Surface Pro 12-inch Review – the best Surface yet?

It’s been 5 years since I bought a Surface Go 2 and reviewed it. Since then I’ve used several editions of Surface Pro, Surface Laptop, and I’ve even reviewed the MacBook Air M3. I am surprised to say that this Surface Pro 12-inch (SP12″) is my favourite device of all. Let’s dig in.

Hardware

Stanley Cup. Grey Cup. Wimbledon Trophy. Find as many trophies as possible and present them to the Surface hardware team. The SP12″ is an absolute winner. To start, the screen size is just right.

When I purchased the Surface Go 2 many years ago, I wanted a portable, tablet-like device. Dare I say, I wanted something like an iPad Pro, but I didn’t want the iPad Pro. However, I realized over time that the Go 2’s 10-inch screen was just too small. The size was acceptable, but due to the lack of good tablet software (more on that later), you were encouraged to use it with the Type Cover keyboard. But because of the small screen, the keyboard was also small — uncomfortably small. It was a poor keyboard experience and a poor tablet experience.

The larger screen on the SP12″ is perfect. The screen is big enough that the keyboard doesn’t feel cramped. Yet, the 12″ is small enough that it remains portable and lightweight compared to the full-sized Surface Pro 13″. The SP12″ feels like a true tablet with PC-like abilities, something that the Go 2 strived for but failed. Dare I say again, the SP12″ is a true iPad Pro competitor.

Moving past the screen, the build quality of the SP12″ is premium. The screen corners and the edges of the devices are rounded, making it comfortable to hold as a tablet. The integrated kickstand remains the Surface Pro line’s defining feature. This alone makes the SP12″ a step above any iPad. You can detach the keyboard and use the tablet while cooking, watching shows while you’re in the bathroom getting ready, or just propping it up on the bed as you scroll through your feeds.

Performance

Combined with the physical specs, the performance of the SP12″ is what makes this my favourite device. The Snapdragon X Plus chip is extremely fast. Comparing the Go 2’s performance and the SP12″ is like comparing a toddler riding a 3-wheel plastic bicycle with a Ferrari. They’re from different planets.

The speed is so fast that I’ve been using the SP12″ as my main app development PC. Yes, I have built apps using this device (more on that later regarding software). It’s so fast it actually makes web apps seem fast. The biggest drawback of the Go 2 was the terrible performance of software. This was caused by the Go 2’s low-level chip and by the low-performance web apps that have become rampant on Windows today (Teams, Discord, electron apps, etc). But on the SP12″, everything is faster. Web apps are moving at 100 km/h and native apps are rocket launching to the moon.

By the way, the battery life? With mixed light use of browsing, software development, and a few videos… it lasts 3 days. With heavy use, it lasts at least a day. I’ve never had to worry about charging it within the same day.

Software

Some of you may have heard that the Surface Pro 12″ is an “ARM-based” device, and there are confusions about what this means for regular people’s day-to-day usage. Suffice to say, everything just works. Perhaps 0.1% of old drivers won’t work, but 99.9% of your usual day-to-day apps will work without a hitch.

That said, software remains the biggest problem with the SP12″. Not from a chip compatibility aspect, but from a tablet PC aspect. This is a problem with all touch-enabled Windows devices, though, not just this one. If you use the SP12″ purely as a laptop, it will run fine. You’ll have your keyboard and mouse, so Windows works great. But if you try to use it as a tablet where you only rely on the touchscreen and the on-screen keyboard, you’ll have a poor experience compared to the iPad.

Windows itself remains poorly optimized for touch. Numerous papercuts are distracting. For instance:

• Badges on the taskbar icons are out of place in tablet mode
• Opening the taskbar search bar does not automatically open the keyboard. So it requires two careful touch-taps in order to start every search.
• Switching apps also requires two interactions: First, a careful small swipe up from the taskbar to view your open apps, and second, another careful tap on the app icon. If you’re off by a centimeter, you’re opening the wrong app.
• Opening apps in general requires opening the taskbar then opening the start menu, then tapping your app. It’s way too many steps.

The worst part of all are the web apps. Touch + keyboard + web does not mix. At least not on Windows. There are numerous times when I tap on a text field in a web app, the keyboard doesn’t open. Or worse, it opens and then closes immediately due to some strange focus issues. See the post above. I’m sure the Windows team would say, “the keyboard and touch behaviour on web apps is the responsibility of the respective developer”. Sure, but a growing number of those web apps are built by Microsoft.

Bright Side

Yes, there is a silver lining. This device’s amazing performance has kept me from throwing it out the window due to the poor tablet software experience. Moreover, the form factor and the performance inspired me to start building native apps designed for all Windows users, but particulary optimized for Surfaces.

The first app I built on my SP12″ is Markerpad — A digital scratchpad app where you can jot down unstructured notes, diagrams, ideas, and anything else you can think of. Combined with a Surface Pen, Markerpad is great for students, office/knowledge/productivity workers, and doodlers.

It’s also extremely fast. Check this out:

Take a look at the website for more info: https://markerpadapp.com/.

My goal is to build more native apps like Markerpad that work well on all Windows PCs and on Surface. They’re not all going to be pen-related like Markerpad, but I will be thinking about how Surface users would be using these apps.

Summary

The SP12″ is not without its faults. But it is a strong step forward from its spiritual successor in the Surface Go 2. Its performance, hardware, and battery life are all greatly improved. The software remains lacking for tablet scenarios, but I’m hoping to help improve that with Markerpad and more apps. If you’re using it as a laptop though, it’s fantastic. In short, is the Surface Pro 12″ worth it? Resounding yes.

Hats off to the Surface team on a stellar device.