Black isn’t a color option this time around, with Platinum and Graphite as the available choices. But at 1.96 pounds, it’s also slightly heavier. Physically, the Surface Pro 8 is surprisingly a bit smaller than its predecessor, even with the larger screen-that likely means that the bezels have shrunk significantly. Interestingly, Microsoft disclosed that the Surface Pro 8 is part of Intel’s Evo platform, reserved for special, intensive collaboration between Intel’s engineers and the laptop manufacturer.

However, the new Surface Pro 8 is arguably defined more by its external features, a welcome update to a Surface Pro lineup that has remained somewhat static in its look and feel for several years. Naturally, the Surface Pro 8 includes options to run Windows 11, too. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7+ and the new Surface Pro 8 both use Intel’s 11th-gen Core chips, though the Surface Pro 8 boasts more powerful processor options-topping out at a Core i7-1185G7, versus the Core i7-1165G7 found on the Surface Pro 7+. Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 8 improves over both, inside and out. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7+ for Business tops our list of the best Windows tablets, as did 2020’s Surface Pro 7 for consumers. Prices will begin at $1,100, and go up to $2,600 for consumers.

What do you think of the SQ2’s performance from these benchmarks? Tell us down in the comments.Microsoft’s Surface Pro 8 will go on sale today, and ship on Oct. However, if the results you have seen so far the fruits of Microsoft’s efforts, then it will hardly be a surprise to see Surface sales take a nosedive. Microsoft is reportedly designing its own ARM chips to take on the Apple Silicon, while Qualcomm is also said to be working on an M1 competitor with RAM support up to 32GB.

It looks as if all Microsoft did was execute a marketing stunt for customers to pick up the new Surface Pro X while delivering little to no performance benefit over the first-generation ARM-based Windows 10 tablet. This is evident from the fact that even Apple’s M1 chip made short work of the SQ2 running in the Surface Pro X and that too when running in Windows virtualization model, where performance suffers immensely on a Mac. It looks like Microsoft partnering with Qualcomm did little in pushing the performance boundaries of custom ARM-based silicon.

Surface pro x sq2 review