Whether we’ll see a Surface Pro 5 this year was made abundantly clear in May when Microsoft decided to throw us off guard with a brand-new successor to the Surface Pro 4 simply called Surface Pro.
On the other hand, the new Surface Pro has encountered its fair share of issues, including backlight bleeding that wasn’t previously experienced with the Surface Pro 4. It’s unclear how Microsoft plans on responding to these reports, but perhaps we’ll see a Surface Pro 5 sooner rather than later.
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Plus, given that the outward changes to this Surface Pro weren’t all that transformative, Redmond may be tempted to offer a more dramatic refresh worth naming the Surface Pro 5 in the coming months. In the meantime, the most we can do is speculate the unannounced tablet’s release date and features.
Cut to the chase
- What is it? The would-be fifth Surface Pro tablet
- When is it out? Maybe never, but the 2017 Surface Pro is out now
- What will it cost? Likely as much as – if not more than – the current model
Surface Pro 5 release date
Reports dating back to March 2016 led us to believe that the Surface Pro 5 would come out alongside the Windows 10 Creators Update, and that would have made complete sense if it had actually come to fruition. Instead, the Creators Update launched featuring a handful of new designer- and gamer-focused software features, but with no first-party hardware in sight.
Our next bet was that the Surface Pro 5 would be shown off at the #MicrosoftEDU event in New York City. However, that was more of a shot in the dark; there were no rumors leading into that event that suggested we would see anything more than a stripped-down version of Windows 10 and a more conventional Surface Laptop.
Sadly, there’s little chance we’ll see a Surface Pro 5 make its rounds this autumn, when the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update is expected to land. The new Surface Pro just touched down in June, with Microsoft’s stylus-centric Whiteboard app having been leaked and set for a release later this year to give Surface devices one last major feature before closing out the year.
Surface Pro 5 price
Historically, Surface pricing scarcely fluctuates with each new variation. At the Shanghai event on May 23, the Surface Pro was revealed to come with a $799 price in the US, £799 in the UK (that’s around AU$1,380) price tag for the entry-level model.
If the Surface Pro 5 is indeed the Surface Pro, then we now know for sure what the price will be. If the Surface Pro 5 is actually a more powerful version of the Surface Pro, then it would be safe to expect a higher price tag.
That said, while it wouldn’t be ideal for Microsoft’s loyal following if the company deviated too far from the norm, ambitious upgrades may necessitate that it does. For the price of the next Surface Pro to differ from its predecessors, it would have to offer some serious advantages over its last-gen sibling – not just a run-of-the-mill spec boost.
Regardless, the ball is in Microsoft's court here, and if pricier new additives are implemented into the baseline model, it's not unprecedented for PC makers to issue a price hike (see: the latest MacBook Pro).
Surface Pro 5 specs
In terms of specs, what little we know is based on tweets from Microsoft informant Paul Thurrott whose sources have told him that the Surface Pro 5 will indeed use an Intel 7th-generation Kaby Lake processor.
More likely, though, is that he was confusing the Surface Pro 5 for the new Surface Pro considering it, too, uses Kaby Lake. So if you need a device to replace your now-unsupported Atom-based 2-in-1 from years past, you can take solace in the fact that at least one of these will remain an option.
As it stands (and as Thurrott had also predicted), the Surface Connect proprietary charger is here to stay, meaning the latest Surface Pro – and presumably the Surface Pro 5 – don’t use USB Type-C for charging or data transfers.
Surface Pro 5 design
Ahead of its announcement, a leak published by VentureBeat showed off a number of press renders that claimed to be of the Surface Pro 4’s successor. As it turns out, that was only half true. These designs ended up representing the Surface Pro rather than a true Surface Pro 5.
Those who were hoping for an intense overhaul of the Surface Pro 4’s appearance will certainly be in for a rude awakening. Yet, for those of us who adore the SP4’s current look and only care about performance refinements, this will do just fine.
Surface Pro 5 stylus and Dial
One piece of the puzzle regarding every new Surface is how Microsoft will upgrade its Surface Pen stylus accessory that comes bundled with each tablet. The most recent Surface Pro iteration may have been treated to a helping of 4,096 pressure sensitivity levels, but back in January 2016, we were led to believe that a rechargeable stylus was in the works in Redmond.
Another interesting patent filed by Microsoft describes a renewed Surface Pen loop, designed to latch the Surface Pen onto your Surface devices via a USB connection. Not only would it hold the Surface Pen into position when needed, but it would simultaneously charge the accessory for prolonged continuous use.
Of course, Microsoft also has the Surface Dial in its clasp. The designer-focused puck-like accessory was briefly mentioned in a slideshow presentation in December, with ZDNet having picked up the slides itself for use in a news story. The company claims that peripherals such as the Dial, wearables, headsets and more are factors essential to what is perceived as the “modern PC.”
Also mentioned was the incorporation of “hero features” such as Cortana and Windows Hello, and although a fingerprint scanner didn’t make it into the new Surface Pro itself, there is an optional Type Cover that includes this functionality. With that in mind, we can surmise that if or when a Surface Pro 5 is announced, it will also support fingerprint recognition.
What we want to see
As much as we've been impressed by the Surface Pro 4 and its follow-up – hibernation bugs aside – there will always be room for improvement. (That would be the case even if it had earned our Editor's Choice award.) From the screen size and resolution to the hardware found inside, we have a few ideas for how Microsoft could craft an even better Windows 10 tablet.
Longer battery life
This is a bit of low-hanging fruit, but countless customers have lamented the Surface Pro 4's battery life, regardless of issues with its "Sleep" mode. We rated the device for five hours and 15 minutes of local video playback.
That's well below Microsoft's promise of nine hours of video playback, a benchmark that even the 2017 Surface Pro couldn’t achieve in our review (our test resulted in 6 hours and 58 minutes of video playback). Our video playback figure is in line with the average laptop, though it's a far cry from what its nemesis, the MacBook, can achieve.
Ideally, and realistically, we'd like to see at least seven hours of battery life reliably from the next Surface Pro tablet. That would put it closer in line with the MacBooks as well as competing tablets, like the iPad Pro. Surely, you’ll need as many milliampere hours in the Surface Pro 5’s lithium-ion battery as you can get.
An upgradeable battery fixture wouldn’t be unwelcome either. With environmental organizations like Greenpeace condemning Microsoft’s Surface devices for their lack of repairability, a removable battery would be a solid start towards eco- and consumer-friendliness.
An even sharper (and/or bigger) screen
With the Surface Pro 4 and the subsequent Surface Pro, Microsoft managed to outrank countless rivals in both the laptop and tablet spaces when it comes to screen resolution. With a razor-sharp 267 ppi (pixels per inch) already at 2,736 x 1,824 pixels within a 12.3-inch screen, it's not as if the Surface Pro 5 needs to be much sharper.
However, if the next Surface Pro were equipped with, say, a 4K (3,840 pixels wide at the very least) screen, that would rip its productivity and entertainment capabilities wide open. Film and photo editors could work at the native resolution that's increasingly becoming the norm, while average Joe's (teehee) could finally watch Netflix in 4K on a tablet.
That said, the realm of super sharp resolutions might be reserved for the Surface Book range at this point. So, why not up its size a bit?
The Surface Pro 4 is big enough for almost all tasks, but it's still not the established default size for most laptops: 13.3 inches. Then again, doing so may cannibalize Microsoft's market by negating the need for its Surface Book.
On the other hand, maybe the iPad Pro is onto something with its 12.9-inch display. After all, we’re not asking for a gargantuan, monster-sized tablet – just a slight size boost. Assuming the resolution doesn't bump up too much alongside a size increase, the extra space could allow for a battery life boost.
It might finally be time for USB-C
With the latest MacBook Pro and HP Spectre among the most famous devices to adopt the latest in USB interfaces, USB Type-C (or simply USB-C) is an overdue feature for the Surface Pro.
A reversible, versatile port (or two?) may be just what the Surface Pro 5 needs to mitigate the product line's lacking input/output problem. A single USB 3.0 port and a proprietary charging port aren't going to cut it for much longer, and with the help of a specialized set of adapters, USB-C is infinitely more utilitarian.
At the same time, Microsoft may want to include a standard USB 3.0 port, too, in order to natively meet the system requirements for its own Windows 10 VR headsets. If the company wants to lead the pack in the business of affordable virtual reality solutions, it's a no-brainer to make the Surface Pro 5 compatible.
There’s no telling if or when we’ll see a true Surface Pro 5. Perhaps it serves Microsoft’s customers just as well to release slightly better hardware biennially than to perform a complete face-lift on the Surface Pro even less frequently. Nevertheless, we’re sure to see some sort of new Surface product alongside the Windows 10 Fall Creators Update later this year.
Gabe Carey has also contributed to this article
Author: Joe Osborne,Matt Hanson
Published at: Mon, 24 Jul 2017 14:43:00 +0000
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