Published on the 12/11/2015 | Written by Donovan Jackson
‘Laptop replacement’ gadget available for purchase in New Zealand from today…
Kudos to Microsoft: some never thought Surface would get as far as it has, but with the launch of the Pro 4 iteration, the company has demonstrated its mettle in the hardware market and delivered a product which is refined, mature and ready to go to work. We know this to some extent because Microsoft has given iStart a device to check out and initial impressions are very good.
Pitched as the tablet that can replace your laptop, the Surface Pro 4 has a slightly larger screen (at 12.3 inches) and the by-now familiar optional snap-on keyboard. While the lower end starts with an Intel Core m3 processor (which we think can safely be ignored), the rest of the range has the more familiar Core i5 and i7 chips, with RAM starting at 4GB and going up to a good and healthy 16GB; max hard drive capacity comes in at 512GB, with solid state across the board.
The device tips the scales at 800 grams, has a pen which is a little perplexing (but, according to Jordanna Murray, Surface product manager, around half of Surface 3 owners use the pen) and the trademark kickstand. On initial impressions, the keyboard types well, the screen is big enough to work on and, with more things in the cloud these days, getting set up and ready to work on the test device with which Microsoft has entrusted us, is a minutes-long procedure.
In short, we’re impressed. The Surface Pro 4 doesn’t replace the Surface 3, which Murray said stays on sale, and it also doesn’t come cheap (‘it is a premium product”, she noted). Over the course of the coming month, we’ll spend more time with the device and provide a verdict on whether or not it is indeed that most wonderful of things: a sufficiently useful fusion of tablet and laptop which might allow you to dispense with both in favour of the Pro 4.
The Surface Pro 4 is available from the following prices:
- 128 GB Core m3 with 4 GB of RAM – NZD$1,599.00
- 128 GB Core i5 with 4 GB of RAM – NZD $1,799.00
- 256 GB Core i5 with 8 GB of RAM – NZD $2,349.00
- 256 GB Core i7 with 8 GB of RAM – NZD $2,899.00
- 256 GB Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM – NZD $3,249.00
- 512 GB Core i7 with 16 GB of RAM – NZD $3,999.00
