(upbeat percussive music)
- Microsoft is trying a
million different things
to try and bring Windows
into the Modern Age
and one of those things is this thing,
the Surface Pro X.
X, not 10.
I think it looks like a million bucks,
but the really important
part of the Surface
is the processor.
It uses a Qualcomm ARM
chip like your phone,
instead of an Intel
chip like your computer.
ARM could be the future,
but the future ain't cheap.
This starts at $1,140 with a keyboard,
and the model I'm testing here
costs just short of $1,800.
The future also ain't fast.
See, we're not gonna get to the future
without some heartbreak.
So, look, I mean, actually
look at the Surface.
It is beautiful!
Microsoft went with an anodized aluminum
in this nearly matte finish,
which looks sharp as hell,
but also, yeah, it picks
up a ton of fingerprints
something awful.
But from the back you'd
think this was just
a black Surface Pro 7,
just a little bit thinner
with slightly more rounded edges.
But, then this screen hits you.
It's a 13-inch screen and a body
that's nearly the same
size as the Surface Pro 7,
and that's because the
bezels are much smaller here,
at least on the left and the right.
It's 1920 by 2880, which
makes it a 3:2 aspect ratio,
which is the best aspect ratio.
Yes, it is.
There are two keyboard options,
and one of them has this little slot
where the new Surface Slim
Pen can hide, right here.
It's really clever!
It just kinda (fingers
snap) snicks right in,
it charges right there, and
it's held down with magnets.
It means you're much
less likely to lose it,
or forget it in your bag, or whatever.
But, that extra space does
seem to make this keyboard
just a little bit more wobbly
than other Surface keyboards,
and when it's clicked up,
it's harder to tap stuff
on the taskbar, or even
to see it sometimes.
That's annoying, but if
you really want a stylus,
it's probably all worth the trade-off.
Now, I am not a stylus person,
but this one seems all right.
It could get a little bit tiring to use
for a long time because it's so thin,
but it supports all the
stylus stuff that you'd want,
pressure, and angle,
and the eraser feature
on the other side.
Let's see, what else?
Well, the hinge goes to
whatever angle you need it to.
It's fanless.
It has two USB ports, but not Thunderbolt.
You can replace the
SSD if you can find one
in this weird size,
and you can put a SIM card in it for LTE.
Even the power and the volume
buttons are in nicer places.
I wish there was a microSD card slot,
and I wish there was a headphone jack,
but overall, this is actually really close
to what my platonic ideal
Surface hardware would be.
The whole design of the Surface Pro X
makes the Surface Pro 7 design
look like it's 4-years old,
because it is literally 4-years old.
This, however, looks like the future.
In fact, I'll just say it.
This is the best looking,
nicest computer that I have held
in at least a year.
Better than any MacBook,
better than the iPad Pro,
and way better than any Surface.
So, so far, so good, right?
Totally, but that
heartbreak is still coming,
and it's spelled A-R-M.
(relaxing music)
The Surface Pro X runs on an ARM processor
instead of an Intel x86 processor.
It's made by Qualcomm, but
Microsoft customized it
especially for graphics performance.
It's called the SQ1,
the squone.
I dunno, whatever.
Why ARM?
Well, it's where computers want to go
because ARM is developing
faster than Intel these days.
It supports LTE directly,
and it can usually get
better battery life,
but there are two problems.
ARM processors can't sustain high speeds
like Intel chips can,
and most Windows apps
aren't optimized for ARM.
Let's start with the performance.
It's mostly fine.
No, really, I mean it!
It's actually better than
I was worried it would be.
It's much faster than other
ARM-based Windows computers.
I have the model with 16 gigs of RAM,
and I am regularly
running, like, a dozen apps
and over two dozen tabs
across a couple of different browsers,
and nothing is grinding to a halt.
Now, if you end up
getting the 8 gig model,
you're probably gonna
wanna chill out on that
just a little bit.
Now, you can see that it's slow,
but it's way faster than, say, I dunno,
a Surface Go, which, to be fair,
costs about a third of this thing.
There is some weird lag sometimes,
but, mostly, I didn't
notice too many problems
when I was doing office stuff.
You know, Microsoft Office, but also
what your average office drone, like me,
has to do these days.
Run Slack, keep an eye on
Twitter when they're bored,
edit some spreadsheets,
grind through email,
and so on and so on.
So, that's what's fine,
but when it comes to
more intense software,
like Photoshop, you can
barely even call it an option.
Photoshop technically runs on this thing,
but look at the zoom.
It's just awful!
I wouldn't even call
this usable in a pinch.
And this is where I
wish I could kinda just
stop the video and say that,
if you know what you're
getting into with this thing
speed-wise, you could talk
yourself into buying it.
Think of it sort of like a Chromebook
that happens to run Office apps, right?
Let's just pretend, right?
For a minute, just pretend with me.
(sighs) So, let's talk about apps.
(dark droning music)
So, the apps that run best on the SQ1
are the ones that have
been compiled to ARM64.
That means they're 64-bit,
and that they've been
designed to run on this chip.
Those apps are fast,
and they don't hurt
your battery life much,
and they are pretty rare, actually.
A bunch of native Windows apps do it,
and there's some stuff
on the Microsoft Store,
but there's not a ton more.
But, ARM processors can
run apps that were compiled
for 32-bit x86 Intel chips.
This is actually most of
what you're gonna run.
Chrome and Spotify, and even
Microsoft's own Office apps,
like Word and Excel.
Heck, the Edge browser beta runs this way!
I can notice a small speed
difference with these apps,
especially in Chrome,
but mostly the emulation mode here,
is much better than I expected!
All of which brings us
to the real problem.
There are a bunch of Windows apps,
and especially the newest and
most powerful Windows apps,
that are 64-bit, but designed
to work for x86 and not ARM,
and they don't run at all.
I'm talking about apps
like Adobe Lightroom,
and even a bunch of Lightroom alternatives
that I wanna try, but I can't.
I'm also talking about games.
Games are a full-on non-starter.
I don't mean that they're slow.
I mean they literally don't start.
You can't install Fortnite.
You can install Steam,
but pretty much everything
you download isn't gonna work.
So, here's a game that I love.
It's called Into the
Breach, and it's a disaster!
Just what is happening
on the screen, here?
Well, okay, you can play Angry Birds 2.
Whoo!
See, everybody has that
one app that they need,
and mine's Lightroom,
and you have to do a ton
of research to figure out
if your app actually
works on this computer.
There's no list that you
can just go look it up on.
And, hell, Microsoft's own online store
has a homepage that's filled with apps
that don't work on this computer!
Microsoft promised me that
they're gonna fix the filters,
so that only compatible apps show up here,
but, c'mon!
(upbeat bright music)
Whew, all right, that
was a lot of bad news.
How 'bout some good news again?
Well, the speakers, they're really loud,
and they're pretty good!
Bluetooth also seems solid, and thank God,
because there's no headphone jack here.
LTE also works really
seamlessly on Windows 10.
I think the battery life is medium.
It's not great.
Other ARM laptops promise
20 hours of battery life,
but Microsoft only promises
13 hours of typical use.
That also includes a bunch
of downtime in standby mode.
So, me, I'm getting just
over 6 hours of active use
throughout a day, and
maybe nine or 10 total,
if you include all those standby times.
That means that I usually
have to plug this in
in the midafternoon just to feel safe.
I think the battery life should be better
on this kind of computer,
especially at this price.
At least the Fast Charging is really fast.
When I was using the
Surface Connect charger,
and this thing was in standby,
I got from 5% to 50% in half-an-hour!
And, while I was using it on charging,
it also felt pretty fast.
It will also charge over USB-C,
but it just won't be as fast
as using the original charger.
(cheery electronic music)
So, at this point,
you're asking yourself,
"Why wouldn't I just get a Surface Pro 7?
"It has better performance,
and all of the apps work."
And, you're not wrong.
I think that this hardware,
and especially this screen,
is much nicer.
But, I don't know that it's nice enough
to justify all those other trade-offs.
Maybe someday, when
there are more ARM apps,
but not today.
I will give Microsoft some credit
for making an ARM machine
that's fast enough,
and that runs real Windows 10,
instead of RT, or Windows S, or whatever.
And, again, this is
one of the best looking
computers around, but the
apps are not ready yet.
There might be a bunch
of people who won't care.
If you just need Office,
and email, and Spotify,
and Netflix, and whatever,
this thing is great!
It's basically the perfect
computer for an executive,
or a CEO.
I mean, I'm wearing my
CEO jacket, here, right?
But, for the rest of us,
if we're gonna spend anywhere
between $1100 and $2000
on a Windows computer,
then we should expect it to do more.
Buying this computer is making a huge bet
that ARM apps are going to get made,
and I think that's just too risky.
This hardware looks great,
but you don't just look at computers,
you need to use them!
Like I said,
it's a heartbreaker.
Hey everybody, thank you
so much for watching!
What do you think?
Are the ARM apps gonna
come to justify this thing?
Let's talk about that
down in the comments.
Also, we have a whole new video series
about the streaming wars,
hosted by Julie Alexander.
Great video!
There's a ton of streaming
war news coming up,
so you should check that out.
