Microsoft Surface Pro 9 Announced – 13-Inch Windows Tablet With More Hardware Choices, New Features, New Colors

Microsoft unveiled the Windows tablet Surface Pro 9 today on October 12, during their yearly autumn event. The Microsoft Surface Pro 9 is the successor to the Surface Pro 8 that was announced on September 22 last year, and the Surface Pro 9 will be released October 25 from $999:
https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/d/surface-pro-9/

The Surface Pro 9 is mostly an upgraded tablet that follows a natural evolution, while maintaining things like the size and secondary components.

Let's start with the processors. The new Surface Pro has been upgraded from the 11th gen to the 12th gen Intel Core processors, with options of Intel Core i5-1235U and Intel Core i7-1255U for the consumer versions, and options of Intel Core i5-1245U and Intel Core i7-1265U for the commercial enterprise versions.

But then this year we also got the expected merger of the formerly separate tablets, with the Intel Core powered Surface Pro morphing with the Qualcomm Snapdragon Windows on ARM powered Surface Pro X, so that these became the same tablet, just with different chipsets.

So the Surface Pro 9 is now also offered with a Qualcomm Snapdragon SQ3 (8CX Gen 3) processor, which also includes cellular 5G connectivity. The name of this version is ‘Surface Pro 9 with 5G.'

The processor differences also carry with them some other hardware differences. The Surface Pro 9 with 5G has options of 8GB or 16GB of LPDDR4x RAM, but the Intel powered Surface Pro 9 now features upgraded LPDDR5 RAM with choices of 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB RAM.

And while both models feature storage options of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB removable SSD storage, the Intel powered model also has the option of 1TB storage.

But both versions of the new Surface Pro 9 have the same dimensions and can be used with the same keyboards or covers and cases. The 13-inch screen has a 2880 x 1920 resolution PixelSense Flow display with a 120 Hz refresh rate, Gorilla Glass 5 protection, sRGB and Vivid color profiles, and the addition of Dolby Vision IQ for the Intel version.

Both Surface Pro 9 models also feature dual far field studio mics, 2W stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos, a 5MP front camera with 1080 Full HD video and facial recognition for logging in with, and a 10MP rear camera with 4K video support.

The thickness for both is 9.3mm, with the weight being 879 to 883 grams depending on the model configuration. And it has the rear kickstand so it can be set up at a desk or tablet at any time, with a 165 degree spread on the stand.

They are equipped with the latest dual-band a/b/g/n/ac/ax Wi-Fi 6E too, and Bluetooth 5.1. So users can get optimal Wi-Fi speeds.

As for digitizer support, the Surface Pro 9 has been designed for the Surface Slim Pen 2, which is the pen that charges in the integrated pen storage in the Surface Pro Signature keyboard. The Microsoft Pen Protocol (MPP) is supported in case you are wondering what other stylus pens will work well with the SP9.

Keyboards supported are all the Surface Pro Keyboard, Surface Pro Signature Keyboard, Surface Pro X Keyboard, and the Surface Pro X Signature Keyboard.

A 10-year Surface anniversary edition keyboard with a blue floral print called Surface Pro Liberty Keyboard with Slim Pen 2 will be launched on November 8.

The Surface Pro 9 has a new 60W power supply that comes with the tablet. Another change is that Microsoft has introduced two new color choices in addition to the graphite and platinum from before. New for the 2022-2023 model year are sapphire blue and forest green.

Here are the other differences between the models, side by side.

	Intel Core Model	5G SQ3 Model
Battery	15.5 hour battery life, measured by web browsing at 150 nits 47.7 Wh battery	19 hour battery life, measured by web browsing at 150 nits 47.7 Wh battery
Ports	2x USB C ports w/ USB 4.0/Thunderbolt 4 1x Surface Connect port 1x Surface Type Cover port	2x USB C 3.2 1x Surface Connect port 1x Surface Keyboard port 1x nano-SIM slot
Sensors	Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient color sensor	Accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, ambient color sensor, GPS, Glonass, Galileo, Beidou
OS	Windows 11 Home	Windows 11 Home on ARM
Special features	Audio: Voice Clarity	Audio: Voice Clarity, Windows Studio Effects (Voice Focus) Camera: Windows Studio Effects (Portrait, Blur, Automatic Framing, Eye Contact)
Colors	Sapphire, Forest, Platinum, Graphite	Platinum

– Tom Bowen