What's next for Surface?
Microsoft held a short virtual This month (October 12, 2022) to introduce two new models to its lineup. In addition, a few new software updates are coming, including one with DALL-E integration. Here are the highlights.
- Microsoft Revealed Three New Surface PCs, and One Costs $4,300
- The beefy Surface Studio 2 Plus
- The reliable Surface Pro 9
- The portable Surface Laptop 5
- Creator tools—with AI
Microsoft hopes to convince you that the $4300 list price on its Surface Studio 2+ is worth that high price. But unfortunately, it has been four years since the last upgrade on this computer model.
The Surface Studio 2+ has a 28-inch touchscreen and an 11th-gen Core i7-11370H processor. This specification has already raised some criticism. Intel has recently announced the release of its 13th generation of processors, and the 12th generation was current at the announcement of the new Studio 2+. But Microsoft believes the cost is justified by the integrated components like the Nvidia RTX 3060 laptop GPU with 6 GB of VRAM inside. With its laptop configuration, the GPU will require less than half of the actual wattage it would need inside a PC tower.
The rest of the specs in the Surface Studio 2+ are somewhat standard. They include 32GB of RAM and a 1TB SSD. There are also three USB-C Thunderbolt 4 ports for connecting peripherals to your heart's desire, including 4K monitors. Finally, for an extra $200, bundle a stylus, keyboard, and mouse.
There are now two vastly different models of the Surface Pro 9. You can choose either one of the new 12th-generation Intel CPUs or one with a 5G-capable ARM processor. Some are sure why, but that is what's available.
Microsoft used a version of the ARM chip featured inside this laptop about two years ago with the Surface Pro X. Make sure you pick the suitable model for your use.
The Surface Pro 9 Intel-based model comes with either a Core i5-1235U or a Core i7-1255U CPU. In addition, it features a 13-inch PixelSense display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, a 1080p webcam, up to 32 GB of RAM, and up to a 1 TB SSD. There are also two Thunderbolt 4 ports to connect external monitors and peripherals.
The ARM model has more limited specs than the Intel-based version. For example, it has up to 16 GB of RAM and a maximum of 512 GB of storage. It also isn't compatible with the Intel version's Thunderbolt 4 ports, giving you USB-C 3.2 instead. But this version also has built-in 5G and eSIM support so that you can work whenever you are mobile.
The Intel variant of the Surface Pro 9 starts at $1000, while the ARM version starts at $1300.
The Surface Laptop 5 was announced and appeared to be an update of last year's Surface Laptop 4. The Surface Laptop 4 was well received and reviewed favorably by many.
This year's models are available with Intel chips only, however. The Surface Laptop 5 comes either with the 12th-gen Core i5-1235U chip or the higher-performing Core i7-1255U. Each laptop can be configured with 8GB to 32GB of RAM and 256GB to 1TB of storage space. There are also two display sizes: 13.5-inches, which starts at $1000, and 15-inches, which starts at $1300.
Microsoft announced that the smaller size of the Surface Laptop 5 is capable of up to 18 hours of battery life on the go and that it can fast charge up to 50 percent in just half an hour. Suppose you like the idea of the Surface Laptop 5 but aren't too pumped on the display size. In that case, you can utilize the device's Thunderbolt 4 compatibility to work on larger monitors. The Surface Laptop 5 also connects to WiFi 6.
Microsoft Announced New Tools for Creators with AI
Microsoft has also made some software updates. For example, Microsoft added to the abilities of its creator tools in Microsoft 365, Edge, and Bing.
Microsoft Designer is another free graphic design app that lets you make designs. You can instantly use Microsoft Designer to generate a design based on your text input with the integration of Dall-E 2. You can join the waitlist to get access to this software. Image Creator on Microsoft Bing is now in use with the AI-infused features available on the web. This has been rolling out to various areas in the world.
For Windows users, Clipchamp is also coming to Microsoft 365. You can use it to edit quickly with videos or photos. You can give it a try now with a Microsoft account.
Visit the Microsoft website for more information.
I also have a tech newsletter that goes out every Tuesday and Thursday. You can subscribe at https://gregdoig.com.
In addition to the newsletter, I podcast on my site https://gregdoig.com/techbrewed.
Thank you for reading. I greatly appreciate your time and effort!