To the delight of productivity nuts – and the chagrin of Apple and its iPad Pro – Microsoft has announced a new workhorse hybrid. Enter, the Surface Pro 4.
Microsoft’s new tablet-cum-laptop was officially unveiled following months of rumours, outed on stage at the company’s big product launch event today.
The device is the first hybrid designed by Microsoft with Windows 10 in mind and, as such, is also the first to tout the new OS at launch.
The new Surface Pro has a 12.3-inch PixelSense display – up from 12-inches – with 5 million pixels and a 267ppi pixel density.
In terms of performance,
“The MacBook Air is a great, great product, but let’s just compare it to give you a sense,” explained Panos Panay, Surface and Lumia VP, announcing the product.
Panay also revealed that the Surface Pro 4 is 30% faster than last year’s Surface Pro 3.
Customers can spec out their device up to a maximum of 1TB of storage and 16GB of RAM.
It’s more svelte than the last version at 8.4mm. Microsoft also says the Surface Pro 4 has the thinnest Type C cover yet.
A new addition to the series is a fingerprint sensor, which should boost security on the platform.
The trackpad is 40% larger this time around, and offers 5-point multi-touch. The keyboard, meanwhile, is backlit.
The device also ships with an 8-megapixel camera for video calling, or just taking selfies.
There’s also a new magnetically-stored Surface Pen, which has a one-year battery life, 1024 levels of pressure, and an eraser on the back.
There are five colours of Surface Pen on offer, and Microsoft has confirmed that there will be interchangable pen tips to suit varying use-cases.
Related: Windows 10 features guide
Before today, the latest Surface device was the Microsoft Surface 3, which landed back on May 5, 2015.
However, the Surface Pro 4’s is technically the successor to the Surface Pro 3, which first released in June last year.
Do you think the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 can take on the iPad Pro and Google’s Pixel C? Let us know in the comments.
Check out our Microsoft Surface Pro 3 video review below:
Related: Microsoft Surface Pro 4 review
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Editorial independence
Editorial independence means being able to give an unbiased verdict about a product or company, with the avoidance of conflicts of interest. To ensure this is possible, every member of the editorial staff follows a clear code of conduct.
Professional conduct
We also expect our journalists to follow clear ethical standards in their work. Our staff members must strive for honesty and accuracy in everything they do. We follow the IPSO Editors’ code of practice to underpin these standards.
