You can be forgiven if you have already forgotten Microsoft’s Surface Event 2022 earlier this month. It was a completely underwhelming product event. Even so, if you have been awaiting the full launch of the Surface Laptop 5 and Surface Pro 9, it is now here. While pre-orders opened the day of the introduction, it is only today that sales are going live.
Starting with the Surface Laptop 5, it is now available from $999 (13-inch) and from $1,299 (15-inch). Microsoft has decided to remove the AMD variant this year and is going exclusively with the Intel Evo platform. That means the 12th-gen CPU alongside integrated Intel Iris Xe graphics.
The Surface Laptop 5 boasts a brand new PixelSense display with Dolby Vision IQ on board. Available in either 13.5-inch (2256 x 1504) and 15-inch (2496 x 1664) variants with 3:2 resolutions.
Other specs include up to 32GB of RAM and 1TB of storage, with Wi-Fi 6 and Thunderbolt 4 support. Colors remain unchanged aside from the addition of a new sage green option. An IR camera with Windows Hello support is available alongside the standard 720p webcam. Audio should see an improvement with Dolby Atmos through the Omnisonic speakers.
Let’s be clear, this is the very definition of an incremental update. Simply put, if you have the Surface Laptop 4 then there is just no reason to upgrade to this model.
Surface Pro 9
Next up, the Surface Pro 9 is also making its debut today from $999 for the Core i5 model with 8GB RAM and 128GB storage. On the 5G Arm side, it starts at a whopping $1,300 with the same starting specs.
There is a 13-inch PixelSense display with a 120Hz refresh rate. The Intel version comes with up to 32GB of LPDDR5 RAM and a 1TB SSD, while the 5G Arm model provides only up to 16GB of LPBBR4x RAM and a 512GB SSD.
Tip of the day: With a single registry tweak, it’s possible to add a ‘Take Ownership’ button to the right-click context menu that performs all of the necessary actions for you. You’ll gain full access to all possible actions, including deletion, renaming, and more. All files and subfolders will also be under your name.
The Take Ownership context menu will set the currently active user as the owner of the files, though they must also be an administrator. They can then enter the folder or modify the file as they usually would.