MARCH 2021 PCWorld 65Surface Pro 7+ and its Tiger Lake chip in
multithreaded CPU performance. (Both the
10th-gen Core i7 in the Surface Pro 7 and
the 11th-gen Core i5 in the Surface Pro 7+
are four-core, eight-thread processors.) In
single-threaded performance, the Surface
Pro 7+ scored 187, which is just a 3 percent
improvement.
When we bumped up the performance
slider on the original Surface Pro 7, basically
nothing happened (go.pcworld.com/nhap).
We weren’t expecting much on the Surface
Pro 7+. Boy, were we wrong.
Basically, adjusting the power slider
increased Cinebench multithreaded
performance from a 6 percent upgrade over
the Surface Pro 7 to about 22 percent. That’s
an amazing, unexpected boost. Single-
threaded performance, though, increased
just 6 percent.
PCMARK 8 CREATIVE:
UP TO A 15% IMPROVEMENT
Microsoft bills the Surface Pro lineup as a tool
for productivity as well as content creation,
and the tablet form factor lends itself to
drawing as well as creative work. We used the
PCMark 8 Creative suite of tests (measuring
web browsing, photo editing, light gaming
and more) to measure this aspect of
performance. Again, the Surface Pro 7+
outpaces its in-house competition and does
even better with the performance slider
dialed up.
HANDBRAKE:
UP TO 10% IMPROVEMENT
Over time, we’ve tended to regard
Cinebench as a sprint for the CPU, while
using the free HandBrake utility to transcode a
movie pushes the CPU to the limits over a
marathon of an hour or so. The performance
improvement over the Surface Pro 7 is less
pronounced here, even with the Windows
performance slider dialed up to maximum.Performance in PCMark also improved,
probably at least in part due to the impact the
improved GPU has on tests like light gaming
and video editing.PCMark 8 Creative
Native resolution
Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ MaxCore i5-1135G7
Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ DefaultCore i5-1135G7
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 DefaultCore i7-1065G7
LONGER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE4,4783,9044,128The move from 10th-gen to 11th-gen CPUs in
the Surface Pro 7+ garnered a small boost in the
prolonged HandBrake test.Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ MaxCore i5-1135G7
Microsoft Surface Pro 7+ DefaultCore i5-1135G7
Microsoft Surface Pro 7 DefaultCore i7-1065G7
SHORTER BARS INDICATE BETTER PERFORMANCE2,9973,3133,240Handbrake 0.99.0
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