Microsoft Surface Pro 9

Join us in the conversation in our main discussion thread for Microsoft’s Surface Pro 9 model of tablet PCs/2-in-1’s.

Product Page

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-pro-9/93vkd8np4fvk

Tech Specs

Click to reveal

Tech specs

Processor Surface Pro 9:

  • 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i5-1235U processor
  • 12th Gen Intel® Core™ i7-1255U processor
  • Options with storage 256 GB and above built on the Intel® Evo™ platform

Surface Pro 9 with 5G:

  • Microsoft SQ® 3 processor

  • Neural Processing Unit (NPU)
    Graphics * Surface Pro 9: Intel® Iris® Xe Graphics

  • Surface Pro 9 with 5G: Microsoft SQ® 3 Adreno™ 8CX Gen 3
    Memory and Storage6 * Surface Pro 9: 8GB, 16GB, 32GB (LPDDR5 RAM)

  • Surface Pro 9 with 5G: 8GB or 16GB LPDDR4x RAM

  • Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi): Removable7 drive (SSD) options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB

  • Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G): Removable7 drive (SSD) options: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
    Display Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi):

  • Screen: 13” PixelSense™ Flow Display

  • Resolution: 2880 X 1920 (267 PPI)

  • Color profile: sRGB and Vivid Refresh rate up to 120Hz (Dynamic refresh rate supported)

  • Aspect ratio: 3:2

  • Contrast ratio: 1200:1

  • Adaptive Color

  • Auto Color Management supported

  • Touch: 10-point multi-touch

  • Dolby Vision IQ™ support17

  • Gorilla® Glass 5

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G):

  • Screen: 13” PixelSense™ Flow Display

  • Resolution: 2880 X 1920 (267 PPI)

  • Color profile: sRGB and Vivid

  • Dynamic refresh rate up to 120Hz

  • Aspect ratio: 3:2

  • Contrast ratio: 1200:1

  • Adaptive Color

  • Touch: 10-point multi-touch

  • Gorilla® Glass 5
    Battery3 Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi): Up to 15.5 hours of typical device usage
    Surface Pro 9 (SQ®3/5G): Up to 19 hours of typical device usage
    Size and Weight1 Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • Length: 11.3”(287 mm)

  • Width: 8.2” (209 mm)

  • Height: 0.37” (9.3 mm)

  • Weight1: 1.94 lb (879 g)

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G):

  • Length: 11.3” (287 mm)

  • Width: 8.2” (209 mm)

  • Height: 0.37” (9.3 mm)

  • Weight1: 1.95 lb (883 g) (mmWave)
    Security Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi):

  • Firmware TPM 2.0 is a security processor that is designed to give you peace of mind.

  • Windows Hello face sign-in

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G):

  • Enhanced security with Microsoft Pluton

  • Windows Hello face sign-in
    Video/Cameras Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi):

  • Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)

  • Front-facing camera with 1080p full HD video

  • 10.0MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD and 4k video

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G):

  • Windows Hello face authentication camera (front-facing)

  • Front-facing camera with 1080p full HD video

  • 10.0 MP rear-facing autofocus camera with 1080p HD and 4k video
    Audio 2W stereo speakers with Dolby® Atmos®8
    Mics Dual far field studio microphones
    Connections Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • 2 x USB-C® with USB 4.0/ Thunderbolt™ 4

  • 1 x Surface Connect port

  • 1 x Surface Type Cover port

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

  • 2 x USB-C® 3.2

  • 1 x Surface Connect port

  • Surface Keyboard port

  • 1 x nano SIM
    Network and connectivity Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • Wi-Fi 6E: 802.11ax compatible

  • Bluetooth® Wireless 5.1 technology

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

  • Wi-Fi 6E: 802.11ax compatible

  • Bluetooth® Wireless 5.1 technology

  • Location: GPS, Glonass, Galileo and Beidou Support

  • NanoSIM and eSIM support

  • Supports 5G4

  • 5G-NR NSA (mmWave): Release 15 DL 64 QAM up to 4.2 Gbps 4xDL CA (400MHz), 2x2 MIMO

  • 5G-NR NSA (mmWave): Release 15 UL 64 QAM, 2xUL CA (200MHz), 2x2 MIMO

  • 5G-NR NSA (mmWave) Bands: n257, n260, n261

  • Gigabit LTE - A Pro Release 15 with 4x4 MIMO and LAA

  • LTE DL Cat 20, 256 QAM up to 2Gbps, 5xDL CA

  • LTE UL Cat 13, 64 QAM Contiguous 2X ULCA

  • LTE Bands: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 7, 8, 12, 13, 14, 19, 20, 25, 26, 28, 29, 30, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 46, 48, 66, 71

  • WCDMA: 1,2,5,8
    Pen and accessories compatibility Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • Designed for Surface Slim Pen 22

  • Integrated storage and wireless charging for Surface Slim Pen 2 with Surface Pro Signature Keyboard2

  • Supports tactile signals9 with Surface Slim Pen 2

  • Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP)

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

  • Designed for Surface Slim Pen 22
  • Integrated storage and wireless charging for Surface Slim Pen 2 with Surface Pro Signature Keyboard2
  • Supports tactile signals9 with Surface Slim Pen 2
  • Supports Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP)

Accessories Support2

  • Surface Pro Keyboard

  • Surface Pro Signature Keyboard

  • Surface Pro X Keyboard

  • Surface Pro X Signature Keyboard
    Software Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • Windows 11 Home

  • Preloaded Microsoft 365 Apps10

  • Microsoft 365 Family 30-day trial11

  • Preloaded Xbox app

  • Xbox Game Pass Ultimate 30-day trial12

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

  • Casing: Aluminum

  • Colors13: Platinum

  • Physical Buttons: Volume, Power
    Sensors * Accelerometer

  • Gyroscope

  • Magnetometer

  • Ambient Color sensor
    What’s in the box Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • Power Supply

  • Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

  • Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

  • Power Supply

  • Quick Start Guide Safety and warranty documents

  • SIM Card access tool
    Warranty14 1-year limited hardware warranty
    Battery capacities Surface Pro 9 (Intel/Wifi)

  • Battery Capacity Nominal (WH) 47.7 Wh

  • Battery Capacity Min (WH) 46.5 Wh

Surface Pro 9 (SQ® 3/5G)

  • Battery Capacity Nominal (WH) 47.7 Wh
  • Battery Capacity Min (WH) 46.5Wh

Microsoft Mechanics Technical Deep Dive

1 Like

Interesting. Improved repairability is noted at 10:47 here in the Microsoft Mechanics overview highlighting that “the internal batteries, the motherboard, and thermal modules, as well as (…) the display” (…) can now also be easily removed and replaced. I wonder if their use of the term “Authorized Service Technician” applies in the same way as it does with SSDs on the Surface Pro X and 8. Because if so, I’m now my own Authorized Service Technician for practically everything… :rofl: In all seriousness, this would mean Microsoft actually made good on their partnership promise with iFixIt and really is making Surface easily serviceable in every way.

1 Like

I’ve pre-ordered the ARM version - will have it on the 25th. It will be nice to be down to one Surface Pro Device again, been using both the Pro 8 and Pro X. I will confess the Surface Liberty was tempting.

4 Likes

Shame they removed the headphone jack for no good reason.

3 Likes

And the mSD slot. :man_facepalming:

2 Likes

Well, technically, in the Surface Pro 8, but still dumb choice nonetheless. A close family member of mine still complains about that dumb design choice to this day. I agree. One step forward (who asked for more colors, anyway?), two steps back (headphone jack- and micro SD slot-less “courage”).

1 Like

We will get hands on with it Friday though I don’t know if we will be able to actually do any testing.

One of our sales reps was at the press demo and MS was telling some people that they expect to sell equal numbers of the Intel Pro 9 and the Pro 9 5G…they actually expect to sell MORE in to fortune 500 since it’s the “ideal teams travel device”

Our reps’ reaction was “REALLY???”

5 Likes

Ah, I wasn’t paying attention. So Panos’ copycat of Apple is imperfect since at the same time the Pro 8 was coming out Apple was putting the full sized SD card back in the MacBook Pro, 'cause a pro device can make good use of one and they finally listened to users (once Jony’s influence could be ignored).

2 Likes

I’ve said this elsewhere and implied it here, but I just don’t see the value incentive for the Pro 9 ARM at all.

The Pro 9 ARM is more expensive than the Intel version. The Pro 9 ARM is thicker and heavier than the Pro X, so you don’t have the benefits of the sleeker form factor (I mean, the chassis still has the groove around as if it had a fan - see edit). It’s only rated for an additional 3.5 hours of battery life, which in practical use will probably be more like a 1.5-2 hour advantage over Intel. So what extra are you getting for your money, 5G? That’s nice, but there are so many drawbacks to ARM on Windows that that’s a huge mistake.

It feels like if they plan on selling a bunch, more than anything else they’re banking on the confusion of ignorant users getting the Pro 9 with 5G and not knowing it’s ARM. Or that they know this isn’t going to sell and that’s why there’s fewer SKUs compared to the Intel one.

Edit: After looking into the conflicting reports on this fan vent thing, it apparently still has the groove around the chassis but no actual vents.

3 Likes

The repairability/replaceability is great* but other than that it seems the idiocy and condescension is reaching ever deeper into Microsoft.

And to think the Ribbon™️ used to be one of our biggest gripes.

*One can’t help but think they are only really doing this to get ahead of legislation forcing them to, ala Apple.

1 Like

This is probably the first time that I’ve felt absolutely no motivation to upgrade (from my SP8). The most recent iterations of the Surface Pro have become so incremental that I really don’t see the point.

But what’s really crazy is that my trusty ZBook X2 is still frequently my go-to platform, especially for technical work. If it didn’t weigh 4+ pounds, I might not even own a Surface Pro!

Maybe the idea of the SP9 will grow on me over time, but I kinda’ doubt it…

5 Likes

Not even for the fun new colors? :slight_smile:

I’m actually kind of surprised how much I like them.

Oh that reminds me, I was going to comment that it looks like they just copied the AirPods max colors, minus the red one:

Looks familiar?

Yeah but MS take on green is the far superior IMHO

1 Like

Isn’t a bunch of new colors usually a good sign that engineers didn’t have a whole lot of new stuff to contribute so marketing feels compelled to step in?

6 Likes

Nope. It’s boring, but black or silver-gray are typically my preferred colors for electronics. I’ll usually select a colored keyboard cover, though, so I guess I can’t claim to be totally a purest…!

3 Likes

Kuma: A good point. As I’ve said elsewhere, I think that the Surface Pro form factor has matured and stabilized in much the same way that the laptop form factor has. (In fact, they’re variations on the same ergonomic “theme,” so this outcome was inevitable.) And, although I’d love to see some startling new innovation on the Surface Pro line, I really don’t expect it and I don’t begrudge Microsoft sticking with a tried-and-true performer. Like the iPhone, Surface Pro has simply evolved into a comfortable design rut…

3 Likes

I think this generation is going to be a hard pass for most people, myself included if I can’t find one of those “open secret” demo deals this time around. I don’t think we will see a strong reason to upgrade until Surface Pro 10, which ironically is an unintended hat tip to the roman numeral in the Pro X’s name. With the Pro 10, I think NUVIA will finally bear fruit at that point for Qualcomm and give us incredible ARM performance in the ARM version, and meanwhile Intel’s 13th Gen will get the power efficiency wrinkles ironed allowing us to get a much better performing and efficient X86 version.

2 Likes

When the new 9 5G is out with a better emulation engine will that have any positive consequences for Pro X? Will it be backwards compatible? Pro X gets an upgrade? Not to put to fine a point on this, but it would be sweet if there was some nice bargains to be made.

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MS and Qualcomm continue to improve X86 emulation for all WOA devices… There appear to be some additional optimizations that are utilizing the neural engine stuff that wont make it to the Pro X such as the improved noise cancellation and image quality stuff with the front and rear cameras. OTOH intel Pro 9 misses out on those as well

3 Likes

Now that’s ingenious!