Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 21, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Surface Pro 2
CPU Performance
While multitasking on Surface 2 can struggle, the same really can’t be said for Surface Pro 2. The tablet is effectively a Haswell Ultrabook, capable of delivering the exact same performance as a 2013 MacBook Air – but in the form factor of a thick tablet. The performance of Intel’s Core i5-4200U is a fairly known quantity at this point, but to put Surface Pro 2’s tablet performance in perspective here are some comparisons to the best of the best in the ARM tablet space.
I ran tests using both Chrome and IE11, the latter is really only optimized for SunSpider and horribly unoptimized for everything else. In general you're multiple times better performance than what you can get from a quad-core Cortex A15 based device. If we look at Kraken, Surface Pro 2 running IE11 completes the test in 1/4 the time as Surface 2 running the same browser.
GPU Performance
Intel’s HD 4400 is good enough for light gaming and is a huge step above what you can find in a traditional ARM based tablet. Microsoft only gave us a few days to review both devices so I didn’t have a ton of time to re-characterize the performance of Intel’s HD 4400, but I’ve done that elsewhere already.
Storage Performance
My review sample appears to have a SK Hynix based SSD. I ran it through the same modified IO tests I did on the ASUS T100:
Our Android IO tests rely on Androbench with a relatively limited LBA span. I increased the difficulty of the test a bit under Windows 8.1 but still kept it reasonable since we are dealing with eMMC solutions. I’m testing across a 1GB LBA span and testing for a period of 1 minute, which is an ok balance between difficulty of workload and sensitivity to the fact that we’re evaluating low-class SSDs here.
Surface Pro 2 is a completely different league of IO performance. The number to pay attention here is the tremendous increase in random write performance compared to the eMMC solutions we’ve tested. I suspect the gap increases if we were to look at worst case sustained random write performance. Killer sequential performance definitely helps Surface Pro 2 feel quick.
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doobydoo - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
What, you're comparing the old iPad (to be replaced TOMORROW) with two brand new tablets? And using that to claim that Apple's screens don't win on every test?kyuu - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Yes? You can speculate all you want on how magical the new iPad(s) will be, but they're not out now and comparing to unknown hardware is downright absurd.YuLeven - Wednesday, October 23, 2013 - link
Tomorrow has come, and the new iPad is just a thinner and lighter oversized iPod.According to my calculations, 47% better at chopping onions! And it has the Instagram app, so you can take some nice pics of your chopped onions and share with your friends!
Krysto - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Less than 7h battery? Microsoft isn't even trying anymore, is it? I tested a Surface Pro in a store recently - heavy as hell. Why would I buy a heavy tablet that's almost unusable as a tablet, and has only 7h of battery life?kyuu - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Because you want a real computer in a tablet form factor, not an oversized smartphone/ereader? Just a thought.Klimax - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
As soon as you want to do little more then just wasting time?vanZilch - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Why comparing surface pro 2 with ipad and android tablets? Doesn't make any sense because... Aren't surface pro 2 more like laptop in a comparison?Kevin G - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
Because the Surface Pro is more of a hybrid design with a tablet form factor and ULV laptop parts on the inside. It is fair comparison to make against both platforms, especially to see if it is the best of both world, the jack of all trades or the master of none.Krysto - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
I love how Anand keeps telling us that "the next Surface" or "next Intel processor" will be so much better and awesome. And yet it never happens. Why? Because the competition beats them by a large margin that year, too.We've seen it now with the Surface Pro, and we've already seen it with Bay Trail in the T100, which barely competes with last year's chip.
Pro-tip for Anand: maybe you shouldn't try so hard promoting these things a WHOLE YEAR until you actually review them, while knowing very little about them other than the bullshit press releases Intel and Microsoft are sending you.
Sending press releases saying how awesome your new product will be and being misleading without giving all the information, is easy. Actually delivering it against the competition at the time, is the hard part.
at80eighty - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
it's pretty funny; anand gets bashed in the same thread by people for being pro apple and pro MS at the same time apparently. quite the feat