However, when it comes to lasting power, we’re not seeing the same levels of battery life exhibited by the previous generation Surface Pro and its 14nm Intel Core CPU. In our tests, the Surface Pro 7 fell more than two hours short of the 8 hours and 45 minutes that the 2018 Pro 6 achieved in our local battery rundown test. Starting with the Surface Pro X, Microsoft made some significant changes to the design of its devices, and, to go along with it, the accompanying pen. While you can use the original round Surface Pen, the Surface Slim Pen 2 is ideal if you have one of these:

Important Make sure the Bluetooth is turned on your Surface by switching the Bluetooth toggle to on as in the picture above. Use your Surface Pen in any app that supports inking. To see which apps to start with, go to the section Try these apps with your Pen.

Once your pen is paired, you'll be able to use the top button. The top button does different things depending on how you interact with the button. To change these shortcuts, select Start > Settings > Bluetooth & devices> Pen & Windows Ink.

Rest your hand on the screen, like you would on a piece of paper, then start writing. Your Surface is designed to ignore your hand and other inputs while you write. Use the pointer that appears under your pen tip to guide you while you ink.Available colours for accessories and Type Cover (sold separately) may vary by market and configuration. Comparison of viewable content on Surface devices with 3:2 aspect ratio v. laptops with 16:10 or 16:9 aspect ratio There are numerous alternatives to Microsoft's own Surface Pen stylus, should you wish to try something a little different or need a cheaper replacement. If we had to recommend a single listing in this guide, it would be the Dell Premium Active Pen because it's one of the better styli out there. With its 4,096 levels of pressure sensitivity, tilt support, trio of programmable buttons, and compatibility with both MPP and Wacom AES, the Dell Premium Active Pen is nothing short of top-notch. It's one of the best pens for drawing, as well as one of the best styli in general. The 256GB SSD in Microsoft's detachable transferred about 5GB of files at a decent 267MB per second, again trumping the Pro 6 (203) but falling behind the Dell's 512GB SSD (463). Surface Headphones 2+ require use of the included Microsoft Surface USB Link to achieve Microsoft Teams certification, available only on Windows and macOS.

We also appreciate the Alcantara fabric that makes a return with this Type Cover, which appears and feels to be more tightly woven than before. Hopefully this will make the fabric more stain resistant, as Microsoft claims. In the Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker trailer, the red and blue of Kylo Ren and Rey's lightsabers popped nicely on the Surface Pro 7's panel, and a group shot of the Resistance crew gathering in the Millennium Falcon looked sharp and colorful (if a bit oversaturated). I could make out every tiny detail on the Falcon during a space battle scene, and I could clearly see every reflection emanating from C-3PO's gold body as he delivered some heartbreaking dialogue.Battery life varies significantly based on usage, network and feature configuration, signal strength, settings and other factors. See Surface Battery Performance for details. System software and updates use significant storage space. Available storage is subject to change based on system software and updates and apps usage. 1 GB = 1 billion bytes. 1 TB = 1,000 GB. See Surface Storage for more details.

The Surface Pen information should be listed under the “Mouse, keyboard, & pen” section. In this case, my Surface Pen is already connected with 85% battery left. Rest your hand on the screen, like you would on a piece of paper, then start writing. Your Surface is designed to ignore your hand and other inputs while you write. Use the pointer that appears under your pen tip to guide you while you ink. The Surface Pro 7 was the first of its kind using one of Intel’s 10-nanometer (nm) processors (CPUs) across all specifications, and the numbers certainly show that.

Kickstand adjusts nearly 180 degrees

The Surface Pro 7 notched 395 nits of brightness on our light meter, which is better than the average laptop but behind last year's Surface Pro 6 (408 nits) and the iPad Pro (484 nits). Our Pro 7 color tests told a similar story, as it reproduced a solid 97% of the sRGB color gamut but failed to top the Pro 6 (136%) or the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1 (113%). Microsoft Surface Pro 7: Audio If you’re not sure whether you have previously connected the Surface Pen to your PC or not, here is how to verify that: The Surface Pro 6 of 2018 employed a 14nm Intel Core CPU, which was fine for the job (and arguably still is), but this CPU has brought that transistor size down to 10nm, which means more transistors in the same overall CPU die space. Basically, with more transistors comes better performance, and it shows in the numbers. The first reason for this, as we've mentioned, is the design. For the Surface Pro models, starting with the Pro X, Microsoft removed the magnetic attachment from the side of the tablets. Instead, you're supposed to store the Surface Slim Pen 2 inside the Surface Pro Signature Keyboard, where it also stays charged. At the same time, the Surface Laptop Studio and Laptop Studio 2 are designed to store the Surface Slim Pen 2 on its underside, and with the Surface Duo 2, you can attach the Slim Pen 2 magnetically to the outside using the Surface Duo 2 Pen Cover. All of these options also charge the pen at the same time.