I replaced my laptop with Microsoft's 12-inch Surface Pro - here's my buying advice a week later - technology-news.space

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ZDNET’s key takeaways

The 12-inch Microsoft Surface Pro is available for preorder now starting at $799 for the Platinum color, and $899 for the new Violet and Ocean colors.
The 12-inch version is exceedingly thin and light with a fast-charging battery, and the refreshed form factor looks more premium.
The 256GB of storage is not enough for a device at this price point, and the cost adds up quickly, as the keyboard, mouse, and even the power adapter are sold separately.

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Microsoft’s 2025 12-inch Surface Pro–> is thinner, lighter, and a little more affordable, with a battery-efficient Snapdragon X Plus processor and refreshed design. The latest version of the Surface Pro rounds out the lineup with a more affordable option focused on ultra-long battery life, new colors, and redesigned accessories to show off Windows’ latest Copilot+ PC features.

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I recently replaced my laptop with the 12-inch Surface Pro for a week, and the Surface Pro seems to me to be more of an addition to the current lineup than a standalone upgrade, particularly in comparison to the enterprise models Microsoft released in January.

The 2025 Surface Pro has relatively modest hardware, with 16GB of RAM and 256GB or 512GB of UFS storage, instead targeting a more everyday consumer who makes use of on-device AI and appreciates the ultraportability.

Besides the smaller form factor, this year’s Surface Pro comes in two new colors: Violet and Ocean (a blueish gray). The default Platinum color starts at $799, whereas the other two will run you $899, bringing the starting price a little further away from that advertised low price (and we haven’t even bought the keyboard yet).

I must admit that the design on the 12-inch tablet looks better. It looks more like a premium tablet (and more like an iPad) with rounded corners, thin bezels, and the webcam moved to the back corner of the device.

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Additionally, I’m a fan of the new Violet and Ocean colorways, which aren’t what I’d call “bold”, but at least they’re not the same desaturated pastels we see everywhere else. The colors extend to the Surface Pro keyboards, which are updated by removing the alcantara fabric on the front of the keyboard for a cleaner, monochromatic matte look.

Instead, the fabric is relegated to the back of the keyboard case, which has a more premium tablet feel for storage and transport. The Surface keyboard is functional and satisfying to type on, with springy keys and a responsive, premium trackpad.

Microsoft Surface Pro 12-inch — Kyle Kucharski/ZDNET

Additionally, the tablet snaps to the keyboard a little tighter and closer to the tablet now, with no gap in the hinge, giving it a slightly smaller footprint on the desk.

The Surface Pen also magnetically snaps to the back of the 12-inch instead of storing on the keyboard. This requires you to store the device with the fabric facing down, as you don’t want to squish the pen. When throwing the Surface Pro in a bag, the Pen also tends to stay put but can come unattached if you’re not paying attention.

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Microsoft wants to show off its new AI-driven Copilot+ features, and the 12-inch Surface Pro is a good conduit for marketing them to the consumer, especially with its attractive price point and the 45 TOPS Qualcomm Hexagon NPU.

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For example, the long-awaited Recall feature is still in Preview mode, but it’s getting closer to a useful state. Other applications that leverage AI processes, particularly ones for creators like Capcut, Davinci Resolve, and DJay Pro should feel smooth and snappy. This makes it a very AI-ready device for everyday users who don’t need high-end hardware for demanding creative projects.

Running Windows on Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Plus chip shouldn’t be too much of a problem for most users in this category, as the areas that saw the most issues with compatibility, like gaming and connecting to legacy software, are more likely not to apply to the targeted user.

The 12-inch Surface Pro’s modest hardware positions itself as a competitive device in the family’s lineup. The aforementioned 16GB of RAM and max 512GB of storage, paired with the Snapdragon X Plus and 2196 x 1464 resolution (220 PPI) LCD display that targets everyday users, while its 13-inch siblings can be loaded up with more premium hardware.

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That being said, the Snapdragon X Plus processor is snappy and responsive, excelling at tasks that the average consumer cares about: fast startup and app load times, smooth multitasking, and solid battery performance, whether in laptop or tablet mode.

During my benchmarking of the 12-inch Surface Pro, I got numbers that place it around other thin and light laptops in the same price range, including Asus’ Zenbook A14, which also features the Snapdragon X Plus processor, and HP’s OmniBook X 14, one of the first Copilot+ PCs with the Snapdragon X Elite chip from 2024.

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	Cinebench 24 MC	Geekbench 6.2.2 SC	Geekbench 6.2.2 MC
12-inch Microsoft Surface Pro (Snapdragon X Plus)	418	2,252	9,555
Asus Zenbook A14 (Snapdragon X Plus)	541	2,133	10,624
HP Omnibook X (Snapdragon X Elite)	470	2,326	13,160

The display is sharp and crisp, but it does cap out at 400 nits of brightness and a 90Hz refresh rate. Since it’s a tablet, it’s also quite glossy. In the office, for example, I found myself readjusting the device’s angle numerous times throughout the day to account for glare from overhead lighting.

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Speaking of using the Surface Pro in the office, it works equally well as a laptop or a tablet, depending on what you need. Detached from the keyboard and armed with the Surface Pen, it becomes a snappy productivity tablet that allows for note taking, prototyping, and freeform idea generation in Windows’ Whiteboard app.

You can also assign different actions to the Pen, including starting apps or performing functions with the button on the device or the “clicky” on the end. I will say that the Pen’s performance can be variable, though. If you’re running multiple programs open in the background, you might notice lag while writing, especially if you’re moving quickly.

Similarly, the location of the front-facing HD camera means that it has a slightly downward-up orientation while connected to the keyboard, as the kickstand can only prop it up so high. Consider a clamshell laptop, for example, which can sit at a 90-degree angle or less.

In that sense, untethering the keyboard and using it as a tablet might be more optimal for users who make frequent video calls.

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Regarding battery life, the Snapdragon X Plus processor ensures that it drains at a mere trickle when the device is not in use, and is good enough for over a full day’s worth of work on one charge. Microsoft advertises 16 hours of battery life, and I got a little over 15 in our video playback test. Regarding more sustained use, I got over 10 hours on a single charge, which isn’t far off from the advertised 12 hours without using all the max battery efficiency settings.

Couple this with the fact that the Surface Pro charges extremely fast. From a completely dead battery, you’ll get to about 50% in 30 minutes, and around 80% in an hour. Of the Surface Pro family, the 12-inch is certainly the most battery efficient and the fastest to charge.