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Microsoft Surface Pro 6: Top device that convinces, but I still won't buy it

23.3.2019

Translation: machine translated

The new Surface Pro is basically an update. It is no different from the 2017 version on the outside. But it has an 8th generation Intel processor inside. Find out how the Surface Pro 6 performs and whether it's worth your money in this review.

Microsoft has managed to get me excited about the Surface series. Not least thanks to the small 10-inch Surface Go, which I was able to scrutinise in August. Nevertheless, I always prefer a compact notebook to a tablet or 2-in-1 device. Especially as tablets have the disadvantage of being more than just tricky to repair in the event of a defect. Glued, soldered, permanently installed batteries... I consider all of this to be an absurdity in this day and age.

Now it's finally the turn of the big brother of the Surface Go. I'm excited about the new Surface Pro 6 - more weight, more display and more performance await me. And what makes me particularly happy, in contrast to tablets with Android or iOS, is that you can be fully productive on the Surface products. Thanks to Windows 10, you can install everything you have on your desktop. However, you will have to dig relatively deep into your pocket for this.

What you get with the Surface Pro 6

You can buy the Surface Pro 6 in different variants. Passively cooled with i5 or actively cooled with i7 processor. With 128, 256, 512 GB memory or even a 1 TB SSD. What's more, it's now also available in black.

I received the following i5 variant for this review:

Notebooks

Microsoft Surface Pro 6

12.30", 256 GB, 8 GB, CH, Intel Core i5-8250U

In addition, I am testing with a Signature Type Cover and a Surface Pen:

Notebook spare parts

Microsoft Surface Go Type Cover

Styluses

EUR71,39

Microsoft Surface Pen

The technical data:

Intel Core i5-8250U
Integrated graphics processor: Intel UHD Graphics 620
8 GB RAM
256 GB SSD
microSDXC slot
12.3" IPS multi-touch display (PixelSense display) with 2736 x 1824 pixels (aspect ratio of 3:2, 267 ppi, high-gloss, supports pen input)
Stereo speakers with Dolby Audio Premium, dual microphones, 3.5 mm jack connection
5-megapixel front camera and 8-megapixel rear camera (both with 1080p video resolution)
Environmental light sensor, accelerometer, gyroscope, Windows Hello camera (face recognition)
Lithium-ion battery with 45 Wh
Windows 10 Home

Design and connections

Except for the black colour option, nothing has changed externally compared to the 2017 version. Why change things that are well received? Well, there is one point; I miss a USB-C or Thunderbolt port.

The magnesium housing of the Surface Pro 6 measures 29.21 x 20.07 x 0.85 cm. It weighs 770 g without the Signature Type Cover. It feels very good and has a fold-out stand plate that looks relatively delicate, but still proves to be stable during use.

Thanks to the microSDXC slot under the stand, you can expand the memory.

Under the stand is the microSDXC slot, which should be very important, especially with a 128 or 256 GB version.

Ventilation cut-outs so that your i5 processor doesn't end up looking down the tube.

A Mini DisplayPort, a USB 3.0 Type-A port and the power connection (Surface Connect port) are installed on the right-hand side. There is a narrow groove around the entire tablet, which is flush with the stand. There are also ventilation cut-outs in this groove, which start above the Mini DisplayPort and extend through to the other side. The jack connection, for which I am always very grateful, can be found at the very top on the left-hand side. The power button and volume rocker are located at the top of the tablet.

The Surface Pro has the following ports: Mini DisplayPort, USB 3.0 Type-A, power connector, jack connector, interface for the Type Cover

The magnetic connector for the cover is located at the bottom of the tablet. If you want more connections, you will have to use an adapter/hub.

PixelSense display in 3:2 format

The 12.3-inch high-gloss display in 3:2 format offers 267 ppi and looks razor-sharp. It's really fun to work with or watch films on - I find the colour temperatures extremely pleasant. However, the IPS panel with a resolution of 2736 x 1824 pixels should only make graphic designers and creative workers happy to a limited extent. Although it covers 92.4 per cent of the sRGB spectrum according to trustedreviews.com, it disappoints with just 64.3 per cent for Adobe RGB. For DCI-P3 it is 66.7 per cent. It is therefore not really suitable for prepress processes or film production. With a black value of 0.26 cd/m² and a white value of 324.7 cd/m², the contrast ratio is 1243:1, which is a good value. Otherwise, it has a stable viewing angle and is evenly illuminated.

Accessories

Nothing has changed in terms of accessories compared to the previous version - in other words, there are no new type covers or pens. I think that's fine, as new hardware is often sold at an inflated price. The existing accessories are therefore compatible.

Signature Type Cover

The cover turns the tablet into a notebook. It is a keyboard, trackpad and display protector in one. To connect it to the Surface Pro, simply hold it near the magnetic connector and it will automatically attach itself.

The 310 gram cover can be used flat or slightly angled. The buttons have three-stage illumination. Unfortunately, the 29.50 cm long, 21.70 cm wide and 0.50 cm high cover comes without a numeric keypad. The key travel is one millimetre and you feel a clear trigger point. Typing on it is extremely comfortable and quiet, which is a particular advantage in open-plan offices. I have to say that until a few months ago I was a big opponent of keyboards with millimetre key travel. But now I really like typing on it.

There's nothing wrong with the trackpad with multi-finger gesture support.

Surface Pen

The Surface Pen (2017 version) offers 4096 pressure levels and has a tilt function, which should be particularly useful for creative people for shading. The input latency is 21 milliseconds. The pen is powered by an AAAA battery and has a replaceable tip. There is a right-click button on the side of the pen. A second button is located at the top. This is used for pairing and can be used for various application-specific functions. It's great that the flat side of the pen can be magnetically attached to the Surface Pro. This means you always have the pen to hand.

As I'm not good at drawing, I mainly used the pen for handwritten notes. It writes very naturally and what amazed me is that Windows' font recognition almost always copes with my handwriting. Fortunately, I'm not a doctor.

Dolby Audio Premium Sound

The 1.6-watt stereo speakers with Dolby Audio Premium certification are located in the upper part to the left and right of the display. The sound is quite good considering the puny size of the speakers. Nothing rattles, the highs and mids sound clean, but the bass is starved - as is always the case with undersized speakers. On the other hand, the sound seems a lot more room-filling or wider than the distance of the installed hardware actually is.

Battery performance

Microsoft promises up to 13.5 hours of battery life with the built-in 45 Wh lithium-ion battery. This figure is based on the following facts: "Up to 13.5 hours of video playback. The test was carried out by Microsoft in April 2017 with an Intel Core i5 prototype (256 GB) with 8 GB RAM. Video playback was tested until the battery was fully discharged. All standard settings were used. Exception: There was a WLAN connection and the automatic brightness was deactivated. The battery life depends heavily on the settings, usage and other factors."

What is the battery actually good for: continuous YouTube streaming

I set the brightness of the display to medium when I'm streaming YouTube continuously. The automatic shutdown occurs after 9 hours and 20 minutes. This is an excellent value, as a look at the review of the recently compared five Ultrabooks reveals. If you compare the Surface Pro 6 with the ultrabooks, it takes first place in terms of continuous streaming. The best result at the time was achieved by the HP Spectre X360 with 8 hours and 47 minutes.

When working in the office, I have never been able to run the battery down completely. Depending on the work tasks, it can last a good 10 hours or even more.

Heavy load stress test

In contrast to the Surface Go, which got relatively hot during HeavyLoad, the heat development on the Surface Pro 6 is limited. So there's no need for a mirror load here. If I run the stress test, which pushes all hardware to its limits, with the screen at maximum brightness, the battery dies after 2 hours and 23 minutes. A good value. The Surface Go achieved 2 hours and 15 minutes. The previous record for the five ultrabooks I tested is held by the Acer Spin 5 with 1 hour and 58 minutes.

CPU and graphics processor

The 64-bit quad-core x86 Intel Core i5-8250U microprocessor was introduced in mid-2017. It is based on an improved version of the Kaby Lake microarchitecture and is manufactured using the extended second generation of the 14 nm+ process. It employees at a clock speed of 1.6 GHz and has a TDP of 15 W. The turbo boost is up to 3.4 GHz.

The chip is also equipped with Intel's UHD Graphics 620, which runs at 300 MHz and has a maximum dynamic frequency of 1.15 GHz.

Performance benchmark

To test the performance, I used Cinebench R15 and Geekbench 4.

Cinebench R15

With Cinebench R15 from Maxon, you can test how your PC performs when rendering Cinema 4D content. The benchmark is focussed on floating point performance. Processors with more cores will always deliver a better result here. If you want to compare processors with Cinebench R15, this is only possible if both processors have the same number of threads.

This is how the Surface Pro 6 with Intel Core i5-8250U performs:

For comparison: The 10-inch small Surface Go achieves just 30.78 fps with the HD Graphics 615.

Geekbench 4

Geekbench 4 is a cross-platform benchmark. It runs on Windows, MacOS, Linux, Android and iOS. In version 4 of the CPU benchmark, the base value of 4000 points reflects the performance of an Intel Core i7-6600U clocked at 2.60 GHz. In addition to simulated real-world scenarios with which the CPU is tested (single-core and multi-core), Geekbench can also determine GPU performance in the areas of image processing and machine vision. You can also compare the results with other systems thanks to the Geekbench browser.

Geekbench results of the Surface Pro 6 with Intel Core i5-8250U:

If you want to see the benchmark results in detail:

Conclusion: I would like to have it, but it's too expensive for me

The Surface Pro 6 is a beautifully designed, well-made and functional device with a long battery life. It's great that there are tablets or 2-in-1 devices with x86 processors. In combination with Windows 10, they give you the opportunity to install everything you are used to from the desktop without restrictions.

I don't like the relatively high price compared to the hardware installed. If the Signature Type Cover and the Surface Pen were included, I could understand this more. And while I'm on the subject of criticism, I'd like to point out once again that this device unfortunately doesn't have a USB-C or Thunderbolt port. However, if you want to connect an external screen, you can still do so thanks to the Mini DisplayPort. The jack connection, which is still available at Microsoft, is commendable.

All in all, apart from the monetary policy, I am absolutely thrilled with the Surface Pro 6. If you already own the 2017 version of the Surface Pro, an update will most likely not be worthwhile for you due to the minor changes. If you can't contain your emotions and want to get yourself a Surface, I recommend you take a look at the cheaper and slightly less powerful Surface Go in 10-inch format before you buy.

First published on digitec.ch on 11 December 2018

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Martin Jud

Senior Editor

martin.jud@digitecgalaxus.ch

I find my muse in everything. When I don’t, I draw inspiration from daydreaming. After all, if you dream, you don’t sleep through life.

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