New Microsoft Surface Laptop 13, Surface Pro 12 have arrived and here is how they are different

India Today

07-05-2025

Microsoft says its new Surface Laptop 13 and Surface Pro 12 are designed to bring the signature Surface experience to more people at even lower prices. In other words, the company has basically made a more affordable version of the existing Surface Laptop and Surface Pro flagship models. Something like this doesn't happen very often and the few times that it has made such devices have been less than ideal for recommendation purposes. The prices were still too high, and the performance was not up to the mark.
One can argue that Surface is a premium brand. Though there are a gazillion other competing devices in the market, Surface is coming straight from the creators of Windows. Sort of like how the Pixel series is for Google. You pay for the brand name and the conceived notion that it should be better. In an ideal world, Surface would represent the best of Windows. There are a couple of things that Microsoft pioneered with these devices, including the 2-in-1 form factor which even though there are others who do it now, no one does it better. Why the Surface commands a hefty premium is therefore a mix of a lot of different things – hardware, software, and, of course, aspirational.
What sets the new affordable lot apart from the previous attempts is that it appears Microsoft hasn't made many compromises. Yes, the specs are watered-down to reflect their entry-level rooting, which is what you would expect anyway. Like, for instance, the Surface Pro 12 has an LCD display, not OLED. The Surface Laptop 13 is capped at 60Hz, and it doesn't have facial recognition biometrics, just fingerprint. But here's the thing: none of this is a deal-breaker.
Their affordability is still subjective and certainly a matter of debate, but the package doesn't seem overpriced. Microsoft hasn't revealed their India prices yet, but in the US, the Surface Pro 12 will start at $799.99 which is $400 cheaper than today's flagship equivalent. This is roughly Rs 66,880 in INR. The Surface Laptop 13 has a starting price of $899.99, $300 cheaper than the 13.8-inch flagship variant. This translates to Rs 75,239. (We will update the copy once we have the India prices out).
Affordable Surface products are generally smaller than their more powerful counterparts. The last few models had the suffix 'Go' attached, possibly to make them seem more attractive to the youth and accentuate the fact that they were thin and light and so, more portable and easier to lug around almost anywhere. That is also the case with the new Surface Laptop 13 and Surface Pro 12. Microsoft says they are amongst the thinnest and lightest devices that it has ever made. The battery life is another big USP (short for unique selling point). The Surface Pro 12 is rated for 16 hours of video playback (two hours more than the Surface Pro 13) while the Surface Laptop 13 can go for up to 23 hours (three hours more than the 13-8-inch Surface Laptop).
The gains – at large – are probably due to the underlying Snapdragon X Plus, which is Qualcomm's second-most powerful ARM chip (for computers) at the time of writing. The flagship Surface models have the top-of-the-line Snapdragon X Elite with up to a 12-core CPU (the Snapdragon X Plus-powered Surface Laptop 13 and Surface Pro 12 have only 8 cores). We cannot tell you how well these devices can hold up in day-to-day use or how far they can be pushed, but if the Snapdragon X platform reviews are anything to go by, Microsoft might just have found the right fit to make its affordable Surface products make some noise if not make them scream their lungs out (both have a fanless design so we should keep our expectations in check). It was about time.