But an entire day of use would require a top-up in the middle. That’s an hour or two better than the original Surface Pro, and more than adequate for an afternoon working at Starbucks or an evening on the couch. We’re still doing formal testing, but my experiences juggling lots of browser tabs and a few modern apps on the Surface Pro 2 yielded about 6 hours of battery life-basically the same as PCWorld Labs’ benchmarked result of six hours and nine minutes. (Check out our review of Windows 8.1 for more details on what’s new.)Īs for the hardware, the Surface Pro 2 benefits in the battery department from Intel’s fourth-generation “Haswell” processor, though not quite as much as we’d hoped. Microsoft has also made improvements to its own built-in apps in Windows 8.1, and the modern version of Internet Explorer 11 has helpful new features, such as the ability to open unlimited tabs across multiple windows. Since that launch, Microsoft has also secured some key apps for its tablet-friendly modern interface, including Facebook and Twitter, with Flipboard on the way. The Asus Transformer Book T100T, which uses an Atom processor, was barely half as fast as the Surface Pro 2. The Surface Pro 2 was also about 16 percent faster than the new Sony Tap 11, which carries a slower Haswell-class processor. Compared with the original Surface Pro (128GB), the Surface Pro 2 (64GB) was about 9 percent faster in WorldBench 8.1. PCWorld benchmarked a 64GB version of the Surface Pro 2 with 4GB of RAM. Where’s the Surface-ready Bluetooth Xbox controller, Microsoft? As a side benefit-or perhaps a main draw-the integrated graphics on the 256GB, 8GB RAM model do an admirable job on fairly recent PC games, at least at 720p resolution. The Surface Pro 2’s Intel Core i5-4200U processor is what you’d typically find in an Ultrabook, and it doesn’t flinch under heavy loads.
Why so bulky and pricey? Because Microsoft wanted to make a tablet that handles robust productivity tasks, such as video editing and image processing. Image: Michael Homnick The angled, trapezoidal profile of the Surface Pro 2 helps it stand out among tablet competitors. Now, however, you can bump up to 256GB for $1300 or 512GB for $1800, both versions with 8GB of RAM. Pricing is similar to that of the original, too, at $900 with 64GB of storage and 4GB of RAM, and $1000 for 128GB of storage. The included active digitizer stylus has the same mechanical-pencil vibe as the original, and allows for pressure-sensitive drawing while resting your hand on the screen. You’ll find a full-size USB port and a headphone jack on one side, and a MicroSD card slot and a Mini DisplayPort output on the other. The tablet alone weighs 2 pounds and measures 0.53 inch thick, and boasts a 10.6-inch, 1920-by-1080 display.
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