Microsoft Surface Pro Microsoft - Surface Pro - Copilot+ PC - 12” - Review

Fast chip, questionable everything else. You're buying an AI promise, not a finished product. Spring for more storage or wait for Gen 2.

The new Surface Pro with a Snapdragon X Plus is a weird, fascinating device. It's not really a tablet, and it's not really a laptop, but it's trying to be the best of both with a heavy dose of AI hype. The one thing you need to know is this: it's a Windows PC that's finally fast enough on ARM to feel normal, but you're buying it for the promise of Copilot+ AI features, not because it's the best tablet or the best laptop you can get.

The Snapdragon X Plus is the real story here. Our benchmarks put its CPU and GPU performance in the mid-90s percentile, which is a massive leap over previous ARM-based Windows devices. It feels fast. Apps launch quickly, and general Windows use is smooth. The surprise? The 'weakest area' in our scoring is art and design, which suggests that while it's powerful, it might still hit some snags with heavy creative software compared to an Intel or AMD chip.

At $900 for the device and keyboard bundle, it's a tough sell. You're buying into the Copilot+ ecosystem early. If the AI features like Recall and Live Captions are must-haves for you, then maybe. But if you just want a great 2-in-1, there are better values that don't make you a beta tester for Microsoft's AI vision.

This puts it in a strange fight. The 13-inch Surface Pro with the X Elite chip and an OLED screen is the obvious upgrade if you have the budget. More interesting is the Apple iPad Pro. For similar money, you get a vastly better screen and app ecosystem, but you're stuck in iPadOS. If you need full Windows, the Lenovo Idea Tab Pro offers a bigger, sharper screen for likely less cash, but with slower Intel chips. This Surface Pro sits in the middle: more power than an Intel tablet, but less polish than an iPad.

If you're a digital artist or designer, our data shows this is a weak spot. Look at an iPad Pro or a traditional Windows laptop with a dedicated GPU instead. Also, if you just want a Netflix machine with amazing battery life, a cheaper Samsung tablet is a better call.

We can't fully recommend this specific 256GB bundle to most people. The performance is great, but the storage is too small, the screen is average, and the battery life doesn't seem to live up to the hype. It's a compelling proof-of-concept for Copilot+, but it feels like a first-generation product. Wait for a sale, or seriously consider stepping up to the model with more storage and the better screen.