Microsoft just announced its Surface for Business PCs that now come with the same artificial intelligence its consumer-grade cousins did back in June, and more.
Back in June Microsoft began putting its Surface Pro 11th Edition and Surface Laptop 7 Edition devices on the shelves and customers seemed to be generally positive about the end product of an improved Windows on ARM (WoA) experience led by a new Qualcomm Snapdragon chip.
Following several firmware and OS updates that have unlocked more of the potential of WoA, Microsoft is set to deliver commercial-grade versions of similar products through its Surface for Business PCs.
First up is the Surface Pro 10 with 5G for Business. The Pro 10 with 5G was mysteriously absent from the roll out announcement earlier this year when Microsoft pitched upgraded Intel-led devices earlier this year that weren’t the highly coveted WoA the company teased.
Instead, Microsoft delivered the hardware upgraded but stuffed a tried-and-true Intel CPU into their upgraded 2024 line, however, omitting the customary 5G business Surface Pro device that tends to get announced with their business lineup.
As the name implies, customers can now choose a 5G model of the Surface Pro 10 that also supports the new Bluetooth enabled Surface Pro Flex keyboard that was a standout feature of the Surface Pro 11th Edition. Beyond modem enabled configurations and support for the new keyboard, the Surface Pro 10 comes with all the familiar hardware designs and features list of the Pro 10 announced earlier this year.
Customers looking for a more substantial upgrade on the same form factor can snag the new Surface Pro 11th Edition that brings that new OLED display, Flex Keyboard support, Quad HD front facing camera, Wi-Fi 7, Nano SIM, Bluetooth LE, and the Qualcomm Snapdragon X chips that should support Microsoft’s current and future AI efforts.
The overall footprint of the Surface Pro remains identical to the Pro 10 and Pro 10 for Business, but commercial customers now have options to outfit their devices with 5G as well for all day connectivity to match the all-day battery life consumer users have been playing around with since June.
Cellular
5G-NR SA/NSA, Release 15, DL 256 QAM up to 2.9 Gbps, 4x4 MIMO, UL 256 QAM
4G Gigabit LTE – Advanced Pro, Release 15, DL Cat 19 up to 1.6 Gbps, 256QAM, 4x4 MIMO, 5x DL CA, UL Cat 18, 256 QAM, Contiguous 2x ULCA
5G-NR Bands: n1, n2, n3, n5, n7, n8, n12, n14, n20, n25, n26, n28, n29, n30, n38, n40, n41, n48, n66, n71, n77, n78, n79
LTE Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 48, 66, 71
WCDMA Bands: 1, 2, 4, 5, 8
The Surface Pro 11th Edition comes with the X-Elite 12 Core version of Qualcomm’s ARM chip as well as the Hexagon architecture for those 40 TOPs necessary to run AI and pre-generative applications and features in Windows, paired with a Qualcomm’s Adreno GPU.
Similar to the consumer version, the 11th Edition for Business is configured with 16GB or 32 LPDDR5 RAM, and a removable SSD with 512GB capacity.
Then there is the Surface Laptop 7th Edition for Business. Beyond the jumbled naming convention, the laptop 7th Edition for Business resembles the Surface Pro for Business in that it also comes with Qualcomm’s Snapdragon X Elite 12 Core chip, options of 16 or 32GB of memory and up to a TB of removable SSD storage.
Unfortunately, the Laptop 7th Edition for Business’ connectivity is capped at Wi-Fi with no 5G option on the horizon.
The Laptop 7th Edition for Business will come with the same NPU loaded power as the Pro 10 and 11 as well as its twin the Surface Laptop 7th Edition, but still no OLED options for the clamshell design.
As with all things, 5G from Microsoft makes customers wait a little bit longer to get their hands on the devices with a release date of September 26, 2024, for the Surface Pro 10 with 5G for Business as well as the Surface Pro 11th Edition. Wi-Fi only for Business devices is scheduled to hit the company’s business channel on September 10, 2024.
Microsoft is also delivering a new Surface Keyboard updated to accommodate its new Copilot efforts with an update to the context menu button that has now been switched for a button that summons Copilot. Microsoft also added keys for support of video conferencing that include Call, Mute, and Snip & Sketch for those on-demand crude illustrated demos.
The Surface Keyboard will ship later than all the other hardware starting October 3, 2024.
Customers can take advantage of free shipping, 60-day price protection, and free return windows when shopping directly from the Microsoft Store.
