Surface Pro (2024) first impressions: This AI tablet needs more I
My first impression of the Microsoft Surface Pro (2024) tablet was not a good one. As soon as I finished setting it up — bam! — it spontaneously and unexpectedly rebooted. And all I did was start playing around with the keyboard!
In fact, the one thing that I think consumers may hate about this new “Microsoft Surface Pro, 11th Edition” — and I never believed I would say this — is the new Surface Pro Flex Keyboard. Out of the box it was unresponsive, fidgety, and…underpowered? Yes, you need to charge it up, and that’s something that you’ll have to get used to.
Let’s back up a bit. When Microsoft botched its AI-powered Recall feature, pulling it from the initial launch of the Surface Pro (2024) / Surface Pro 11th Edition and the new Surface Laptop, that screwed up the entire review process for everyone. Microsoft removed any review embargoes, meaning that reviewers like myself are free to publish anything at any time. The problem is that there’s an inherent tension between the demand for a hot take (publish or perish!) and a measured review, which takes some time with the device.
I’m setting out to do both: tell you what’s right and wrong out of the gate, as well as sit down and play with the Surface Pro (2024) in more depth. Another reviewer will be handling the new Surface Laptop. And we’ll both also be trying to answer the questions you have as the reviews progress.
The first question: Yes, the Windows interface on the Surface Pro feels super quick and snappy. Whether it’s the Qualcomm Snapdragon X Elite processor (a 12-core X1-E80-100 is in the review model, along with 16GB of RAM and 512GB of SSD storage) or just Windows itself, there’s basically zero lag out of the box.
Surface Pro (2024) 11th Edition setup: Recall isn’t here yet
No, Recall isn’t included inside the new Surface Pro 11th Edition, as you might expect. Instead, the OOBE (Out of the Box Experience) is relatively straightforward, asking for your Microsoft account — and no, I didn’t try too hard to avoid the need for a Microsoft account and use a local account instead. Most of the workarounds to use a local account appear to be patched out, and there’s no obvious way to add a local account within the Windows 11 Home 24H2 version of Windows (26100.863) that ships with the Surface Pro (2024), either.