Microsoft’s new Surface Pro is smaller, lighter, and more stylus-friendly

Microsoft has just introduced a new Surface Pro tablet. Touted to be the thinnest and lightest Copilot+ PC on the market. The tablet is merely 7.8 mm across, compared to the 9.3mm thickness of its larger sibling. It is also noticeably lighter and tips the scales at just 1.5 pounds, roughly 27% lighter than the 13-inch trim. 

This one shrinks the screen size to 12 inches, down from the 13-inch panel on the current-gen Surface Pro that is already on the shelves. The new Windows 2-in-1 tablet starts at $799 and will go on sale starting May 20. 

What’s different?

The 12-inch Surface Pro comes in peppy colors such as Platinum, Ocean, and Violet. The fundamental design language of a Surface slate is here to stay, offering a metallic kickstand and two USB-C ports.

Microsoft, however, has reimagined the stylus attachment system. So far, the Surface-branded stylus has charged in its own cavity within the detachable keyboard. On the 12-inch Surface Pro, there’s a dedicated spot on the rear shell for magnetically attaching the Surface Slim Pen stylus. 

While sticking with the metallic shell, the stylus also draws power, a strategy that we have already seen on Apple and Samsung tablets. The rear camera has been shifted from a center-aligned position along the top edge to a corner placement. 

If you look closely, you’ll notice that the fan vents are gone and the tablet now looks like a monolithic metal slab. I am not sure how this is going to bode for heat management, so we’ll have to wait until we get our hands on a review kit. 

Another major shift is the keyboard’s design. The keyboard now sits flat on the surface for a quieter typing experience, folds back completely against the rear shell, and now offers a smooth-matte palm rest. 

Microsoft says the keyboard also comes with a customizable precision touchpad with adaptive touch mode. It will be offered in colors matching the tablet itself, and as usual, it will be a separate purchase. 

What’s inside? 

Aside from a smaller screen, Microsoft has made a change that will raise a few eyebrows. The 12-inch Pixel Sense panel is an LCD type, while the 13-inch version is fitted with a superior OLED display, if you are picking the higher-end variant. 

The refresh rate has also been dropped from 120Hz to 90Hz, which is not bad, but worth a mention. It’s still the familiar 3:2 Surface tablet panel with 10-point multi-touch input and an acceptable 2196 x 1464 pixels resolution. 

Under the hood, you will find Qualcomm’s mid-tier Snapdragon X Plus silicon in its 8-core avatar. Thankfully, the baseline RAM capacity is set to 16GB, while storage options include 256GB and 512GB.

Microsoft is promising 16 hours of battery life on the Surface Pro 12-inch. In the imaging department, there’s a full-HD selfie camera and a 10-megapixel world-facing camera at the back.