The greatest Windows tablets squeeze as a lot efficiency, battery life, and options as they will inside their ultraportable type components. Also generally known as 2-in-1s, due to their potential to operate as a laptop computer with assistance from rotating or detachable keyboards, these compact PCs can change a traditional laptop or an iPad for on-the-go work and play. Of the six main tablets of the 2021 era, two are significantly notable and stand out above the others.
The 5 contenders are the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable, the HP Elite Folio, the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1, the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+, and the brand new Surface Pro 8. We’re nonetheless testing a sixth pill, the Surface Go 3. Historically, we’ve seen Microsoft push laborious with era after era of latest Windows tablets. Third-party producers haven’t been as constant, however they’ve supplied their very own enhancements, together with webcam covers, superior keyboards, and highly effective, refined help utilities.
Our particular person critiques delve deeply into every pill’s strengths and weaknesses. In this text, nonetheless, we’ll present a top-down comparability of the 5 we’ve examined, specializing in the areas that needs to be of specific curiosity to a Windows pill purchaser. We’ve additionally in contrast all 5 tablets utilizing our commonplace benchmark suite, and current our outcomes alongside some conventional laptops.
Affordability
The tablets we have been despatched for overview by the 4 producers diversified by worth and configuration, however the lowest-priced base possibility is the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+—although including a pen and keyboard elevates the value above the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1. At the time of our newest replace to this text, the 2 most cost-effective Surface Pro 7+ choices have been additionally bought out, making the standalone Surface Pro 8 the extra reasonably priced possibility.
Once kitted out with a keyboard and non-compulsory pen, every pill is roughly related in worth, although your most popular configuration can alter that worth considerably. Only the HP Elite Folio truly contains each equipment as a part of the acquisition worth, nonetheless. Lenovo prices additional for a pen ($51.98 on Amazon) with 4,096 ranges of strain, and Microsoft suggests you purchase its Surface Pro Signature Type Cover ($139 on Amazon) and Surface Pen ($89 on Amazon) for optimum performance.
The Surface Pro 8 is designed to be used with the $129.99 Surface Slim Pen 2 and a $179.99 Surface Pro Signature Keyboard, which accommodates the rechargeable Slim Pen 2 in a particular keyboard cubby. This additionally signifies that you gained’t be capable of use older Surface removable keyboards (say, from a Surface Pro 4) with the Surface Pro 8. Any indifferent Bluetooth keyboard, in fact, will work simply effective.
Dell knowledgeable us that whereas the corporate supplied us with a pen and a pill for our overview, the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable Travel Keyboard with an included pen prices an extra $199.99.
We’ve included the bottom pricing of our overview models beneath as of press time, excluding the price of any peripherals, with the value of our overview unit in parentheses. Note that Lenovo presents substantial “discounts” for getting direct on its web site.
- Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable: $1,559 on up ($2,189 as examined)
- HP Elite Folio: $1,895 on up ($1,889 as examined)
- Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1: $1,819 on up; $1,091.40 after reductions ($2,219.00 as examined; $1,331.40 after low cost)
- Microsoft Surface Pro 7+: $900 on up; ($1,650 as examined)
- Microsoft Surface Pro 8: $1,099 on up; ($1,600 as examined)
We think about the lowest-priced mannequin of the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable, with 4GB of reminiscence, too skimpy for on a regular basis use. But in case you don’t thoughts a Core i3, the minimal $899.99 configuration of the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ is definitely possible.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7+ presents quite a lot of costs and configurations to serve most budgets. It’s top-of-the-line Windows tablets too.
Weight, portability, and general design
We want the Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ and Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable right here, as they provide the perfect mixture of options. Technically, solely three are “traditional” tablets: We’d categorize the HP Elite Folio as a 2-in-1, however the separate pill and keyboard are wrapped collectively within a faux-leather sheath that connects each the pill and keyboard as a single unit. Instead of bodily separating, the Folio’s pill can “pull forward” or swivel again like a conventional pill. The others use built-in kickstands that permit the tablets to recline.
In all, the Folio is stronger and extra steady than different tablets, however its design provides weight and removes among the flexibility, too. On the Dell and Lenovo tablets, the connection between the keyboard and pill is particularly weak, so think about this in case you like working with a pill in your lap.
HP’s Elite Folio performs with the notion of a “traditional” pill, with a non-detachable keyboard.
If your concern is which Windows pill is the lightest, the reply is each the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7+, which each weigh in at 2.4 kilos. We’ve included the weights beneath from our scale:
- Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable: 1.70lb, 2.50lb with keyboard
- HP Elite Folio: 2.95lb
- Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1: 1.65lb, 2.40lb with keyboard
- Microsoft Surface Pro 7+: 1.75lb, 2.40lb with keyboard
From a peripherals perspective, solely the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable and Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1 provide Thunderbolt-equipped ports. Both of the others provide extra generic USB-C connections. While the entire tablets provide Windows Hello biometric depth cameras, each the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable and the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable provide a fingerprint reader as nicely, for an extra login possibility.
Display measurement and brightness
There are noticeable variations within the shows. Both the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable and HP Elite Folio provide bigger 13.3-inch shows, whereas the opposite Surface Pro 7+ and Lenovo pill embody smaller 12.3-inch shows. The Surface Pro 8 splits the distinction with a 13-inch display screen. Which pill presents the brightest show? That distinction goes to the HP Folio, with a blazing 1,000-nit possibility that’s best for out of doors work, or the Dell Latitude, with its 500-nit show. (We think about 250 nits the minimal for indoor work.) The pill with the highest-resolution show is the Microsoft Surface Pro 8, at 2,880 x 1,920, although the others embody 1920×1280 shows that look simply effective.
Lenovo’s ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1 supplies a strong mixture of Thunderbolt ports and biometric login choices, making it a very good skilled pill.
Keyboard and typing expertise
Evaluating a keyboard is kind of subjective, however all of them—except the HP Elite Folio and its shallow keys—have been comfy for extended work. (Keep these unfastened magnetic connections we referred to earlier in thoughts, although.) You shouldn’t discover any substantive variations with the trackpads, both.
Personally, I most popular each the Dell Latitude and Microsoft’s keyboards over the others. The Surface Pro Signature Keyboard designed for the Surface Pro 8 feels the identical underneath your fingers, however grips the pill tightly. The rechargeable pen is particularly helpful.
Webcam and audio expertise
While we’re not going to point out you consultant pictures from the entire webcams right here, one pill stands out: the Surface Pro 7+. Both the Surface Pro 7+ and the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1 provide 1080p decision on their user-facing cameras, however the colour and white steadiness on the Surface Pro 7+ is head and shoulders above the others. The Surface Pro 8 is additional optimized for colour publicity as nicely, however overcorrects for pores and skin tone.
The webcam on the Surface Pro 7+ presents superior colour steadiness and determination over the others.
The Surface Pro 7+ doesn’t provide a bodily webcam shutter, nonetheless, or perhaps a button on the keyboard to show it off. Both the HP Elite Folio and Lenovo ThinkPad Detachable provide bodily webcam shutters.
We merely let our ears be the decide of which tablets provide the perfect audio. Here, we discovered that solely the Lenovo’s audio system dissatisfied us. All of the opposite tablets carried out nicely, with the standard caveat: Don’t anticipate that a lot in the way in which of bass from a flat pill. You can always use headphones, although.
Battery life
Windows on Arm laptops have a popularity for lengthy battery life, and the HP Elite Folio completely lives as much as the stereotype. The Elite Folio delivers 932 minutes (15.5 hours) of battery life, which is 54 % greater than both the Surface Pro 7+ or the Dell Latitude Detachable. The Surface Pro 8 slips a bit underneath these two, tying the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable Gen 1.
Mark Hachman / IDG
System utilities
You could not care about what kind of functions are bundled with these tablets, however we do. All of them have been refreshingly freed from the “bloatware” cheaper PCs come saddled with. Two of them shipped with their very own vendor-developed system utilities. These apps complement or change working system instruments, in that they can be utilized to replace firmware, drivers, or different utilities with out Windows getting in the way in which. Neither the Elite Folio nor the Surface Pro tablets do something noteworthy right here.
Lenovo’s Vantage software program and Dell’s suite of Dell utilities are each excellent, offering a central repository for guarantee info, a {hardware} and software program dashboard, manuals and extra. While the Vantage suite might be a bit extra complete, Dell’s utilities are extra easy.
Overall efficiency
Aside from the HP Elite Folio, the entire tablets listed in our roundup embody an 11th-gen Intel “Tiger Lake” Core chip inside and carry out equally.
The Elite Folio makes use of Qualcomm’s Snapdragon 8cx Gen 2 5G, an Arm chip that doesn’t fairly assist you to run your whole most popular functions, even with emulation. (We’ll let the Elite Folio review clarify additional.) That limits which benchmarks we are able to run to check the efficiency of those tablets, and which laptops and thin-and-light PCs we are able to evaluate them to.
What we’ve achieved is use three consultant benchmarks: PCMark 8 Creative, PCMark 10 Apps, and Cinebench R20. All three apps ran on all 4 tablets, giving us a complete view of their efficiency. PCMark 8 Creative checks all the pieces from basic workplace work to mild gaming and video/picture modifying. (PCMark 10 supplies a extra up-to-date, complete check suite, but it surely gained’t run on the Elite Folio.) PCMark Apps is a check of pure Office efficiency in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and the Edge browser. Cinebench is a synthesized CPU check, but it surely tells us how nicely a extra generic CPU-intensive software will carry out.
In the graphs beneath, we’ve highlighted the 4 key tablets, alongside some older tablets and a few laptops. For a deeper dive into different benchmarks, our Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable review and Surface Pro 8 review contains outcomes of all 4 tablets, save for the specialised Elite Folio outcomes.
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
Mark Hachman / IDG
It’s true that the Arm processor forces a few of our benchmark functions to run by way of emulation, which slows them down. But the efficiency hole remains to be profound.
Which Windows pill must you purchase? As you’ve seen, we topped the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable and the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 with our Editors’ Choice award for various causes. The Surface Pro 8 presents cheaper configuration choices, a strong keyboard, a high-resolution display screen, and the perfect webcam. It’s greatest for shoppers. The business-focused Dell’s Latitude 7320 Detachable presents extra viewable display screen space, an amazing keyboard, Thunderbolt ports, and a decidedly helpful suite of utility apps. Of the 2, battery life favored Dell’s pill.
Your selection will probably be decided by the nuances. Yes, Microsoft’s pill is way superior for lap work…however your pill could also be most frequently used on a desk. Do Dell’s sturdy system utilities matter? Perhaps you’ve already bought one in all our best 1080p webcams, and so Microsoft’s superior built-in webcam gained’t affect your determination. Either method, we declare each the Dell Latitude 7320 Detachable and the Microsoft Surface Pro 8 as the perfect Windows tablets of 2021.
Correction (9/8/2021): Through a miscommunication, Dell knowledgeable us that whereas the corporate supplied us with a pen and a pill for our overview, the Dell Latitude 7320’s removable keyboard with an included pen prices an extra $199.99. Since that is primarily a business-focused pill, we have now not adjusted our ranking. Update (10/14/2021): We have up to date this roundup so as to add the Microsoft Surface Pro 8.
As PCWorld’s senior editor, Mark focuses on Microsoft information and chip expertise, amongst different beats. He has previously written for PCMag, BYTE, Slashdot, eWEEK, and ReadWrite.