Surface Pro 8 Review - The Microsoft Tax

The Microsoft Surface Pro 8 is meant to be the best Windows tablet for productivity, gaming and more but there's some very serious questions about price, accessories and what you need to make the Surface Pro 8 actually worth it.

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TIMESTAMPS
0:00 - Microsoft Surface Pro 8 vs Surface Series
0:52 - Surface Pro 8 Price & Specs
1:51 - Design & Build Quality
2:49 - Size & Weight
4:04 - USB-C Charging & Display
5:28 - Surface Slim Pen 2
6:21 - Ports & Upgrades
7:04 - Webcam & Speakers
7:44 - Surface Signature Keyboard Worth It?
9:54 - Surface Pro Temperatures, Speed & Noise
11:22 - Real-World & Gaming Benchmarks
12:47 - Battery Life
13:29 - Conclusion

Review unit provided free of charge by Microsoft. This video is sponsored by Thermaltake. As per Hardware Canucks guidelines, no review direction was received from manufacturer. As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

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[EdwinPohan]

I’ve been using that same Surface Pro 3 since 2015 even until now. Still performs well for what it’s made for. It’s great that they finally include Thunderbolt and easy upgradeable SSD (though less common form) but the micro SD is gone (I keep rarely accessed files there). It still is a very expensive upfront cost of owning but will most likely survive far more than half a decade of use (unless you get the cheapest model).

[enocksimbaya]

If Microsoft had included the type cover and stylus in the base price, they would have sold loads of this!

[g.]

Man, I remember using my Pro4 for University. I bought a refurbished model and it was so much money for me at the time, but it was such a game changer, especially with OneNote. But the value proposition has plummeted, these things are so expensive for very weak specs.

[NiSE_Rafter]

The price is rough but anyone with a Costco membership should be able to find it all as a bundle for a good deal at some point. Costco has had fantastic bundle deals on the previous models so I don't see why they wouldn't on this one too.

*I'm not trying to shill Costco. I don't even own a Costco membership. Just wanna help save people money.

[cpalenshus]

I really love the Pro 8. It is a fantastic device, however, I HATE the power and volume button placement. Why did they change it!? I love to use it in portrait mode for reading web pages, documents, taking notes with the pen in One Note or Journal, etc. If I'm not careful, though, the volume button will rest against my waist when holding it on my lap and initiate power down. If you stand it up on a table to rest against something, forget it. It will always power off. I'm really surprised that no reviewers have commented on this. It is a real usability fail.

[muchjpop]

Most people aren't understanding that the 65w charger from the OnePlus uses non standard voltages to achieve it's 65w. I really would be surprised if any laptop could actually use the 65w unless it was made by them.

[asdfrozen]

Despite the USB-C connector, OnePlus uses a proprietary protocol for power. IIRC it maxes out at like 25W if you use it with anything other than a OnePlus (and maybe Oppo) device.

[phanibhusanmahapatra]

Looking forward to the next iteration of this in '22. Add Alder lake CPU, a larger trackpad, mini LED/OLED display and I am sold on this.

[CarlosElPeruacho]

Thing about the surface is the previous generations remain viable for a long time. My wife uses a surface for designing products for her store, we just got her a Surface Pro 7 with an i7, 16 gigs of ram and a 256GB drive for $899, if we drop in a 1tb MicroSD that will add an extra 1TB of space for 150 bucks. For her work it's a pretty good deal. Before that we spent 300 bucks on a SP3 that lasted for years. We only upgraded because she started having issues with the touchscreen, which is a no go when your job is literally designing products to make and sell.

[tquindt]

I got a good deal at Costco for the 256gb/8 GB/I5 model. It included the type cover and pen. Then I got a 1TB SSD online for 130. This was considerably cheaper than paying an additional 800 for the 1TB model. It only took about an hour to back up/install/restore using the built-in backup program buried in the Control Panel.

[jessebrower]

I got a surface pro 4 in 2016 and I am still using it as my main laptop today. Runs just fine, and the only downside is that I need to replace the battery. However, I can also attest that the Alcántara type cover does NOT hold up over time. The edges of mine have peeled from the cover itself so I have dangly flaps of material hanging off the type cover 😂 That’s disappointing, but honestly the only downside to this device. If you’re a student, this is the ultimate school machine.

[beoldziewski]

The price is what puts me in check after getting so excited to see what it can do. The MS tax makes me think of the Apple tax, and while they're not the same I'm still curious how a Surface Pro 8 stacks up against a macbook or ipad pro. I don't expect any converts, but if a macbook at 16gb of ram and a 256gb ssd feels good for the money, does this feel just as good standing next to it?

[tbogdane]

I own one for about 2 weeks now and this device is really nice. It's one of the best devices i ever own(including Surface Laptop 4/3, MB Pro, Air M1) but the battery doesn't hold as much as Mircosoft claims... it holds somewhere 8-9 hours with 120hz, it's ok, but I miss the 16 Hours of the MB Air. Beside this, it's the best device you can own on a daily basis

[themadatheist]

Too pricey, no SD slot, odd size SSD that makes it harder to source an upgrade.
Going for a i3 based Surface Go 3 to compliment my gaming laptop to run basic apps, GameCube emulation and retro PC games.
I just wished the Go 3 had a 11th gen i CPU for the Iris graphics.

[kresnaut]

I had the original Surface Pro. Seeing this, it makes me want a new one, nice and well refined compared to the original.

[akin]

I had the Surface Pro 4 for five years. 1.7lbs, Intel i7 8th gen, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of SSD. Great display at the time, and still very good today. The light weight makes it an easy travel companion for traveling sales reps or traveling consultants/analysts.

The only reason I replaced it was the mediocre battery life and 8GB of RAM that isn't adjustable. 8GB of RAM is fine for general web surfing and moderate excel use, but not good enough for programming and data engineering. 16GB of RAM is the new standard.

[theencryptedpartition]

Imagine if Microsoft really pulled it off with SQ chips in the same level with Apple Silicon, that would be a beast of a machine, with all the optimizations and cooling. I hope that the softwares that are being optimized under Intel 12th gen hybrid CPUS will also have some level of support

[kingphiltheill]

The surface connector is absolutely reliable. My wife got a surface pro 7 plus and uses the old charging brick from her former surface Pro 3 every day at work. What's really not reliable are the lightning cables made by Apple. Don't get me wrong the connector design is very solid but the cables are crap.

[leinadreign]

I would get one, but the price of the surface brand always kept me away from it. It is just way too expensive for an tech gadget which have to be replaced after a short time.

[ebig]

it blows my mind that the Surface Type Cover, being basically a membrane keyboard, actually cost more than G915, Keychron and the rest while don't offer even a fraction of performance