Microsoft Surface Pro 2 Review
by Anand Lal Shimpi on October 21, 2013 12:01 AM EST- Posted in
- Tablets
- Microsoft
- Mobile
- Surface
- Surface Pro 2
CPU Performance
While multitasking on Surface 2 can struggle, the same really can’t be said for Surface Pro 2. The tablet is effectively a Haswell Ultrabook, capable of delivering the exact same performance as a 2013 MacBook Air – but in the form factor of a thick tablet. The performance of Intel’s Core i5-4200U is a fairly known quantity at this point, but to put Surface Pro 2’s tablet performance in perspective here are some comparisons to the best of the best in the ARM tablet space.
I ran tests using both Chrome and IE11, the latter is really only optimized for SunSpider and horribly unoptimized for everything else. In general you're multiple times better performance than what you can get from a quad-core Cortex A15 based device. If we look at Kraken, Surface Pro 2 running IE11 completes the test in 1/4 the time as Surface 2 running the same browser.
GPU Performance
Intel’s HD 4400 is good enough for light gaming and is a huge step above what you can find in a traditional ARM based tablet. Microsoft only gave us a few days to review both devices so I didn’t have a ton of time to re-characterize the performance of Intel’s HD 4400, but I’ve done that elsewhere already.
Storage Performance
My review sample appears to have a SK Hynix based SSD. I ran it through the same modified IO tests I did on the ASUS T100:
Our Android IO tests rely on Androbench with a relatively limited LBA span. I increased the difficulty of the test a bit under Windows 8.1 but still kept it reasonable since we are dealing with eMMC solutions. I’m testing across a 1GB LBA span and testing for a period of 1 minute, which is an ok balance between difficulty of workload and sensitivity to the fact that we’re evaluating low-class SSDs here.
Surface Pro 2 is a completely different league of IO performance. The number to pay attention here is the tremendous increase in random write performance compared to the eMMC solutions we’ve tested. I suspect the gap increases if we were to look at worst case sustained random write performance. Killer sequential performance definitely helps Surface Pro 2 feel quick.
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HisDivineOrder - Monday, October 21, 2013 - link
I think the Razer tablet might be a bit more focused than Microsoft is with Surface Pro. It seems like internally they bet on the Surface RT line for some reason and are shocked that the Pro line is the one that most want.I think they're leaving money on the table not making a Surface with Bay Trail.
AbbyYen - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
is it only me or, why I feel all these review are Microsoft paid review. The device is out there for quite some time and only today that all those reviewer sites suddenly decide to post a review on the same day. ps: It's Apple new product announcement day.and don't get me wrong, Amand's review has always been very very informative. but I dislike the idea of occupationize reviewing. I mean how hard can it be to find USD300 to buy and review it yourself? if you can't, ask shops to sponsor a unit and by return give them a free advertise. if all fails, auction it and a slight increase price, cause you have more fan base to support it. and also the advertisement income from website. it is tedious but that's what make the review more neutral.
paid reviewer will always biased. And please shut m$oft door cause they've been good previously but now they want to shove and force you to eat win8. all these time they're backward compatible. Vista time, you can install xp, in 7, you can install xp, Vista. now? no option. you must die.
I'm in the transition to buy many machine to replace. win8 is a pain to use. and all those ultrabook are ultra easy to break. useless stuff. precision are great device with great warranty but It's too high a cost for the time being.
YakubuL - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
You got the idea of how tech blogs work wrong. For big launches like this, there is usually a review embargo for all websites. You also have to consider that Microsoft might have shipped out the devices for reviewing all at the same timebeggerking@yahoo.com - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
you sound like you are being paid by Apple.MBA is an ultrabook. are you saying it breaks easily?
AbbyYen - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
ok, sorry about the last rage. I can always go to clevo or other OEM to custom made everything. but price will be very high. maybe I'll wait for next or else explore other option. ubuntu, droid, all support custom made software. not a big deal.now back to the article. This thing won't replace notebook in the near future. too fragile. no real keyboard, battery suck, it'll fail within a year. it's only good for our sales booth where only simple input are required. Heck, on our testing periods, they prefer the iPad more. the only best thing about this is the remote desktop or server thingy.
the m$oft idea of putting office to clouds are stupid move. why would I share my info when I got my own server. and local storage is still the fastest access. cellular data are not stable. I understand that in the next future, all your device will only be a client but I really dislike that idea. client concept in an office is acceptable thou, investment wide It's still better. but when you are out there, you'll need to pay service provider for band with. this suck.
beggerking@yahoo.com - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
Nothing, absolutely nothing is more expensive than MBA spec vs specInspectHerGadget - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
You know the Surface is sexy. I've thought about it and that is it really. It is unique. It isn't as good as a notebook as a notebook like an MBA and not as good a tablet as an iPad but it does both and really there has to be some compromise. It does both well and it is unique (OK I said that twice but there are a million laptops around).WP7Mango - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
I don't think you understand how cloud-Office works. You don't have to store your data in the cloud. You can store all your data locally if you wish. You have the option of saving your data to the cloud, or syncing it via the cloud, but nobody is forcing you to do that. If you want to store your data locally, then you can do so, no problem at all.duploxxx - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
if the software is optimised you don't need all this horse power in this device. Guess what they own the SW, it isn't optimised hence the reason why they stick to higher end parts to make it smooth = higher cost and bad power consumption. In stead they would better focus on SW optimisation, that would help xxxxxxx users.Welgudtor - Tuesday, October 22, 2013 - link
"sharing a lot of the same DNA" ? I didn't realise a tablet was a animal.