Windows_Advisor_Issue_1_July_2017

WINDOWS ADVISOR
discounted from £749 to £636 at fave.co/2rkruqb. The
new Surface Pros are available to purchase from
fave.co/2swwDMH now.
Perhaps the biggest change is semantic: Microsoft
has decided to call the Surface Pro a ‘laptop’ rather than
a 2-in-1. The firm isn’t abandoning the idea of a ‘tablet
that can replace your laptop’, but it believes that users
now buy Surfaces as laptops, doing everything on them
that they’d do on traditional notebooks.
The Surface Pro (2017) gives Microsoft three families,
including the high-performance Surface Book with the
Performance Base and the more balanced Surface
Laptop. What’s not clear is where Microsoft is going with
this ‘laptop’ rebranding. The Surface Pro’s form factor
has always had ‘lapability’ issues, and changing the
name isn’t going to make that go away. The Surface Pro
4 is aging rapidly, however, and we’re glad to see this
refresh, even if it’s mostly internal.
How the Surface Pro stacks up
Microsoft Stores will offer ‘custom device fittings’
to help people find the Surface that’s best for them.
Set next to each other, the Surface Pro 4 and the
£799 Surface Pro are virtually indistinguishable,
especially when matched up with the Surface Pro 4’s
Signature Type Cover. Both boast 12.3in PixelSense
displays, but the new Surface Pro (2017) adds a
better keyboard, reclines to a Surface Studio-like
165 degrees, and takes advantage of a new, more
sensitive optional Surface Pen.
You’ll have the choice of either a more traditional
Type Cover keyboard (£124 from fave.co/2rkoB8V) or
NEWS
JULY 2017 WINDOWS ADVISOR 9