Pros – Great performance; Black colour scheme looks gorgeous
Cons – No USB-C support; Underwhelming battery life
There’s nothing technically wrong with the Surface Pro 6, and we doubt that anyone would be disappointed if they bought one. However, it’s crippled by the fact that it doesn’t particularly improve on its predecessor I own the Surface (Pro 5) Pro and could not see much difference.
The Surface Pro range produce devices that are slim, attractive and speedy. The operative word in that sentence, however, is ‘generally’. We stress this because the Surface Pro 6 is something of an anomaly, in that it’s functionally identical to last year’s Surface Pro.
When I say that the Surface Pro 6 is almost identical to the Surface Pro 5, I mean it as it has exactly the same chassis as last year’s model. Microsoft may have replaced some of the internal components, but it’s simply wrapped them in a pre-existing shell.
I am a huge fans of the Type Cover keyboard that goes with the Surface Pro 6, but that shouldn’t come as any surprise – it’s the same one that accompanied the Surface Pro 5, which I also loved. Unlike many of the other components that have been carried over from last year’s Pro, the keyboard hasn’t particularly aged, and it still feels smooth and responsive with crisp typing action and a smooth, accurate trackpad.
My biggest complaint with the Type Cover is the same as it has been for the last several years, and that’s that Microsoft still insists on selling it as an additional extra, pushing the Surface Pro’s price up by an extra £125. They do offer bundle deals now and then through the year to keep an eye on.
The one area where the Surface Pro 6 has received an upgrade over its predecessor is in the hardware department, which is a good job, as it’s the one place where a yearly refresh is pretty much essential. Microsoft has now axed the lowest-tier configurations, removing the 4GB Core m3 option thankfully as this model would put anyone off owning one. This gives the Surface Pro 6 a more expensive entry-point, but thankfully budget-conscious buyers can now pick up the excellent Surface Go for Surface-style functionality at a more affordable price.
The new Surface Pro 6 comes with either a Core i5-8350U or a Core i7-8650U (both of which are quad-core processors, as opposed to last year’s dual-core models), coupled with either 8GB or 16GB of RAM and SSD capacities from 128GB up to 1TB.
I have the Surface Pro 5 i7 8GB RAM and tested the Surface Pro 6 i7 16GB RAM
Battery life was a highlight of last year’s Surface Pro, which managed to a rather impressive level of performance of 11hrs in our tests. This year’s offering is a marked disappointment the newest Surface Pro is more than two hours worse off than its predecessor on the same test.
We’re not as enamoured by the Surface Pro 6 as we were by its predecessor. Part of this is because it’s effectively the same device in many ways – it would be more accurate to call it the Surface Pro 5.5, rather than 6. It’s got the same chassis, which means no real gains in portability and no USB-C support, which remains the Surface Pro’s biggest Achilles heel.
On the other hand, even though it hasn’t made much progress beyond the Surface Pro 5, the new model is still an excellent hybrid, and the best 2-in-1 Windows device of 2018. It’s still one of the most portable laptops going, it’s got enough power to see you through a range of demanding tasks, and the new black finish looks utterly stunning.
Our recommendation is last year’s Surface Pro 5 is still better value, offering basically the same package for around £150 less. Alternatively, you could wait for next year’s model,
