Microsoft reimagines Surface 2020 line-up

Surface 2020

Microsoft has revealed details of the Surface 2020 line-up and surprise, surprise – there is a USB-C data/charge port as well as the old Surface Connect port – some things never change.

Yes, rejoice – USB-C lovers everywhere have been waiting for eons, and now the Surface 2020 line-up has it. Regrettably, it is not Thunderbolt 3 as well.

The Surface 2020 line-up is available for pre-order from 3 October and for sale 22 October. More here.

The Microsoft Surface 2020 line-up includes

  • Surface Laptop 3: 13.5-inch starting from $1,699 and 15 inch starting from $1,999
  • Surface Pro 7, 12.3-inch: Twice as fast with a 10th Generation Intel Core processor, USB-A and USB-C and an all-day battery. Starting from $1,249.
  • Surface Pro X, 13-inch: Windows on ARM using a new Microsoft SQ1 processor codesigned with Qualcomm pushes two teraflops of graphics processing power. Integrated LTE. Starting from $1,699, (19 November 2019).

And new dual screens for the Surface 2020 line-up (coming late 2020)

  • Surface Neo: 360-degree full-friction hinge connects two 9-inch screens for a total of 13.1-inches flat.
  • Surface Duo:  360-degree full-friction hinge connects two 5.6-inch screens for a total of 8.3-inches flat – pocketable.

The Neo is Intel-based, LTE enabled and runs Windows 10X (for duals screens and allows full-screen flow across both). There will be magnetic pens, keyboard and other accessories.

We have seen the Surface Duo referred to as ‘Surface phone’. It runs a Qualcomm SD855, has LTE and a version Google Android 9 (or 10).

As we won’t see these here for possibly several months – let’s wait and see.

New accessories

  • Surface Earbuds: ultra-comfortable and stable fit, intuitive touch and voice controls for music, calls and more. Coming soon.
  • Surface Accessories: from Surface Pro X keyboards, signature type covers, pens and mice designed to work with our Surface products to a selection of accessories

New processors

The 13.3-inch Surface Laptop 3 and 12.3-inch Surface Pro 7 have 10th generation Intel Core. These also have Wi-Fi 6 (AX) and BT 5.0

The Surface Laptop 3, 15-inch only comes with AMD Ryzen 5 3580U and Ryzen 7 3780U and their Vega graphics. These have Wi-Fi 5 (AC) and BT 5.0.

The Surface Pro X is Windows on ARM (WOA) using a Microsoft/Qualcomm co-developed SQ1 processor. Now before we get carried away with Teraflops and performance comparisons with Intel x86 Core CPU note that it is Windows x32 running on ARM – not a 64-bit version of Windows.

The processor uses a 7nm, Qualcomm 8cX (855 series) with eight cores running up to 3Ghz and an Adreno 655 GPU.

Surface 2020 Pro X SQ1

While it happily runs most x32 Windows apps, there are many things it cannot do. For example, no 64-bit apps, now OpenGL games, and no VPN yet has a version due to TAPI issues. WOA is the future of always-connected and always-on hybrids due to the low TPD power requirements.

Surface 2020 line-up special features

Surface Laptop 3 has a full 1.33mm key throw and a 20% larger glass trackpad that improves what was a pretty flat typing experience. USB-A and USB-C, fast Charging (80% in about an hour), removable M.2 SSD (user upgradeable) and better camera, mics and speakers complete the evolution.

Surface Pro 7 follows the formula – everything soldered to the motherboard (not upgradeable) and the same footprint. The ‘venerable’ Surface Dock’ supports dual monitors, but we don’t know at what resolution or refresh rate. We don’t know if the Kensington Dock (works up to Surface 6) fits or supports dual 4K monitors. The USB-C port appears to be 5Gbps so it will support 1 x 4K@60Hz and two x 1080p@60Hz – we will be testing this!

Microsoft videos of each product

https://youtu.be/V4Hwi3o2X0E
https://youtu.be/v5SFBpMiaiQ
https://youtu.be/EwxyD_dkGVA
https://youtu.be/fssZICsV4Rg