Microsoft's new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop cost $500 and $600 more than their predecessors

Thanks, AI!

Microsoft

There are three things you need to know about Microsoft's latest generation of Surface devices: They look the same as before; they're powered by Qualcomm's new X2 chips; and most importantly, they're significantly more expensive than before. The new 13-inch Surface Pro starts at $1,499 (a $500 increase) while the updated Surface Pro 13.8-inch is a whopping $600 more expensive at $1,599. But I suppose Microsoft only has itself to blame, as its investments in AI are the biggest reason RAM and storage prices have skyrocketed lately.

And before you ask, no, the Surface Pro still doesn't come with the Surface Pro Keyboard — at least, not officially. Microsoft is throwing early adopters a bone by offering the keyboard free if you purchase a Surface Pro from Microsoft.com before June 30, but after that, it'll cost you an additional $170 (or $400 for the wireless Flex Keyboard). I've asked Microsoft about this boneheaded decision with every Surface generation, and the answer remains the same: It wants to give customers the gift of "choice" when purchasing a Surface Pro. Because of course there's someone out there who wants a 13-inch Windows tablet without a keyboard.

So what do those higher prices get you? Microsoft claims Snapdragon X2 gives its new devices 53 percent faster graphics than before, as well as up to 15.5 hours of battery life on the Surface Pro and up to 20 hours on the Surface Laptop 13.8-inch. The 15-inch Surface Laptop gets up to 19 hours of battery life, and it also has a slightly sharper 262 ppi display, compared to 201 ppi previously. OLED is still an option for the Surface Pro, if you want the best screen tech around.

Microsoft is also bringing over one of the more intriguing features from its new Surface Pro and Laptop for business: subtle haptic feedback. Both the touchpad on the new Surface Laptop, as well as the Slim Pen on the Surface Pro, can give you slight vibrations when interacting with Windows 11, be it when snapping apps to designated spots or scrubbing through video.

"The confidence that you get by feeling that haptics feedback when you get your cursor to the right spot, it is subtle and yet it is powerful from a confidence and a trust perspective," Brett Ostrum, CVP of Surface, said in an interview with Engadget. "I feel like it's a great example of Surface quality and craft and experiences coming together, much like the camera experiences."

Ostrum also notes that this haptic feature is available to all OEMs — Surface is just playing a role to "lead the ecosystem," as it did with touchscreens and hybrid tablet designs. There's no word yet if other companies are jumping on subtle haptics, but it sure would be nice to see (especially when I still encounter supposedly premium Windows notebooks with crummy trackpads).

Both the new Surface Pro and Laptop still bear the branding of Microsoft's Copilot+ initiative — which established a minimum spec requirement of 16GB of RAM, 256GB of storage and a 40 TOPS NPU. But thankfully, company isn't trying to sell users on any major AI features, like the contentious Microsoft Recall that headlined the Copilot+ launch.

Instead, Ostrum says the company is highlighting other, more useful NPU-powered AI features, like improved semantic search in Windows. "It is just a feature that is useful and better when that NPU is present," he said.

For all of the progress Microsoft has made with these new Surface devices, though, their higher starting prices will make them a tough sell for many. But really, that's true of most new laptops these days. If you're looking for a deal, you're better off looking for a used or refurbished last-gen Surface, which will still be pretty fast and offer decent battery life. And if you want to get serious with large AI models and development, you're probably better off with the more powerful Surface Laptop Ultra, which will arrive later this year (likely at a very high price).