If you have an older Surface and are wanting to upgrade or you want to buy a Surface to replace the laptop you have now, this is the place to start. But Microsoft has finally refined the device in important ways, including some that we've seen first in other Surface devices. The template here remains the same as it has been since the first time Microsoft got the Surface right: a decent-sized screen, the guts of an adequate Ultrabook, and a kickstand and detachable keyboard cover with solid pen support. But some elements of the Surface Pro 3 design have been showing their age in the last couple of generations-Thunderbolt and/or USB-C ports accomplish nearly everything that the proprietary Surface Connect port is trying to do, and other laptops, tablets, and convertibles had been shrinking their display bezels for a few years to increase screen size.

(Ars Technica may earn compensation for sales from links on this post through affiliate programs.)įive generations' worth of accessory interoperability is laudable and useful in some cases, especially if you're using multiple generations of Surface Pro tablets in a business and you need to be able to swap parts quickly.

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