The USB-C is useful more than you can imagine. Thanks to USB-C the Surface Pro 7 is the first Surface Pro ever to feature two simultaneous USB ports without any external USB Hubs. Also Surface Pro 7 thanks to this very important USB-C, is the first Surface Pro ever that you can left its exclusive Surface-only charger at home and charge it via most of the modern smartphone's USB-C chargers.
The USB-C is the "COMPATIBLITY" more than you can think about dear writer.
Compatibility with the vast world of USB-C accessories (Mainly USB-C hubs) is the next super important feature that was absent on older Surface Pro devices.

So go back in time and do the review again but this time with wide open eyes!

Obviously you yourself are not a Surface Pro user so you can't understand the importance of those 3 advantages that I mentioned above. I am a "USER" of Surface Pro 2/4/5/7/8 and I tell you that adding USB-C to Surface Pro 7 is enough to call the device Surface Pro 10 practically at that time not Surface Pro 6.5.

As a new university student in nursing, I will take ALOT of notes on my tablet. I already have a surface go (which I am going to change for a new device) and a macbook air (that I use for most of my heavy school work). Do you recommend for me to buy a surface pro 7 i5 or i7? I do watch movies or youtube videos sometimes, i'm not a big gamer but I might play a little for time to time. This device is going to be mainly for note taking. I'm not too sure that I like apple ecosystem as I am a samsung fan myself and I am kinda already used to windows.

With the release of the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 I have been thinking about getting one with the intention of making it y primary drawing device.
Now I own both a XP-Pen Artist 24 Pro 24" drawing tablet monitor  and a Surface Pro 7. They are very different experiences, but neither are bad.
Surface Pro :  Much smaller size, which is a plus for portability,  I can Artist 24 Pro : draw on the couch or in bed, whereas the Artist 24 Pro  has me tied to a desk. The Surface I have is so crisp and nice and the colours are extremely vivid.
- Much better pen pressure detection and more pressure levels ; Bigger screen size and physical programmable buttons;
;  Only as strong as the computer it's plugged into.

With YouTube on continuous play (50% brightness, no other apps open), I get around 7.5 hours of battery life.  Also, my SP 7 (i5, 8 ram, 128 ssd) was not new, it was an open-box excellent condition purchase from Best Buy.  Anyway, here are some of the things I did to increase my SP's battery life:

1. All background apps are always turned off.

2. Use Microsoft Edge Canary browser (Google Chrome is a big drain on the battery).

3. Unless I am using it, the Edge Canary browser is always closed.

4. Screen brightness kept at around 50%-60%.

5. Battery saver mode is always activated when the SP 7 is unplugged.

6. Applied tips from this webpage, "Ultimate Tips to Max Out Microsoft Surface Battery Life"

7. Instilled this update,  SurfacePro7_Win10_17763_20.020.2886.0.msi

8. Uninstalled this update, SurfacePro7_Win10_18362_ 20.014.39957.0.msi, from my SP 7. 

For whatever reason, #8 increased my battery's life by around 1.5 hours. Hope these things work as well for you as they did for me...

Quote from: YoTram on May 02, 2020, 13:37:37

Quote from: 4sofnature on November 19, 2019, 20:24:00
Many comparison benchmarks only account for Surface products while omitting potential competitors like iPad Pro, Tab S6, and traditional convertibles. One one hand not many other manufacturers find it a practical form factor for running Windows 10. On the other hand in real world usage competitor deliver fuller experience rather than a little of everything like SP7.
While XPS 13 2 in 1 only receives 86% score, compared to SP7 it has better built quality, brighter/less reflective screen, Thunderbolt 3, larger trackpad, more comfortable laptop experience, better performance, less thermal throttling.
Those running dedicated tablet OS like iPad Pro and Samsung Tab S6 may not look as professional but they are better suited for everyday use.
All in all, the Surface Pro line used to boast a bright future when RT was launched in 2012. However since then they have kept making marginal upgrades and omitting major flaws of this form factor.

If you want a laptop, take a Surface Laptop. If you take a Surface Pro, it is to benefit of the tablet experience; an XPS 13 is twice the weight and twice the thickness.
If for you, it does not matter, you maybe one of the few people that does not see the difference between an iPad and a budget thick sub 100$ tablet.
But the difference is MASSIVE. So yes, this is one, if not THE, finest most powerful tablet out there, full stop.
An iPad is all fine but can I calibrate the screen with an external probe? Is there program allowing me to apply a LUT to a video shoot in a flat profile like S-Log (which is really the basic of a video editing workflow)? Can I do something remotely close to Capture One Pro in term of photo editing?

Oh, and sorry but no, the Dell clearly does NOT have a better built quality than the magnesium chassis of the Surface. It can be seen that you did not own a Dell laptop and a Surface like me because I can tell you that there is not question about it.

You are speaking of major flaws but what are they? If you prefer thin laptop, or powerful thicker laptop with dedicated GPU, Microsoft offers that also.
But the Surface Pro, with its kickstand, is unique and the most powerful and verstatile premium device out there. That is for sure.

Very interesting you should mention professional video editing involving LUTs on a tablet with an integrated GPU, one that seems far weaker than Apple's, at that. Apple's on the verge of moving most Mac models to ARM too so you should soon see cross-compatibility between Mac software like FCP and iPadOS, which considering the performance of the A series would all but leave SP in the dust.
I also don't agree that the SP is about the tablet experience, it's more like the digitizer is better used with a kickstand as opposed to a non-360° hinge, or even a 360° hinge because of better stability at lower angles. OTOH, having a detachable keyboard would further improve upon that experience, because the shortcut keys would be better used if to the side of the digitizer, instead of the front, but the stupid SP keyboard only works attached, so I'd say VAIO's discontinued Z Canvas was a dedicated tablet experience, while SP is a halfway compromise that's not light with the keyboard included and inconvenient without it.
Oh, and it's significantly overpriced compared to other hybrid devices of similar specs.

Quote from: 4sofnature on November 19, 2019, 20:24:00
Many comparison benchmarks only account for Surface products while omitting potential competitors like iPad Pro, Tab S6, and traditional convertibles. One one hand not many other manufacturers find it a practical form factor for running Windows 10. On the other hand in real world usage competitor deliver fuller experience rather than a little of everything like SP7.
While XPS 13 2 in 1 only receives 86% score, compared to SP7 it has better built quality, brighter/less reflective screen, Thunderbolt 3, larger trackpad, more comfortable laptop experience, better performance, less thermal throttling.
Those running dedicated tablet OS like iPad Pro and Samsung Tab S6 may not look as professional but they are better suited for everyday use.
All in all, the Surface Pro line used to boast a bright future when RT was launched in 2012. However since then they have kept making marginal upgrades and omitting major flaws of this form factor.

If you want a laptop, take a Surface Laptop. If you take a Surface Pro, it is to benefit of the tablet experience; an XPS 13 is twice the weight and twice the thickness.
If for you, it does not matter, you maybe one of the few people that does not see the difference between an iPad and a budget thick sub 100$ tablet.
But the difference is MASSIVE. So yes, this is one, if not THE, finest most powerful tablet out there, full stop.
An iPad is all fine but can I calibrate the screen with an external probe? Is there program allowing me to apply a LUT to a video shoot in a flat profile like S-Log (which is really the basic of a video editing workflow)? Can I do something remotely close to Capture One Pro in term of photo editing?

Oh, and sorry but no, the Dell clearly does NOT have a better built quality than the magnesium chassis of the Surface. It can be seen that you did not own a Dell laptop and a Surface like me because I can tell you that there is not question about it.

You are speaking of major flaws but what are they? If you prefer thin laptop, or powerful thicker laptop with dedicated GPU, Microsoft offers that also.
But the Surface Pro, with its kickstand, is unique and the most powerful and verstatile premium device out there. That is for sure.

Quote from: Lee Salter on April 15, 2020, 15:13:31
I'm baffled! I've had Surfaces ever since RT (incl Books and Pros) and use Notebookcheck as the only reliable guide - most recently to purchse the Surface 7 i5. I can't understand how you get the battery life you mention in the review. If I have the wifi on, I get 4-5 hours max. I've gone through evey suggested solution, and returned for a replacement this week. The brand new replacement gets ... 4-5 hours.

So I would love to know

1. how dd you get 7+ hours if you actually use it (I've managed 6.5 by leaving it on without touching it)?

2. Why you gave it such a high rating when A it is a "portable" device that cannot be used portably when the battery is so poor and B any use whatsoever shows Microsoft's 10.5 hours battery is quite simply a lie (I've not seen any review that gives more than 7.5 hours)

Surely you should rate laptops in terms of manufacturers' stated function - i.e. if it's a portable device, great performance is a welcome bonus, but a poor battery life should be a major no-no. Time to revisit the review?

Wow that's bad, I got longer out of a 2015-end 12" quad core standard voltage Broadwell, set to <15% brightness with all battery saving on and only running Edge.

I'm baffled! I've had Surfaces ever since RT (incl Books and Pros) and use Notebookcheck as the only reliable guide - most recently to purchse the Surface 7 i5. I can't understand how you get the battery life you mention in the review. If I have the wifi on, I get 4-5 hours max. I've gone through evey suggested solution, and returned for a replacement this week. The brand new replacement gets ... 4-5 hours.

So I would love to know

1. how dd you get 7+ hours if you actually use it (I've managed 6.5 by leaving it on without touching it)?

2. Why you gave it such a high rating when A it is a "portable" device that cannot be used portably when the battery is so poor and B any use whatsoever shows Microsoft's 10.5 hours battery is quite simply a lie (I've not seen any review that gives more than 7.5 hours)

Surely you should rate laptops in terms of manufacturers' stated function - i.e. if it's a portable device, great performance is a welcome bonus, but a poor battery life should be a major no-no. Time to revisit the review?

Hello,

Can you please make available that ICM calibration profile that was mentioned in the review. I do not have the right knowledge to do that manually by looking at those pictures.

Thank you!

It's a shame this is (to the best of my knowledge) the only 10th gen tablet/2in1 form factor available on the market, reason being it doesn't sport Thunderbolt 3. I have recently acquired a Latitude 5290 2in1 which along with the upgraded 7200, carry 8th gen (standard then refresh on the 7200) and DOUBLE TB3 ports (optionally though). Thunderbolt 3 is now essential to turn these little machines into desktop replacements with a portable external GPU (eGPU). I have been both gaming and being productive for work with it and there's nothing quite like in the price range. There are alternatives (namely the Lenovo X1 Tablet 2018, large, crisper screen) and the HP Elite X2, both pushing maybe a little harder on performance due to size (both) and dual fans (on the later), but with a bit of throttlestopping, I've gotten my 5290 capped out at 85º and running like a champ with an external 1070. I also dock it to LAN, keyboard, mouse, a SATA 3 HDD or SSD, and have 2x USB-A and 1x USB-C to spare on my Omen Accelerator box, which go figure, costs about the same if not less used than any of MS, HP, Thinkpad or even Dell's own docks. And if that's too large for you (because it IS massive) and wanna carry it around, there's always stuff like the GPU pre-fitted Aorus gaming box (no LAN, USB LAN costs 5 bucks tho) or a modified Node Lite with TB3 passthrough/daisy-chain capability, which you can then dock to a 20USD USB-C dongle with all of the above (USB-A, LAN and even more power delivery, although I digress on the later, might as well plug it on the 5290's second port).

Any idea why the contrast is so much lower on the Pro 7 considering they have used the same screen solution for multiple iterations now.

If they would just add thunderbolt 3 to the USb-c port this would be a no brainer... but my guess is they only have so many PCIe lanes and have to choose between 'their dock' and thunderbolt3.   I can understand them holding onto it but its a losing proposition in the long run.

Quote from: GrosseFatigue on November 24, 2019, 02:30:43
- I would not use Microsoft keyboard. I hate the fabric. I would use the Brydge. Dont care if it is even thicker. The Brydge is lacking an extended battery which would make the Surface Pro a small Surface Book. Almost.

- It is not a Touch screen like the XPS 13.3 2 in 1 which is useless and drive prices up. It has a screen that accept a 4096 pressure sensitive pen for drawing. I am not sure why Notebook check does not emphasize that difference between the XPS 2 in 1 and the Surface Pro. Dell 15 2 in 1 has such a screen but I prefer 3.2 form factor for drawing.

I wouldn't say a touchscreen is useless, for example it makes you almost ambidextrous as all touch operation with a left hand is nearly as easy as as with a right hand, so sometimes using a left hand to reach for the screen is faster.
But then I still use a mouse so I guess my use case isn't that common.

- I would not use Microsoft keyboard. I hate the fabric. I would use the Brydge. Dont care if it is even thicker. The Brydge is lacking an extended battery which would make the Surface Pro a small Surface Book. Almost.

- It is not a Touch screen like the XPS 13.3 2 in 1 which is useless and drive prices up. It has a screen that accept a 4096 pressure sensitive pen for drawing. I am not sure why Notebook check does not emphasize that difference between the XPS 2 in 1 and the Surface Pro. Dell 15 2 in 1 has such a screen but I prefer 3.2 form factor for drawing.

Should have had Thunderbolt 3 absolutely and also a brighter HDR panel. Physical touchpad buttons on its keyboard will also be a major upgrade.

Why an i5 tablet is being compared to other i7 machines or last generation i7 models in this review?

Lack of thunderbolt 3 is really a shame.