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Microsoft’s Surface Pro X Is A New, Improved Surface RT

Several years ago, Microsoft tried to launch a mobile tablet that was capable of running Windows. The Surface RT was compact and light, but it ran on a mobile processor that didn’t support the standard version of Windows. Depending on which side of the Surface fence you sit on, its hypermobile design and experimental software was either its biggest flaw or an idea ahead of its time.

Now Microsoft is trying again. It just announced the Surface Pro X, a thinner, sleeker-looking version of its Surface Pro tablet. The Surface Pro X also uses a mobile processor, but one capable enough to run Windows 10—a custom-designed chip codeveloped with Qualcomm. This new chip is called the SQ1—which stands for Surface Qualcomm 1— and while it’s not Microsoft’s in-house chip design, it’s supposed to signal a step forward in the evolution of mobile chips for Microsoft products.

The Surface Pro X has an edge-to-edge, 13-inch display with a resolution of 2880 x 1920 pixels and a 2:3 aspect ratio. It has the same kickstand in the back as its Surface Pro cousins, but the edges of the tablet are slightly rounded, giving it a softer look. Its aluminum body also comes in a matte black finish, setting it apart from the gunmetal gray and multicolored hues of other Surfaces. It’s just 0.28 of an inch thick and weighs 1.7 pounds (the same weight as the other new Surface device announced Wednesday, the Surface Pro 7; more on that below).

Microsoft is claiming this “pro” tablet running on Qualcomm’s ARM-based processor should be three times as powerful as the Surface Pro 6 and get about 13 hours of battery life on a single charge. The new processor has a dedicated AI engine that will, among other things, simulate a steady eye gaze during video conferences, even if you’re looking away from your screen. The tablet’s front-facing “studio” mics are also said to be improved from other Surface tablets.

The Pro X also supports a newly redesigned Surface Pen, one that feels less like a pen and more like a soft, flat-sided artist’s pencil. The Pen rests and charges in a tray on the detachable Typecover keyboard. And the Pro X supports LTE broadband, so it’s an always-connected computer.

Until we have the chance to use it, it’s hard to say exactly how well Windows 10 will run on this new device. But Panos Panay, the company’s chief product officer, said in an interview with WIRED that he believes Microsoft has learned a lot from its Surface RT experience. Back in 2012, the company was aiming to offer a diversity in silicon types but didn’t seem to understand that just running on a mobile architecture wasn’t enough. The software experience matters a great deal too.

“It’s not just that you learned; it’s not just that you failed. It’s did you take the learnings and apply them?” Panay says. “I think when you look at Pro X today—yup, you’re looking at an ARM- based architecture, a mobile chipset. But ultimately we transformed that part and made it a full PC architecture part. This product has never existed before.”

The Surface Pro X won’t be cheap: It will start at $1,000 for a configuration with 8 gigabytes of RAM and 128 GB of internal storage, rivaling the starting price of the Apple’s 12.9-inch iPad Pro. It start shipping the first week of November.

The Surface Pro X is part of a wide range of hardware announcements from Microsoft today. As Panay puts it, some of the products are “for people right now, and some are designed to get people where they’re going.” The former category is made up of new Surface tablets, laptops, and headphones, while the latter includes the dual-screened Surface Neo and Surface Duo, mobile devices that won’t ship until the 2020 holiday season.

The Surface Pro X is joined by the Surface Pro 7, the newest version of the two-in-one tablet. The Surface Pro 7 is largely unchanged from the previous Pro model, except for the addition of an Intel 10th-generation Ice Lake processor and a USB-C port, something last year’s Surface Pro 6 was lacking. It starts at $750, and like the other products it can be preordered today and ships in late October.

The Surface Laptop, Microsoft’s more traditional clamshell laptop, is getting some interesting updates. This is the third cycle of these machines, and in the early days they were considered Microsoft’s answer to the MacBook Air—thin and sleek and right around $1,000, with Alcantara fabric around the keyboard.

The newest version, the Surface Laptop 3, will ship with the option of an all-metal design, and there will be a 15-inch option in addition to the 13.5-inch Surface Laptop 3. The larger model can also be configured with custom AMD processors for better graphics performance. These start at $1,000 for a 13.5-inch laptop running on Intel’s Core i5 processor and $1,200 for the 15-inch version.

In a nod to sustainability—or possibly in response to iFixit’s 0/10 repairability score for the Surface Laptop 2—Microsoft is also making the Surface Laptop 3 easier to fix, though it’s saying this should be done by authorized technicians.

The screws on the bottom of the Surface laptop now come all the way through the chassis; as soon as you unscrew them, you can remove the top of the keyboard chassis and access the hard drive. The boards inside have also been rearranged to enable easier access for the replacement of parts. Robin Seiler, the general manager of Microsoft devices, says it takes a significant amount of engineering to design the laptop like this and not add any additional seams or screws, since typically, with repairability, you’d need to create additional access points.

And, following in the footsteps of Apple, Samsung, Amazon, Sony, Bose, and just about everyone else in the wearable audio market, Microsoft is introducing wirefree Surface Earbuds. These have been in the works for about three years, and Microsoft’s design team went through dozens of prototypes before landing on this round, flattened bud, which looks akin to wearing a quarter in your ear. Microsoft says they’ll support any digital assistant on your phone and will last up to eight hours (24 total if you include the juice from the charging case), but they’ll ship for a wince-inducing $249.―Wired

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