The Surface Pro X is Microsoft's latest laptop-tablet hybrid.
I was able to play with the Surface Pro X for a little bit. I didn’t use it enough to even write a first impressions review, but the first thing I noticed was its cutting edge design when compared to the Surface Pro 7′s outdated one. I noticed the Surface Pro X looked very thin — almost like a 12.9-inch iPad Pro. This looks like the most impressive device that Microsoft has come up with in several years.
I was very impressed with the thin bezels — something that’s been lacking on the last few Surface Pro models. The thin bezels make viewing video clips and movies more special, as if the video is somewhat floating in the air. It’s 2019, not 2015. Microsoft realized this when designing the new Surface Pro X, but not the Surface Pro 7.
The Surface Pro X is impressively thin.
The optional keyboard on the Surface Pro X is slightly thinner and the keys don’t seem to have as much travel. But it still feels solid. And it has a slot for the new Surface Slim Pen (also optional), which is noticeably better than the regular Surface Pen. It’s smaller, has a flat side, and a built in battery. Using it on the Surface Pro X feels more fluid than using the Apple Pencil on the iPad Pro. It felt like I was really writing on paper.
The Surface Slim Pen may be even better than the Apple Pencil.
But here’s the main issue with the Pro X: It runs Microsoft’s SQ1 processor, a custom made version of a mobile ARM processor. Keep in mind that there has never been an ARM-based Windows device that performs very well. ARM Windows devices are good for email on the go, web surfing, and word processing tasks. Will this new processor allow users to edit photos or even videos with satisfactory results? We’ll find out soon enough.
In any case, the processor is the only thing questionable about this device, which starts at $999 for a version with 8GB of RAM and a 128GB SSD. Everything about the Surface Pro X is eloquent, even its high contrast 2880 x 1920 pixel resolution screen. It will be available on November 5, and one can predict that the device will sell very well for the holiday season — even better than the new boring Surface Pro 7
