{"id":341695,"date":"2017-05-23T20:15:49","date_gmt":"2017-05-23T12:15:49","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/techcrunch.com\/?p=1494094"},"modified":"2017-05-23T20:15:49","modified_gmt":"2017-05-23T12:15:49","slug":"weeks-after-launching-the-surface-laptop-microsoft-announces-its-new-surface-pro-laptop-replacement","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/people.utm.my\/asmawisham\/weeks-after-launching-the-surface-laptop-microsoft-announces-its-new-surface-pro-laptop-replacement\/","title":{"rendered":"Weeks after launching the Surface Laptop, Microsoft announces its new Surface Pro laptop replacement"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>\n

Microsoft says it didn\u2019t mean to do a \u201chead fake\u201d when it told the press that this week\u2019s big event in Shanghai wouldn\u2019t center around the launch of the Surface Pro 5<\/a>. Sure, the company was telling the truth, but that\u2019s really a technicality, because the new Surface Pro (full stop) is really the Surface Pro 5. It\u2019s the clear successor to 2015\u2019s Pro 4; the company just dropped the name, it claims, for the sake of simplicity.<\/p>\n

The new version of the device has some key spec bumps. There\u2019s an impressive 13.5 hours of battery life, a new silent fanless option, improvement to the pen and faster processing. Really though, the convertible looks almost identical to its predecessor, to the point where you\u2019d have to see two side by side to note that the new version is thinner and lighter.<\/p>\n

As for why there\u2019s no Surface 5, as the company slyly noted ahead of launch? That has to do, in part, with the fact that the Surface family has grown a fair bit over the last couple of years, including the notable recent additions of the all-in-one Surface Studio, the interactive white board Surface Hub and the Surface Laptop<\/a>, which launched a couple of weeks back as part of the company\u2019s big education unveiling.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cA big part for us is just getting to a simplicity of approach in terms of how we talk about our products and not make it hard for our customers to remember all of these products,\u201d the company\u2019s Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, Devices and Services told TechCrunch during a recent interview. \u201cWe want customers to walk into a store and know what the options are. And that\u2019s just a simple way to do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

It will complicate things before it simplifies them of course, but testing the water is what the Surface line has been about since the beginning. It wasn\u2019t all that long ago that much of the press was writing off the Surface line as little more than a proof of concept for the company \u2014 a way to demonstrate to consumers and manufacturers alike what could be accomplished with Windows 10.<\/p>\n

When pressed, the company will admit that that sort of real-world beta testing was definitely a part of what brought the line to life in the first place. \u201cWe\u2019ve always done surface for three reasons,\u201d says Mehdi. \u201cWe\u2019ve done it to pioneer and show the best of Microsoft to individuals \u2014 hardware, software and apps. The second reason is to expand the category. And the last is to run a great business in its own right.\u201d<\/p>\n

For that reason, the line has come into its own in a very public way. It wasn\u2019t until around the Surface 3 that the Pro made the leap from a speced-out tablet to a real potential laptop replacement, Mehdi explains, referring to conversation he\u2019d had with Panos Panay, the goateed CVP who has grown into the face of the Surface line, courtesy of some very\u2026 impassioned deliveries at Microsoft keynotes. However you might feel about the guy, there\u2019s little room for argument that he feels far more passionately about thing like hinges and keyboard covers than the vast majority of the public \u2014 and frankly, that\u2019s exactly the sort of humanizing the company has often lacked in its front-facing product pitches.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

It\u2019s hard to say precisely what role the company anticipated the Pro would have in the larger Surface line. Microsoft gives off the impression that the company saw it coming since the beginning, but it\u2019s hard to shake the feeling that it was somewhat surprised by the momentum the Surface built after a slow start. In earlier days, the Surface was more akin to Apple iPad Pro \u2014 a capable tablet that can do some heavy lifting\u2026 but at the end of the day, still a tablet.<\/p>\n

The Pro 3 was apparently the point when the proverbial Pinocchio became a real boy, and Microsoft began to feel fully confident that the Pro was a legit laptop replacement.<\/p>\n

\u201cGoing back to the Surface 3, we talked about the device as the tablet that can replace your laptop,\u201d says Mehdi. \u201cWe weren\u2019t sure if we were ready to position it as a laptop, but now, with the new features, combined with the fact that consumer demand has evolved to look at these 2-in-1s a laptop replacements, we\u2019re really squarely going into that marketplace.\u201d<\/p>\n

The jump from Pro 5 to straight-up Surface Pro feels mostly like a minor evolution. But the company is positioning it as much more. \u201cI believe this is a significant release,\u201d says Mehdi. \u201cIt will change the way people use their Surface Pro.\u201d<\/p>\n

That talk is likely due in part to the two years between devices and the fact that the company feels the device is doing more to cement the product\u2019s needs as the aforementioned laptop replacement. And in all fairness, the market wasn\u2019t really ready to consider the 2-in-1 category as a legit replacement for a laptop when the first Surface rolled into town. So it\u2019s no surprise, really that the Surface wasn\u2019t ready to deliver.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Certainly the specs are there now. And the keyboard is a step toward that. Though the company is going to eat directly into some of that market share with its own recently launched Surface Laptop. As it stands, the Pro line serves those who want a little bit of everything the Surface line has to offer (while not delivering on the full promise of its more targeted siblings).<\/p>\n

For those who want to type, there\u2019s the keyboard cover. For those who want to create, there\u2019s Dial and pen capabilities and a case that will rotate into a horizontal position, so you can draw on the canvas the way you did with the Surface Studio. With a starting price of $799 (a price that, weirdly, doesn\u2019t include the pen), it\u2019s also $200 less than the Surface Laptop, which helps lend legitimacy to the notion that it\u2019s the most mainstream of the company\u2019s Surface offerings.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\"\" Microsoft says it didn’t mean to do a “head fake” when it told the press that this week’s big event in Shanghai wouldn’t center around the launch of the Surface Pro 5. Sure, the company was telling the truth, but that’s really a technicality, because the new Surface Pro (full stop) is really the Surface Pro 5. Read More<\/a><\/p>\n

\n<\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a> <\/img><\/a>\n<\/div>\n

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