Snapdragon

Windows 11 is available on all kinds of hardware, but Microsoft makes its own to showcase the popular operating system on its own premium machines.

The company’s Surface Pro has become something of an icon, seen on the sidelines of the NFL and on news anchor desks. Its design, a tablet with a kickstand and a detachable keyboard, has been widely duplicated and is extremely portable.

But it’s the Surface Laptop that Microsoft has touted as its most popular option, with a familiar clamshell design that is familiar and simple.

In its flagship configurations, Microsoft uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite to power both machines, and you can configure them similarly. So much of which system is better for you comes down purely to the design you like better, how much you use your device on your lap, and especially how much you’re willing to spend on accessories.

For most, the Surface Laptop is the option that will be more familiar. But for those who love to write, draw, or reduce weight, the Surface Pro may be enticing.

Design

Laptop or tablet? It’s almost that simple. Almost.

The Surface Laptop is just that — a notebook PC. It’s slim and sleek, sure, but it’s a laptop. The Surface Pro, however, is a hybrid device. At the Pro’s most basic, it’s a Windows 11 tablet with a kickstand. Add a keyboard (that comes separate and costs extra), and now you have a full on PC.

The Surface Pro is the lighter device, at 1.97 pounds (before you add the keyboard) and 0.37 inches thick. The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop is 2.96 pounds, while the 15-inch Laptop is 3.67 pounds. It may not seem like a lot, but when you’re jamming it in a backpack, the Surface Pro will be easier to fit.

Swipe to scroll horizontallyHeader Cell – Column 0

Microsoft Surface Pro, 13-inch

Microsoft Surface Laptop 13.8

Microsoft Surface Laptop 15

Thickness

0.37 inches (9.3 mm)

0.69 inch (17.5 mm)

0.72 inch (18.29 mm)

Weight

1.97 pounds (without keyboard)

2.96 pounds

3.67 pounds

Today’s best Microsoft Surface Pro and Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 deals

You also get more ports on the laptops. While all of the devices feature two USB 4 Type-C ports and Surface Connect, only the Laptops feature a headphone jack and USB 3.2 Type-A port. The 15-inch Laptop also adds an SD card slot.

The newer, 13-inch Laptop and 12-inch Pro both ditch the Surface Connect port and rely on USB 3.2 Type-C ports for charging. The 13-inch Laptop also gets a headphone jack and USB 3.1 Type-A.

The Surface Pro 13 and Surface Laptop 13.8 each come in sapphire, dune, black, and platinum. The 15-inch Surface Laptop is limited to black and platinum.

Peripherals

The downside to the Surface Pro is that the keyboard doesn’t come in the box. And while you might want to use it as a tablet some of the time, let’s not pretend Windows 11 is the world’s most touch-friendly OS.

How much you spend on that keyboard depends on its features. The most basic keyboard is $169.99, while a keyboard with Surface Slim pen storage is $179.99. A bundle with the Slim Pen bumps the price up to $279.99, while the Flex Keyboard, which works either attached to the Pro or over Bluetooth, is $399.99. (With a Slim Pen, the keyboard jumps to $499.99).

If you just want to buy a stylus on its own, the Surface Slim Pen is $129.99.

You can, at times, find deals on these accessories, especially from sellers like Amazon or Costco, which sometimes put bundles together. But either way, if you want a full Surface Pro setup, you may have to pay several hundred dollars more than the base price.

In some regions, the Surface Pro may not come with the charger. In the US, the 13-inch version comes with a 39 W power supply, though the 12-inch option doesn’t, so you’ll need to bring your own 27W or higher USB-C power adapter.

Performance

Across the Surface Pro, Surface Laptop 13.8, and Surface Laptop 15, Microsoft is using the same variant of the Snapdragon X Elite – the X1E-80-100. These 12-core processors have integrated Adreno GPUs, a 4.0 GHz boost frequency on two cores, and 3.4 GHz max frequency across the 12 cores.

Swipe to scroll horizontally

CPU

Snapdragon X Elite X1E-80-100

Graphics

Qualcomm Adreno GPU, integrated, 3.8 TFLOPS

NPU

Qualcomm Hexagon (45 TOPS)

Cores

Cache

42MB

Boost Frequency

4.0 GHz (dual-core)

Max multi-core frequency

3.4 GHz

Both the Surface Pro and the 15-inch Surface Laptop have come through our labs, so we can put them against each other. Both were using 16GB of RAM, though the Surface Pro had 512GB of storage and the Surface Laptop 15 had a 256GB SSD.

Image 1 of 3

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

In Geekbench 6, the Pro and Laptop came pretty close to each other in both single-core and multi-core scores, so you can expect similar performance from the two of them in basic tasks.

On our file transfer test, the Surface Pro was way faster than the Surface Laptop at copying 25GB of files. Note that they had different size drives — they may also be using different brands or tiers of drive, too.

On Handbrake, the Surface Laptop won. Despite the same chips, it’s likely the 15-inch Surface Laptop has superior cooling that helped with graphics performance.

Display

The 13-inch Surface Pro is the only Surface device right now with an OLED display (it’s optional, and only on models with a Snapdragon X Elite). That screen gives you improvements in color reproduction and brightness. If OLED matters to you, it’s the only way to go.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

You still get a high-resolution, 3:2 touchscreen on each model. The Surface Pro has a 2880 x 1920 screen on either the 13-inch OLED or LCD models, offering 267 pixels per inch. The 13.8-inch Surface Laptop has a 2304 x 1536 screen, while the 15-inch Laptop has a 2496 x 1664 — both 201 PPI. All of the screens support dynamic refresh rates up to 120 Hz.

Battery Life

In our battery test, which sets display brightness to 150 nits, browses the web, runs OpenGL tests, and streams videos. The 13-inch Surface Pro ran for 12 hours and 17 minutes, while the Surface Laptop hit 14:47.

(Image credit: Tom’s Hardware)

There are lots of possible contributing factors. For starters, the Surface Pro has an OLED display. Additionally, the Surface Pro has a 53 WHr battery (48 WHr on LCD models), while the 15-inch Surface Laptop has a larger 66 WHr battery. The Surface Laptop with a 13.8-inch screen has a 54 WHr battery.

Wireless

If you want to work on the go without tethering to your phone, you should opt for the Surface Pro. Certain high-end configurations come with support for both Wi-Fi 7 and 5G networking. As of this writing, the only one on Microsoft’s website that works with 5G and is available is a Surface Pro with a Snapdragon X Elite, 16GB of RAM, and 512GB of storage, which will run you a pricey $1,799.99.

The Surface Laptops don’t support 5G, and can only connect to Wi-Fi.

Pricing

As of this writing, when it comes to the high-end models, the 13-inch Surface Pro starts at $929.99, the 13.8-inch Surface Laptop starts at $1,031.22, and the 15-inch Surface Laptop starts at $1,299.99.

The new cheaper models, the Surface Laptop 13 and Surface Pro 12, start at $899.99 and $799.99, respectively. The existing models had lower-end configurations cut to make room for them.

That $929.99 Surface Pro has a Snapdragon X Plus (10 Core) processor, not the Elite, along with an LCD screen rather than the OLED we tested. To get that price, you have to pick the “dune” color from Microsoft’s site, otherwise you’re looking at $999.99. The configuration with Snapdragon X Elite and OLED starts at $1,199.99.

The Surface Laptop 13.8’s $1,031.22 price point is also seemingly due to sales trying to get rid of the dune colorway. In fact, it makes the Snapdragon X Elite cost less than the X Plus. Otherwise, most colors are going for $1,199.99 with Elite and $1,099.99 with Plus.

The 15-inch Laptop only comes with X Elite, starting at $1,299.99.

The Pro might seem like a deal, until you remember that even if you pick the sale up, you’ll still have to buy extras, like the keyboard (see “peripherals,” above). The Laptop is cheaper if you don’t care about having a tablet but do care about having a keyboard and more ports. But if you need the tablet form factor, you don’t really have a choice.

With some sales going on, you can get upgrades in storage for relatively cheap for the laptops (for instance, moving from 256GB to 1TB is currently $100 on the 15-inch Laptop).

Verdict

With performance being roughly similar, whether or not you should opt for a Surface Pro or a Surface Laptop comes down to the design and the display.

Most people are best served by a traditional laptop for work or school. If you really prefer taking notes by hand and want to use your PC for drawing, the Surface Pro makes a lot more sense. There’s a reason it’s popular for field work. Otherwise, it’s also great because of how portable it is.

At the moment, the Surface Pro also has the distinction of being the only Surface device available right now with an OLED display option. While it’s a strange choice to tie it to a chip, getting the Snapdragon X Elite with the OLED panel makes for a great performance and viewing experience. The Pro is also lighter and thinner than laptops.

But the Surface Pro is effectively incomplete out of the box, requiring a significant outlay for the keyboard cover, and even more if you also want a pen and, in some countries, a charger. The Surface Laptop has everything you need in the box.

I would love to see a Surface Laptop with an OLED display option. Outside of that, the Surface Laptop just makes more sense for more people. The Surface Pro is more portable, but the Laptop is, for most needs, more practical.

Source link

Could the next generation Xbox run on an ARM-based processor? The possibility has been mooted ever since Microsoft’s FTC-related leak revealed that the firm was investigating which architecture to consider for a circa-2028 console. Would it be x86 or ARM? Would Microsoft collaborate on a custom chip with AMD or tap into the firm’s roadmap of upcoming technology? We never found out. However, Microsoft commentator Brad Sams found something interesting last week: a Qualcomm job ad discussing “the next generation of Surface and Xbox products built on Snapdragon solutions”. Based on his tweets, Sams believes the upcoming tenth generation Xbox will run on ARM – but how plausible is it?

Well, job ads are notorious as a poor sourcing for actual company strategy but can sometimes offer up some insights. This one, for a sales director, seems particularly slight – and after Sams’ reporting, the link stopped working, with the ad eventually re-appearing with all Xbox mentions deleted. So is this an unintended leak or just an error?

Based on everything we know about how Microsoft works, what its intended strategy is, and its comments on delivering the “largest technological leap ever in a generation”, it’s difficult to reconcile any of this with the notion of an Xbox console running on Snapdragon hardware. While Qualcomm has achieved incredible success with its Snapdragon processors on mobile phones, its collaboration with Microsoft on the Surface line has so far been unimpressive. I bought a Surface laptop with the fully enabled Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite, finding that gaming was a mess: the PRISM compatibility layer for running x86 code on ARM was missing key support to the point where many games would not even boot. Meanwhile, GPU performance was frankly awful with tremendous stuttering problems.

Xbox and Snapdragon is just one of the many stories within the latest edition of DF Direct Weekly.Watch on YouTube

0:00:00 Introduction
0:00:57 News 1: Nintendo reportedly not sending early Switch 2 review units
0:11:52 News 2: Should we criticize “forced ray tracing”?
0:32:03 News 3: Next-gen Xbox to use Snapdragon ARM chips?
0:43:03 News 4: Assassin’s Creed Shadows devs spill ray tracing revelations
0:59:11 News 5: Days Gone patch brings balanced modes, VRR support
1:13:27 News 6: John tests the Backbone Pro
1:23:23 Supporter Q1: Are we reaching the end of the home console era?
1:29:46 Supporter Q2: Should Halo run on id Tech?
1:38:38 Supporter Q3: Could Doom: The Dark Ages get a PS4 version? A Switch 2 version?
1:41:55 Supporter Q4: What happened to the review of Spider-Man 2 on PC?
1:48:33 Supporter Q5: What are your favourite memories of the Sega Saturn?

To base a new Xbox on Snapdragon hardware would see Microsoft facing huge challenges on every front. Interestingly, developing games on CPUs using the ARM architecture is possibly the least onerous problem. After all, developers got to grips quickly with Nintendo Switch, which ran a range of CPU-heavy games. Ultimately, it would all be down to how good the compiler is.

Graphics? Well, the latest Snapdragon processors do deliver the modern range of features. The Adreno graphics core does support ray tracing, for example. Snapdragon processors do ship with an NPU (neural processing units) that could have certain gaming applications: the Surface’s AutoSR upscaling is a very interesting piece of technology, while an NPU could conceivably handle frame generation too.

Where things start to get tricky is with compatibility. It’s hard to imagine even the most potent ARM processor being able to emulate the Zen 2 CPU of the Xbox Series X and Series S with the same level of performance – and it’s key for Microsoft to be able to assure gamers that its existing library of games will run (and run well) on its new hardware. Similarly, while the DirectX API does a lot of heavy lifting, shifting GPU architectures from one generation to the next is also going to cause problems. For that, there’s already a ready-made solution – certainly from the transition from GCN-based graphics in Xbox One and One X to the RDNA tech in the Series consoles, AMD baked in hardware backwards compatibility (which Sony benefits from too).

Manage cookie settings

Then there’s the whole question of what “largest technological leap ever in a generation” actually means and the extent to which a Snapdragon processor could deliver it. Both Microsoft and Sony face a unique challenge in delivering a tenth generation console: firstly, it needs an actual reason to exist bearing in mind how good the existing hardware is – and how limited the gains were with the PlayStation 5 Pro. Secondly, it needs to deliver this generational leap while still being affordable as a console should, which sounds almost impossible bearing in mind that Microsoft had just raised prices on its five-year-old consoles.

Ironically, it’s PlayStation 5 Pro that gives us some idea of where the platform holders are heading: sacrificing a much larger GPU in favour of ray tracing support and (inevitably) machine learning hardware. Moore’s Law may be alive, but the concept of cramming larger amounts of transistors – more logic – onto the same area of silicon is no longer cost effective. Microsoft itself knew this would happen, hence the creation of Xbox Series S, which as this classic DF interview reveals, essentially came about because the engineers could not foresee a scenario where Series X could be cost-reduced over the generation.

By confirming a tenth generation console, Microsoft and indeed Sony seem to have made the costs work for a future process node (TSMC 3nm being a likely prospect), but costs will be tight – and similar to PS5 Pro, expect that silicon budget to be less about extraordinarily large graphics hardware and more about a balance between graphics, RT and ML. Not much is known about AMD’s roadmap going forward but the unified UDNA graphics architecture (or a customised version of it) seems much more likely. There’s nothing to stop ARM being combined with UDNA on an architectural level, but remember, compatibility is king in a world where persistent digital libraries are so important and in that scenario, ARM is more hindrance than help.

And going back to the Qualcomm job ad, remember that the definition of Xbox is somewhat fluid. Is there any reason why a Surface device running the Xbox app isn’t an Xbox in the “this is an Xbox” era? With a planned mass diversification of Xbox devices, there’s plenty of room for a Snapdragon device of some description – and not just within the Microsoft Surface line.