The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 tablet is a fully featured Windows 10 device that has the core specs of an ultrabook, the touch performance of the best tablets and the portability and connectivity of a phablet. It has 3 RAM options up to 16GB, storage up to a terabyte and a Touch Cover that is easily comparable with any current top of the line laptop.
However, this particular reviewer is now rather tired of hearing that finally, the Surface Pro [insert any generation] is the tablet to replace your laptop. The reason for this fatigue is that this reviewer has, since the first generation of Surface Pro, used a Pro as a primary computing device for work.
“The Surface Pro 4 is better in measurable ways than the Pro 3, boasts new features that are of immediate usefulness and benefits from the latest generation of processors. The Surface Pro is still the best — and benchmark — full capability tablet on the market”
When the claims were made initially for the Surface Pro line, that they could replace your laptop, I was sceptical. Not being a road warrior as such, but rather the kind of user who when he does travel, needs full capability in a highly portable package, the prospect of a tablet that could do it all, and still function as an e-reader on a plane, a personal movie device in a hotel and the end of the couch internet thingie on the weekends, was attractive indeed.
Family line
After a few teething issues, the original Surface Pro proved not only worthy, but exceptional. It was not perfect by any means, but it did what it said it could — always an endearing quality. Then the Pro 2 came out and did it better. Then the Pro 3 came out and gave the goalposts a first class ticket to somewhere even better. Now, the Pro 4 is here as the first Windows 10 native and yea, it is a good thing. But it is not the tablet to replace your laptop, it is the latest generation of a series of devices which can and will do just that.
And so, down to brass tacks. The SPro4 line run on sixth generation Intel ‘Skylake’ processors, in Core m, i5 and i7 varieties, with options for 4, 8 or 16GB of RAM, and 128, 256, 512GB or 1TB of PCIe3.0 solid state storage. Graphics are via Intel HD Graphics with the Core m getting the 515, i5 getting the 520 and the i7 getting the 540.
This represents a greater mix of options than before, with the implication being the Pro4 can now replace a broader range of laptops than ever before. The test model is a Core i5 6300U with 8GB of RAM, 256GB of storage running Windows 10 Pro 64-bit — just about in the middle of the range.
The first thing that strikes one about the 4 is its similarity to the 3. Major dimensions are much the same, though the 4 is thinner at 8.4mm, and lighter at 786g for the i5 and i7 variants. However, one of the most distinguishing features of the 4 over the 3, and indeed over any comparable device, is the screen. The bezel is reduced on the 4, with Windows button removed which has allowed a 312mm (12.3”) screen to be shoehorned in. The screen uses a better layering technology that also has an effect on the touch performance and is why the 4 can be thinner while packing more in. The screen boasts a resolution of 2736 x 1824, for a pixel density of 267ppi with a contrast ratio of 1300:1, all while being a 10-point touch interface.
This delivers truly stupendous colour reproduction, while the likes of HD, and beyond, video does the opposite of leap off the screen. On the contrary, it delivers a depth to the images that nearly leaves the viewer off balance, prompting a nose/screen interface.
Touch star
The screen’s touch capabilities are multiplied by an all new pen. The new pen features a top button that brings up OneNote (touch version) with a click. It now has a huge increase in sensitivity that facilitates the kind of finesse required by artists and graphics professionals, but is very satisfying to use for ordinary scribblers. The top button doubles as an eraser in a very natural way, with a replaceable battery that lasts about a year, or much the same as the ink in your average ball point. Hold down the same button and the Windows assistant Cortana — whenever she gets activated for Ireland — will be summoned. Right now, it just brings up the voice search. The last trick is that the pen now stores handily by magnetic magic direct to the Pro 4’s chassis instead of the silly loop seen on the Pro 3.
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