Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (5G) review: An Arm tablet actually worth buying

Price When Reviewed

$1599.99

Best Prices Today: Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (5G)

$1599.99

Not Available

Not Available

We advocate that you simply take into account shopping for the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (5G) Windows pill, with an Arm chip—not an Intel or AMD chip—inside. That’s a primary for us, and we hope it’s not the final.

Read opinions of the Surface Pro 9 with a big grain of salt, as a result of there are two considerably completely different merchandise hiding underneath the identical model title. The Surface Pro 9 is constructed on an Intel 12th-gen Core chip (Alder Lake), whereas the Surface Pro 9 (5G) makes use of a separate SQ3 chip co-developed by Qualcomm to Microsoft’s specs. We’re reviewing the Surface Pro 9 (5G) right here.

The Surface Pro 9 (5G) is actually the Surface Pro X, now renamed and introduced underneath the Surface Pro 9 model umbrella. Inside it’s the SQ3, an Arm chip that’s technically incompatible with the X86 structure of Intel’s Core and AMD’s Ryzen processors, however can run most Windows apps each by way of a particular Arm-optimized model of Windows 11 plus a particular code interpreter.

What it boils all the way down to is that this: The Surface Pro 9 (5G) ought to provide considerably extra battery life and considerably much less efficiency than the Core model of the pill, primarily based on our checks. But it’s not that a lot much less, and that’s the shock. Nevertheless, there are nonetheless software compatibility points in case you wander too removed from its mission: dealing with day-to-day Office duties and searching by way of Microsoft Edge.

The Surface Pro 9 (5G) can be the one SP9 to incorporate a 5G radio inside, which means that you simply’ll take pleasure in always-on connectivity as soon as you permit the vary of the closest Wi-Fi router. We’re additionally instructed that Microsoft doesn’t plan to promote a 5G model of the Surface Pro 9 with a Core chip inside, both — if you would like an always-connected Surface Pro 9, the Surface Pro 9 (5G) is it.

Michael Crider/IDG

Unlike the Surface Pro 9, the Surface Pro 9 (5G) doesn’t embrace a pair of Thunderbolt 4 USB-C ports, which normally requires an Intel processor. Instead, the Surface Pro 9 (5G) contains normal USB-C ports rated on the vanilla 10Gbps spec as a substitute. This issues in two methods: first, you received’t be capable of use a Thunderbolt dock to develop this pill’s I/O capabilities. You additionally received’t be capable of use a powered Thunderbolt dock to cost the pill both, and must rely on the 39W charger to cost the pill by way of the Surface Connect port.

This isn’t an unlimited problem; you need to use Microsoft’s Surface Dock 2, the upcoming Microsoft Audio Dock, or an inexpensive USB-C dongle to supply some I/O growth capabilities, and the in-box charger works simply positive. But it’s one other distinction between the 2.

Otherwise, apart from shaving a sliver off of the chassis weight, the Surface Pro 9 is actually the identical because the Surface Pro 8: the identical design, with a Surface Pro Signature Keyboard (bought individually) which might tuck the non-obligatory Surface Slim Pen 2 (normally bundled with the Signature Keyboard) into its recharging cubby. Two new shade choices can be found: Sapphire and Forest, with a particular Liberty floral blue Surface Pro 9 shade possibility in restricted portions to have fun the tenth anniversary of the Surface pill.

Microsoft has continued to supply two sub-versions of the Surface Pro 9 and Surface Pro 9 (5G), which range by working system. Our evaluation unit of the Surface Pro 9 (5G), provided by Microsoft, makes use of Windows 11 Home. An non-obligatory Surface Pro 9 (5G) for Business ships with each Windows 11 Pro. Business prospects additionally take pleasure in higher assist choices.

Surface Pro 9 (5G) options and specs

• Display: 13-inch PixelSense Flow (2880×1920, 267 PPI) as much as 120Hz with dynamic refresh price
• Processor: Surface Pro 9 (client): 12th-gen Core i5-1235U, Core i7-1255U; Surface Pro 9 for Business: Core i5-1245U, Core i7-1265U; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: Microsoft 3.00GHz SQ3
• Graphics: Surface Pro 9: Iris Xe (Core i5, i7); Surface Pro 9 with 5G: SQ3 Adreno 8cx Gen 3
• Memory: Surface Pro 9: 8/16/32GB LPDDR5 RAM; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 8/16GB LPDDR4X RAM
• Storage: 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB detachable SSD; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 128GB/256GB/512GB detachable SSD
• Ports: Surface Pro 9 (5G): 2 USB-C 10Gbps; Surface Pro 9: 2 USB-C (USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4). Both SP9 fashions embrace 1 Surface Connect port, 1 Surface Keyboard Port
• Security: Camera (Windows Hello)
• Camera: Surface Pro 9: 5Mpixel/1080p (user-facing), 10MP/1080p and 4K video (rear-facing); Surface Pro 9 with 5G: similar, however with Windows Studio Effects
• Battery: Design capability: 46.5Wh; Full capability, 49.2Wh
• Wireless: Both: Wi-Fi 6 (802.11ax), Bluetooth 5.1; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: see beneath
• Operating system: Consumer, each Surface Pro 9 variations: Windows 11 Home; Business, Surface Pro 9: Windows 10 Pro or Windows 11 Pro; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: Windows 11 Pro
• Dimensions: 11.3 x 8.2 x 0.37 inches
• Weight: Surface Pro 9: 1.94 kilos; Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 1.95 kilos (mmWave); 1.94 kilos (Sub6)
• Color: Platinum, Graphite, Sapphire, Forest, Liberty (restricted provides)
• Price: Surface Pro 9 (client): $999 to $2,599.99, relying on configuration; Surface Pro 9 with 5G (client): $1,299.99 to $1,899.99; Surface Pro 9 for Business: $1,099.99 to $2,699.99; Surface Pro 9 with 5G for Business: $1,399.99 to $1,899.99 ($1,599.99 as examined)
• Optional equipment: Surface Slim Pen 2: $97 on sale at Amazon; Surface Pro Signature Keyboard: on sale at Amazon for $149.99

Mark Hachman / IDG

Microsoft Surface Pro 9 (5G): Out of the field

Microsoft despatched us a Surface Pro Signature Keyboard in what seems to be the Sapphire shade, together with the Surface Slim Pen 2.

Microsoft’s setup course of doesn’t appear to vary an excessive amount of from what Windows 11 now asks of you. You’ll nonetheless want a Microsoft account to proceed, although that opens the door for computerized set up of Microsoft 365 (Office 365) in addition to migrating apps and settings from every other earlier installations. Expect to see the Surface app pop up randomly early on, asking you to arrange your Surface Slim Pen 2, together with questions on what hand you ink with in addition to a normal overview of how the pen works. Inking is way extra elementary to the Surface Pro expertise than, say, the Surface Laptop 5.

The energy button and quantity rocker have wandered concerning the high and sides of the Surface Pro over the previous couple of generations. The Surface Pro 9 (5G) returns to the design of the Surface Pro 7+, with the facility and quantity rocker on high, subsequent to 1 one other.

The Surface Pro 9 (5G), like its 5G-less cousin, is a Windows pill, with the SP9’s conventional kickstand that permits it to recline simply 15 levels or so off of the horizontal. The Surface Pro 9 expertise is a component consumption, because the light-weight pill and kickstand permits it to be propped up in all types of non-traditional places; half creation, by way of inking on the pill; and half productiveness, with the magnetically hooked up Signature keyboard permitting it to emulate a conventional clamshell pocket book. It does all of those fairly effectively.

Mark Hachman / IDG

In normal, the Surface Pro tablets do finest on a flat floor, versus a typical clamshell laptop computer which might perch in your lap. Otherwise, you’ll have to carry the 13-inch SP9 pill up, greedy it by the somewhat massive bezels on the edges. The show matches the Surface Pro 8, which elevated the show measurement barely, with higher decision than rival tablets from Dell and others. You would possibly suppose by now that Microsoft would use some type of AI intelligence to sense which fingers are merely holding the pill, and that are interacting with it. That’s not the case, and every little thing appears to be like a bit antiquated because of this.

Mark Hachman / IDG

When evaluating it to different tablets just like the Apple iPad or the Samsung Galaxy Tab collection, the Surface Pro 9 is hard-pressed to carry its personal. But within the Windows house, versus conventional laptops, the SP9 stands out, with a show decision that pushes previous 1440p and with wonderful pixel density. The PixelSense Flow display screen continues to be merely lovely, with a dynamic 120Hz possibility for improved smoothness and inking.

According to our colorimeter, the Surface Pro 9 (5g) places out a particularly vibrant 443 nits of display screen luminance and covers a lot of the sRGB shade gamut as effectively. That’s about ten extra nits than the Surface Pro 8 pushed out, and may help you work within the shade, if not daylight. That’s preferrred for an on-the-go, related pill.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Microsoft’s 5G pill foregoes Dolby Vision IQ, a visible show enchancment that the brand new Surface Laptop 5 contains however this machine doesn’t.

The Surface Pro 9 (5G) makes use of an Arm processor, sometimes way more power-efficient than an X86 chip. It’s fanless, and justifiably so; we might hardly really feel any heat on the rear of the pill, both after copying information, decompressing them, or working workloads. The pill solely grew to become marginally heat when connecting it to a secondary show by way of a USB-C cable.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Unlike the Surface Laptop 5 (or just about every other product that makes use of an Intel or AMD X86 processor) the Windows’ efficiency settings haven’t any impact. With an X86 chip, you can get significantly increased performance for free; with the Surface Pro 9 (5G) the settings are there, however are only for present.

We perceive that whereas Microsoft would have appreciated so as to add in Thunderbolt, that simply didn’t occur. We have a 4K check show that features a USB-C enter, and it powered that show with none issues in any respect. (Naturally, it may possibly solely run its inner show at 120Hz, nevertheless.) Microsoft phased out the microSD card slot in earlier Surface Pro fashions, however you may “replace” that with a separate USB-C dongle.

How is the Surface Pro 9 (5G) to kind on?

Microsoft’s Surface Pro Signature Keyboards haven’t modified that a lot in the previous couple of years, save for the addition of the charging cubby for the Slim Pen 2. Yes, the magnetic connector holding the keyboard to the pill does safe the pill effectively sufficient to apply it to your lap, however you’ll in all probability choose to apply it to a desk or tabletop usually. While you’ll in all probability choose the soundness of typing on a clamshell laptop computer, the inclined Signature Keyboard is totally usable for on a regular basis use.

Mark Hachman / IDG

What occurred to the Surface Pro 9’s headphone jack?

The Surface Pro 9 (5G)’s audio system present a gentle however balanced soundscape with noticeably much less quantity than prior generations. Put towards the Surface Pro 8, there’s merely little level of comparability: earlier Surface tablets have punched above their weight by way of audio high quality, and the Surface Pro 9 (5G) appears to be buying and selling on that legacy with much less to again it up. Yes, the specs say that there’s nonetheless the identical 2W audio system inside it, however I discover that onerous to imagine.

In truth, the Surface Pro 8 has a toggle swap throughout the Windows 11 Settings menu to toggle on audio enhancements. The Surface Pro 9 (5G) lacks that characteristic, and albeit sounds nearly similar to the SP8 with that swap toggled off. Using headphones, although, fortunately rectifies these flaws, and my Google Pixel earbuds sounded terrific.

Mark Hachman / IDG

It’s value noting, although that these are Pixel USB-C wired earbuds. Why? Because the Surface Pro 9 (5G) has joined the ranks of these gadgets which have killed off the headphone jack alongside the Surface Pro X — nonetheless a black mark in my ebook. I don’t wish to should cost Bluetooth earbuds to make use of my pill. If you are feeling in a different way, that’s positive.

The Surface Pro 9 (5G)’s webcam, nevertheless, is without doubt one of the machine’s highlights. First, the Surface Pro household has all the time used a 1080p webcam, and so they’re normally among the many better of any laptop computer or pill, wherever. Though the webcam picture shot with the digital camera is a bit gentle, the picture high quality, shade, and lighting is kind of good. I sometimes seize these webcam pictures within the morning, however this was captured within the afternoon, with facet mild. It’s nonetheless very effectively performed.

Mark Hachman / IDG

But there’s another excuse to purchase the Surface Pro 9 (5G), and that’s what Microsoft calls Windows Studio Effects. Inexplicably, they’re buried throughout the Settings menu (Settings > Bluetooth & gadgets > Cameras > Surface Camera entrance) however they’re provided (proper now) on no different Surface machine Microsoft presents.

Specifically, Windows Studio Effects provide three options: background results (particularly blurring), Eye Contact, and computerized framing. While different purposes provide background blurring, the secret’s that Windows presents this as a normal management, so it isn’t depending on the app itself. (It’s a little bit unclear whether or not an app’s results will be capable of override this or not.) Microsoft presents two blurs: a “portrait” blur that vaguely blurs the background, and a deeper “standard” blur” that makes the background largely unrecognizable. These are all previewable inside Settings, by the way in which.

Interestingly, each fashions of the Surface Pro 9 ship with a webcam with a 4-degree tilt, which we’ve to imagine contributes to its functionality for computerized framing.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Eye Contact is a characteristic that, like FaceTime for Apple’s iOS, makes an attempt to make use of AI to repair your gaze on the digital camera, regardless of in case you’re truly one thing else. Again, this can be a Windows management, so it must be energetic in Teams, Zoom, Google Meet, and different apps. But it’s not previewable, so that you’ll should belief (ha!) that you simply’ll look as in case you’re truly paying consideration. (It didn’t work with a cellphone film I recorded of my face, with my eyes darting this manner and that.) That’s a bit dangerous throughout these group conferences or workers calls, so play it protected till you may try it out with a good friend.

Automatic framing does work, nevertheless. In an ideal world, computerized framing would work as a type of face monitoring, monitoring your face as you progress round. And it does! — inside some limits. The webcam does a pleasant job of figuring out your face and zooming in to it. If you’re seated at your desk throughout a name, it’s unlikely that this can make a distinction. But in case you arise or slide your chair again, computerized framing ought to step in. We captured computerized framing in motion to create this GIF, beneath.

Mark Hachman / IDG

How is the Surface Pro 9 (5G) for inking?

The Surface Pro 9 (5G) continues to assist the pill effectively, even maximally reclined, for inking. Microsoft has additionally lastly nailed the pen’s design, too: although you’ll want to purchase a Surface Pro Signature Keyboard, the way in which that the flat Surface Slim Pen 2 conceals itself inside it and expenses when not in use is nearly good. (Make positive to not purchase the Slim Pen 2 individually with out the keyboard, because the standalone Pen 2 doesn’t include a charger.)

One of the few issues we haven’t examined was how lengthy the Slim Pen 2 lasts; Microsoft says that the pen’s inner rechargeable battery can last as long as 15 hours, which must be simply positive earlier than it must be returned to its cubby to recharge. We haven’t had any complaints, nor do the customers we work together with on-line.

Michael Crider/IDG

The Slim Pen 2’s flat form is a bit awkward to make use of, although the redesigned Pen 2 has a sharper nib, permitting for extra precision. It additionally applies 4,096 ranges of strain sensitivity. I actually can’t inform how correct this all is, although we examined the inking capabilities by inking a collection of straight strains. beneath, with a straight edge. The pen-tablet interplay on most tablets introduces jitter (wobble) underneath sure conditions, particularly when inking slowly on a diagonal. The Surface Pro 8 provided an distinctive inking expertise, although I don’t suppose the Surface Pro 9 (5G) is nearly as good, as there appears to be extra jitter when inking slowly and diagonally, which is the place it creeps in. There’s no noticeable ink offset, although, because the ink “flows” immediately beneath the nib.

Again, Microsoft appears to have oversold the haptic suggestions. When inking on the pill your fingers ought to obtain a little bit of resistance, like inking on paper, I actually couldn’t really feel it.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Cellular efficiency

One of the promoting factors of the Surface Pro 9 (5G) is its means to attach on the go. Microsoft gives two choices: both you may insert a bodily SIM card into the again of the pill, by way of a pop-out door that additionally homes the replaceable SSD, or you may enroll with one among two built-in eSIM suppliers and use that as a substitute. If you select the latter (as I did), you don’t want a bodily SIM card in any respect. That’s actually the extra handy possibility.

Unfortunately, I’m unsure it’s the best. I signed up for a 1Gbyte, 7-day eSIM plan with GigSky, one of many built-in suppliers, for $9.99. Neither GigSky nor Ubigi, the opposite supplier, provide 5G connectivity—unlucky contemplating this SP9 contains “5G” in its title. There’s additionally no apparent provision to avoid wasting your GigSky password by way of the browser, and I hadn’t put in a password supervisor.

Across my check websites, I obtained first rate connectivity, however not fairly as much as snuff to a Samsung Galaxy S22 5G cellphone. In two places with middling to poor sign high quality, the eSIM not solely failed to attach however requested me to activate the eSIM once more, after I’d paid for and really used the eSIM at one other location on the town.

Mark Hachman / IDG

I obtained a most of 268Mbits down and 1.69Mbits up close by of the mobile tower, and progressively worse outcomes elsewhere — 132 Mbits and 76Mbits. That’s not that shabby, and greater than sufficient to work or stream a film, as I did. Otherwise, with out a 5G providing, and with middling bandwidth, I’d be tempted to look into what my supplier would provide to wirelessly tether my cellphone, or what it might value for a secondary bodily SIM.

Mark Hachman / IDG

How good is the Surface Pro 9 (5G) efficiency?

The quick reply? Not that dangerous, surprisingly.

Normally, we’d use an ordinary suite of benchmarks to judge the Surface Pro 9 (5G). But the truth that there’s an Arm chip inside complicates issues. While the SQ3 Arm chip runs most purposes, it doesn’t run all of them, and it’s this surprising “What? Really?” response that may nonetheless flip off potential consumers.

For commonest purposes, although the Surface Pro 9 (5G) ought to run most every little thing you’d throw at it: Office apps, Microsoft Edge and competing browsers, even the nitty-gritty apps just like the Windows Command Line app. (Earlier variations didn’t all the time do that.) Just don’t count on to play video games; the pill “will not install some games and CAD software, and some third-party drivers or antivirus software,” based on Microsoft—video games with OpenGL 1.2 or above or with anti-cheat software program, basically.

Streaming our check 4K60 check YouTube stream appeared attractive on the pill’s display screen, due to the good shade constancy. But YouTube solely delivered a 1440×810 stream, although it didn’t drop a single body. The Netflix and Hulu apps labored as anticipated. You can obtain and run Google Chrome, in case you’d like.

We’d usually present hyperlinks to comparative tablets, however there actually aren’t any proper now. We can advocate studying our review of the Lenovo ThinkPad X13s Gen 1, which makes use of the 8cx Gen 3 and must be roughly similar to the Surface Pro 9 (5G) and its SQ3 chip. We don’t have the Surface Pro 9 with a Core chip within it to check to.

Normally, we’d check our suite of benchmarks that measures normal day-to-day app efficiency, with CPU checks, and so forth. But a few of these purposes nonetheless received’t work on Arm.

Therefore, we’re compelled to play the junior varsity: a PCMark 10 Apps check suite by Underwriter Laboratories that measures how effectively the pill masses and makes use of Microsoft Office apps; a associated UL check, 3DMark, which tracks 3D efficiency; and a browser-based benchmark that tries to fill within the gaps in how effectively the pill will deal with different purposes.

One of our check purposes that has run beforehand, PCMark 8’s Creative workload, merely refused to run after quite a few makes an attempt. It’s one of many frustrations of this platform.

But there was a shocking quantity of enchancment within the Snapdragon infrastructure. Again, it’s unclear whether or not or not that our restricted check suite is simply topping out by way of theoretical efficiency, however we have been shocked at how effectively Snapdragon caught up and even exceeded a Core chip.

Case in level: WebXPRT 3. It’s a legacy Web app, even handed over by the developer in favor of a brand new model. WebXPRT performs photograph modifying, spreadsheet work, digital scanning, and so forth, utilizing instruments like Web Workers and Javascript. And sure, it topped the Surface Laptop 5, Microsoft’s clamshell pocket book that makes use of the 12th-gen Core (Alder Lake) chip.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Here’s a extra compelling benchmark. If you consider the Surface Pro 9 (5G) as primarily an workplace machine, working Microsoft 365 (Office) apps and searching the online — effectively, that’s what the PCMark 10 Apps check measures. And the Surface Pro 9 (5G) holds its personal.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Finally, we used 3DMark’s Night Raid, a cross-platform 3D GPU check, to judge how the Adreno 3D core contained in the SQ3 fares. Here, it doesn’t fairly maintain as much as the Iris Xe cores used throughout the Intel Core chips. There’s a big hole, however it’s not terribly enormous, both.

Because of some benchmark database snafus, we weren’t in a position to immediately examine the Lenovo ThinkPad x13s Gen 1 (a clamshell that makes use of the comparable Snapdragon 8cx Gen 3 processor from Qualcomm) apart from this check. The scores are nearly precisely equal.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Battery life is actually a key metric, too, and we use a video rundown check to measure how lengthy the pill will final whenever you use it in school, in conferences, and on the sofa. We imagine that our checks extra immediately correspond to real-world utilization, as our check situations use a a lot brighter display screen than Microsoft itself does. This is the place Arm processors sometimes shine, because the Surface Pro 9 (5G) does right here with about 15.75 hours of real-world battery life.

Mark Hachman / IDG

Should you purchase the Surface Pro 9 (5G)?

We didn’t extensively check the Microsoft’s pill for compatibility with trendy purposes on account of time constraints, and that’s historically been the weakest level of the Arm argument. You can see that we struggled to get a few of our benchmark purposes to work, and we’re not going to award an Editor’s Choice award primarily based upon that.

But the thrust of Windows on Arm has all the time been the core purposes, particularly Microsoft 365/Office and net searching, and the way they run. All of these load and run as anticipated. Battery life, the opposite promoting level, has been considerably outdated by Intel’s Evo platform — by convincing laptop computer makers to construct their clamshells a little bit thicker and with extra battery, they simply prolonged their run time.

As a pill, the Surface Pro 9 (5G) sits inside a distinct segment, with out the ravenous competitors of the clamshell pocket book house. That offers it respiration room. But, excuses apart, it’s now inside hanging distance of mainstream Core merchandise. We don’t have the Surface Pro 9 and its Intel Core processor to check, however the Surface Laptop 5 stands in. The pill’s battery-life argument holds up, and sure, you may argue that you would be able to commerce off a little bit of decrease efficiency for improved connectivity.

So sure, the Surface Pro 9 (5G) did unexpectedly effectively. We’re impressed. Is it the very best pill in its class? We don’t know. But sure, we’d advocate that you simply take into account the Surface Pro 9 (5G), and hope for continued competitors from Microsoft and Qualcomm sooner or later.