Surface Pro X – 13” Touch Screen – Microsoft SQ1 – 8GB Memory – 256GB SSD – Device Only - Platinum

*** Summary *** The 2021 Surface Pro X was my first rodeo on a Windows-on-ARM tablet/laptop and it was a mixed bag. On one hand, I loved its high-quality build quality and fit-and-finish, as well as its bright and ultra-crisp display, excellent keyboard and pen, decent audio fidelity, faster than expected app and system performance, speedy storage, and stable Windows 11 environment. On the other hand, there were a few shortcomings that prevented the Surface Pro X from becoming my primary PC; mainly, app incompatibility. Other less severe shortcomings include the lack of an LTE SIM card option, as well as the underwhelming battery life that falls far short of its “up to 15 hours” of battery life claim. At $1099.99 (as of 2021-10-18) for just the Surface Pro X tablet, I don’t think this machine is a good value and I wouldn’t personally recommend it to most of my friends and family unless the price comes way down. If Microsoft were to include the keyboard and the excellent pen while keeping the price the same, then it would be a different story but, alas, those additions remain a pretty expensive add-on at $279.99. And frankly speaking, without the keyboard and pen package, the Surface Pro X would otherwise be pretty useless and meaningless to me. Overall, I rate this product 3.5 Stars. It’s an interesting device, but I feel like I'm participating in an unpolished (i.e., beta) and yet to be fully realized ecosystem. The potential is there for ARM PCs but they don’t feel ready for widespread mainstream adoption. _____ *Pros: -Elegant, even pretty, industrial design with great build materials and fit-and-finish. -The 13” “PixelSense” display with its 2880x1920 (3:2 aspect ratio) is bright, super-crisp, and comfortable on the eyes; great for productivity apps and note-taking. -The Signature keyboard is well spaced out, comfortable to type on fast, and the keys have good feedback, uptake rate, and are not noisy. -I love how the Surface Slim Pen 2 neatly fits into the keyboard in a natural way. -The Surface Slim Pen 2 is light, uber-responsive, and works very well. -The speakers sound great and have good range. -The microphones deliver crisp and natural-sounding audio during video meetings. -The glass touchpad surface is super smooth and highly responsive, supporting custom 3- and 4-finger gestures. -The 8-core SQ1 SOC delivers consistently decent performance without needing a noisy fan. -Even with just 8GB of RAM, Windows 11 feels snappy and fast. -The PCIe 3.0 NVME SSD hard drive (256GB) is fast, resulting in quick startups and shutdowns, and file transfers. -With the keyboard cover attached, the entire unit measures around 2.5 lbs, making this a light and highly portable 13” laptop. _____ *Neutral: -No headphone jack. -The battery life is good but not 15-hours good. -As a tablet, 1.7 lbs. is heavy. -No Thunderbolt ports. _____ *Cons: -App compatibility issues still remain and will be a deal-breaker for many. -The Amazon Android app store is not available yet. -No option to sideload Android apk files. *** Hardware & Build Quality *** The Surface Pro X (SPX) is my first Microsoft-designed PC product and I’m very impressed. The tablet, as well as its keyboard and pen accessory add-on, look and feel premium and up-market. I’ve owned my share of “premium-level” products in the form of HP’s Spectre and Spectre x360 laptop lines, as well as Alienware’s ~$2,500-level gaming laptops. Even when compared to those, the SPX holds its own and exudes excellent craftsmanship, high-quality build materials, and a high degree of fit-and-finish. The 13” “PixelSense” display is quite a treat. Manufactured by LG, the quality is readily apparent; it can get very bright, the lighting is uniform, and the high pixel density (260 pixels per inch) provides crisp text and beautiful-looking images all around. The 3:2 aspect ratio is perfect for reading and writing, and at Windows 11’s default 200% scale setting, everything looks just right. I absolutely have no complaints about the display. The Surface Pro Signature Keyboard with Surface Slim Pen 2 add-on accessory is also well-made and mates perfectly with the Surface Pro X. The Alcantara fabric is dense and soft, and the glass touchpad feels silky smooth and is very responsive to taps and finger gestures. The pair of 2W speakers provided a good and pleasant aural experience when I listened to music and watched some shows on Netflix. The speakers can get pretty loud and I have no complaints. Seeing as how the SPX is also being marketed as a tablet, I’m okay with it having just two USB-C Gen 2 ports on one side. I still own lots of accessories that are USB-A only but I own several dongle adapters so it’s no big deal. The team at Microsoft did a fantastic job creating an attractive machine in a slim and portable form factor. *** Performance under Windows 11 & the SQ1 ARM SOC *** I’ve read about the disastrous Windows RT rollout so I didn’t have high expectations when it came to system performance and snappiness from an ARM SOC. To my great & pleasant surprise, the 8-core SQ1 SOC proved to have plenty of muscles to run Windows 11 smoothly as well as my usual suite of apps, such as the resource-hungry Google Chrome browser, Office 365, and many more. My usual daily startup is Google Chrome with 29 tabs, Microsoft Edge with two tabs, and a few background apps, such as Kakaotalk (WhatsApp-like mesenger), PIA VPN software, and Google Docs. Although the SPX doesn’t multitask and launch my apps as fast as my main machine, a 2021 Asus gaming laptop with an Intel Core i7 11370H (11th-gen Tigerlake with 4-cores/8-threads), 16GB DDR4, GeForce RTX 3060, and 1TB Samsung 960 Evo NVME SSD, things didn’t feel that much slower despite having half the RAM (8GB) and a much smaller drive (256GB). I have to give credit to Microsoft for optimizing the two-year-old SQ1 pretty well for Windows 11, as well as the emulation engine that enables the installation of x86 & x64 applications. I don’t game on laptops so I don’t have any solid opinions on the performance of the Adreno 680 GPU. If I do game later, I’ll probably use a streaming service such as the Xbox Cloud Gaming or Google Stadia. I do occasional video editing on my GoPro and drone footage, and so far, I haven’t found an app that works as well and as fast as Cyberlink Power Director 19 on my Asus with the RTX 3060. The SPX is no performance beast but I’m satisfied with it and I find myself comfortably using it without getting annoyed by lagginess or erratic slowdowns. *** Windows 11 *** Windows 11 comes with a fresh coat of paint and many nifty design & UI updates everywhere. For the most part, I’m liking the new look because it’s a refreshing change from Windows 10. The locations of certain settings have changed but I was able to find everything I was looking for and easily add my Bluetooth mouse, connect my Samsung Galaxy S20+ via the Your Phone app, and add my printers. I haven’t noticed any performance differences from Windows 10, for good or bad, and I’m cool with that. I don’t like the new Start menu and I miss the one from Windows 10. Microsoft will hopefully give users an option to revert back to the old style. If they don’t, then I guess there are always third-party apps I can turn to. My biggest issue with Windows 11 on the SPX is app incompatibility. The two apps I miss the most are Google Drive and Logitech Options. I’m sure app compatibility will improve over time but it’s still frustrating. *** Battery Life *** Microsoft claims a battery life up to 15 hours but that’s when you’re using mostly ARM-optimized apps plus other fine-print conditions. When apps are run that goes through the emulation layer, there is a big hit to battery stamina and that’s what happened to me. Due to Google dragging its feet and not releasing the ARM version of Chrome, my battery drains pretty fast; in three hours, my battery went from 100% to 32%. If I insist on using Chrome, I consistently get 5.5 to 6 hours of battery life before needing a charge. Although that’s good enough for my personal needs, others may be disappointed at my results. To extend the runtime, I’ve been using Microsoft Edge and Firefox Beta because they support ARM. The improvement in battery life is very noticeable as is the increase in speed and snappiness. I still can’t hit 15 hours but I gained about 1.5 to 2 hours. Not bad. *** Closing thoughts. And, is it a good buy? *** I find the Surface Pro X to be a very interesting device that’s a herald of things to come for the ARM-based PC ecosystem. The potential for ARM PCs is definitely there & once the app ecosystem catches up, it'll be much easier to recommend. So, who’s the SPX for exactly? I guess it’s for people like me who like to experiment and have fun with new stuff, as well as people like my wife, who can do all her work inside a browser and Microsoft Office while watching Netflix and Youtube videos in between. Plus, students and kids who can definitely benefit from long battery life and the excellent Surface pen.

This has become my work computer/tablet. I have an Apple desktop in my home office however, once I started using this computer, I became more and more enamored with it and since then, its my "go to" computer. I have all my office calendar/office appointments on it, I also LOVE the touch screen and now I cannot live without it! This computer holds its charge for at least 8 hours of work and it's light enough so I can carry it to any room in the house while I'm working. I liked it so much that I upgraded from a 10 inch screen to the 13 inch screen. The keyboard lights up and the brightness of the screen easily adjusts to the environment. Navigating from one screen to the next is lightning fast, absolutely no delay! I am considering purchasing another one as a gift for my son. Although he is an Apple fan; he will soon change his mind once he tries this Mircrosoft Surface tablet. Hands down...it is absolutely wonderful!

I've had the pleasure of using the 2021 Surface Pro X for a few weeks now. While the tablet itself is not much different than the 2020 version, this one ships with Windows 11 however, which is the real start of this "2021" version. It is also worth mentioning that Microsoft has removed the LTE option for the 2021 Surface Pro X. My Surface Pro X is equipped with "SQ1" processor which is an ARM based chip, capable of running x86 (traditional processor, think Intel i5, i7, etc) but in emulation mode, which means performance is not as good as native Intel processors. Despite this fact, the overall usage of the tablet feels snappy and quick while performing most "normal" tasks, such as web browsing, email, chatting on Teams, using Word, Excel, Power Point. This machine is NOT meant nor capable of fulfilling any kind of "gaming" need. It is also NOT a photo editing or graphics machine. While "lite" photo editing is possible, the performance otherwise is pretty low. The only customer who should be looking for this type of computer it one who cares about battery life and basic tasks. I was able to get around 12 hour of battery life with normal use, which is fantastic. Upon initial setup, the machine ran through a series of "updates" which took about 45 minutes from start to finish. A horrible time to wait in 2021 just to initially sign into the device. It felt as though the machine was actually upgrading to Windows 11 vs having been shipped with the full build ready to go. The initial setup was certainly Windows 11, but the amount of download and install time says that was just a "shell" and the actual OS was downloaded and installed. That makes this feel like a bit of a rush job on Microsoft's part. The lengthy install time could also be contributed to the slower performing SQ1 processor. There is not much to say about this that hasn't already been said about the 2020 Surface Pro X. It has thin bezels, the Windows Hello camera is able to sign you into Windows just by looking at it, which is excellent. There are 2 USB C ports on the left and an SD card slot on the right along with the charging port. This does support the newer 2021 keyboard and pen accessory which is fantastic (can read in another review dedicated to just that). I will mention that the performance of this Surface Pro X when using the pen is fantastic and the pen feels responsive and natural. The only real reason this product has a 2021 designation is Windows 11. Which is certainly the most 2021 notable thing here. Windows 11 is more or less a "facelift" for the tech layman. There are many security features "under the hood", but for most people, this won't matter much beyond just knowing "this is more secure". The overall user interface is very fresh and clean. The start menu has moved to the center of the task bar (you can move this back to the left if you wish) and the settings menu has been more refined. Icons and windows have been tweaked with new colors, pictures, and the edges of windows are not rounder vs squared off. Windows 11 runs very well on the Surface Pro X. The beautiful 2880 x 1920 resolution screen really shows off Microsoft's work with Windows 11. It scales to this resolution so text is readable, yet very very sharp. Putting the theme in either "light" or "dark" mode looks great. The super thin tablet with very thin bezels really shines with the modern feel of Windows 11. Everything certainly feels like it was brought into 2021, despite the tablet really being from 2020. This was certainly the Operating System meant to be used on such a modern designed tablet. The other notable change in Windows 11 is the app store. Microsoft has refined this experience as well to make installing apps easier, more fluid. The app store is especially important when using the ARM based SQ1 processor as it helps to identify "native" apps that run perfect on the SQ1. This helps to take the guess work out of "will this work on my tablet?" All in all, this is a great, super portable, excellent battery life machine. It is likely the best travel companion on the market today for most people. If you are a business professional who primarily works in Microsoft Office / Microsoft 365 ecosystem, this table will be a perfect tool to access all of the richness Microsoft's ecosystem can provide. If you are a home user who likes social media, streaming content, browsing the web, and have "light" needs, this is also a fantastic machine. Anyone looking for a gaming computer, or something to do professional creative work, should look into the higher end tablets (Surface Pro 8) and laptops (Surface Laptop Studio) Microsoft provides, as they do have some phenomenal products to meet your needs as well.

----- Summary ----- Verdict: Microsoft’s Surface models have been around for years, but this latest Surface Pro X is my first. My experience has me wishing I owned one sooner. Whether you call it a tablet or computer, it’s a productivity powerhouse in a versatile and portable design. If you’re enthusiastic about the form factor and don’t need the most performance on a device of its size, consider the Surface Pro X - SQ1 - 8GB memory model. For more performance, the SQ2 – 16GB memory model or one of the Surface Pro 8 models would be solid upgrade picks. If the Surface’s form factor isn’t important to you, consider other devices that have similar specs but significantly lower price tags. Pros: - Sleek, premium design - High build quality - Lightweight and portable - All-day battery life - Built-in kickstand - Rear and front cameras capture HD video - Mics capture clear audio - Great keyboard and pen accessories Cons: - High price tag - Keyboard and pen sold separately - Impractical for lap use - Some apps incompatible with ARM ----- Details ----- Design: The Surface Pro X is beautifully designed. At just 1.7 pounds, it’s thin and lightweight which makes it portable. Since I’m frequently going to and from school, I need a portable device. I like that the Surface Pro X provides a large screen and great performance in a small form factor. With its aluminum body and kickstand, it feels very durable, which is important for an on-the-go device. One drawback of the design is that it’s difficult to prop up on your lap like you would a laptop. Since the keyboard accessory is so light, it doesn’t help much. That aside, I’m impressed by the premium look and feel of the Surface Pro X, as well as its versatility. I expected it to be a nice step up from my current 2-in-1 laptop, but it surpassed my expectations. Display: The 13-inch display on the Surface Pro X provides a lot of touchscreen real estate, and the slim bezels minimize the overall size of the device while also giving it a modern look. The display is immersive as well, thanks to the 3:2 aspect ratio (a bit taller than most laptops), high brightness, and 2880x1920 resolution. Even the simplest of tasks like taking notes look fantastic on the Surface Pro X’s display. No laptop I’ve owned has had a display that’s as sharp and bright. Software: Windows 11 comes preinstalled on the Surface Pro X. There’s a lot to like about it, such as the cleaner design, snap groups for easy organization of multiple open windows, virtual desktops that allow you to toggle between multiple workspaces on one screen (I like to have one for school and one for entertainment), and Microsoft Teams integration for easy communication with family, friends, and colleagues. There is a slight learning curve to familiarize yourself with the new features and a few things that are in different locations, but Windows 11 is a just subtle change from Windows 10. Battery Life: Even with frequent use, the Surface Pro X has no problem lasting an entire day. I primarily use it for videos, web browsing, reading, and note-taking, and I consistently get about 13 hours of battery life. With lighter use, you might be able to get close to the claimed 15 hours. It just depends on how you use it. Since the Surface Pro X is fast charge capable, you can charge the battery up to 80% in about an hour. In a pinch, I can get from 5% to 50% in just half an hour. All-day battery life with fast charging helps ensure that the Surface Pro X always has power when I need it. Performance: Instead of using an Intel chip like many computers, the Surface Pro X uses a Qualcomm ARM chip like many smartphones. Until now, all the Windows computers I’ve owned had Intel processors, so I was skeptical about the ARM-based Surface Pro X, but I quickly realized there was no reason to be. My model has Microsoft’s SQ1 processor and 8GB of memory (RAM), and I haven’t noticed any performance issues. The Surface Pro X is snappier than the Intel-based computers I have used. Now, those computers didn’t have the most powerful Intel processors available, but they were similar in price to the Surface Pro X. I’m often running multiple apps and over a dozen tabs in my browser, and it handles everything with ease. The disclaimer here is that most of my time is spent in Microsoft Office apps, so they’re not the most performance-intensive. However, even when I tested several other apps from the Microsoft Store running all at once (Spotify, Evernote, WhatsApp, etc.), it did not bring anything to a halt. There was some slowness when I tried to push it to its limits, but I think that’s to be expected for the SQ1 – 8GB memory model and not a concern of mine, since my day-to-day use is never near those limits. If you’re usually doing more than the tasks I mentioned at once, you should consider the more powerful SQ2 – 16GB memory model. Where you might run into issues with the Surface Pro X and its ARM-based processor is app compatibility. The difference in processing architecture means not all apps run the same, and some might not be compatible at all (at least not yet). ARM has come a long way over the past couple of years, and my experience with the Surface Pro X has me believing in its power and low battery consumption. However, I’d encourage you to verify that your essential apps are compatible with ARM before purchasing a Surface Pro X. If they are, I think you’ll be happy with the performance. Features: The kickstand, detachable keyboard, and the pen are my favorite features of the Surface Pro X. Sturdy, with a wide range of angles, the kickstand makes the Surface Pro X highly versatile, and when not in use it sits flush against the device. The detachable keyboard delivers a comfortable, laptop-like typing experience and has a convenient pen storage slot built into it that also charges the pen. Powerful magnets snap the keyboard onto the Surface Pro X and show/hide the pen slot. I frequently take notes on the Surface Pro X, and the performance of the Slim Pen 2 is great. It’s comfortable and accurate. My one complaint is that the friction of the pen tip doesn’t feel like writing on paper. The Slim Pen 2 has a built-in haptic motor that supposedly makes it feel similar to writing on paper, but that feature is only compatible with the Surface Laptop Studio and Surface Pro 8, so that was a bummer. For me, the Surface Pro X isn’t complete without the keyboard and pen, so I think they should be included, especially at its high price tag. On the other hand, I understand that not every Surface Pro X user wants the keyboard and pen. Additional features that I like about the Surface Pro X are the speakers and cameras. The 5.0MP front-facing camera with 1080p HD video is fantastic for video calls, and the 10.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera delivers 1080p HD and 4k video. I’m not a frequent user of the rear-facing camera, but when I tested it out I found that you can record very high-quality videos. During video calls or recording, the dual far-field Studio Mics capture clear audio, even if you are far away from the device. As for the speakers, they’re 2W with Dolby Audio and pump out great sound. For its size, I’m impressed that the Surface Pro X can get quite loud and has some bass without any sound distortion. There’s no headphone jack, but Bluetooth connectivity for headphones or other devices has always been reliable. All in all, there’s a lot to like about the features of the Surface Pro X.

The surface product never fails to impress. Love the new 13-inch screen and feel much smoother a smooth to touch as compared to my Surface Pro4. The processor is amazingly fast. Feel like a mobile phone and can be compared to most iPad products but is much more useful for work. Love face recognition as it never fails to respond quickly.

Personal computing has changed quite a bit in the last several years. Many people used to rely predominately on desktops to do all of their work and play, and that evolved to more people using laptops, and now, “two-in-one” computers are catching on in number. A two-in-one being loosely defined as a tablet, but with the capability of attaching a keyboard to make it into a laptop, too, or having a keyboard that can fold back. They are usually ultra-portable and thin (no DVD drives, etc), light, and easy to take everywhere with you. The Microsoft Surface Pro X is such a device. New user note: Expect about 25-40 minutes initially to set the Pro X up when using for the first time. The usual updates after setup have to occur and with Windows 11 being so new, there are a few that install. The Surface Pro X has a high resolution 2880 x 1920 PixelSense display that’s bright and colorful, with good viewing angles. My unit has 8 gigs of RAM, a fast 256 gig SSD drive, and a Microsoft SQ 1 processor, which is an ARM processor developed with Qualcomm (think “very powerful cellular-style processor that could also be used in a cell phone”). The processor has been compared to an 8th generation i5U processor (good). Graphics are via an Adreno™ 685 GPU. The entire thing weighs less than 2 pounds. A 5 megapixel front-facing camera allows for good quality 1080p video calls (Thank you!), and a 10 megapixel rear camera with 4K video capability gives you some flex use should you want to take photos or videos with the Pro X, too. I found the rear camera just ok for photos, with so-so dynamic range and the pics a bit faded to be honest, but it does a better job in it’s “document” mode finding and saving documents, which is what I think you’d be using it more for on this type of device, anyway. Two Dolby high quality speakers are much better than average, with mics that pick up sound amply. Two USB-C ports allow for accessories. Thermal cooling helps keep things cool without fans, and battery life is rated at “up to” 15 hours (I get around 11-12 in mixed real-world uses). The Pro X has a good feel to it and is easy to hold or using the very good multi-position built-in stand in the back, use on a flat surface. A keyboard is not necessarily needed (though I recommend it), as Windows 11 allows for a decent on-screen keyboard and touch capability that with some practice, can be used nearly as well as a traditional keyboard. Along with the “Surface Slim Pen 2”, which feels comfortable to hold and use, you can get quite a bit done. Pair all of this with a Microsoft Pro Keyboard which magnetically attaches to the Pro X via a small magnetic connector, and you literally have a super portable laptop. I’ll be reviewing the keyboard and pen separately, as they are sold separately in most situations unless you find a special bundle. I find the Pro X to be speedy enough for all everyday things I have tossed at it. Office applications, light gaming, basic photo editing, etc. I haven’t seen any stutters or delays from it in use at all so far. The Pro X comes pre-installed with the new Windows 11. After many years of incremental updates to Windows 10, Microsoft has redesigned the OS into Windows 11, which has a slight Mac-ish feel to it, with commonly used apps and programs now appearing centered along the bottom in the start menu area (including a semi-traditional windows button which pulls up your pinned and other apps, taking over the tile area of Windows 10). Out of the box, you have icons to quickly assess a control area with access to commonly used apps and areas, access to a “widgets” area, and a quick access to a “Chat from Microsoft Teams” icon for quickly doing video chats and more with friends and family by using your Microsoft account. A files explorer folder, Microsoft Edge browser and newly designed Windows store icon finish the lineup. You can add or delete more as desired. Side note – eventually via an update, people will be able to install a limited number of Android apps into their Windows 11 computer as well. You can move the start menu over to the left to make it look more like Windows 10 but the center placement doesn’t bug me – it’s just one more thing to adapt to. One of my favorite simple new features is that when holding your pointer over a maximize (square) icon in the upper-right corner of a window and letting it hover, it gives you new layouts so you can “snap” various apps and windows next to each other in different configurations and layouts. You could do this before but it was cumbersome – this makes it much easier. Of course, the larger your screen the more and better this works. With the 13 inch screen of the Pro X, I usually don’t have more than two windows open together. Windows 11 is a combination of simply changing and streamlining the look and feel of Windows 10, while also adding a few new features. It seems to work – no one LIKES to learn new things, but I think once most people get used to it, they’ll like it for the most part. I really can’t criticize it at all yet because for me, it’s just a matter of learning to do some things a little differently, in an OS that looks nicer than the last. So, so far, I recommend it. As far as the Pro X, the Pro X’s hardware can certainly be found in a similar way in laptops that are less expensive for sure, but they may not be as well built, or nearly as portable and light as the Pro X. You’re paying for convenience and quality here, and in that regard, it lives up to it’s asking price, which is why I give it 5 stars - for the audience who would most likely be the people to buy (and need) this type of computer, it's an excellent machine. Adding the keyboard and pen does make it an investment, but as always… look for sales!. Recommended.

Beautiful screen, not too heavy. Perfect for daily tasks

UNBOXING: In the box is the Surface Pro X tablet as well as the proprietary 65W wall charger that charges the Surface Pro X via the Surface Connect power connector. Aside from that, you have a small manual/warranty booklet and nothing more. BUILD & CONNECTIVITY: The Surface Pro X is made with anodized aluminum. Holding it in the hand is comfortable, since the edges are round with a chamfer towards the rear of the tablet to give it a softer feeling rather than digging into your hands. While holding it in landscape mode, the volume buttons are found on the left edge on the upper side, with two USB-C ports just below which can be used for charging, data and USB-C docks. Please note that these are not Thunderbolt-enabled. On the right edge is the power/sleep button followed by the Surface Connect port for connecting to a compatible dock or wall charger. At the bottom edge is the Surface Keyboard port in case you choose to use the Signature Keyboard. Last but not least, the integrated kickstand is well-built with a defined rigidity that instills confidence and gives you a large degree of flexibility to use it at whatever angle works best for you. DISPLAY: The Surface Pro X uses a 13” touch screen display with a resolution of 2880x1920. This 3:2 aspect ratio is great for productivity and makes it easier to use the on-screen keyboard versus a wider 16:9 aspect ratio. The display has a max brightness of 450 nits making it great for both indoor and outdoor use, but the reflective nature of the display might make it a bit more challenging in the brightest conditions. It should also be mentioned that the display is a fixed 60Hz on this model, whereas the newer Surface Pro 8 has a more fluid 120Hz display. I found that the display is quite responsive to touch and that the on-screen keyboard was even more usable like a physical keyboard when the kickstand is angled near its max. I wouldn’t want to use an on-screen keyboard like this, but it could be helpful in a jiffy. AUDIO: The speakers on the Surface Pro X are underwhelming to my ears. In 2021, it would have been nice if the Surface Pro X had any sort of tangible hardware refinements other than the new storage option, but Microsoft might be waiting until their next iteration with a new SoC to pursue a redesign. As a result, the front-firing speakers on the X are bright sounding, but lacking in the bass region. Meanwhile, the iPad Pro from 2018 has more balanced acoustics with better overall clarity. This isn’t to say the X is bad, but for the price you’re paying, it is disappointing. That being said, I do feel as though the onboard microphones are decent. They do tend to have a higher noise floor, but the sound being recorded is very clear and would be good for conference calls. CAMERA: Among Windows tablets I’ve experienced, the Surface Pro X certainly has among the best of the cameras. On the front is a 5MP 1080p sensor. From my experience, it captures a clean sharp image that is great for video conferencing. It’s easily bested by modern smartphone selfie cameras, but among webcams present on other laptops and tablets, it does earn its recognition for getting this right. On top of that, Windows Hello facial recognition is available to log you in to your Microsoft accounts, which I found to be reliable and convenient versus typing a password or PIN code. The 10MP rear camera is also available to use for capturing documents, whiteboard notes, etc. You can also capture up to 4K30fps content with this camera should you choose to. I think there are much better options these days from modern smartphones, but if your use-case necessitates this, I think it will satisfy basic video needs. OPTIONAL ACCESSORIES: As mentioned before, the Surface Pro X can be used with the Signature Keyboard and Slim Pen 2. While I will have a separate review on the Platinum variant of the keyboard and pen, I will say that these can really help you unlock more productivity-focused workloads out of your Surface Pro X. I prefer to use the X with the keyboard, especially. I wrote the entirety of this review on this very keyboard and found it a joy to use right away. I had no prior experience with the Surface line of keyboards, but I can say that I felt right at home coming from fancier mechanical keyboards and Apple’s newer Magic keyboards. The Slim Pen 2 is quite responsive with writing and drawing software on the X. I especially like the shortcut button as well as being able to use an eraser like a traditional #2 pencil. It’s most comfortable when the X’s kickstand is propped back or when the X is laid out flat. I did find that the pen tip wouldn’t glide as well if the display had smudges or debris, so I do recommend making sure your display is clean when using the pen, as it may otherwise grip the screen unexpectedly. WINDOWS 11: Windows 11 has seemingly launched in a state where some things like Android apps are not yet available and there are still bugs to be ironed out, but overall, I wouldn’t call it a major leap from Windows 10, and in some ways, it’s improved, but in otherways, it’s a bit more cumbersome. On the Surface Pro X, one thing that I noticed was that the 4-finger horizontal swipe gesture (used to switch between virtual desktops) was not a consistently fast user experience. In fact, most of the time it simply lagged behind compared to the competition. Whereas using the keyboard shortcut of Ctrl+Win+Left/Right Arrow was basically instant. I believe that this is likely a software related issue, but it’s not something I have experienced on any other Windows 10 tablet or laptop. I also don’t feel as though the user experience is cohesive for a tablet compared to Android or iPadOS. Paradigms that have now become ubiquitous in those platforms are very different in the Windows 11 environment. Windows 11 likes to think that its users are not tablet users, which causes a sort of cognitive dissonance that results in some strange user experiences for tablet users. Rather, Windows 11 is still truly a desktop operating system, and puts that experience at the forefront. Which makes the Surface Pro X better used as a traditional computer than as a tablet, in some regard. That being said, one of the big issues with Windows 11 and the Surface Pro X is actually the fact that Windows 11 for ARM-based CPUs has compatibility issues with software developed for x86 processors like those from Intel and AMD. For example, I could not get the drivers for my Canon mf4880dw laser printer to install, so I simply cannot use my printer on my Surface Pro X. This is undoubtedly a big issue. There are no plug-n-play options for my printer, so that didn’t work as a fallback, and attempting to manually select the .INF file for my driver did not yield results. In addition, some programs just perform sluggishly. For example, Discord’s x86 desktop app (which runs on Electron) was quite sluggish and caused audio/video glitches while the normal web browser app has worked without issue for me. PERFORMANCE: This Surface Pro X uses the SQ1, which is an 8-core Qualcomm ARM-based CPU co-designed by Microsoft. And to be frank, it’s nothing to be excited about compared to the competition. A big part of the performance issues plaguing the SQ1 may be the fact that ARM on Windows 11 is very new with a very low adoption rate. In the consumer space, Microsoft’s own Surface Pro X is about the only product that you’ll find that runs both an ARM-based CPU and Windows 11. I feel like it’s more suitable to be a Chromebook than it is a Windows 11 computer. I could buy an iPad Air, Magic Keyboard & Apple Pen and have a more fluid user experience compared to the Surface Pro X. If you want a content consumption device, this is far too much money and you can have a much better tablet experience with an iPad Pro for this price. For productivity purposes, you will basically need the Signature keyboard, which is not included, and while the performance may be decent if the programs have been compiled for ARM on Windows, I do think that this is still just too expensive for okay levels of performance. You’re effectively paying a lot to be a beta tester, and that doesn’t sit well with me. BATTERY: In terms of battery life, I found that in 24 hours without any use, the Surface Pro X might lose 10% while in an idle sleep mode. This is certainly more battery loss than some other devices, but not bad for a Windows device with these size and performance constraints. For daily use, the Surface Pro X can yield vastly different results depending on how you choose to use it. If you keep the display brightness low, you’ll be able to get more time on the battery, since that will be one of the most power-hungry aspects of this tablet. Within a 3 hour period, I lost 50% battery due to 50% to 60% brightness. During that time, I was writing this review in Google Docs, I had Discord open in a separate browser window on a different virtual desktop, and a paused instance of YouTube Music on another virtual desktop. Most of the time, I was just focused on the doc. So even with minimalistic usage like mine, the battery life won’t be setting records if you’re still running a high brightness. And trust me, 50% to 60% is decently bright. Overall, the battery life is honestly mediocre when compared as a tablet, but is maybe more reasonable when assessed as a very thin laptop. Even so, I just find it hard to justify spending this much on something that clearly needs more work. CONCLUSION: I really wanted to be excited about the Surface Pro X. And maybe down the road, some software optimizations will be made that truly unlock the versatility of it. But if someone were asking me today if they should purchase the Surface Pro X, I would very much advise against it until the hardware and software become a more cohesive package and deliver a sensible user experience.