X MISSES THE SPOT Microsoft Surface Pro X

The outsides are shiny, but is there enough going on under the hood to impress?

SPECIFICATIONS

Processor Microsoft SQ1 Graphics Microsoft SQ1 Adreno 685 Screen 13-inch PixelSense, 2880x1920 Operating system Windows 10 Home Battery life Up to 13 hours Memory 4GB/8GB/16GB Storage 128GB/256GB/512GB Connectivity 2x USB-C, 1x Surface Connect port, Surface Keyboard connector port, Nano SIM, Wi-Fi 5 802.11ac, Bluetooth 5.0 Camera 5MP front, 10MP rear Dimensions 287x208x7.3mm Weight 774g

This was supposed to be the exciting one. When we looked at the Surface Pro 7, a perfectly good hybrid tablet that didn’t innovate enough on its predecessors to be exciting, we never imagined being less impressed by the Surface Pro X, its sleek, cooler big brother, released shortly after.

And yet, here we are. The Pro X has shaken things up: it deviates away from the Surface series’ hard-edged design in favour of a more rounded chassis, which some might call a nod to the iPad’s design.

We were excited to see the new look, knowing that the Surface Pro X also has a new keyboard and stylus (or the Surface Pen Slim, to give it its proper name), and there’s no denying that it looks like a luxe item, with its tiny rounded bezel and ultralight chassis. But as we started to test this tablet hybrid, we had a sneaking suspicion that Microsoft has traded performance for aesthetics.

Let’s talk about those aesthetics first. The Surface Pro X certainly feels gorgeous. The reworked chassis is a lot more comfortable in the hand than older models, rounded in a way that’s more reminiscent phones than laptops. Using it in tablet mode without the keyboard attached is a dream, so we’d definitely place it high in the tablet stakes on that note.