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Five Microsoft Surface Products Announced
 
Microsoft launched a new Surface Pro 8, Surface Pro X, Surface Go 3, Surface Duo 2 and the new Surface Laptop Studio, which replaces the Surface Book with a new design that mimics the desktop version.

• Some of those are bigger than others. The Surface Pro X just added a WiFi-only model for $100 less than the $1000 RRP and mentioned better Windows 11 support for its Arm-based processor.
• And the Surface Go 3 can be talked about in just a few words: the smallest tablet in the range is getting newer Intel processors, keeping it relevant. Starts at $400. 

Surface Duo 2:

• The Surface Duo 2 has both a Snapdragon 888 and 5G, but the biggest and most important change is the camera. The main sensor is 12MP f/1.7, the secondary one is a 16MP f/2.2 ultra-wide lens, and the third camera is a 12MP f/2.4 2x zoom lens, but it comes with a sizable camera bump,

 

• The Surface Duo 2 includes a curved display around the hinge to add a useful-looking display for notifications and info. 
• The main dual 5.8-inch displays are now 90Hz, there’s a triple camera system that supports 5G via the Qualcomm Snapdragon 888. There’s more RAM, too, at 8GB, and NFC.
• It’s $100 more expensive than the original at $1,500.
• Microsoft didn’t say much about software which was a travesty on the Duo. 
• The Duo 2 will run Android 11 at launch but that’s about all I heard. Expect Microsoft to be challenged on this front.

Surface Pro 8:

• Microsoft’s brightest star, and biggest upgrade since 2014, after a few years of incremental updates. The bezels were reduced, and the display is a new 13-inch 120Hz with a  3:2 aspect ratio, it has Thunderbolt 4 support, and latest 11th-generation Intel processors.
• It also has a nicer new keyboard with stiffer carbon fiber, a new Slim Pen 2 that still has a home in the keyboard but now offers subtle haptics, and has taken some of the nicer design features of the Pro X.
• Battery life, with the 120Hz display, and how it handles a normal workday for people with a million tabs and Teams or Slack and so on, will be interesting.
• It now starts at $1,100, though that price should be ignored given that the completely essential Type Cover keyboard and trackpad remain an accessory at $280. And the Intel Core i7, 16GB RAM, and 256GB of storage is $1,600. So, nearly $1,880 for a useful device, not $1,100.

Surface Laptop Studio:

• This is Microsoft’s most powerful device with Intel 11th-gen processors and at the top end, can pack Nvidia’s RTX 3050 Ti GPU, with a rich 14.4-inch display.
• It borrows from the Surface Studio all-in-one, with a hinge in the middle to bring the screen closer for touch, drawing, or inking.
• The display hinge is the big thing. The previous Surface Book had this sort of thick, awkward-looking hinge that was functional for a 2-in-1.
• The tablet is no longer detachable, instead the touchscreen folds back or forth or lays flat