Microsoft has brought Panther Lake chips to its Surface line up, but it’s… underwhelming to say the least. And ridiculously expensive. Similar to Lunar Lake, Panther Lake is only available in the Business versions of the Surface Pro and Laptop, but it carries an even bigger price increase than last time.
Is it worth it to pay anywhere between $1950 all the way up to $4500 for one of these machines? And what’s the difference between the Surface Pro vs the Surface Laptop, and which one is the best value? Let’s find out…
Form Factor and Accessories
Beginning with the most obvious difference, the form factor. The Surface Pro is, of course, a tablet with a kickstand that lets it sit upright, while the Surface Laptop is a traditional laptop with an always attached keyboard.
That means the Surface Pro requires an additional keyboard accessory, which can cost as little as $170 for the basic keyboard, or as much as $500 for the Flex Keyboard and Pen combination. You could just about get an entire MacBook Neo computer instead for that price.
As far as pen support goes, only the Surface Pro officially supports the Surface Pen. The Surface Laptop doesn’t support it, even though it also has a touchscreen.
Displays
Let’s talk about the displays. The Surface Pro might be offered with a choice of LCD or OLED panels. However, the business version is currently only selling the LCD version, which is a 13” touchscreen with 2880 x 1920 resolution or 267 pixels per inch. It’s a 3:2 aspect ratio, which is great for productivity, and has a refresh rate of 120 Hz. Brightness maxes out at 600 nits for both SDR and HDR content.
The Surface Laptop never did and still – 1doesn’t have an OLED option, so it has very similar LCD screen specs as the Surface Pro, including the same aspect ratio, refresh rate, touch support, and brightness. The main difference is that the Laptop comes either in a 13.8” size with 2304 x 1536 resolution, which is 201 PPI – 25% lower than the Surface Pro – or in a 15” size with 3270 x 2180 resolution, which is 262 PPI, almost the same as the 13” Pro’s 267 PPI.
While it seems the 13.8” display got the short end of the stick, it actually has 1 big bonus. We’ll talk more about the chip options in just a bit, but if you choose the Core Ultra X7 chip over the Ultra 5 in the Surface Laptop 13.8” screen size, then you also get an anti-glare display with integrated privacy screen, a feature new to this year’s Laptop. The privacy screen allows you to press a button and narrow your viewing angles so those beside you can’t see what you’re looking at.
Note, however, that there is no privacy screen option available if you choose the 15” size, so this feature is reserved only for the 13.8” Laptop.
Also, the cost goes up by $600 when you select this option. Part of it is the X7 chip, while part of it is the privacy screen. On the 15” model, changing just the chip to X7 doesn’t give you the privacy screen and it costs $400 more. From that, we can infer that the cost of the privacy screen upgrade is $200.
Chips
Now let’s talk about the chips. For the Surface Pro, while the specs page lists options of the Core Ultra 5 or 7 chips, the configuration page only seems to offer the Ultra 5 335 chip. Similarly, the Surface Laptop specs lists Core Ultra 5, 7, or X7 choices, but the configuration page only lets you choose between the 5 and X7, so the Ultra 7 chip is missing in action. Perhaps it will come in the future.
The cost difference between the 5-335 and X7-368H chips is $400, not including the privacy screen we talked about previously. This isn’t actually that bad of a price, as the X7 chip has 16 cores and threads that run faster compared to just 8 on the Ultra 5, 50% more smart cache, and most importantly the Arc B390 GPU with 12 Xe-cores compared to a 4-core iGPU. The GPU upgrade is significant, so I’d lean toward getting it if you have the means. Go ahead and smash that like button if you agree.
Memory and Storage
Now let’s talk about memory and storage. The global memory shortage and increased prices really show up in the new Surfaces. The Surface Pro lets you choose between 16 GB or 32 GB of memory, even though the spec sheet says a 64 GB version should be available, which might happen later.
What’s absurd is that the difference in price is a whopping $550 more to get that additional 16 GB of memory, or over $34 per gigabyte. Yet that’s only true if you get 256 GB of storage. If you want 512 GB of storage, it actually costs $650 more for that additional 16 GB of memory for some weird reason, or nearly $41 per gigabyte!
Maybe that’s why the starting prices of these Surface devices have increased by about $500 since last generation.
The Surface Laptop offers 16 GB and 32 GB configurations as well with the same price differences, but the 15” larger screen size with X7 chip also offers a 64 GB config paired with either 512 GB or 1 TB of storage. In terms of price, going from 32 to 64 GB costs $800 more no matter the storage size, which is a “cheaper” $25 per gigabyte.
On the storage side as you’ve already seen, options are either 256 GB, 512 GB or 1 TB at the maximum, which is definitely on the lower end. The pricing here is also nonsense. If you choose 16 GB of memory, upgrading from 256 to 512 GB of storage costs an extra $100, which isn’t so bad, although it is $400 per TB. But really, the devices should have just started from 512 GB to begin with.
However, if you choose 32 GB of memory, then upgrading from 256 to 512 GB of storage costs twice as much, $200, for who-knows-why. That’s $800 / TB. And finally, upgrading from 512 GB to 1 TB of storage costs an extra $400, regardless of memory size. That’s also $800 / TB.
The maxed out 15” Surface Laptop with 64 GB of memory and a “whopping” 1 TB of storage comes out to $4500. At this point, I can only shake my head sadly…
Ports and External Displays
Let’s move on to the ports. The Surface Pro has the fewest ports here, with just 2 USB4 / Thunderbolt 4 ports. These ports support DisplayPort 2.1 that allows you to use up to 3 4K monitors at 60 Hz, so no high refresh rate external displays here.
Other than that, you just have the Surface Keyboard port on the bottom to attach a keyboard cover, and the Surface Connect port for charging.
The Surface Laptop 13.8” model improves things a little bit. It has the same ports as the Surface Pro, but adds on a USB-A 3.2 port, as well as a 3.5mm headphone jack.
The 15” Laptop makes another improvement, now including a MicroSD card reader, and the possibility to have an integrated smart card reader in select configurations (namely the Platinum color) and specific markets.
Wireless Connectivity
Wireless connectivity on the Surface Pro and Laptop devices all support Wi-Fi 7 and Bluetooth 5.4. The Surface Pro also has the option of offering a model with cellular 5G connectivity, which costs an extra $300 over the Wi-Fi only model. The 5G version comes with a nanoSIM slot, but also supports eSIM.
There is no 5G option for the Surface Laptop.
Audio and Cameras
When it comes to audio, both Surface Pro and Laptop come with dual studio mics and support for Bluetooth Low Energy Audio. The Surface Pro speakers, however are 2 watt stereo speakers, while the Laptop has Omnisonic speakers.
I guess that means the Laptop should have better speakers, and while there isn’t a stated distinction between 13.8” and 15” models, generally speaking, the larger the computer, the more room there is for larger, better sounding speakers.
For the cameras, the Surface Pro is more capable. The Surface Pro comes with a 1440p Quad HD camera on the front, as well as a 10 MP Ultra HD rear-facing camera. 2 cameras makes sense since it’s a tablet. The Surface Laptop only has a single front-facing camera, and it’s a lower resolution 1080p one as well.
Sensors
One area that is kind of interesting are the sensors. The Surface Laptop has only a single ambient color sensor, which is used to automatically adjust the display’s color and intensity to match surrounding light conditions.
The Surface Pro also has that, but it also has an accelerometer, gyroscope, and magnet-o-meter? Magnetometer? These measure linear acceleration, rotational motion, and magnetic fields, respectively. They are used for things like detecting when to rotate the screen, which is useful on a tablet, while other functions might aid in certain specific apps like being able to move the device to shift the image during 3D videos.
The Wi-Fi Surface Pro also has a Near Field Communication sensor, often used for password-less sign-ins and reading NFC tags, while the 5G Pro and Laptop do not.
Battery and Charging
Now let’s check out the battery situation. The Surface Pro has the smallest battery with a 47 Wh capacity, which Microsoft says gives 17 hours of video and 11 hours of web usage.
In the middle is the 13.8” Surface Laptop, with 54 Wh of capacity leading to 23 hours of video and 14.5 hours of web. And while the 15” Laptop has the largest battery at 66 Wh, the battery life is actually lower than the 13.8”, at 21 hours of video and 14 hours of web. Clearly the larger screen is eating up more battery than the increased size makes up for.
When it comes to charging, the Surface Pro and 13.8” Laptop both come with 39 watt power adapters, while the 15” Laptop comes with a larger 65 watt power adapter.
Size and Weight
And finally, let’s talk about the size and weight. The Surface Pro, being a tablet without a keyboard, is the thinnest at 0.37 inches and weighs 1.97 lbs for the Wi-Fi model, or 2 lbs for the 5G model. However, realistically you need to use this with a keyboard, so that will add anywhere from 0.65 to 0.75 additional pounds, bringing the final weight range closer to 2 lbs and 3 quarters. The keyboard also adds around 2/10ths of an inch to the thickness.
The 13.8” Surface Laptop is 0.69” thick, so still about 20% thicker than the Pro with Keyboard. And it weighs 2.97 lbs, or 3 lbs if you have the privacy screen, so still about 8-15% heavier as well. The 15” model is 4% thicker at 0.72 inches, and 24% heavier at 3.67 lbs.
Comparison Summary: Surface Pro vs Surface Laptop 13.8”
Alright, let’s summarize and compare what you get with each device to determine which is the best value.
The Surface Pro and 13.8” Surface Laptop both start with the same base price of $1950. However, you need to add on a keyboard to the Pro for $170 to $500 more. For that price, the main differences are:
- Tablet form factor with mandatory keyboard accessory vs. Laptop
- Smaller 13” display with higher PPI and Surface Pen support vs. Larger 13.8” display with lower PPI and no Pen support
- Option to upgrade to the X7 chip for $600 more, which comes with a much better GPU, and also the privacy screen
- Only 2 Thunderbolt ports vs. An extra USB-A port and a 3.5mm audio jack
- A choice between an NFC sensor or 5G connectivity for $300 more vs. no NFC or 5G
- 2 watt speakers vs. Omnisonic speakers that potentially sound better
- A 1440p front camera plus a 10 MP rear camera vs. a 1080p front camera and no rear camera
- Additional sensors that may or may not be useful vs. no such sensors
- A smaller battery and battery life vs. 15% larger battery with 24-31% more battery life
- And a 20% thicker and 8-15% heavier machine
Between the Surface Pro and Laptop, it seems like you get more for your money with the Laptop, but there are some clear deciding factors. If you want a tablet with pen support, or need 5G cellular connectivity, then the Surface Pro is the clear choice. On the other hand, if you want the most powerful GPU and the cool new privacy screen feature, or the better value machine, or even just prefer a better laptop usage experience, then the 13.8” Laptop is the way to go.
Comparison Summary: Surface Laptop 13.8” vs 15”
Now let’s compare the 13.8” Surface Laptop to the 15” model. For $200 more, you get:
- An 18% larger surface area screen with higher resolution and PPI, but no privacy screen option
- The option to upgrade to 64GB of memory for an arm and a leg
- A MicroSD card reader and potentially a smart card reader in certain markets
- A 22% larger battery, but with 3-9% less battery life, and a 67% more powerful charger
- And a 4% thicker and 24% heavier machine
The 15” model isn’t that much more expensive, so if you prefer to have a larger screen, then it’s a solid upgrade choice. Especially if you need 64GB of memory, it’s the only option. But if you really want the privacy screen, then the 13.8” model is the only way to go.
However, I do think these Panther Lake Surface devices for Business aren’t really suitable for consumers, as they are just way overpriced for what you get. The 13.8” Laptop configuration with the X7 chip, 32 GB of memory, and 1 TB of storage costs a whopping $3700.
For a whole $1000 LESS, you could get ASUS’ dual 14” screen laptop with the X9 chip and the same memory and storage, which seems like a much better deal and has a lot more cool factor.
