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I feel as if the Surface brand of laptops and tablets from Microsoft can never really catch a break. Dedicated hardware from the big blue often falls short in many different areas, the least of which is that they always seem to be one step behind in terms of hardware. Remember the Surface Duo? No? Well.
On September 22nd, Microsoft will have a new line of laptops coming, presumably under the guise of the Surface Book 4 and Surface Pro X, their 2-in-1 combination device. Recent patents on PatentScope have indicated that the new Surface laptop might feature a hinged screen that can be moved forward and down, presumably to assist with more creative tasks.
Though, the thing I'm most interested in about said laptops is what's inside. See, the Surface brand has always been a bit weak at times or quickly left behind. These devices are great if you get in on the ground floor and better, cheaper alternatives are always available regardless. Will they - presumably - go with Intel Xe graphics in a bid to go up against the might of Apple's M1? The teaser image included on the website is obviously very thin, leading me to believe it will be an integrated card, rather than the laptop line of NVIDIA's RTX cards.
If one of the devices does have the Xe graphics in, our recent tests with another device have lead to iffy results on the i5 range, especially when apps are unoptimized for it.
The more interesting thing though is that these will probably be one of the first devices out the door with Windows 11 already installed on it. Windows 11 is set to launch this October, but OEMs and others probably won't have the operating system ready to go on hardware until their next refreshes.
Personally, I'd love to see a Surface Laptop that comes with an RTX card, enough RAM, and the touch screen, as my iPad Air 4th Gen has now converted me to the touchscreen and keyboard combination. Having a Windows device that could meet that would be excellent.
At the top, I reminded you about Microsoft's Surface Duo, which is also supposedly going to be at the event. The folding phone doesn't do one layer of glass, but two individual screens and is going to see a massive spec bump to put it on par with other devices on the market at the moment, instead of it being fairly outdated for a high cost.
