Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Review: An i7 Upgrade with Extra GPU Performance

[Redaktion]

The Surface Pro 7 features the best of what Microsoft has to offer. However, the Core i7 CPU might not be worth its price premium under all circumstances. In this particular case more CPU power also means more GPU power.

https://www.notebookcheck.net/Microsoft-Surface-Pro-7-Review-An-i7-Upgrade-with-Extra-GPU-Performance.454342.0.html

[byczakrew]

there's only one thing i expected from following iterations of surface pro. better pen. no wobbling, better initial force. for now i'll stay with my sf pro 4

[Dan Ridenhour]

The big question I have is why do two models with identical screens have such varying contrast ratios.     Something really odd there.

Also with Windows X, Duo, etc, coming this fall... this might be the pinnacle of the current Surface line before it changes direction a bit. 

[HwGeek]

So on battery this most expensive i7 performs like dual core Pentium??
This just  proves how bad the 10nm process is, it needs more power to boost.
Wait for next upgrade with Ryzen 4800U imo.

[william blake]

Graphics performance is where it really shines, and where the extra cost yields the most obvious return of investment

you kidding me. vega 3-vega 8 is a bigger jump. and nobody really cares. worth 10 dollars maybe. for 200-300 it stinks, not shines.

[Krasovski]

It's G7 processor, so iGPU must be 64EU, not 48.

[Bart BW]

Hello,
Your reviews are very professional but I believe more needs to be tested when it comes to the screens.
I feel like the screen quality is one of the most important things that is many times ignored or not tested to the maximum,  Have you ever though about coming up with a better testing procedure in regards to the screen?

The magnified photos of the pixels different from device to device and even  those devices that are very sharp in real life show very grainy or distorted pixels image? Why is that?  Where is the inconsistency coming from? It is hard to compere those screens 1 to 1.

I would love to see the simple high quality image of the screen showing some letters and different shapes.  Users could compare the same image against each other to easily see which screen is sharpest.
The images you provide are not enough to judge the quality of the screen.

The reflection tests usually show different images in different environment.
Why not take a shot in exactly same spot every time with some artificial lights around the laptop screen to show reflections. Again this would allow for an easy compression when it comes to the screens reflections.

The true is that most of the todays laptops have a very reflective screens and only XPS and Apple provide screens that have a working antireflective coating.  Lenovo has some filter but not all of them work well.  Some create even more reflection.  Rest of the laptops are just mirrors reflective everything. There are also antiglare screens but again not all screens are sharp as many times antiglare coating makes things even worse.

[JanesJr1]

I wish the reviewer would clarify if the "throttling" on battery is due only to the battery performance setting (which the user controls), or is due to some other system feature.  If the battery is set to "maximum performance", is there still the same throttling?

[Priya]

Great article! I just purchased a Surface Pro 7. The screen looks blurry to me. Strangely, especially in Word & Excel, where some of the icons are unrecognizable. I'm going to exchange it for another one & work with microsoft tech support to see what can be done. I used to be on the Dell Inspiron 13.3".(it just died after 2 years.) No issues with Dell screen at all. It looks much better to me than the microsoft screen. (I purchased online during the COVID shut down in Los Angeles.)
Now I noticed your articles on PWM & this review about the PWM. To defend against eye strain & migraine, I had put the brightness below 50%. When I slid it up to 52% it does seem more comfortable but I still see a fuzziness. Could that still be from PWM? I don;t do well in stores that use LED, halogen or fluorescent lighting. Would I be better off with an iPad Pro 19.9? From your chart, it appears that the iPad Pro does not use PWM? Is that right?
Or what tablet or laptop would you recommend?
I'm looking for an affordable touch screen, preferably 2 in one or detachable tablet that I can use as my only computer, as I did with the Dell 13.3. I am on the computer 60 hours a week, reading, doing research & doing very detailed work in Word & Excel. I also want to be able to draw on schematics on the computer. Thanks so very much! Great articles!

[Spee]

I would assume that the surface pro 7 with i7 and i5 are using the same display. But there is a huge difference in the PWM frequency:   
250 Hz (i7) vs 21550 Hz (i5)

Are 250 Hz maybe wrong?

[Matt S.]

Came here to confirm that the Surface pro 7 i7 screen is identical to the i5 version.  No PWM at low levels as advertised here.  I have owned both and neither unit shows flickering using the standard slow motion cell phone video test.  I have to assume that the results published on this review were in error or potentially copy/pasted from another surface model.