

    <p>LTE option is back, battery is bigger, ability to remove the hard disk before disposing, 11th gen CPU . . .</p><p><br></p><p>And, of course, the ability to use USB-C hubs instead of proprietary Surface Connect hubs (which arrived with the Surface Pro 7), while also keeping the Surface Connect socket for devices you already have.</p><p><br></p><p>I'm actually interested again. Surface Pros are very good PCs.</p>

  • anthonye1778

    12 January, 2021 - 2:51 pm

    <p>I wonder when MS is going to finally ditch the consumer segment. When you go on their consumer Surface site for the first time a popup appears urging you to go to the business site. "Surface is built for business" it says. So, by extension, it's NOT built for you, the consumer. It will be interesting to see where this all goes and when. Could Pro 7+ for business only be the beginning of MS's phase-out of the consumer segment?</p>

  • macguy59

    12 January, 2021 - 9:31 pm

    <p>You would think they could have reduced the bezels, bumping up display size. Those bezels are my biggest gripe</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      13 January, 2021 - 8:15 am

      That would have been called Surface Pro 8. I think they’re pushing back the refresh to the next year.

  • simard57

    12 January, 2021 - 9:45 pm

    <p>were prices released?</p><p>I will be replacing my Spectre 360 this year. I am hoping that a SP8 drives own the SP7 prices and I am attracted to this version due to larger battery and fast charging. the SSD replacement is gravy.</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      13 January, 2021 - 8:15 am

      $899 for the base version was all I got.

      • simard57

        13 January, 2021 - 8:30 am

        <blockquote><em><a href="#607259">In reply to paul-thurrott:</a></em></blockquote><p>SP7 I3 8G 128 GB is $810 so $80 for bump in processor, battery and a replaceable SSD is not a bad deal imho</p><p><br></p>

  • simard57

    12 January, 2021 - 9:48 pm

    <p>is the I3 with 8 GB RAM a suitable performer now – compared to I5 SP3?</p><p><br></p><p>is 128 GB adequate given that cloud storage is integrated in?</p>

    • Paul Thurrott

      Premium Member
      13 January, 2021 - 8:14 am

      This is one of those things where many (including me) would say, “yeah, probably for most people,” but would never even consider that one for themselves.

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