The Surface Pro lineup has a new member: meet the smaller Surface Pro with a 12-inch display, the company's "thinnest and lightest Copilot+ PC" yet, announced alongside the new Surface Laptop 13-inch. The new model sticks to the classic Surface Pro formula, working as a tablet with a kickstand and a laptop with a detachable keyboard. It debuts alongside the more affordable 13-inch Surface Laptop, confirming earlier reports about Microsoft preparing a more compact Surface Pro.
Microsoft's goal here is to give customers a more affordable and more portable device than the standard Surface Pro 11. The 12-inch Surface Pro costs $799 for the base configuration, and for this money, you get a Windows tablet with a fanless 8-core Snapdragon X Plus processor, 16GB of memory, and 256GB of UFS storage (not SSD). There is also a more expensive 512GB configuration.
Microsoft has also cut some corners on the screen side. The PixelSense LCD display is 12 inches diagonal and has a resolution of 2,196 x 1,464 (220 PPI). The refresh rate is 90Hz with 60Hz set as default.
Like all the other Copilot+ PCs, the new Surface Pro supports Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. It also has Qualcomm's 45 TOPS NPU, which enables all the AI experiences, such as Recall, Click To Do, image generation, and more (they are now publicly available).
Ports include two USB 3.2 Type-C for charging, data transfer, and display output. Microsoft says the tablet can drive two 4K monitors at 60Hz, plus it is compatible with the Surface Thunderbolt 4 Dock and other accessories. The Surface Connect is no longer present as Microsoft is moving fully to USB-C.
The battery is rated for up to 16 hours of local video playback or 12 hours of active web usage. The 12-inch Surface Pro charges at up to 45W, but the unfortunate thing is that the charger is not included. Microsoft recently ditched the charger in the Surface Pro 11 for the European market, and it is now doing it worldwide.
As for accessories, the Surface Pro supports the Surface Slim Pen 2 and other styluses that utilize Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP). You can charge the Slim Pen 2 on the back of the tablet. As for the keyboard, the Surface Pro 12-inch keyboard ditched its charging dock but retained the backlight. It is good to see Microsoft keeping this feature, which was a major complaint in other budget-friendly Surface devices like the Surface Laptop Go. Also, the keyboard now folds back completely flat for better ergonomics.
The 12-inch Surface Pro is now available for preorder for $799. Shipments begin May 20. On July 22, the tablet will also be available for business customers, featuring Windows 11 Pro, an anti-reflective display, and an NFC reader. If you are interested in seeing how the Surface Pro 12-inch compares to the Surface Pro 11 spec-by-spec, check out our fresh Specs Appeal article.
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