There is finally competition for Apple in a space where for a long time there have been no good alternatives
TAlthough I have gone to great lengths to adapt my workflow to my iPad Pro, I still find myself picking up my laptop whenever I have to work on more complicated code-related tasks. And that’s why Microsoft’s new Surface Pro X should worry the competition: while taking the device for testing in the past two weeks, I finally felt that I no longer needed to carry two devices, whatever something the Surface Pro X has managed to accomplish. iPad Pro never did.
The Pro X promises true battery life all day long and offers LTE as a lightweight tablet, which is still rare in laptops. It is light and easy to transport, but can still handle serious professional applications.
The device is smoother than its Surface predecessors. It is covered with black anodized aluminum, with rounded edges and considerably thinner screen bezels. There’s no USB-A port or even a headphone jack – just two USB-C ports and the Magnetic Surface charging port. The real stroke of genius is the new Signature keyboard, which hides a new flat surface pen inside rather than letting it hang awkwardly from the edge, where it can easily fall into your backpack. I love taking handwritten notes, and having the pen hidden in the keyboard makes it easier to track and therefore use more often.
During my homework for the past two weeks due to Covid-19, I used the Pro X pen to quickly sketch ideas with colleagues using Microsoft Whiteboard, an excellent connected ink application available in clicking the eraser button on the stylus.
A larger but hidden processor from previous Surface devices is Microsoft’s processor of the Pro X. Called SQ1, it’s based on ARM technology – the same technology that powers your phone and tablets like the iPad – rather than Intel processors that still power most laptops.
ARM processors, in general, offer better battery life than Intel processors and offer a more modern instant experience, like the one you are used to with your phone. Most laptops have not switched to ARM processors because the developers have already designed their applications to be compatible with Intel processors.
Although a number of applications work natively on ARM at this point, many do not. Microsoft is closing this gap with the ability to run certain applications designed for Intel processors using emulation, a technology that mimics the functioning of an application on a supported system.
All of this makes determining whether the Surface Pro X will work well for you a little complicated. You’ll need to determine which apps will work and won’t work on the device and, more importantly, which apps will run natively on ARM. For the most part, the apps you see on the Windows Store will work fine on the Pro X. Downloading apps from the Internet is a bit more confusing, as it’s unclear whether they will actually work until what you were trying to launch them.
Emulation means you can run applications like the full version of Photoshop, they run slower than on a traditional machine. If you live there all day, you won’t get the best battery compared to running native apps. But if you just need to step in to quickly edit a photo from time to time, emulation can work quite well.
I was surprised to learn that, for the most part, none of the compatibility issues really interested me in the real world, because Microsoft has an application that kills in its sleeve: the new Microsoft Edge, based on the same technology browser than Chrome.
The new Edge works natively on the Surface Pro X, which means it’s super eye-catching and user-friendly. This too means you have access to an unrestricted browser that can do real work, unlike Safari on the iPad, which is a watered-down version of the desktop browser engine.
At work, I live in browser-based tools like Figma, Slack, Google Meet, Superhuman and Google Docs, and they all work well on the Pro X. Edge lets you turn them into “applications” that run in outside the browser, providing a more native feel and a dedicated place to launch them.
What surprised me even more was that I was able to get my entire coding configuration to work on the Pro X, a feat that is almost impossible on an iPad. The new Microsoft Windows subsystem environment for Linux works without limitation on the Pro X, allowing developers to access a full Linux terminal, making it a great coding device for web developers.
The only confusing catch here is that even though Microsoft has the most popular development tool, Visual Studio Code, it has not yet released a native ARM version (although the open source community provides its own which works well) .
To top it off, the Surface Pro X can be plugged directly into your large 4K USB-C display to extend the desktop, as you would expect. To start, my external mouse and keyboard just work. While I can do the same with my iPad, it simply clones the display on the big screen, rather than expanding it, making it useless for long runs on a desk.
That it all works is mind-boggling for an ultra-light device. In the end, I decided to switch to using the Surface Pro X as my main computer, moving from my desk to meetings on the streetcar and so on without skipping a beat.
The battery apparently lasts forever. On a typical work day, I used the Pro X from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. without charging it, leaving a solid 20% in the tank despite the hours spent on video calls and coding in between. He always feels quick and responsive, he’s never got bogged down, and he doesn’t have fans that run loud when he’s working hard.
While the lack of native ARM applications is a concern, I am optimistic that new measures will arrive if Microsoft persists. The company adds support to its own development tools that allow existing developers to easily recompile their applications for ARM in 2020. Notably, Electron, the framework powering popular applications like Slack, just received support for ARM devices, which makes support as simple as checking a few boxes.
If you are someone who wants to get around the vagaries of a leap into the future, the Pro X is the best hybrid tablet available on the market, and it will only get better. But you should be aware of these limitations: it’s not for everyone, and at $ 1,800, these restrictions can be frustrating if, for example, you rely on a full application like Adobe Photoshop.
Meanwhile, Microsoft has done a good job of getting the right benchmark: if you live in the cloud, the Surface Pro X is already an exciting device.
The Surface Pro X excites me for the future and the tablet market for the first time in years. Finally there is competition for Apple in a space where for a long time there were no good alternatives.