Finally, a good ARM Surface

If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it.

Those seven words neatly sum up my experience with the Surface Pro (11th Edition) and pretty much every Surface Pro I’ve ever used. The Surface line evolves at a glacial pace, for better and worse, and the 2024 Surface Pro is no different. It brought one really significant change to the table – the Snapdragon X Elite chipset – and a handful of small but not insignificant improvements along with it.

Don’t get me wrong, the Surface Pro (11th Edition) is a good laptop and a great 2-in-1 – Microsoft’s best so far. As good as it is, there’s not much to say about it since so little has changed from the last model. And by similar logic, there aren’t many reasons to recommend an upgrade here. As always, if you’re not looking to replace an old or broken laptop, you can probably safely skip the Surface Pro (11th Edition).

Anyway, let’s jump straight to the most significant change this year: the chipset.

Specs

• Display: 13-inch PixelSense Flow OLED display, 2880×1920 resolution, 3:2 aspect ratio, Dynamic refresh up to 120Hz
• Processor: Snapdragon X Elite
• Memory: 16GB
• Storage: 512GB
• Dimensions: 287x209x9.3mm (11.3×8.2×0.37 inches)
• Weight: 895g (1.97lbs)
• Camera: 1440p Quad HD front-facing Surface Studio camera, 10-megapixel rear-facing camera
• Operating System: Windows 11
• Battery: 52Wh
• Connectivity: Wi-Fi 7, Bluetooth 5.4
• Sensors: Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient colour sensor
• Ports: 2x USB-C/USB4, 1x Surface Connect, Surface Pro Keyboard port
• Graphics: Qualcomm Adreno GPU
• NPU: Qualcomm Hexagon

Note: the above specs are for the specific model I tested. You can find specs for all configurations here.

Elite performance?

For the first time in a while, Microsoft isn’t offering an Intel variant of its Surface Pro alongside the ARM version. (Notably, there are still Intel-powered Surface Pros out there, but they’re older models or aimed at business customers.) It’s a bold statement from Microsoft about its confidence in Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips, and thankfully, Qualcomm mostly delivers.

I tested the Snapdragon X Elite, which is the more powerful of the two chips. The primary difference between them is core count (the X Elite has 12 cores to the X Plus’ 10), but the X Elite also has slightly higher clock speeds and better GPU performance. When it comes to AI performance, both chips have the same Qualcomm Hexagon neural processing unit (NPU).

While I haven’t yet tried out the X Plus myself, I think the differences are bigger on paper than in real-world impact. From what I’ve seen, the X Plus still puts up respectable performance. But I’m here to talk X Elite.

The Pro (11th Edition) I tested handled everything I threw at it from my day-to-day workload. It breezed through web browsing tasks – I tested ARM versions of both Microsoft’s own Edge browser and Firefox, and both worked well, though I had the occasional bug. The ARM-based Photoshop app worked fine for all my photo editing needs, but surprisingly, the only app that gave me trouble was Slack. As I detailed in my hands-on with the Asus Vivobook S 15, the Windows Store didn’t install the ARM version of Slack and I had to go track it down elsewhere. And while Slack’s x86 app gave me trouble, not every non-ARM app did. I tried out Scrivener, a novel writing software that doesn’t have an ARM version, and it worked well on the Surface Pro in my brief testing.

When it comes to gaming, well, these aren’t really gaming machines so don’t expect a whole lot. Assuming you can find a title that works on the Snapdragon X chips and assuming they’re powerful enough to run the title, it should work okay. I tried out Magic: The Gathering Arena and it worked quite well, but it’s not exactly a demanding game. There is a website that can help find compatible games, which is great, but don’t expect to be playing the latest titles at 60fps with ultra graphics.

In benchmarks, the Surface Pro (11th Edition) performed decently, scoring comparably to M2-equipped Apple devices in Geekbench 6. The X Elite scored a little worse in single-core and a little better in multi-core. However, like with x86 laptops, I found that benchmark scores varied significantly based on the power mode and whether the Surface Pro was plugged in. In the chart below, you can see the scores for both Geekbench 6 and the new Geekbench AI, which tests AI performance, laid out across ‘recommended’ and ‘best performance’ settings, with the Surface Pro running on battery power and plugged in.

As for the bugs I mentioned, most of the ones I encountered were graphical. I noted several visual glitches, like artifacts that appeared briefly on the display and then went away, or instances where Firefox windows would go blank for a couple seconds before coming back. Another bug I had was that the tablet would have issues waking up from sleep if I left it plugged into my monitor and the screen turned off. Whenever this happened, I would end up having to hold the power button until the Surface Pro restarted.

These bugs aren’t the worst I’ve ever experienced, but they do somewhat sour the experience. Coupled with the fact that some users will have compatibility issues, I feel I have to say that anyone considering the Surface Pro – or another Snapdragon X-powered PC – should do thorough research to make sure the programs and apps they like will work well before buying one. I do think most people will be fine, and it should get better over time, but it’s better to find out before spending a ton of money on a laptop.

Better battery… barely

The main advantage of ARM-based chips is battery life. The Snapdragon X series definitely brings improvements on that front, especially compared to Intel chips, but in my experience, the Surface Pro wasn’t as good as it could be.

My primary test of battery is my weekly in-office day, where I trek from Hamilton to Toronto and back. On these days, I work from the GO train while commuting and often have limited access to outlets outside of when I’m in the office, but I like to try and get there and back again without needing to plug in. While the last few x86-based laptops I’ve tried haven’t been able to pull off this seven- or eight-hour stint without needing a top-up, the Surface Pro did… but barely.

For example, on my last trip to the office before this review, I got on the train and opened the Surface Pro, at 9AM and it was at 100 percent. When I got off the train in Hamilton at around 4:30PM, I had just under 30 percent charge left. I’d have felt more comfortable if I had 40 or 50% left, but I wasn’t ever worried the laptop would die on the train home, which was a nice change of pace. And that was with a day full of writing articles, researching, answering emails and editing a few photos in Photoshop. Plus, I had the 120Hz dynamic refresh rate turned on, so I could probably squeeze a bit more out of it by turning off 120Hz (but frankly, I like it too much).

As I mentioned in the benchmarks segment above, the Surface Pro’s power mode has a significant impact on performance. Outside of benchmarking, for the majority of my testing, I had the device set to the ‘recommended’ power mode. In cases where you really need to squeeze out as much battery life as possible, you can set it to ‘best efficiency’ to conserve power, disable power-draining features like the 120Hz display, and turn on the battery saver mode. I will say that I found the differences between the power modes less noticeable than on x86 chips, where using the ‘best efficiency’ mode can feel palpably slow.

Enough about the chip, what else is new?

Unfortunately, dear reader, there isn’t much else that’s new. There’s a nice, new OLED display that looks great, but the last few Surface models have also had great-looking displays. (Plus, you have to fork out an extra $700 for the OLED, which may or may not be worth it depending on how much you use this for content creation or media consumption).

The design is virtually unchanged from previous Surface Pros, though honestly, it’s fine since the Surface Pro design is quite good for what it is. I still prefer traditional clamshell laptops, especially for working on the train or anywhere else I’ll have it sitting on my lap, but for anyone wanting both a laptop and tablet, the Surface Pro’s form factor remains the pinnacle. I’ll also note that the ‘Sapphire’ shade is absolutely gorgeous, though the wonderful ‘Dune’ colour might be my favourite if only because it makes me feel like Maud’Dib.

Perhaps the most notable improvement is with the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard, which works wirelessly with the Surface Pro. This allows you to disconnect the keyboard from the 2-in-1 but still use it, which is a total game-changer. For example, when using the Surface Pro in my home office, I could put the computer up on a monitor riser next to my second monitor for better ergonomics while keeping the keyboard down on my desk for easy typing. Or on my trip into the office, I could set the 2-in-1 on my desk and recline with the keyboard in my lap. And while I’m not much of an artist, Microsoft touted the keyboard as allowing people to draw with the Surface Slim Pen while still having access to the keyboard for using keyboard shortcuts.

It’s probably the most significant update to the Surface Pro in years, but you don’t even need the 11th Edition to enjoy it. The Pro Flex Keyboard is compatible with the Surface Pro 8 and newer, so if you’ve got a compatible Surface, you can pick one up instead of a whole new PC. That said, Microsoft still frustratingly doesn’t bundle a keyboard accessory with the Surface Pro (11th Edition), and the Pro Flex Keyboard is an egregious $599 in Canada. You can get other Pro keyboards for as low as $199, but it’s still insane to me that Microsoft doesn’t bundle a necessary component with its laptops. It’s like buying a laptop only to find out you need to pay an extra $200 or more to use the keyboard. Insane!

Bye bye AI

And now we come to the inevitable AI section, a now mandatory part of all reviews because every tech company needs to jam some half-baked AI nonsense into their products these days. Microsoft’s big pitch with the Surface Pro (and all the other Copilot+PCs that launched this year) is that the Snapdragon X Elite and Plus chips have powerful neural processing units (NPUs) that enable on-device AI instead of needing to offload processing to the cloud all the time. On the one hand, this is a notable and welcome improvement, and it should speed up any AI processing by eliminating the time required to send and receive the data from the cloud.

On the other hand, it feels like there are precious few things that actually take advantage of the on-device AI, and even fewer AI things that are worth using. Microsoft’s main AI assistant/chatbot is Copilot, but it needs an internet connection to run. Same with the much-hyped ‘Cocreator’ feature, which uses generative AI to assist your drawing. Anecdotally, I thought Cocreator was pretty cool since I was able to give the AI model some direction by sketching out what I had in mind. But I’m still not sold on image generation and, frankly don’t see the usefulness of it beyond putting artists out of work.

Cocreator turned my terrible sketch into a half-decent drawing.

And then there’s Recall, which actually does run on-device, or at least, it would if it were available. But as you may recall (pun very much intended), Microsoft delayed the feature over many valid privacy and security concerns. So I haven’t tried Recall myself in a real-world environment and have little else to say about it until Microsoft releases it.

All this is to say that if you’re looking to upgrade purely because of AI… don’t. It’s still mostly hype and there remain few practical benefits to it so far. That said, I think in time, developers will find creative and beneficial ways to use AI and the NPU. We’re just not there yet.

Exciting potential in a familiar shell

Ultimately, the Surface Pro (11th Edition) is pretty much exactly what you’d expect from a new Surface. Marginal but meaningful improvements in a tried-and-tested design. The biggest changes this year are on the inside with the move to Snapdragon X Elite and X Plus chips, which are surprisingly good. There’s a lot of potential and I think if Qualcomm can continue pushing the envelope with its PC chips, ARM-based PCs will really be able to compete with Apple’s M-series MacBooks on performance and battery life.

At the same time, Windows on ARM continues to have small bugs and issues to work out. I still think these problems are significant enough to warrant careful consideration from anyone thinking about going the ARM route. I’d recommend people research their favourite apps and programs to ensure compatibility with ARM before purchasing the Surface Pro (11th Edition) or any of the other devices running on ARM chips. But if the apps you need are compatible with ARM or emulate without issue, then the new Qualcomm chips offer both solid performance and respectable battery life.

There’s also the matter of price, which as with all past Surface Pros, is not what it seems. The Surface Pro starts at $1,449.99 in Canada for the X Plus variant or $2,149.99 for the X Elite. The X Plus version starts with a 256GB SSD and 16GB of RAM, while the X Elite starts with a 512GB SSD and the same amount of RAM. There are multiple configurations of each with extra storage and/or RAM, with prices ranging as high as $2,949.99. And that’s all before you factor in the keyboard.

That means that at the absolute cheapest price with just the $199.99 Surface Pro keyboard (which isn’t wireless), you’re looking at $1,649.98 for the Surface Pro (11th Edition). The base Surface Laptop, on the other hand, is $1,449.99 for the exact same specs, just in that traditional clamshell form factor. So right off the hop, unless you need the 2-in-1 form factor offered by the Surface Pro, you can save yourself at least $200 going with the Surface Laptop.

The Snapdragon X chips offer tons of potential, while the Surface Pro (11th Edition) bundles it all in a familiar and versatile form factor, making for a compelling overall package that’s great for the following people:

• Anyone on an aging Surface Pro in need of an upgrade.
• People who’s favourite apps work great an ARM and who would benefit from the battery life.
• Artists, designers and anyone else who would benefit from the 2-in-1 form factor and the Surface Pen.