50 PCWorld MARCH 2020REVIEWS MICROSOFT SURFACE PRO^7
app—not my first choice for drawing, but a
real pleasure to use nevertheless. Digital ink
flows smoothly as the Pen glides over the
display, and the pen connects magnetically
to the side of the tablet.
Note that the Camera app turns on the
user-facing camera by default—perhaps
assuming you live within Skype. The
rear-facing camera offers normal and
panorama photography, plus document-
scanning and whiteboarding options.
Virtually everything on the Surface Pro 7 is
about productivity.PORTS: USB-C, BUT NO
THUNDERBOLT YET
If you’ve owned a previous Surface, you’ll be
happy to know that the Surface Connector
remains the same, allowing you to use an old
Surface charger with the new model. The
same goes for the Surface Dock, which
Microsoft has never updated.
What is new about the Surface Pro 7 is the
addition of the USB-C port—and the removal
of miniDisplayPort. In all, this is a net positive
for the Surface Pro lineup, given the wide and
varied range of USB-C hubs to compensate
for a single, dedicated port. Tablets like
Lenovo’s ThinkPad X1 tablet have previously
offered more flexible port options, and it’s
nice to see Microsoft’s prosumer tablet line
catch up. The Surface Pro X offers a pair of
USB-C ports, however, compared to the
Surface Pro 7’s single port.Some rivals go beyond this to offer a
Thunderbolt-enabled USB-C port, which
allows more bandwidth for connecting to
secondary monitors and the like. In the
Surface Pro 7’s case, its USB-C port
(specifically USB 3.1 Gen 2, at 10GBps,
using DisplayPort 1.4) will accommodate a
pair of external 4K displays at 60Hz. The
Surface Pro X’s capabilities slightly outshine
the Surface Pro 7’s: It can connect up to
two 4096x2304 displays using its pair of
USB-C ports.
The Surface Pro 7’s USB-C port can alsoMicrosoft removed the miniDisplayPort connector
and replaced it with a USB-C port. The Surface
Connector for the Surface Dock remains.