I’ve been ready for the Floor Professional 8.
Microsoft has been promoting Floor Professional fashions with principally the identical design since at the least 2015. In 2019, it considerably rectified that by releasing two flagship fashions. There was the Floor Professional 7 — a strong, sensible machine with a four-year-old design — and the Floor Professional X — a modern-looking, skinny machine with a sluggish ARM chip that wasn’t appropriate with every kind of in style apps.
Neither of those units was actually what I’d contemplate a perfect machine — they each had critical drawbacks. “I want this regarded just like the Floor Professional X,” lamented Tom Warren in his in any other case constructive assessment of the Floor Professional 7. Throughout the web, reviewers begged Microsoft to discover a strategy to put the Professional 7’s chips within the Professional X’s chassis.
And now, two years later, that’s precisely what Microsoft did. The $1,099.99-and-up Floor Professional 8 is the perfect of each worlds — it takes the perfect elements of the Professional 7 and the perfect elements of the Professional X, and places them in a single actually wonderful machine.
The very first thing you’ll discover in regards to the Professional 8 is its display screen. The machine has a 2880 x 1920 13-inch contact show, which is sort of an inch larger than that of the Professional 7. The aspect bezels are visibly smaller than the Professional 7’s. The highest one continues to be chunky — which is sensible, because you want one thing to carry in the event you’re utilizing this as a pill — however the keyboard deck covers the underside one when the Professional 8 is in laptop computer mode.
The opposite new factor about this show is that it has a 120Hz refresh charge, which is uncommon to see exterior of the gaming sphere. The additional frames make an enormous distinction in day-to-day use — the cursor is nicer to take a look at as you drag it across the display screen, there’s much less lag whenever you’re writing with the stylus, and scrolling is simply so a lot smoother. It makes for a greater Home windows expertise, whatever the app you’re utilizing. However I do want this machine supported Dynamic Refresh Price, which is meant to be a part of Home windows 11 — that function routinely swaps a tool between 120Hz and 60Hz relying on the app you’re utilizing, as a way to save battery. Microsoft hasn’t advised us if or when that’s coming but, so for the second you’re caught ducking into Superior Show Settings if you wish to bump the refresh charge up or down. (I simply left mine on 120Hz and took the battery life hit.)
What does get routinely adjusted is the colour profile. With the Adaptive Colour function, the Professional 8 routinely adjusts the look of your display screen based mostly on the surroundings round you. This function was sufficiently subtle that I didn’t actually discover it in motion whereas I used to be working — however you do see the distinction whenever you toggle it on and off, which you are able to do in brightness settings. It positively made the display screen simpler on my eyes, particularly at night time.
Elsewhere, the Professional 8 additionally has a 10-megapixel rear digicam (which the Professional X had however not the Professional 7). This could seize 4K video (in addition to 1080p) video. Like each of its predecessors, the Professional 8 additionally has a 5-megapixel front-facing digicam, which might seize video in 1080p for Zoom calls and the like. I not often get to say this about webcams, however the Professional 8 really delivers a superb image. Colours had been vibrant, and my strains had been clear, even in less-than-ideal lighting. The digicam additionally helps Home windows Hey facial recognition, which is helpful. The digicam app often acquired caught once I was making an attempt to change from entrance to rear, forcing me to reboot this system, however that’s my solely nitpick right here.
Talking of Zoom calls, the Professional 8 makes a terrific tele-conferencing machine. There are two far-field studio microphones, which by no means had hassle selecting up my voice. And the audio additionally sounds good, with clear percussion and audible bass. That’s spectacular contemplating how small the machine is — it’s 1.96 kilos and simply 0.37 inches thick, which is considerably large for a pill however fairly transportable as laptops go.
The keyboard cowl (which prices an additional $179 — it’s not included within the costs you’ll see on Microsoft’s web site) is now made from a carbon fiber core. It’s a lot sturdier than earlier Floor Professional keyboards I’ve used previously; it wasn’t wobbling or sliding round even once I was typing on my lap or a sofa. You don’t get fairly the journey that you simply’d count on from a full laptop computer, however most removable keyboards are cramped and flat — that is positively the perfect one I’ve ever used.
The keyboard deck features a helpful storage for Microsoft’s Floor Slim Pen 2 (additionally not included within the worth). This stylus comes with a built-in haptic motor which is supposed to make you’re feeling such as you’re really writing on bodily paper whilst you draw or take notes. Whereas I did really feel the additional vibrations whereas I wrote with the Slim Pen 2, I wouldn’t say the impact essentially mimics writing on paper — there are styluses like Lenovo’s Lively Pen that try this higher. But it surely’s a pleasant stylus general.
The opposite factor to notice is that solely a small group of apps at the moment appear to assist this haptic suggestions. I’m glad this function exists, however I look ahead to seeing Microsoft develop it.
For all of the bodily similarities the Professional 8 shares with the Professional X, it couldn’t be extra totally different on the within. The bottom consumer-facing Professional 8 fashions have Intel Core i5 chips — mine has the Core i7-1185G7, which is without doubt one of the strongest chips that Intel makes for skinny and lightweight laptops. It powers the highest fashions of the Dell XPS 13 and the Lenovo Yoga 9i — it’s the true deal.
This take a look at unit, which additionally has 16GB of RAM and Iris Xe built-in graphics, was quick. It booted up rapidly and ran no matter I wanted it to. I used to be usually operating video calls on high of 15 or 16 Chrome tabs, a pair totally different apps, and even some streaming — masses which have given every kind of premium ultraportable laptops hassle in my testing — with none slowdown or vital warmth. That’s in regards to the naked minimal for this processor, after all — it’s a chip meant for highly effective transportable units, so it will be regarding if issues had been freezing left and proper. But it surely’s a stark distinction to the Professional X, the place many apps had been sluggish, and others weren’t appropriate with the ARM processor in any respect.
The Professional 8 additionally makes use of an energetic cooling system, which is a elaborate manner of claiming it has a fan (in addition to a vapor chamber, three warmth pipes, and three graphite warmth spreaders). That is possible why it’s a bit thicker and heavier than its predecessors. The fan did a good job right here — the chassis was generally toasty, however by no means uncomfortably scorching, and I might run heavy masses for lengthy durations of time with out subject.
Microsoft claimed that the Floor Professional 8 would get 16 hours of steady battery life. I didn’t get that a lot to a cost, however I did common eight and a half hours of constant use with my (pretty Chrome-intensive) workload at 60Hz, with Battery Saver on and the display screen at medium brightness. Utilizing the display screen at 120Hz, I usually noticed nearer to seven hours from the identical duties (which is worse however nonetheless not a disastrous outcome).
Charging can also be decently speedy. I acquired the machine as much as 60 % in 50 minutes with mild Chrome use (it’ll cost quicker in standby). That was with the Floor Join charger that ships with the machine. You may also cost the Professional 8 over USB-C, however that received’t be fairly as quick, and the 2 Thunderbolt ports are in a barely extra awkward place. It’s (understandably, given the skinny chassis) a considerably restricted port choice, however you possibly can join exterior GPUs or as much as two 4K shows.
Previously few years, I can’t let you know how many individuals I’ve talked to who weren’t certain whether or not to purchase the Professional 7 or the Professional X. They wanted the Professional 7’s processor for his or her workload, however they a lot most well-liked the way in which the Professional X regarded.
And it was laborious for me to suggest both machine to these individuals, or to most people. They each got here with critical compromises. However the Professional 8 doesn’t. It combines a contemporary design with fashionable specs. It’s the pc these individuals have been ready for. It’s the primary Floor Professional I can actually see myself shopping for as a main driver.
After all, the flip aspect of all that is that the Floor Professional isn’t low-cost, even for what it presents. Fashions begin at $1,099 — however that’s going to be $1,279 with the keyboard cowl, and $1,379 with the Slim Pen 2. I additionally don’t count on too many individuals to purchase that base mannequin, which solely has 128GB of storage and 8GB of RAM — my take a look at mannequin, which has a quicker processor, twice the RAM, and 256GB storage, nets $1,879 with the keyboard and stylus, goes to be extra cheap for a lot of workloads. You may get any variety of common clamshell laptops with its specs for a couple of hundred {dollars} much less, together with the MacBook Professional and the Dell XPS 13.
That doesn’t make the Floor Professional 8 a nasty machine. It simply makes it a considerably particular machine. It’s actually concentrating on lovers for the Floor Professional type issue — individuals who want probably the most efficiency within the thinnest and lightest chassis attainable. Previously, these individuals haven’t fairly had a tool that met all of their wants. For the previous two years, you’ve needed to compromise on efficiency to get a Home windows pill that regarded this cool. This yr, you now not should sacrifice that efficiency. You simply should sacrifice some additional money.
