November 25, 2019
With Black Friday fast approaching, big companies like Amazon, Best Buy, Walmart and Target are all price dropping to get you to buy this season. Microsoft will offer several Black Friday deals starting at 12AM ET on Thanksgiving Day, through November 28th. Prices will drop on the Microsoft Surface Pro 7, along with Samsung Galaxy phone deals and Xbox accessory discounts you won’t want to miss out on.
Earlier this year Microsoft unveiled a new lineup of laptops and tablets for its Surface line of Windows computers and accessories. The announcements included the Surface Pro 7, the company's latest version of the popular line of two-in-one tablets; the Surface Duo and Neo, the Surface Laptop 3, the Surface Pro X, and the Surface Earbuds, a pair of true wireless earbuds that integrate with the company's Office 365 software.
Surface Pro X:
The Surface Pro X is a thinner take on the Surface Pro. From afar, the Surface Pro X is a noticeably slimmer device at 7.3mm thick compared to the Surface Pro's 8.38mm. The display is thinner at 2880×1920 resolution with larger 13-inch panel screen. There are two USB-C ports, a Nano SIM slot, and a Surface Connect charging port on the sides of the device. The Surface X does not have USB-A ports or a 3.5mm headphone jack, but does allow for removable SSD storage via a detachable plate at the bottom of the tablet.
Microsoft ARM processor based notebook, the Pro X offers up to 13 hours of power per charge with up to 80% battery back in about an hour of recharging. There's also built-in LTE-A Pro connectivity for connecting to the Internet on the go via a Snapdragon X24 LTE modem.
The Surface Pro X is available on November 5. The Pro X will start at $999.99;Type Cover keyboard; $139.99;Surface Slim Pen, $144.99. Microsoft sells an accessories bundle for $269.99. The tablet will only come with the SQ1 chip and has options for 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM and either 128GB, 256GB, or 512GB of SSD.
Surface Pro X Signature Keyboard:
The detachable “Type Cover” keyboard has been slightly modified as well. It now has a built-in slot to hold and automatically recharge a new Surface Slim Pen stylus. When you remove the Pen, Microsoft says Windows will immediately bring up a menu that suggests tasks you might do with the device. The Slim Pen itself has a flatter feel than its predecessors, and Microsoft says it has better latency and responsiveness to tilting.
Microsoft has been nudging Windows on ARM along for a good while now, but the Surface Pro X is its most forceful push yet. The company says the new processor with Qualcomm, and the SQ1 itself is a customized version of the Snapdragon 8cx chip that has made its way into other ARM-powered laptops as of late. It's a 7nm, 7-watt, eight-core processor with a 3GHz Kryo CPU and 2.1 teraflops of GPU performance. Microsoft is pushing it as the fastest chip to date in this class of Windows-on-Snapdragon devices and says the Pro X is three times more performant per watt than the Surface Pro 6.
Surface Pro 7: New USB-C port Feature
The Surface Pro 7, finally has USB-C port to allow you to connect whatever USB-C accessories you own however there is only one outlet. The Pro 7 still has a Surface Connect charging port besides one USB-A port, a microSD card reader, and a headphone jack. Microsoft decided to get rid of the Mini DisplayPort on the new design.
The Surface Pro 7 features Intel's 10th-gen Ice Lake processor,with a dual-core, Core i3-1005G1 processor. There is an option to upgrade to a quad-core, Core i5-1035G4 or a quad-core, Core i7-1065G7. There's also Bluetooth 5 and Wi-Fi 6 support. The tablet comes in black or silver, with Type Cover keyboards available in red, gray, or light blue.
The Pro 7's design, weight, and dimensions are pretty much the same as the Surface Pro 6 with a 12.3-inch 2736×1824 resolution display. The Surface Pen attaches magnetically to the side of the tablet and has an average battery life of 10.5 hours.
The Surface Pro 7 (Intel Core i5, 8GB RAM, 128GB storage) will be bundled with a black Type Cover (usually sold separately) and sold for $799 starting on Friday, November 22nd. A great deal since the Type Cover is a necessity. This model starts at $899 for the tablet alone.
Surface Laptop 3: Aluminum and AMD power
The Surface Laptop 3, upgrades should be a bit more robust for creatives which include; a 15-inch notebook model and Microsoft has partnered with AMD only for the Surface 3 model's CPU and GPU. You'll get a "Microsoft Surface Edition" Ryzen 5 (3580U) or Ryzen 7 (3780U), with Surface Edition Vega 9 or RX Vega 11 graphics. These come with an extra core on the GPU compared to their standard mobile Ryzen counterparts, though they're still 12nm, 15-watt processors using AMD's Zen+ architecture, not the anticipated 7nm Zen 2.
The 13.5-inch model is getting upgraded to Intel's 10th-gen Ice Lake chips, though, with options for a quad-core, Core i5 1035-G7 or a quad-core, Core i7-1065G7. It also gets Wi-Fi 6 support, whereas the 15-inch model supports up to Wi-Fi 5 (or 802.11ac).
Available now in five different colors with prices starting at $999. All colors and finishes of the new Surface Laptop 3 will be discounted by $300.
Surface Earbuds: Office integration and long battery life
Microsoft launched “The Surface Earbuds,” wireless earphones. Don't expect a pair of Surface Earbuds under the Christmas tree this year: Microsoft announced that the earbuds won't launch before spring 2020.
The Surface Earbuds are reported to be on the large side. Microsoft has integrated the device with Microsoft's Office 365 software suite. There are two microphones built into each earbud. These are earbuds, not earphones, so they're designed to rest just outside the ear canal instead of being inserted within it. That means they'll let in outside noise more readily, which is usually preferable for those who want to stay aware of their surroundings, but it means louder environments will make it harder to hear your music. Microsoft claims the Surface Earbuds will give you 8 hours of battery life on a single charge. The company has also added a charging case that will add 24 hours of battery life in total. The Surface Earbuds will retail for $250 and available 2020.
Comments