MARCH 2020 • TECH ADVISOR 7today. But discovering the stylus simply can’t help elicit
the thought: oh, they’ve finally solved it. It even has
a small charging light. I have no idea what the pen’s
battery life is, because it’s essentially always being
charged when not in use.
The pen’s cubby, in addition to charging the pen,
magnetically flips it if you insert it incorrectly. The
Windowslogoshouldbeup,andtheSurfaceProX
willrotate it if it’s not properly oriented.
Microsoft describes the Surface Pro X chassis
design as “signature anodized aluminium with carbon
composite fanless thermal cooling”, a fancy way of
describing how light, sturdy, and cool it all is. I never
detected more than just a bit of warmth.
The kickstand reclines not quite to 180 degrees,
with just a bit of flex in it for drawing purposes. The
kickstand is stiff and supportive across the entire range
of motion, giving a lot more ergonomic flexibility than
a more traditional clamshell, which generally reclines to
about 45 degrees off the horizontal.
‘Lappability’ remains a matter of taste. I’m sort of
over the ‘let’s work with a tablet on your lap’ charade.The Microsoft Surface Pro X in full recline. The kickstand is surprisingly
resilient, providing a fairly steady inking surface with just a bit of bounce