Surface Refresh: Microsoft Puts Arm Power into Pro and Laptop Lines
Microsoft has refreshed its Arm-powered PC lineup with new internal upgrades for two of its most portable devices. The company announced that both the Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch will now feature Qualcomm's Snapdragon X2 Plus processor.
The upgrade brings notable performance and efficiency gains, including up to 17% faster performance in Office productivity workloads, 18% greater battery efficiency, over 60% faster graphics capabilities, and up to 95% faster on-device AI inferencing through the updated NPU.
The Surface Pro 12-inch features a kickstand, a 12-inch PixelSense LCD touchscreen with a 2196x1464 resolution and 90Hz refresh rate that is now 25% brighter. It also includes Microsoft Ink Canvas, an AI-powered pen-first application for sketching and annotating.
The Surface Laptop 13-inch, on the other hand, retains its lightweight aluminum body and full-size backlit keyboard but features a 500-nit brightness boost that is 25% brighter compared to last-gen. It can squeeze out up to 22.5 hours of battery life, according to Microsoft.