Though it launched way back in 2019, the Surface Pro 7 remains the most recent main entry in Microsoft’s line of hit detachable 2-in-1s. To ease the wait for a new full-blown release, and to serve a different audience, the Surface masters updated the device with the Surface Pro 7+ for Business (starts at $899.99; $1,499.99 as tested). This version includes updated components (chiefly, newer 11th Generation Intel processors) and some professional-focused features like a removable SSD and an LTE option. While it is technically a Windows tablet, its performance and functionality make its real competition 13-inch convertible laptops. It’s no full overhaul of the Pro 7, but it adds some versatility and pep to the step of the best detachable Windows tablet around, making it easy to recommend to business users and frequent travelers who need the form factor.
The Design: No Re-Surfacing Work Here
Since this is mainly a component and feature update, the Surface Pro 7+ is identical to the original Pro 7 in terms of size and design. Going back even further, this device hasn’t changed much over the last few iterations, and given it’s been one of our favorite 2-in-1s, that’s fine. The metal build feels high quality, and it looks the part, too: Our model is the silver version, which conjures MacBook luxury, but it also comes in all black.
The measurements and vitals ring up at 0.33 by 11.5 by 7.9 inches and 1.7 pounds, an extremely portable system for a full Windows 10 machine. It’s not the slimmest in existence, but there’s a balance for allowing superior components and thermals by going a bit thicker than pure tablets. The top and side edges include an indentation for ventilation.
Then, of course, there’s the convertibility factor, which hinges on the kickstand. This is the Surface’s calling card that blazed the way for other 2-in-1 Windows machines, allowing you to prop the tablet into laptop mode. Of course, it’s really only usable as a laptop with the keyboard. The keyboard, alas, is still sold separately, and it is not cheap. The Type Cover is $129.99, and the fabric Signature Type Cover is $159.99.
The 2-in-1 concept doesn’t really come alive without the keyboard, which makes the fact that it’s sold separately a bummer. I suppose now that the Surface line has been around so long some loyal users may have an existing keyboard to use and don’t need to be forced into buying one, but bundling the cost would go a long way for a lot of shoppers. You can read much more about the kickstand, keyboard, and the system’s lap-ability in the original Surface Pro 7 review, since nothing has changed here.
It’s in the display’s surroundings where the Pro 7 design looks a bit dated. The bezels are thick black borders, which not only look less modern than the nearly bezel-less displays we see on many new ultraportables, but allow for less screen real estate in the same body size. Hopefully a future Surface Pro 8 boasts attractive super-thin bezels for a larger screen within the same size (or smaller) body.
The screen itself is still super high quality, though. It measures 12.3 inches diagonally, in the 3:2 aspect ratio all Surface computers use. The “PixelSense” resolution is 2,736 by 1,824 pixels, higher than full HD and very sharp in practice. It’s important that the screen is sharp and the touch panel is precise, especially for using the optional Surface Pen in tablet mode, and that is the case for this device. The device also includes a sharp 1080p webcam, increasingly crucial these days, which offers above-average video quality.
Pro Features, Improved Performance
With all of those similarities to the original Surface Pro 7, what exactly does the Pro 7+ bring to the table that is new? It’s all about the components and certain “invisible” professional features. The latter is what makes this possible for Microsoft to push as a business-focused Surface Pro, so we’ll start there.
One of the potentially most crucial additions is optional LTE, for wireless coverage when you’re away from Wi-Fi. While this, perhaps, has lost some value in this time of vastly reduced business travel, and increased working from home, it’s still an appealing option. This is not the first time a Surface Pro has included cellular coverage (we reviewed a model that specifically added this, the Surface Pro With LTE Advanced), but it still brings that functionality to the Pro 7. A SIM card slot rests underneath the kickstand, and you will, of course, have to pay for a wireless plan for service. The system uses the Qualcomm Snapdragon X20 LTE modem.
Another key addition is a removable SSD. This is a boon for end users who want to upgrade it themselves, or IT departments that need to service or swap drives. If you’re tight on storage or the drive goes bad, you won’t have to replace the whole system. The drive is accessible via a small door under the kickstand, just below the SIM slot.
The Pro 7+ doesn’t use a standard 2.5-inch SSD, nor a stick-of-gum-sized 80mm or 60mm M.2 SSD, but rather the small, square M.2 Type-2230 (30mm). That’s important to keep in mind—you can’t just use your extra desktop M.2 SSDs as your stockpile for swaps. You’ll have to keep this specific type on hand (or order them as needed), and the 30mm form factor limits your capacity choices. You can also encrypt the drive with Microsoft BitLocker, and the system includes TPM 2.0 for enterprise security.
Given that the Pro 7 launched in 2019, its components (namely, the processor) aren’t fully up to date. That’s obviously not super long ago, but in the fast-moving world of PC parts, it’s long enough for there to be a newer generation of parts. The original Pro 7 unit we reviewed included an Intel Core i5-1035G4 processor, 8GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD for $1,358.99 (at the time of that review).
That processor was decent enough, but being a generation behind doesn’t do it any favors in 2021. The Pro 7+ starts at $899.99 and our review unit, priced at $1,499.99, comes with a Core i5-1135G7 processor, 16GB of memory, and a 256GB SSD. Exactly how much faster the processor is will be shown in the performance section below, though it will be helped by double the memory in this particular configuration.
Performance Testing: The Pro 7+ is Ready to Work
To see just how much these new parts improved the Pro 7’s performance, we put the machine through our suite of benchmark tests and compared it to some competition. There truly haven’t been many new detachable tablet contenders since the Pro 7’s release (the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 Detachable looks promising, but we haven’t yet run a full review), so these competitors are similarly sized and/or priced convertible 2-in-1 laptops. You can see their names and specs in the table below…
Productivity, Storage, and Media Tests
PCMark 10 and 8 are holistic performance suites developed by the PC benchmark specialists at UL (formerly Futuremark). The PCMark 10 test we run simulates different real-world productivity and content creation workflows. We use it to assess overall system performance for office-centric tasks such as word processing, spreadsheet jockeying, web browsing, and videoconferencing. PCMark 8, meanwhile, has a storage subtest that we use to assess the speed of the system’s boot drive. Both tests yield a proprietary numeric score; higher numbers are better.
For an all-purpose system for everyday tasks and work, PCMark 10 is an important result. Crucially, you can see that the Pro 7+ doesn’t run behind the competition by much, and is a marked improvement over the Pro 7. The 16GB of memory is certainly helping, but even then it’s a good sign it’s hanging with full-on laptops (which also use 16GB of memory and 11th Generation processors). If you have a truly heavy business workload, you may want to go for something more powerful. More than the others, the Surface Pro is pushing it for truly demanding workloads like huge data sets and spreadsheets, and you’d be better off with a more potent business laptop. As for PCMark 8, its SSD is no slower than the competition, ensuring speedy boot and load times.
Next is Maxon’s CPU-crunching Cinebench R15 test, which is fully threaded to make use of all available processor cores and threads. Cinebench stresses the CPU rather than the GPU to render a complex image. The result is a proprietary score indicating a PC’s suitability for processor-intensive workloads.
Cinebench is often a good predictor of our Handbrake video-editing trial, another tough, threaded workout that’s highly CPU-dependent and scales well with cores and threads. In it, we put a stopwatch on test systems as they transcode a standard 12-minute clip of 4K video (the open-source Blender demo movie Tears of Steel) to a 1080p MP4 file. It’s a timed test, and lower results are better.
We also run a custom Adobe Photoshop image editing benchmark. Using an early 2018 release of the Creative Cloud version of Photoshop, we apply a series of 10 complex filters and effects to a standard JPEG test image. We time each operation and add up the total. As with Handbrake, lower times are better here.
The good news is that, on average, the trend from PCMark 10 continues in these results. The Handbrake and Photoshop times do drag behind the laptops, but not by a huge amount, and it surprisingly posted the best Cinebench result. This machine, even more than the competitors here, is certainly not a product for media pros who need to do a lot of editing, but it’s at least in the ballpark of the rest.
There’s often an assumption you’re leaving a lot of performance on the table by going with the detachable tablet compared to a laptop, and while it is a bit less potent than the others here, that’s much less true than it is in the past. Given the size and versatility of the design, I’m leaning toward being more impressed with the results, in comparison, than I am critical of it not keeping up with the others.
Graphics Tests
3DMark measures relative graphics muscle by rendering sequences of highly detailed, gaming-style 3D graphics that emphasize particles and lighting. We run two different 3DMark subtests, Sky Diver and Fire Strike, which are suited to different types of systems. Both are DirectX 11 benchmarks, but Sky Diver is more suited to midrange PCs, while Fire Strike is more demanding and made for high-end PCs to strut their stuff. The results are proprietary scores.
Next up is another synthetic graphics test or gaming simulation, this time from Unigine Corp. Like 3DMark, the Superposition test renders and pans through a detailed 3D scene and measures how the system copes. In this case, it’s rendered in the eponymous Unigine engine, offering a different 3D workload scenario for a second opinion on each laptop’s graphical prowess.
To keep it simple, the 3D results are basically a wash. None of these machines, with their integrated graphics, boasts much 3D power to speak of for professional use, though the Surface Pro 7+ stayed the course with the other Iris Xe-equipped machines. If you need to animate, model, or do any other hardware-accelerated 3D task, go for a laptop with a discrete GPU. For low-end gaming, the Pro 7+ can pull off modest frame rates at lower settings and a lower resolution, but it will not be hitting 30fps in any moderately demanding game.
Battery Rundown Test
After fully recharging the laptop, we set up the machine in power-save mode (as opposed to balanced or high-performance mode) where available and make a few other battery-conserving tweaks in preparation for our unplugged video rundown test. (We also turn Wi-Fi off, putting the laptop in airplane mode.) In this test, we loop a video—a locally stored 720p file of the same Tears of Steel short we use in our Handbrake test—with screen brightness set at 50 percent and volume at 100 percent until the system quits.
Finally, the battery life is a positive for the Pro 7+, lasting nearly 15 hours. In part due to processor power improvements, that time is up from the original Pro 7, and right in range with the others. The Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano has an edge on the others, but they all qualify for all-day battery life, which is good news for a device meant to be taken on the road. You may be traveling less than “normal” at the moment, but for the trips you do take (and will in the future) and for sitting on your couch untethered, the Pro 7+ will last a long time.
A Buttoned-Up Surface Pro
The Surface Pro 7+ for Business lives up to its name. Simply put, it’s enhanced over the base version, and it does indeed add a few useful features for professionals. LTE is a nice option for road warriors and business travelers (especially if your employer will pay for your plan), a removable SSD is a boon to users and IT departments, and the updated components breathe new life into the device’s performance.
The Surface line always brings a bit of a price premium along with it, so it’s not the most budget-friendly option, but you do get what you pay for in design and build quality. This isn’t the next big thing in Surface Pro design. (We’ll see what happens when the Pro 8, or whatever the successor is called, comes along.) But it is a solid iteration on what’s still the best detachable 2-in-1 around, one we can easily recommend to entrepreneurs and IT buyers alike shopping for a new business-friendly convertible.
