How To Choose A Microsoft Surface Device

Microsoft Surface provides many options when it comes to devices. Whatever breadth of roles your staff encompass, you are sure to find devices filling each and every niche perfectly.

All the hardware within the Microsoft Surface range offers reliable power, speed, portability, durability, and enhanced connectivity. It is this steadfast quality that makes them such a hit with businesses in every sector.

However, the shear scope of choice in the Microsoft Surface collection might leave you bewildered.

If you’re paralysed by the burden of choice now, just wait until the exciting new launches hit the shelves very soon!

Microsoft Surface have recently announced some enhanced new models, so the Surface family will grow even bigger.

With businesses requiring the perfect hardware to help their staff produce their best work, let’s analyse which will be best for your company.

What Are The Options?

Microsoft Surface Laptops – The classics but with good reason. Microsoft Surface laptops are powerful and efficient. They’ll be the go-to choice for many businesses with traditional office settings and parameters.

The Surface laptops are more affordable than the Surface Books, though lacking their 2 in 1 capability. This makes them somewhat less portable and adaptable since you cannot use them like a tablet, however, as a laptop, they’re still light and portable.

The Surface laptop 4 is a very strong contender if you desire a traditional laptop for an office setting. With a lightweight build, it would also be suited to hybrid and homeworkers. These devices cope very well with multitasking, thanks to their powerful CPUs

They are brimming with peak performance capabilities, not to mention enhanced security features on business models. There are plenty of specification options, such as display, which include a 13.5 inch, or 15 inch. The 13.5s have a choice of i5 or i7 CPUs. In fact, many of the Surface family come with customisable specifications around displays and power. This will be excellent for businesses looking to offer different workers a variety of capabilities depending on their role and department.

Microsoft Surface Books – More expensive than the standard laptops but boasting 2 in 1 device features. If you want the versatility of swapping between a laptop setup and a tablet setup then this will be well worth the extra price tag.

Slim, lean and with enhanced graphical resolutions. The Surface Books are wonderfully balanced, and we predict many businesses will opt for the Surface Books.

Thanks to the graphics features, this hardware is at home in creative industries. It doesn’t compromise on much, with various storage options, including 256GB, 512GB and 1TB. So, with the Surface Books, once again we encounter those handy customisation options to fine tune it to your needs.

This level of customisation and choice can be found in most of the Microsoft Surface devices and is a core reason they are so popular with businesses.

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 + – A high-end premium device built specifically for the business market. Powerful processing, fast, and very lightweight.

With 2 in 1 laptop / tablet functions this is an extremely portable device. Perform detailed work while commuting, switch to presentations, or telecommunicating, this device really does do it all. With 11th Gen Intel Quad-Core processors this packs a powerful punch. There’s also an astounding 15 hours of battery life. There are power customisation options with a choice of cores i.e., i3, i5, and i7.

Now, this is where the differences can feel a little subtle to the unfamiliar. If the Pro 7+ and the Surface Books both offer great graphics, impressive battery like and 2 in 1 adaption, then which should you choose.

The Surface Book is really that balance between a laptop and a tablet device but you could argue it heavily learns towards a laptop experience with some added flexibility.

The Pro 7 + can have an attached keyboard for a laptop experience but it leans towards a tablet. It’s cheaper, lighter and the battery is smaller. If you want a powerful tablet, choose the Pro 7 + but if you want a flexible laptop, choose the Surface Book.

Note that the difference between the Pro 7 and Pro 7 + is that the latter is more geared towards businesses, and it comes with 4G LTE for connectivity everywhere. That may sound to be a small difference but the ability to connect so easily anywhere will be a huge plus for remote workers, digital nomads, and those in areas of poor Wi-Fi.

Microsoft Surface Pro X – The biggest noticeable difference between the Pro 7 + and the Pro X is the exterior hardware design. The Pro X is slightly more expensive and has an increased screen size, and yet is even thinner than the Pro 7 and Pro 7 +. However, the real difference is not only aesthetic. The Pro X holds an ARM CPU. ARM’s big claim to fame is managing power consumption. This technically makes the Pro X more efficient with better battery life.

Microsoft Surface Go – Far cheaper than the models above but really taking that portability ethos to the next level. This is a great one for affordability and working while out and about. An unusual and impressive combination that makes the Surface Go and Surface Go 2 exceedingly popular. This is suitable for basic tasks such as email, online shopping, watching YouTube videos, and will certainly handle light excel and minimal photo editing. The newer models like the Go 2 will even handle reasonable multi-tasking but these are far less powerful than the Surface laptops, or Pros, or Surface Books.

Microsoft Surface Duo – Essentially a smartphone with extra skills. Use two apps at once thanks to the slick double screens. The 360-degree hinge is a nice touch. A powerful machine too in terms of smartphones but not quite up to the power and performance of a tablet.

Microsoft Surface Studio – A powerful all-in-one PC ideal for highly creative industries, including videographers, graphic designers, developers, and artists. You can sketch, create, edit, and analyse your work on this sophisticated device. The custom scripts for updating the OS also make it popular among IT professionals.

There’s a lot going on thanks to the touchscreen, and 2-in-1 capability with drafting table, and the full power of a desktop PC. Of course, the Surface Dial really adds to that creative touch screen design appeal, and, while it can used with a number of devices, it was really made to work with Surface Studio.

Microsoft Surface Hub – Hub is an interactive whiteboard, which is ideal for the modern business meeting and brainstorming. Made with collaboration and video conferencing in mind – imagine life-size videos of your colleagues.

What’s Your Priority Feature?

The collection is impressive and there are a multitude of attractive features that should catch your eye from the above portfolio. Yet, even with the details laid out before you, it can still be a difficult choice.

You will have noticed, no doubt, that some of the differences between models are quite subtle. There are tweaks between light, portable devices, and even lighter ones.

The best way to decide which selection is right for your company, is to consider How Will Your Staff Be Using The Device?

This will come down to your industry and the individual roles occupied by your staff. What might be right for your marketing team could be different from your design or finance team. For example, some industries will have more face-to-face client time at their own establishments.

The size of your operations will also be a factor. Is affordability on a large bulk order the goal, or is it down to power, speed, flexibility, or a highly enhanced display?

The likelihood is that you’ll be looking at multiple models for each department.

Luckily, leasing your Microsoft Surface device hardware can make the process much smoother.

It’s easy to order a range of different devices when you lease. Hardsoft can help you spread the cost, maintain the devices, and, most importantly, strategically select which will be right for your company after a thorough evaluation.

Upgrading – What’s Next For Microsoft Surface

Of course, that is not the end of the Microsoft Surface story since a whole new batch of devices will soon be available. In September 2021 Microsoft announced their new Surface devices.

Surface Laptop Studio – It would be accurate to call it a hybrid of the studio and Surface Book predecessors. It boasts a 14.4 inch touchscreen laptop with 120-Hz refresh rate. The various modes of use will be of particular interest to many.

There is Laptop Mode with keyboard and touchpad. There is Stage Mode; used by pulling the display forward to play games and watch films. Finally, there is Studio Mode, which is basically tablet mode for drawing and writing.

There’s a dual hinge in the centre to facilitate this. It comes equipped with a 1080p front-facing camera and an 11th-gen Intel processor with choices of a i5 or i7 core.

Extreme versatility for really creative work but also hardcore entertainment and play.

Surface Pro 8 – The biggest news item for many is the Surface Pro 8. It differs from the Pro 7 with its bigger, brighter screen and it’s a 120-Hz refresh rate just like the Laptop Studio. There’s a better camera with low light capabilities making video communication even more high quality.

It’s compatible with Slimpen 2 and is supposedly twice as fast the Pro 7 with 40% higher CPU performance and a big boost in faster graphics of 74%.

Surface Pro X Update – Not exactly a full new release but some new options for the Pro X including a price reduction, Wi-Fi only mode instead of LTE and some much-anticipated improvement to the ARM.

Surface Duo 2 – The new Duo just keeps pushing what it means to be a smartphone even further. It has an even bigger screen size compared to the original Duo. Each display is 5.8 inches. Both are still AMOLED but now have 90-Hz adaptive refresh and 1344×1892 resolution. The new triple rear camera us a nice touch with 12MP sensor. The bigger battery will also be very welcome.

Surface Go 3 – The Go 3 has a much better processor that an Intel Core i3. There’s also improved battery life. The Surface Go remains the most affordable solution for a 2 in 1 device with few bells and whistles.

Expert Microsoft Surface Advice

Microsoft have not stopped their efforts to fill every niche imaginable. There’s now a Microsoft Surface device suited to almost every business role, task, and budget.

Fortunately, if you’re still paralysed by the plethora of choices, Hardsoft can help. As trusted resellers of Microsoft, we understand the functionality and benefits of each device in detail.

By leasing Microsoft Surface hardware from Hardsoft, you will not only spread the cost of the device, but we can also help you select the perfect equipment. Hardsoft can perform business evaluations to ascertain which hardware will best suit your objectives and facilitate free device trials.