Microsoft Officially Unveils The Surface Pro With LTE
by Brett Howse on October 31, 2017 6:00 AM EST
Earlier this year, Microsoft announced the next generation of their popular Surface Pro, and at the launch event, a new LTE model was also announced, but without a release date. That release date is now a bit more firm, with the company announcing that Surface Pro with LTE Advanced will be available to business customers beginning in December 2017.
The new model will feature a Cat 9 modem, which would be capable of up to 450 Mbps, and it will support 20 cellular bands for “global connectivity” over LTE. This isn’t the first Surface device to utilize LTE, but previously it was only the non-Pro models with the option. They only had Cat 6 modems, so the Surface Pro with LTE offers a 50% higher peak throughput for wireless data. While not as blisteringly fast as the latest smartphone modems, the Surface Pro with LTE does match the 2017 iPad Pro modems. Microsoft is utilizing a Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 modem for the task, and they are using up the free space where the fan goes on the Core i7 model to locate it, so the Core i7 model will not be capable of being equipped with LTE.
We got a chance to test out the latest Kaby Lake powered Surface Pro back in June, and for a full rundown on the changes, please check out our review.
| Microsoft Surface Pro | |||||
| Processor | Intel Core m3-7Y30 (2C/4T, 1.0-2.6GHz, 4MB L3, 14nm, 4.5w) Intel Core i5-7300U (2C/4T, 2.6-3.5GHz, 3MB L3, 14nm, 15w) Intel Core i7-7660U (2C/4T, 2.5-4.0GHz, 4MB L3, 14nm, 15w) |
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| Memory | 4 GB, 8 GB, 16 GB Dual-Channel | ||||
| Graphics | Intel Core m3-7Y30 Intel HD 615 (24 EUs, 300-900 MHz) Intel Core i5-7300U Intel HD Graphics 620 (24 EUs, 300-1100 MHz) Intel Core i7-7660U Intel Iris Plus Graphics 640 (48 EUs, 64 MB eDRAM, 300-1100 MHz) |
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| Display | 12.3" 2736x1824 3:2 PixelSense LG Display, Touch and Pen support 100% sRGB color + enhanced color, individually calibrated panels |
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| Storage | 128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB PCIe NVMe PM971 | ||||
| Networking | 802.11ac, 2x2:2, 866Mpbs Max, 2.4 and 5GHz Bluetooth 4.1 Marvell AVASTAR Optional LTE-A Cellular Modem, Cat 9, 20 bands |
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| Audio | Stereo Speakers (front facing) Dolby Audio Premium |
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| Battery | 45 Wh, 45 W AC Adapter with USB charging port | ||||
| Right Side | USB 3.0 Mini DisplayPort 1.2 Surface Connect Port (charging and docking) |
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| Left Side | Headset Jack | ||||
| Power Button Volume Rocker |
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| Keyboard Connector | |||||
| Dimensions | 292 x 201 x 8.5 mm (11.5 x 7.9 x 0.33 inches) | ||||
| Weight | Core m3: 766 grams (1.69 lbs) Core i5/i7: 786 grams (1.73 lbs) |
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| Cameras | Rear: 8.0 MP auto-focus Front: 5.0 MP auto-focus and Windows Hello support |
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| Extras | Surface Pen and Dial (sold separately) Surface Dock - 2 x mDP 1.2, 4 x USB 3.0, 1 x Gigabit (sold separately) micro SD card slot TPM 2.0 |
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| Pricing | 128 GB Intel Core m3 with 4GB of RAM: $799 128 GB Intel Core i5 with 4GB of RAM: $999 256 GB Intel Core i5 with 8GB of RAM: $1299 256 GB Intel Core i7 with 8GB of RAM: $1599 512 GB Intel Core i7 with 16GB of RAM: $2199 1 TB Intel Core i7 with 16GB of RAM: $2699 |
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For those that have been waiting for the LTE model, the wait is almost over. Microsoft hasn’t announced pricing or availability yet, other than it will be shipping to business customers in December 2017. Expect a small price hike over the non LTE models to accommodate the modem and antennae costs. Hopefully we’ll see it available for order soon on the Microsoft Store, where they should have all of the particulars.
Source: Microsoft at Future Decoded in London
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ImSpartacus - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
I read the title too fast and thought this was about a surface phone, lol.IGTrading - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
When is the AMD Mobile Ryzen coming ?We honestly hope that there will be an AMD Raven Ridge coming soon, if Microsoft doesn't want to look like a company using outdated, lower performing Intel technology, a company that doesn't care about its customers.
It is ridiculous to have to be limited to Dual Core Intel CPUs with low quality Intel Graphics when AMD's Ryzen Mobile offers Quad Cores and extremely high performing Radeon Graphics.
MrSpadge - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
There's been an article about Ryzen mobile just a few days ago. Performance is probably going to be at least "very nice", but until we get reviews it's not clear what they can really do in a 15 W envelope.Dr. Swag - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
The surface was announced before raven ridge. They weren't going to refresh the CPUs for this. Chill out.Also, you don't seem to realize Intel now also has 8th gen quad core CPUs, and I wouldn't be surprised if by the beginning of 2018 they out iris plus graphics in them too.
Lolimaster - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
Still their pathtic joke of iGPU vs 640SP Vega core, not even an Iris Pro can save face vs that.BrokenCrayons - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
I don't think Iris Pro is really a factor in the Surface Pro. Based on the limited availability of Iris Pro-equipped CPUs, its hard to get your hands on a mobile device that has Intel's highest performing iGPU, but I think that's partly a symptom of low demand across the industry. Few consumers and businesses care about GPU performance. The segment of the market that does care usually purchases something with a dGPU, but based on the fact that AMD was able to sell previous APUs, I think there's certainly an argument favoring the idea that there's unmet demand.In the end, we ought to wait around for reviews and benchmarks of Raven Ridge before jumping to conclusions about its suitability in various mobile form factors. I'm hopeful we'll see good results, but I worry about the Vega-based iGPU hitting a memory bandwidth bottleneck because of the shared system RAM and the latency introduced by reaching into a non-dedicated memory pool imposing additional penalties. Past iGPUs have the same problem and Raven Ridge doesn't appear do anything new to address those limitations.
Ratman6161 - Monday, November 6, 2017 - link
For my purposes I don't give a crap about the graphics. Something like an i5 8250U quad core would be pretty darn good.WorldWithoutMadness - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
WP platform is dead, stop hoping. They even sold Lumia Camera IP back to new nokia, lol.Can't post link as proof cause it's considered as spam, so google it yourself.
Samus - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
Sucks the cheapest model with 512GB SSD is $2200 :/Speedfriend - Tuesday, October 31, 2017 - link
Why does Microsft not make an m3 version with 8Gb? 4Gb is just too limiting and I don't need the i5 256 version