Surface Pro 11 Review for Development

In this post, I’ll share my experience using the Surface Pro as a developer and whether I recommend it or not. This post was created after some time of use, and I’ll give my impressions and share my experience; if anything changes, I’ll update the post.

1 - Which Surface Pro model am I using?

When we talk about Surface, we mean Microsoft’s laptop and tablet line.

In my case, it is the Surface Pro 11th, one of the first with the Snapdragon X series processors, using ARM architecture. These are the so-called Surface + Copilot models, which I'll discuss later.

Specifically, my version is the Surface Pro 11th as mentioned, but the 32GB RAM version. This means it comes with the Snapdragon-X Elite processor; personally, I think for the way I use it, the X-Plus would be more than enough, and that’s the one I would have picked if not for the fact that selecting 32GB RAM requires the X-Elite.

As an additional note, the 32GB RAM version comes exclusively in silver, which doesn’t bother me, but the blue color is nicer.

Within the X-Elite, there are several processor variants. All Surface devices come with the X1E-80-100, which is mid-range within the series:

As we can see, the 84 is more powerful than the 80 but also consumes a lot more battery, and from what I’ve read, very few laptops use it for now. It seems the 84 exists mostly to produce benchmarks comparable to Apple.

Something to consider about these processors is that some hardware distributors, like Samsung, sell you the X-Elite without saying which model, and you might get either the 80 or the 84 in the same laptop model—it’s random.

Personally, the 80 works fine for me. Like I said, the Snapdragon X-Plus would have been enough, but that’s another story.

If you’re going to use the Surface, or any device for development, don’t buy it with less than 32GB of RAM. While programming, I typically use between 14 and 16GB combining Docker, IDE, and browser. If you only use documents, 16GB might be enough.

I also bought a keyboard, but not the flex, just the normal one. I would have bought the flex but the shipping time was 20 days, so I chose the other. It’s very expensive for what it is.

2 - Why buy the Surface Pro?

Here I’ll discuss why I personally bought the Surface Pro. The reasons that led me to purchase it, because it is a very expensive device.

What I mainly seek is portability, that’s my main reason. I travel a lot and often leave for a week or two, and on those trips I take my work laptop, which is dedicated solely to the company, and I usually leave my personal one at home.

My previous laptop was a Razer Blade 2019 Advanced Model, which, honestly, was a beast in 2019, but with great power not only comes great responsibility, but also great battery drain.

The other important thing I need is long battery life—the Razer lasts two hours on a good day (after 5 years), and to me that’s not a laptop, it’s a problem, because you always have to carry the charger. The same goes for my other work laptop (ThinkPad P16s).

My idea is to have a portable device whose battery can last a full work day. I didn’t think this was possible until my startup gave me a MacBook Pro M1 and I discovered it is possible—and honestly, it’s wonderful.

I also wanted it to be able to charge over USB-C. So now when I travel, I only bring one charger for my work laptop, my personal device, and my phone. Saving space, weight, and cable mess is significant.

In my normal day-to-day, I won’t use the Surface, for example, to write posts—usually I’ll use my “regular” computer, a tower with a Ryzen 7, 64GB RAM, and a 4070, but during this test period, I’ll use only the Surface. Normally, it is my secondary device, not my main one.

At this point, you might wonder why I didn’t buy the Surface Laptop (the laptop version of the tablet), and that’s because at home 99% of what I do on the PC is with the mouse, and on the tablet I can do it with my finger, which is more comfortable. For traveling, I prefer the tablet over the laptop (and the laptop also has a touchscreen).

3 - How did I evaluate the Surface Pro?

The way I’ll be testing is using my daily workflow. Most reviews you see out there are running video editing software, or looping a YouTube video, or even gaming for a while.

Such tests serve only to produce charts and see “Who has the biggest one.”

In my case, I’m going to test with normal usage as a developer.

I’ll be programming C# in Rider (JetBrains’ IDE for .NET), creating blog content in Google Docs via the browser, thumbnails, etc. Sometimes browsing the internet or attending meetings using Teams/Google Meet. We’ll use it like any normal workday.

That’s why I say tests that produce charts are useless in the real world, especially for developers. NO ONE, absolutely no one, is watching a video all the time.

Finally, the configuration I have on the device is as follows:

• Brightness at 50%. This screen at 50% looks better than my "old" laptop at 100%, so I don’t need more. In dark environments or without a window nearby, 35% is enough. Note: by default, brightness goes up automatically based on ambient light, but there’s an option to lock it, which I enabled, so it stays fixed at 50%.
• Light/white theme. Those who follow me know I always use the white IDE in videos, and the same for my system—I don’t like dark themes, and although it consumes more battery, I don’t care.
• Power mode on recommended. I could bump this up for more performance at the expense of battery, but for my use, I don’t see the need. That a build takes 2 seconds instead of 2.1 seconds does not justify the extra drain. That said, maybe I’ll write another post about power modes in Windows because it’s hilarious how bad it is.

Everything else is default, including effects and all those things, which again, use a bit more battery.

4 - Surface Pro Analysis

Here we’ll see the different results, if you will, from my tests—completely subjective but impartial.

4.1 - Artificial Intelligence on the Surface Pro

The first point I want to address is artificial intelligence, because these devices are marketed as AI devices due to the type of processor they have—in fact, it’s called Surface Pro + Copilot.

Since the original announcement, things have changed a lot. For starters, the “Recall” feature that took screenshots and had a keylogger is NOT enabled and cannot be turned on. Let’s hope it NEVER can be enabled.

The AI on these devices was supposed to be fully integrated on-device, and you’d be able to “talk” to it anytime. That didn’t happen; they backtracked and it ended up being a desktop app where you can talk—it’s like ChatGPT, but far less useful, to be honest.

Besides Copilot, other apps have AI support; in Paint you can make a scribble and it turns it into something more professional. But other than that, I barely use it, and truthfully, it doesn’t offer much more.

Personally, I am quite disappointed. I’m glad “Recall” was removed, but I expected to be able to write a blog post and just tell Copilot, “Hey Copilot, give me the keywords and the description for SEO,” and it would just know what to do.

That you could open a news article and ask it questions, etc. So, for now, I’m disappointed. It’s nice that Copilot is there, especially to use as a search engine, but they missed a huge opportunity to integrate it into Windows. I don’t know if that will happen in the future.

Finally, a feature that is enabled is auto-captioning when you’re watching a video or whatever—the NPU can detect audio and display subtitles. It doesn’t translate yet, but at least it gives you captions, though the quality is similar to YouTube’s auto-captions.

Still, it’s a very good feature for those working in companies where their native language isn’t spoken, making it easier to follow conversations.

4.2 Hardware on the Surface Pro

Now, let’s move on to hardware. I’m not going to go too deep into whether the tablet has good hardware or not—it's a tablet, it is what it is, aluminum or something similar, and the kickstand works well and feels sturdy. Of course, I'll need years before I see if it fails or shows signs of wear; hopefully not.

Another hardware component not so obvious is the camera. Usually, laptop cameras are awful, but in this case it’s very different—the image quality is great, which is crucial nowadays in a remote world.

Lastly, the keyboard and pen. First off, both the keyboard and pen are extremely expensive. I have the “cheap” version where the pen can sit in the keyboard without being in the way, and honestly...I think it’s a ripoff. The pen works, and some people will use it, but I won’t use it much. Maybe later I will, but for now, I don’t. Also, I can’t draw—which might be important. For note-taking, I use the Remarkable2.

As for the keyboard: it types well, like a mid-range keyboard. The problem is it costs 200 euros, and 350 for the expensive one, when it should be around 50-90. Obviously, it’s very flexible and the material—some kind of velvet—is interesting. For much less, you can get far more comfortable keyboards, but those are standalone and don’t attach to the Surface Pro.

The trackpad in the keyboard is fine, but it's still years behind Apple’s trackpad, which has no rival.

To finish this section, I’ll say it barely gets hot and is completely silent.

4.3 - Battery on the Surface Pro

Although the battery is technically part of the hardware, I wanted to give it its own section because it’s, in my opinion, the most important factor.

I can finish a full workday of 8 hours with 10% battery left, which to me meets my expectations (about 11% drained per hour).

I don’t know how long the battery would last if using one of the high-performance power modes—I haven’t tested that, nor do I need it. The same goes for lowering the brightness—I could easily do that by lowering the blinds if necessary.

4.4 - ARM vs X86 Software

I want to briefly mention the architecture in use. This is not a post to show differences, etc, just that you don’t need all your apps to run as ARM, as these processors have an emulator to run x86 apps.

This means x86 apps will work, with a small overhead for emulation, but personally, all the apps I use are natively available for ARM: Rider, Visual Studio, browsers, Docker, etc. The only x86 app I installed is Git, but honestly, it’s nearly impossible to notice any performance issue unless you’re actively looking for it.

4.5 - Is the Surface Pro comfortable on your lap?

This is a question I’ve always had: is the tablet comfortable on your lap? I have to say, I’m very surprised—it’s much more comfortable than I expected. Obviously, it’s not a laptop, but I expected it to wobble a lot when you rest it on your legs, but no, it’s very stable, almost like a laptop. So on that front, I’m pleased.

4.6 - Gaming on the Surface Pro

To be quick and to the point: if you want to game on PC, buy a desktop. If you want portability, get a Steam Deck. These devices, while they can run games, aren’t made for it. I haven’t gamed on it so I can’t say much more.

4.7 - Surface Pro Price Analysis

The device is expensive, really expensive. As a tablet, there is nothing better—it’s the top of the market and the next closest is years behind. The iPad Pro is the closest but then you’re stuck with iOS. What you’re paying for is the rarity and exclusivity of the device.

If you want a laptop, it’s not cost-effective. In that category, the Surface Laptop seems overpriced to me, too. If you like the looks and want to pay extra, go ahead, but if you want a powerful laptop, there are cheaper options (half the price) that will give you the performance you want.

So to sum up: it’s a powerful device, but very expensive, maybe too much. If you don’t need 32GB RAM, there are cheaper versions, but even those start at 1600€.

5 - Conclusion - Can I use the Surface Pro for development?

My main goal was to see if this tablet is recommended for development. Honestly, I haven’t found any negative points, especially compared to the Razer Blade, which is my other portable device. It’s better in every way—well, for gaming it’s probably worse, but I don’t intend to game anyway.

All the apps I use work natively; it’s portable and lightweight and charges via USB-C, which is essential these days.

The battery lasts more than enough, and the camera, to my surprise, works extremely well.

And programming, of course, works exactly like any Windows computer. Personally, I wouldn’t choose the Surface as my main device because the screen is too small for my liking. Yes, you can hook it up to a monitor, but personally, I’ve never liked using laptops with monitors—just use a desktop for that.

If you’re looking for a secondary device, especially for travel, it’s ideal. But as a primary device, I would go with a desktop, or a laptop if you truly need portability.