Microsoft’s relatively young hardware division, the Surface Pro has always stood for what the company believes is the future of personal computing. Originally billed as “the tablet that can replace your laptop,” it straddles the line between a traditional computer and something different.

Times have changed in the five years since the Surface debuted. Every company that makes PCs has its own take on the “productive tablet,” many of which copy Microsoft’s designs wholesale. Even Apple is pitching its iPad Pro line as something that can be your primary computer. Within Microsoft’s own lineup, the Surface Pro has been joined by the more powerful Surface Book, the more stationary Surface Studio, and most recently, the more traditional Surface Laptop.

Microsoft’s corporate vice president of devices and head of the Surface team, Panos Panay, says the company now thinks of the Pro as a laptop, not as a tablet or some other device. “This really is the laptop. This is how people want to use it; it's how they are using it,” he recently said on The Vergecast podcast. And the new tagline for the Surface Pro is “the most versatile laptop.” So the Surface Pro is a laptop now, I guess. What exactly does that mean?

NOW THAT THE SURFACE PRO IS A LAPTOP, WHAT DOES THAT MEAN?
Microsoft says this new Surface Pro is completely redesigned inside and out, but you’d probably have trouble telling it apart from its immediate predecessor, 2015’s Surface Pro 4. It’s still a very thin and light computer that masquerades as a tablet and performs its best with the optional keyboard attached. I’ve found it to be an excellent travel computer, as it provides all the power I can get from a similar laptop in a thinner and lighter form factor.

If anything, the new Pro shows that Microsoft is committed to this idea and design. This is what a Surface looks like and likely will look like for the foreseeable future. As with the Surface Pro 4, Microsoft is in refinement mode with the new Pro, and the improvements here are significant, if not always obvious. That’s the thing about laptops: they don’t change their form very often; they just get more refinement and more powerful. Five years after its debut, the Surface has gone from radical to predictable.

Predictability explains why the new Pro has the same staid port selection as the Pro 3 from three years ago, because corporate customers want interchangeability and support for existing peripherals. Predictability means that this computer is probably faster and lasts longer than the last one, but the experience is largely unchanged. Predictability means the new thing does exactly what you expected the old thing to do, but better.

The danger with predictability is it’s a stone’s throw away from boring.

before, the Surface Pro starts at $799, which buys you a Core m3 processor, 4GB of RAM, and 128GB of storage. I do not recommend this version if you plan to use the Surface Pro as your only computer. Most people will want to step up to the $1,299 model that has a Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. If you really want to go crazy, you can kit out the Surface Pro all the way up to a heart-stopping $2,699. I’ve had the opportunity to test both the $1,299 version and the top-of-the-line model and I think most people will be perfectly happy with the Surface they can get for $1,300.

No matter which Surface Pro you opt for, you’ll have to pay at least $129.99 for a Type Cover if you want to use it as a laptop computer. Microsoft is also offering very pretty Type Covers in blue, red, or silver Alcantara fabric for $159.99 if you want to add a little panache to your Surface. (The irony that Microsoft is now referring to the Surface Pro as a “laptop,” yet still doesn’t include a keyboard with it is pretty rich.) Apart from the new color options and new display brightness controls in the function row, this Type Cover is identical to the one before it. It’s comfortable to type on and has a smooth trackpad that could really stand to be a little bigger. It also makes a weird echoing thump-thump noise when you type hard on it on a desk or table.

For the full Surface Pro experience, you’ll also have to pony up $99.99 for the new Surface Pen, which you can get in a color to match your choice of keyboard. This is where the pricing has changed from before: prior to this, Microsoft included the Surface Pen in the box with Surface Pro computers. So this year, the price is effectively $99.99 more than before.