Surface Pro 9 Review: Intel or SQ3?

There are two identically looking Surface Pro 9 laptops to choose from — the one with Intel 12th gen chip and the other with Qualcomm’s ARM-based SQ3. The latter comes with 5G, great battery life and some exciting new webcam tricks, but is it the right one for most people? We take a look at both of Microsoft’s latest laptops to help you pick. #microsoft #surfacepro9 #technology

0:00 Intro
1:23 Surface Pro 9 (SQ3)
2:44 Webcam test
4:11 Windows on ARM
5:27 Surface Pro 9 (Intel)
7:02 Benchmarks
7:54 Prices and configurations
8:28 Which one to pick?

[TheVerge]

Which one is your favorite color, and why is it the green one?

[heller_nick]

I wonder why Microsoft’s emulation layer for x64/86 apps on arm is so bad while Apple somehow managed to run these apps on arm without a noticeable performance impact.

[jovi]

I have recently purchased the Pro 8 and honestly cannot see myself returning to a clamshell device. Microsoft has really perfected this form factor; it's so darn practical and portable.

[antoniogilbert]

Definitely one of the better reviews... very thoughtful. I upgraded from my Pro X (SQ2) to the Pro 9 5G (SQ3) and have had zero issues. (In other words, I don't use Chrome, use ARM builds of apps, and run Slack as a PWA.) It's an awesome machine, if you're able to live within its constraints.

[ak_hoops]

The noise suppression during the is still BAFFLING to me! They really got it down packed.

[driven]

Very interesting. Running ARM Windows via Parallels on an M2 Chip and I don't see any notable slowdown at all with Windows x86 apps. (In fact, most cases the same apps run faster than my i9 2.4 Ghz Intel laptop)

I'd say Qualcom is still producing slow processors for Microsoft. 😞

Great review though. Very much appreciated it.

[LucasBaran]

Depends what you use your laptop for, coding in Visual Studio, running Edge (which is Chromium based), github desktop, Azure data studio, Teams, zoom, etc are all ARM64 already and work great and the batter life is amazing finally on a windows laptop...

[gmonte]

Whatching this on my old Surface Pro 4, it was such an eye turner back on the day

[EmanuelCampos]

This was a very nicely done video, perfect narrated and a very good review. I only mighty missed if there is any battery life spam difference between the Intel and the ARM Surfaces. Nonetheless, what a great video. Love the Becky photo bomb at the end

[rayroche]

Why would you run Chrome on either device? Edge is based on the same core engine but is much faster and much better on battery life on both models.

[ryanlovesanimalcrossing]

Love the way y’all edited this video with the multiple videos on screens!

[salemsayed]

I seriously enjoy Monica’s reviews, good work everyone ✌️

[Harvester]

Becca looking like an overgrown child cheesing while holding up that speaker was hilarious lol.

[sjdlove]

I'm thinking about getting the Pro 9, i7 with 16gb of ram. I have never owned a Surface before. But, I have heard nothing but great things about it, from people who own a Surface.

[akarimsiddiqui]

Why can't MS spend to get a fast translation layer x86-64 to ARM64 like Apple has? MS has done similar with Linux on Windows.

[RayanMADAO]

I want to ask Surface engineers: how many of you would buy an arm surface over an intel or amd surface

[giallombardobruno]

You just got yourself a new subscriber! Awesome review. Would have love some info about palm rejection, but still a very good review!! Keep up the good work!

[MichaelLee]

Go Monica! Really settling into these reviews and having some fun with them

[scottrobinson]

The SQ3 is still too far behind the M1/M2. The MaxTech benchmarks had the M2 Air absolutely crushing the SQ3-based SP9 in every category, even price. Even the intel versions couldn't keep pace with the M2, and cost more. You know you have a problem when Apple is not only faster, but cheaper.

[jimmymerritello]

Firefox & Edge (Chrome-compatible) have native builds. SQ3 will run perfectly for most.