Microsoft Surface Pro 5 Announced

On May 23^rd, 2017, Microsoft held a showcase in Shanghai about some hardware they were planning to release, just shortly after the MicrosoftEDU event. It was a bit of a weird, suspicious notice, so it gathered attention of tech folk all around the world. One of the rumours which was confirmed was the reveal of the Surface Pro 5. Previously, people felt that the Surface Pro 5 was not coming in recent times; maybe a Surface Pro 4 update would be the next upcoming information. However, they were obviously wrong. Although no release date was announced, we can expect it to come in late 2017 or some time in 2018, so if you’re really anxious for this product, be ready to pre-order it as soon as possible, and keep up with tech news for any official release dates.

But what will be the upgrade? How much will the Surface Pro 5 differ from its predecessor? Well, here are some specs of the Surface Pro 4 for perspective. It has a 12.3 inch screen, 3:2 aspect ratio of 2736×1824, a processor of your choice (M3, i5, i7, of course with price differences), up to 16 GB of RAM and up to about a terabyte of SSD storage, a USB 3.0 port and microSD card reader, all ranging from $899 USD to $2699 USD. It also has dock accessories like the stylus (known commercially as the Surface Pen). It also came with Windows 10 and a free 30-day trial of Microsoft Office. The Surface Pro 4 was also backwards compatible with previous accessories, so people are hoping this feature continues with the Surface Pro 5.

Maybe the new Surface Pro will include the Surface Dial, a $99 bluetooth-powered tool. It’s pretty cool, and you can check some concept videos out online. The simple device can especially be useful for creative purposes, and is usually used with the surface studio, but it can be used for the Surface Pro 5 hopefully as well as other models of the Surface Pro.

Thus, the Surface Pro 5 will also most likely be under $1000 for the cheapest model, and might include the recent creator’s update for Windows 10, but if it’s marginally better than the Surface Pro 4, then expect it to be more expensive. It will probably have a similar processor, but might use a different charger than the 4’s USB-C, though it might make up for that by having different USB-C ports, similar to the new MacBook. In order to keep up with advancing technology of their rival, they should include this in the Surface Pro 5. Other than that, it’s most likely staying lightweight with the same storage and RAM limitations. There’s not much design change in terms of the actual hardware, but maybe there will be an upgrade to the Surface Pen, and it could be rechargeable based on a filing Microsoft did back in January 2016. Who knows, maybe they’ll surprise us with a 4K display and longer battery life, but it’s pretty early to impose any predictions like that.