The Apple Pencil magnetized to the side of the iPad, which replenished the pen’s power.īut Apple’s Smart Keyboard, which attached to the tablet with magnets, felt inferior to the Surface Pro X’s keyboard. The software system was designed to work with your fingertips: App icons were nice and large, and swipe gestures acted as shortcuts to close apps and return to the home screen. The iPad Pro’s body was more comfortable to hold. To make comparisons, I tested an iPad Pro with Apple’s Smart Keyboard and the Apple Pencil.Īs a tablet, the iPad Pro was superior to the Surface Pro X’s tablet mode in every way. The closest competitor to the Surface Pro X is the 12.9-inch iPad Pro, the premium version of Apple’s tablet that works with optional styluses and keyboards. For example, the tool steers creative users who rely on Adobe apps toward the Surface Book 2 and the Surface Pro 7, which can run a broader set of apps because of their PC chip architecture. Microsoft said it offered a tool to help people choose a Surface device based on their lifestyle and the type of work they do. How will you know which of your apps will work with the Surface Pro X? There’s no simple method short of doing a web search on app compatibility with this product. The device does work well, however, with Office 365, Microsoft’s cloud-based versions of Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel. Adobe was still working to make some of its creativity apps, like Photoshop, work with this special version of Windows.

Dropbox, the online storage service that I rely on every day for work, doesn’t fully function on the Surface Pro X. Microsoft said that it had heard feedback from people on the Windows interface and that it was continuing to improve its software for tablet use.Īnother downside is that some important apps were not compatible with this ARM-based computer. Web browser tabs appeared to be jammed into the top of the screen.Īt heart, while Windows was designed to be a two-in-one experience, it is still a PC operating system with some flawed tablet features.

Important elements, like the search icon or “X” button to close windows, remained tiny and difficult to tap with a fingertip. When you use the device as a tablet, Windows doesn’t properly adapt to become a touchable operating system.

Surface x pro