Microsoft refreshes its smaller Surface Pro and Laptop with Qualcomm’s X2 Plus

Microsoft is refreshing its Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch devices with Qualcomm’s latest Snapdragon X2 Plus chips. The smaller Surface devices retain the same design and hardware features from last year, with faster and more capable chips inside and higher price tags (thanks RAMageddon!).

While the 12-inch Surface Pro started at $799.99 last year, it’s debuting on October 13th at a starting price of $1,149.99. Likewise, the 13-inch Surface Laptop was originally priced at $899.99, but it’s up to $1,199.99 this time around. There’s no base 8GB model this time, causing some of the price increase, as both devices launch with a minimum of 16GB of RAM and can be configured up to 24GB.

Pricing aside, Microsoft is promising that the six-core Snapdragon X2 Plus chips will deliver up to 18 percent more efficient battery performance, more than 60 percent faster graphics performance, and up to 95 percent faster local AI inferencing on the built-in NPU.

That’s a lot of percentages, but what it equates to on these devices is better battery life and improved performance. On the Surface Pro 12-inch Second Edition, as Microsoft calls it, that means an extra hour of web browsing (up to 13 hours in total), and on the Surface Laptop 13-inch Second Edition it’s two extra hours of web browsing usage (up to 18 hours in total).

Microsoft is using similar displays on these models as last year, so the Surface Pro 12-inch has a 2196 x 1464 (220 PPI) LCD display that runs at up to 90Hz. The Surface Laptop 13-inch still ships with a 1920 x 1280 (178 PPI) display that only runs at 60Hz. Both displays have been upgraded from 400 nits of brightness to 500 nits, though.

Port selection remains the same, too. Both devices include two USB-C 3.2 ports, and the Surface Laptop 13-inch also has a USB-A 3.2 port and a 3.5mm headphone jack. Both also support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4 connectivity.

I’m surprised that Microsoft hasn’t upgraded at least one of these smaller Surface devices with a haptic trackpad, particularly because Windows 11 now adds subtle haptic nudges, and the Surface Laptop Ultra ships with haptic feedback. Microsoft is launching a second edition of its Surface Mouse with integrated haptics, and you can read all about that here.

Microsoft is also bringing back the black color option for both of these smaller Surface devices, with platinum silver or violet colors available too. Both devices will also be sold to commercial customers, and the Surface Pro 12-inch will be available in an optional 5G configuration.