Microsoft Surface Pro 13" for Business Review

A beautiful tablet hamstrung by its tiny SSD. Fantastic screen and portability, but you're paying a premium for storage you'll outgrow in a month.

The new Microsoft Surface Pro for Business is a fantastic tablet that's saddled with a laughably small SSD. This is the Copilot+ PC flagship, and it nails the basics: it's incredibly thin and light, the OLED screen is stunning, and 32GB of RAM is a generous amount for a machine this size. But the one thing you need to know is that the 256GB of storage is a serious problem for a $2,000+ device. It's a premium package with a budget-bin hard drive.

The performance story is a mixed bag, but the screen is the real star. That 13-inch OLED panel is one of the best we've seen on any portable device, with perfect blacks and a super smooth 120Hz refresh. The Intel Core Ultra 7 CPU and Arc graphics are solid, landing in the middle of the pack for this class. They'll handle business apps and media just fine. The big surprise is how they've paired top-tier components like the screen and RAM with such a tiny, slow-feeling SSD, which ranks in the bottom quarter of our database.

Worth it? Only if you find it at the low end of its insane price range, which spans from a reasonable $2,001 to a completely absurd $568,879. At around two grand, it's a tough sell against a loaded ultrabook. For that much money, the paltry 256GB storage is frankly insulting. If you see it priced like a luxury car, run away.

Compared to the Apple MacBook Pro 14", you're trading raw CPU and GPU power for a touchscreen and pen input. The MacBook is a much more powerful laptop, but it's not a tablet. The ASUS ROG Zephyrus G14, another 14-inch machine, absolutely demolishes this Surface in graphics performance for gaming or creative work, but it's thicker and lacks the tablet form factor. If you need a true hybrid device, the Surface Pro stands alone. If you just need a powerful compact laptop, the others are better.

If you're looking for a powerful laptop for video editing, coding, or gaming, this isn't it. The graphics just aren't up to the task. Go get an ASUS Zephyrus G14 or a MacBook Pro instead. Also, skip it if you hoard files locally—the 256GB will drive you insane.

We can only recommend this to a very specific user: someone who desperately needs the absolute best Windows tablet experience, has a strict need for 32GB of RAM, and doesn't mind constantly managing storage or paying for cloud space. For everyone else, the storage handicap and premium price are hard to overlook. Wait for a configuration with more storage, or look at a traditional clamshell laptop.