Microsoft Surface Pro 4 Review

The fourth generation of Microsoft's industry-leading hybrid tablet is here. But will it keep replacing your laptop?

Microsoft's Surface Pro 4 will need little introduction to Computing readers.

In the space of just three years, Microsoft has managed to develop its push into first-party hardware from the quaint sideshow that was the original Surface Pro to a new model - the Surface Pro 3 - that's so good, Apple immediately went and copied it with the company's upcoming hybrid, the iPad Pro.

CIOs and IT managers are beginning to seriously adopt the Surface Pro 3 into their traditionally Windows-centric ecosystems, and the lightweight tablet with the tear-off keyboard cover is really starting to find widespread business cases across the enterprise.

The Surface Pro 4 doesn't really change much of what made the Surface Pro 3 so good - it merely attempts to further refine the design, changing the occasional detail while updating the Surface Pro to stay competitive in 2016.

We won't linger too much on the specifications, but suffice to say the Surface Pro 4 still comes in three flavours of Intel processor - this time "6th generation" Skylake - though the traditional i3 model has been replaced with an m3, which is completely fanless. The i5 and i7 have fans, but all models include Microsoft's "hybrid liquid cooling system" concept, which is basically what it says it is - cooling pipes filled with liquid that cut down the need for a fan.

Processors are now available from m3 at 900MHz to an i7 model running at a whopping 3.4GHz. Computing reviewed the i5 running at 2.4GHz, with 8GB of RAM.

The screen is also crisper and brighter than before, running at a native 2734x1824 pixels at 267ppi - the difference between the Surface Pro 3 and 4's screens when placed side by side is visible. Next to the original Surface Pro, it's downright laughable.

Storage - all SSD-based - now starts at 128GB and finishes with a massive 1TB.

Tappy Camper

But what about the Surface Pro 4's improvements over its predecessors? The most important here is the keyboard. Following the Surface line's slow evolution from attempting to push the soggy beer mat-like "Touch Cover" with the now-defunct Windows RT-based original Surface, to some markedly better offerings with individual, plastic (though cramped) keys, Microsoft has now decided to dispense with any notions of making something ‘new' and just created a keyboard cover that looks and feels like a laptop keyboard. With spaces between the keys and a nice amount of ‘give' on each one, you'll be accurately touch typing on the Surface Pro 4's keyboard within seconds. It's excellent, and a long time coming.

The mouse pad is now even longer and wider than before, and is coated with what we were told is glass, for an ultra-smooth feel under the fingers.

The device is also just a tiny bit lighter than the Surface Pro 3 at 786g (without keyboard) - and feels it. The machine really does feel like a legitimate tablet in its own right now - particularly with Windows 10's superior "tablet mode" UI stylings. If only there were some apps in the Microsoft store, but we'll stop bleating on about that for now.

The stylus has also been reworked, its previous two buttons now replaced with just long one (which doubles as a magnetic strip for attaching it - strongly - to either the height or width sides of the device. On the back of the pen the ‘eraser' from the first generation Surface Pro stylus makes a return, now with a pleasant rubbery feel, just like a real pencil eraser.

Irritatingly, Microsoft is still insisting on making a click of the eraser summon OneNote, which we still don't like or ever want to use, and we still want to be down to user choice to pick their own app. Holding a click on the eraser starts up meddling "personal assistant" Cortana, which we also still don't like and won't give any of our information to. We're awkward and picky, perhaps, but we still don't see why these functions can't be reprogrammable.

The Surface Pro 4's kickstand is just as excellent as its predecessor's, allowing a huge degree of free movement while remaining tight and robust (as last time, we had a fair attempt at breaking it and couldn't).

Nothing's perfect, as they say...

The battery life of around six and a half hours we were promised by the system read-out with the screen at 100 per cent brightness and the Wi-Fi on was more or less accurate - not much change from last time, and obviously a brilliant improvement from the paltry two hours the original Surface Pro could manage.

But with laptops now commonly providing over 10 hours of battery life, there's a niggling feeling that the Surface Pro 4 can't "replace your laptop" quite in the way Microsoft hopes, if even a full day of work can't be done without finding a plug socket.

Meanwhile, the Surface Pro 4 is clearly designed to be the company's flagship Windows 10 device, and it obviously runs the OS extremely well. Mostly.

Unfortunately, we have to admit (and this of course may just have been our singular review unit) to experiencing a couple of hiccups with general use.

One time, the Edge browser crashed simply while we were navigating to our own website at Computing.co.uk through Bing, and brought the whole system down with it. The screen froze, with no keypresses rescuing it. We shut the Surface down, but it wouldn't boot again for nearly five minutes.

Secondly, the device absolutely won't, despite several tries, install third-party Microsoft Office replacement Libre Office properly. It appears to install fine, but when attempting to launch any component of the suite simply loads a blank, black-filled window. Computing has a copy of Libre Office installed on every one of our other Windows 10 devices, including the 1GB RAM-equipped Linx 8 tablet.

Thirdly, the copy of indie development darling StaffPad that was present on our review device crashes repeatedly on its own start screen, and won't launch.

The machine would also, several times, refuse to return to life after lying dormant for several minutes in standby mode, necessitating reboots.

These are odd and seemingly unconnected occurrences, but do feel unusual both for Windows 10 and the usually impressively reliable Surface Pro line. With previous models having experienced various launch issues that have had to be patched out, we'd advise what should already be a level of caution when investing in newly-launched hardware.

In Conclusion

The Surface Pro 4 maintains the high standards laid down by its predecessor. It's still too expensive for a laptop substitute - the m3 starting at £749 and the top-end i7 well, well over £1,000. All this, and Microsoft still won't bundle the (essential) keyboard in.

But the cost is almost made worthwhile by the sheer flexibility of the device. As before, the Surface Pro 4 will become your best friend after a very short period of time, and you'll be happy to have made the investment.

Perhaps just wait for Microsoft to iron out any kinks first.