App compatibility, good battery life

When Microsoft announced its new line of Windows computers in May, the company said they were “designed for AI” with new chips from Qualcomm that were more energy efficient than previous Intel processors.

Among the first devices — called the Copilot+ PC — to hit the market is the Surface Pro convertible tablet. It can handle heavier computing tasks and boasts longer battery life than laptops with Intel processors. It’s a similar strategy to what Apple started in 2020 when it started putting custom, power-efficient Arm-based chips in its MacBooks, a move that has proven hugely successful.

But what Microsoft has finally released with the Surface Pro is actually a great upgrade over its predecessor. To think that it’s ushering in a new era of AI computing seems a bit far-fetched. At least for now.

The Surface line of computers isn’t a big driver of Microsoft’s business. The company reported $1.07 billion in device revenue, including Surface PCs, in the first quarter, a small fraction of the company’s total revenue of $61.86 billion.

I’ve been reviewing the Surface Pro for two weeks. Here’s what you need to know about it.

The Surface Pro delivered more than eight hours of battery life in my initial testing. Microsoft promises up to 10 hours of web browsing. The Surface Pro 9 with Microsoft’s Arm-based SQ3 chip, due out in 2022, is advertised as having up to 19 hours of battery life, but reviewers have found app compatibility to be an issue. And unlike previous Arm-powered Surface PCs, such as the Surface Pro X As of 2019, the model can run a wide variety of apps, meaning buyers won’t have to compromise much on compatibility.

That’s because Microsoft has introduced a new emulator called Prism to help these new computers run programs designed for Intel and AMD chips.

Almost every day, developers demonstrate intelligent software based on AI models for a variety of purposes. Most of the time, programs use servers in data centers to run the heavy lifting. But increasingly, developers are shifting some of the processing to users’ phones and computers. A Copilot+ PC would be well-suited to this emerging type of software, thanks to its neural processing unit, or NPU. This architecture helps extend battery life because the rest of the chip can do other tasks.

Microsoft includes some of its own AI features in Windows 11 that use the NPU. If you’re on a video call, you can open the Settings app on your Surface Pro Copilot+ PC and enable an option called Eye Contact. This will make it appear as if you’re looking directly into the webcam during the call, even if you’re reading text. Apple has a similar simulated eye contact feature for FaceTime calls on the iPad.

In Paint, you can enable Co-Create mode to create images inspired by whatever you draw on screen and using the descriptions you enter. Your computer’s NPU will generate the image, but only after Microsoft sends your text prompts to the cloud to make sure you’re not trying to create something harmful or offensive.

I found it interesting to see how Cocreator interpreted my suggestions, but the results were underwhelming. I would have been better off pressing the Copilot key on my keyboard, which opens a window to chat with Microsoft’s Copilot and ask it to create an image in a text chat. But you only get so many free image creation credits with Copilot before it starts to slow down on requests, whereas Paint is always fast.

The AC adapter in the box magnetically attaches to Microsoft’s proprietary Surface Connect port. It will be familiar to anyone who’s bought a Surface device in the past decade. But you can also charge it using either of the two USB-C ports, which is convenient.

The Surface Pro can connect to three 4K resolution displays, while the MacBook Air with the M3 chip can drive a single external display with up to 6K resolution at a 60Hz refresh rate.

There’s no headphone jack on the $999 tablet. Nor does it come with a keyboard, per tradition. After all, the iPad still doesn’t come with a keyboard.

The standard Surface Pro Keyboard that magnetically attaches to the bottom of the Surface Pro sells for $139.99, and if you want the extra model with Microsoft’s Slim Pen stylus, it’ll cost you $279.99.

Microsoft sent me the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard with Slim Pen, a bundle that costs $449.98. It’s more expensive than a regular external keyboard because it connects via Bluetooth. Microsoft promise 41 hours of continuous typing with accessory. Charges when attached to Surface Pro.

For some users, detaching the keyboard and using it while holding the tablet close to you may be useful. I don’t see this accessory as a huge upgrade over the old Surface Pro Keyboard.

When Microsoft announced In May, executives spent a lot of time talking about Recall, which lets you type a few words to search your PC activity and see matching results. The company delay the launch and said the Recall feature would be disabled by default after security researchers discovered that hackers could access users’ private data through screenshots captured by the feature.

Meanwhile, some apps, including Google Drive and ExpressVPN, still won’t work on these new computers, at least for now. And as Windows on Arm gains initial traction, there may be times when the traditional version of an app will be available in Microsoft’s app store, but the native Arm version can be found on the developer’s website. (That’s the case with VLC media player, for example.) But as a rule, software shouldn’t be an issue for Surface PCs with long battery life.

And Microsoft has reduced Copilot’s ability to control your PC on that device, making it more like just accessing the chatbot on the web. When the company brought Copilot to Windows 11 last fall, the assistant could open the program, switch to dark mode, and turn off Bluetooth.