Guide

Which Microsoft Surface is best for what

19.11.2020

Translation: machine translated

What started with a Windows tablet has become a successful extended family. There are currently six different tablets and notebooks - and three other devices - to choose from. After taking a look at the family album, you'll know which Surface is suitable for what.

Microsoft has grown up with software and has also established itself as a hardware manufacturer in recent years. In 2012, the first Surface appeared as a Windows tablet with a plug-in keyboard. Since then, the Surface family has grown. The tablets have been improved almost every year and notebooks and other Family members have been added over time.

Surface Pro and Go: Tablets with and without keyboard

The technical features of the Surface convertibles have improved over the years and there have been small changes to the design. However, the basic principle has always remained the same. A tablet on which Windows can be operated via touchscreen - with your fingers or the Surface Pen - and which has a fold-out stand. This makes it flexible, so you can set it up anywhere and watch films on it, for example. But the Surfaces are also well equipped for surfing the Internet and typical office tasks. Microsoft offers different variants with different hardware and memory sizes.

The Surface tablets are suitable devices if a notebook is not flexible enough for you and you want to switch back and forth between using it as a tablet or notebook. That's why they are also known as 2-in devices or convertibles. The virtual keyboard on the touchscreen is not suitable for long texts, but with a plug-in keyboard, the tablet transforms into a notebook. However, the overall construction is not as stable as a real notebook - for example, if you want to place it on your lap. When folded, the keyboard protects the touchscreen from scratches during transport.

Guide
These are the differences between the Surface Pro 7 and Surface Pro X
by Jan Johannsen

There are currently three different Surface tablets: the Surface Pro 7, the Surface Pro X and the Surface Go 2. The Go version has a smaller display and is therefore lighter and even more comfortable to carry around. Although there are also external differences between the Pro 7 and Pro X, their inner values are more important. Put simply, the Pro 7 contains classic notebook hardware and the Pro X smartphone hardware. Among other things, this means that the Pro X has a better battery life, but not all programmes run smoothly on it despite Windows. You therefore need to check whether important software is running on the Pro X if you want to benefit from its increased mobility. This applies to Adobe products and above all to niche applications and less to everyday things such as browsers, mail or word processing programmes. At the moment, no 64-bit x86 applications run on the Pro X. However, the corresponding emulation should follow soon via an update.

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Go 2

10.50", 128 GB, 8 GB, Intel Core M3-8100Y

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

12.30", 256 GB, 8 GB, Without keyboard layout, Intel Core i5-1035G4

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Pro X

13", 256 GB, 16 GB, Without keyboard layout, Microsoft SQ2

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Go 2

10.50", 128 GB, 8 GB, Intel Core M3-8100Y

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

12.30", 256 GB, 8 GB, Without keyboard layout, Intel Core i5-1035G4

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Pro X

13", 256 GB, 16 GB, Without keyboard layout, Microsoft SQ2

Notebooks: Small, large and for sharing

The first laptop in the Surface family followed in 2015: the Surface Book. Microsoft has now moved on to the Surface Book 3 and the basic principle has remained unchanged. What looks like a laptop at first glance turns out to be a tablet with a plug-in keyboard on closer inspection. However, the connection between them is so stable that you can use it like a classic laptop and, for example, place it on your lap without any problems. A graphics card and an additional battery are located in or under the keyboard. Compared to the Surface tablet, the Surface Book has more computing power and tends to have a longer battery life.

The Surface Laptop, on the other hand, is a classic laptop, also with a touchscreen but above all with a fixed keyboard. Slightly lighter and more delicate than the Surface Book and only with an integrated graphics chip. So in terms of performance, it's on a par with the Surface tablets. As with the Book 3, you can also choose between a 13 or 15-inch display for the current Surface Laptop 3 as well as various equipment variants that differ in terms of chipset, RAM and storage capacity.

Product test
Surface Laptop Go: Microsoft's smallest notebook tested to date
by Martin Jud

The latest addition is the Surface Laptop Go. As with the tablets, the suffix "Go" also indicates that this is a small version. Small means that the 12.4-inch touchscreen is similar in size to the Surface Pro 7. However, you have to do without some things on the entry-level notebook, such as the Windows Hello camera for logging in via facial recognition or a backlit keyboard, which have now become standard features on other devices.

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Book 3

13.50", 256 GB, 16 GB, DE, Intel Core i7-1065G7

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3

13.50", 256 GB, 8 GB, DE, Intel Core i5-1035G7

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go

12.40", 128 GB, 8 GB, DE, Intel Core i5-1035G1

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Book 3

13.50", 256 GB, 16 GB, DE, Intel Core i7-1065G7

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop 3

13.50", 256 GB, 8 GB, DE, Intel Core i5-1035G7

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Laptop Go

12.40", 128 GB, 8 GB, DE, Intel Core i5-1035G1

All-in-one PC, headphones and smartphones

The remaining members of the Surface family are quickly introduced. Surface Studio is an all-in-one PC with a 28-inch touchscreen that you can lay very flat on the table to create and edit graphics or 3D models on it with the Surface Pen, for example.

The Surface Headphones 2 are headphones with active noise cancellation and the Surface Earbuds are True Wireless headphones that sit directly in your ear without cables as buttons.

Headphones

Microsoft Surface Headphones 2

ANC, 20 h, Cable

Headphones

Microsoft Surface Earbuds

7 h, Wireless

The Surface Duo is Microsoft's attempt to bring a smartphone back to the masses. The foldable device with two touchscreens and Android is unfortunately only available in the USA so far.

News + Trends
Microsoft Surface Duo: specs for the upcoming flip phone leaked
by Dominik Bärlocher

1 person likes this article.

Jan Johannsen

Senior Editor

Jan.Johannsen@galaxus.de

When I was but a young student, I'd sit in my friend's living room with all my classmates and play on his SuperNES. Since then I've had the opportunity to test out all the newest technology for you. I've done reviews at Curved, Computer Bild and Netzwelt, and have now arrived at Galaxus.de.

Guide

Practical solutions for everyday problems with technology, household hacks and much more.

Show all