Microsoft Surface Pro announcement event is on September 22

AppleInsider

Microsoft says that it will hold an event on September 22, and although the announcement features few details, the keynote will likely focus on new Surface products.

Microsoft event announced for September 22

A tweet announcing the event shows what appears to be a new Surface tablet product. There is very little information about the event, and Microsoft's invite link takes you to a "save the date" webpage with an animated version of the Surface image.

According to The Verge, we can expect a successor to the Surface Duo and a new Surface Laptop. The so-called Surface Duo 2 would contain the latest Snapdragon 888 processor and 5G support.

The Microsoft Surface lineup is a direct competitor to Apple's devices. While the Surface line started as a tablet-hybrid to compete with the iPad Pro, it has evolved into more capable laptop and desktop computers.

You're invited.

Learn more about the #MicrosoftEvent: https://t.co/tpK3TB8Xxb

-- Microsoft (@Microsoft)

September 1, 2021

Rumors suggest that Microsoft's next Surface Laptop will not have a detachable display and have a new name to coincide with its new design. The "Surface Laptop Pro" would be a direct competitor with Apple's MacBook Pro with Intel inside.

Tune into the online-only Microsoft event on September 22 to see all of the new devices announced. Expect product updates across several Surface products.

Read on AppleInsider

Beats

You’re not Apple, MS.

No one will show up. 

charlesatlas

Maybe they'll hold a mock funeral procession for the iPad Pro.

lkrupp

charlesatlas said:

Maybe they'll hold a mock funeral procession for the iPad Pro.

Or maybe they will hire Ballmer to dance around the stage and claim the iPad is not a good business machine because it doesn’t have a keyboard.

davgreg

I think the Surface line predates the iPad Pro.

I have to suffer through Windows at work and 10 is a great improvement over previous versions. There is quite a bit of howling among the Windows crowd over MS putting in some HW restrictions on upgrading to 11.

if AI staff is peeking at this I would like a nice detailed story/video on running ARM Windows on Parallels on Apple Silicon.

Japhey

Beats said:

You’re not Apple, MS.

No one will show up. 

I disagree. Everyone will send their interns. 

KITA

AppleInsider said:

The Microsoft Surface lineup is a direct competitor to Apple's devices. While the Surface line started as a tablet-hybrid to compete with the iPad Pro, it has evolved into more capable laptop and desktop computers.

The Surface Pro (full x86-64 Windows, tablet with kickstand, magnetic keyboard/trackpad, laptop grade internals, active stylus that attached to the side magnetically) was announced in 2012.

It's been around long before Apple even realized that was the direction iPad Pro would need to go.

dewme

davgreg said:

I think the Surface line predates the iPad Pro.

I have to suffer through Windows at work and 10 is a great improvement over previous versions. There is quite a bit of howling among the Windows crowd over MS putting in some HW restrictions on upgrading to 11.

if AI staff is peeking at this I would like a nice detailed story/video on running ARM Windows on Parallels on Apple Silicon.

The original Microsoft Surface was a coffee table sized monstrosity and it clearly predated the iPad. But I think the Surface Tablet, along with Windows RT was announced in the 2011 time frame, after the iPad. I actually had one of the Surface prototypes/dev machine around that time that was built by Samsung. It was okay, came with a keyboard and stylus and ran reasonably well. I played with it for a while and ended up giving it away after a few months. The thing that bothered me the most was the screen aspect ratio, which sucked in portrait mode, and the general lack of touch enabled apps.

The Surface Pro is a nice enough machine, but I still prefer a clamshell or convertible notebook design over the Surface Pro with separate keyboard and kickstand, at least when it isn't fully usable as a tablet.

KITA

vedelppa said:

likely a week after Apple announces the new iPad - I mean, who cares? why don't they announce it in like March or before Christmas, why at the same time as Apple? Exactly in the Danger Zone!

Microsoft announces Surface hardware at different times throughout the year. However, they've traditionally done it around the fall of each year, when new Intel chips are often released. In this case, a new Surface Pro might be using Intel Alder Lake; 6 Golden Cove performance cores (2 threads each) + 8 Gracemont efficiency cores (1 thread each), LPDDR5, PCIe Gen5 and up to 96 EU Xe-LP graphics.

entropys

dewme said:

davgreg said:

I think the Surface line predates the iPad Pro.

I have to suffer through Windows at work and 10 is a great improvement over previous versions. There is quite a bit of howling among the Windows crowd over MS putting in some HW restrictions on upgrading to 11.

if AI staff is peeking at this I would like a nice detailed story/video on running ARM Windows on Parallels on Apple Silicon.

The original Microsoft Surface was a coffee table sized monstrosity and it clearly predated the iPad. But I think the Surface Tablet, along with Windows RT was announced in the 2011 time frame, after the iPad. I actually had one of the Surface prototypes/dev machine around that time that was built by Samsung. It was okay, came with a keyboard and stylus and ran reasonably well. I played with it for a while and ended up giving it away after a few months. The thing that bothered me the most was the screen aspect ratio, which sucked in portrait mode, and the general lack of touch enabled apps.

The Surface Pro is a nice enough machine, but I still prefer a clamshell or convertible notebook design over the Surface Pro with separate keyboard and kickstand, at least when it isn't fully usable as a tablet.

IT at work aggressively pushed surface products for about five years after launch. There were a few around at the time. They gave up as the majority didn’t want them.  They were pretty much used as a clunky laptop, no one really used the tablet function. So now it is dell latitudes (ugh), HP envy and dragonfly (MBA closest equivalent). The HP  machines do have touchscreens, but no one uses that beyond scrolling in truth. Real Tablets you have to do a business case and it is all iPads although they do offer galaxy tabs, but no one takes those up.

hawkpride147

They still can't get last year's models out the door in a reasonable time...

macxpress

I can't believe people still buy these. We used to offer them where I work and they're the biggest pieces of overpriced shit out there. Their support is not up to what I would call today's standards. They have POS docking stations with constant misc issues. We finally pulled the plug on them and are swapping people out with something else. They're also quite expensive for what it is. Some of the ones we have are just as expensive as our MacBook Pro configs and believe me, they aren't anywhere close to a MacBook Pro engineering wise.

seanj

If the world is really lucky, the announcement will be that Microsoft is abandoning the Durface range…

like they did with Zune, Kin, Windows Phone, PocketPC, Spot Watch, etc 

Steveadee

Found that the SP4 with a suitable dongle worked for us, but then people putting them in a briefcase started having issues when the power connector slot attracted loose metal objects like paper clips, small coins or even orphaned staples, eventuality shorting out the connector or breaking the pins in it. And you couldn’t charge without that port. 

Personally, didn’t mind the form factor but went with a Lenovo Thinkpad X1.