Removable SSD was for the enterprise and government markets to enable easy end-of-life decommissioning as the SSD can be quickly removed and recycled securely. I work in banking and were not allowed to resell storage devices; they must be destroyed.
Moved from a SP4 i5 to a SP7+ i5 and I am very happy. For me this is the perfect travel PC. 11th Gen CPU, USB-C charging, replaceable SSD, Fanless, compatible with old SP accessories. I feel right now this is an excellent price to performance buy. SP7+ i5 8GB 128G with keyboard only ~$700.
Really informative video thank you. Surface is Micrsoft's sleeper hit (upgradeable SSD holy F.!) ... full fat OS on a tablet with keyboard cover is what I've tried (and failed) to do with the iPad Pro as a daily driver
Thank you for a great review! This is the first Mash IT video I've seen and I like the direct and clear style of the video. I also want to commend your first 4 minutes, because they speak to exactly why I've bought a refurbished Surface 7+ Pro to complement and eventually replace my trusty little Surface 7 which has served (and continues) to serve me well for 4 years now. The form factor is excellent - light and versatile so no need to change it - and I can use my charger, typecover keyboard, and pen on the new one - which is a considerable saving!
The point of not changing the design is for business/enterprise. Expect a redesign to the consumer model this year. Listen to the Windows Central Podcast, everyone!
I'm trying to decide between the Surface Pro 7+ and the Lenovo ThinkPad X12 and your videos are so helpful! Really appreciate your thoroughness and honesty
@@LilCeejay it’s kinda of custom built for my business account so I have to wait for them to build it so probs will be here December.. Also not sure if this supposed chip shortage is playing into the delay as well
Upgrading from SP4 so I bought the Costco SP7 bundle a week ago, and I'm hoping this model is shipped in it's place! I didn't know this existed until shopping for accessories. Thanks for the video.
Sorry, but I really doubt it will be as for some unknown reason MS have decided to only release this model for education and business markets. You can still find available but not at most of your normal retailers :( It is a good upgrade on the standard 7 though so may be worth looking into if you haven't received your 7 yet (unless you got a really good price on the 7 bundle?)
Yes, sorry mate but I did not get the LTE version so there is not much I can say about it. The reason I didn’t get the lte is because we use the sdcard slot a lot and didn’t want to loose that for lte (especially as we would not use the lte) sorry
GREAT Reviews on NEW Products !! WE LOVE THIS!!!🙌 I work for an airline and check your reviews first before I authorize purchases 👍Keep it Coming Please...
Haha I think they are too lazy to even think of any ideas! Lets just slap in a new CPU and we are done! Oh actually lets go one better and do something revolutionary, we will let them upgrade the SSD.
Yes you are absolutely right. Not having the removable Ssd is what held us back from the last few releases, especially with what MS charges to put a sensible amount in. Also I hated the fact they were soldered onto the motherboard, at least the SP4 was removable (although very difficult as you need to remove the screen)
Yes thanks. I was chatting with a couple of artists on Reddit who mentioned this. I have ordered a new pen and will do a follow up video when it arrives
Here you go: geni.us/OF2J It is amazon and should take you to the relevant store for your region. I have just linked you silver but there are other colours too
Yes its my main complain about my Surface Pro 7. Its nice and portable but a little too small for me. In fact I use mine connected to an external monitor as a desktop and use my Thinkpad T61 running Linux as my mobile PC. The T61 is old but the screen size is great.
Great review as always! Would be very keen to see the difference between the fanless i5 vs the i7 in terms of performance. So nice to see a good webcam in a laptop too.
Thank you mate, i5 should be here Monday so not long for comparison. And yes the webcam and mics are really good especially compared to some recent laptops (ie x1 nano)
@@MashITTech So 9 months later what are you thoughts on the i5 vs i7? I really want the i5 but only because of 4g option. Is there really that big of a difference between the 11th gen i5 and i7?
@@MashITTech I'd like to know the same. Just got i7 (had i7 Surface Pro 6 before) and I find 7 Plus to be noisy (fan runs every time I'm plugging it in, it wasn't happening with Pro 6 as much)
If it ain’t broke don’t fix it. While a redesign would me awesome it doesn’t seem that ethical to make it look different just for aesthetic reasons. Just my opinion. Only thing I would like to see changed it to shrink the bezels and give a 4K screen other then that I think it works for the people who are primarily using them.
The removable SSD is the same 2230 form factor as that used on the Laptop 3 and Surface Pro X. Not easy to get at retail but there are plenty of online sellers. You could also get a 1 TB unit off a CalDigit Tuff Nano external drive.
Yeah thanks mate. I just received a western digital 2230 I picked up from Ebay so I will be doing a SSD swap and windows install video in case it helps any one
Great review! I was wondering if there is a big difference between i5 and i7 versions, cause the price difference is huge. I will definitely check the comparison video. PS: Great appearance on 0:10:35 - 😶🤣
Hi Bruno, haha you are the first person to mention that! Gary’s first appearance on camera but it was more like where’s Wally 😂 The comparison video should cover all your concerns but what do you plan on using the device for? I kept the i5 and Gary the i7, my i5 has been a real work horse and cooed with everything I have thrown at it. I bought the cheapest i5 and upgraded the ssd myself (video on that too if you need it)
@@MashITTech Hahahaha, next time Gary should wear some black rounded glasses and a red and white hat! 🤓 My situation is similar, I'm coming from a Surface Pro 4 top spec. Also, have a bunch of accessories. My usage is basically office + coding and occasionally light gaming, which I think will be the bottleneck. For titles like Cities Skylines I'm not worried but I have a hard time running PUBG for example. Don't mind running in low configs, as long as it's playable. Currently, I can't find the i7 in stock as well (I will get it from Microsoft store)
Light gaming will be fine even on the i5. I. have played some DOTA, CSGO, War-game and a few other strategy titles. The best thing is they have now added more 3:2 custom resolutions which helps with more demanding games. Office and Coding will be fine, I have also used mine for some Blender work and a bit of UNITY development
Thank you mate, the point about the pen was more that it still works over the generations. I do have a new pen on the way so will follow up when it arrives 👍
Thank you. Yes it is really expensive. I got better pricing than msrp but it is still more than I wanted to pay. But Gary hasn’t had a new machine for 4 years so he deserves it 😂
It sure would. Get a samsung evo microsd or similar high speed card. Move all documents/media/games etc to the sd card and leave as little as possible on the ssd to free up space. 64gb is hard to work with
I knew someone somewhere had to have made a windows tablet with a usbA port, this is an absolute godsend for use as a diag tool with Cummins insite and ddl8 etc.
My Alienware laptop crapped out. I don't game much. Primarily email, web surfing, day trading, streaming music/movies and printing from pdf files and Microsoft Outlook. I do enjoy using a mouse as well. I have heard nothing but negative experiences about windows 10. Should I get this or an actual laptop? 🤔
I use Macs and Windows machines and love both operating systems, Windows 10 can give you issues but I have also had plenty of issues with Mac OS over the years. Personally unless there is something you really want to utilise with the surface pro (ie drawing, taking notes, also using it as a tablet) I would probably suggest you get a decent laptop instead.There are some great laptops out there at the moment, will you be using an external screen too? is portability important? what about ports? If you give me a bit more information I can try and give you some good suggestions 👍
@@MashITTech I'm unfamiliar with apple operating system. Not likely to use external monitor. Portability isn't mandatory but would be nice. I currently utilize a USB hub for my mx air mouse and hp ink jet printer. I also have a Samsung galaxy s20 ultra I upload and download music to and from utilizing iTunes.
Just got i7 (had i7 Surface Pro 6 before) and I find 7 Plus to be noisy (fan runs every time I'm plugging it in, it wasn't happening with Pro 6 as much)
@@MashITTech show me this ssd you are talking about. Also we would be limited to sd card speeds right? Only 100MB which is like a spinning ssd... I'm not aware if your solution or how it would work... I have a flush mount micro SD card adapter but that is not an SSD...
oh sorry mate, I am being dumb, I meant to write MicroSD not ssd! and you already have that :( I found it useful for offloading images, docs and music from the SSD
Hello man and thanks for the review. Im a master student and i just got this tablet for the first time to improve my productivity. you are going to upload a video about changing the ssd right? it will be good if you can recomend us which ssd is compatibel and for how much too. The change with microsoft can cost you a kidney.
01:26 Well, there's a limited amount of new designs you can make with a square. It's not as if there's been any new squares coming out recently that are not a square. Odds are it will just be a square.
It is because m$ couldn’t be bothered to redesign the chassis from surface pro for all the way to surface pro 7+ they have finally reduced the bezels on the new surface pro 8
@@MashITTech Thanks for the reply, but i think you missed the target of my question a little xD. I just wondered, if i can use the repairservice from microsoft, if i by the surface for private using and not for buisness. Good review though. You helped me alot
Lol sorry, that is mobile RU-vid going mad! It put a response from a different post in yours! In answer to your question, it won’t make a difference. The warranty is on the serial number and they will honour it regardless.
That's a hard call! We have only vague rumours at the moment on the SP8. The 7+ is a great device and is what the 7 should have been. I am really enjoying mine and would recommend it. Maybe get the i5 base model and upgrade the SSD if necessary, then if the 8 comes out and is worth the upgrade you wont loose much selling the 7+ to get the 8
I got the i5 without lte sorry. What was it you were interested in seeing with the lte version? Reason I didn’t get the lte is you loose the sd card slot which I use a lot 😭 just editing a comparison video at the moment, should be up tomorrow
Wait so nowadays even i5 version gets no fans? It was only the m3 could go fanless back to 2015... Are these new fanless models gonna easily got overheated?
Yes that’s right. It even performs really well whilst being fanless! Check out the i5 vs i7 video where I test it’s throttling behaviour against the i7 with fan, it was really impressive
Yes the surface pro 7 and 7+ feature a micro SD card slot. The only time that changes is if you want the LTE version of the 7+ as the LTE removes the SDcard slot for the SIM bay
They could've at least reduced those bezels. The main reason to buy a Surface device is for portability... when you are going to carry that in your bag, to the classroom, office, train, plane, etc. every inch matters (hopefully, that will all be normal again after this pandemic)... those bezels are a waste of space. Another turn off for me is the keyboard covered with Alcantara fabric. I have a Surface 3, after a couple of years, the keyboard already looked bad... and I'm careful. There are lots of complaints about that. I mean, the natural fate of fabric is to wear and tear, I don't know how Microsoft thinks it's a smart idea to cover a keyboard with fabric.
Yes, Microsoft are so lazy. They have kept it the same for about 4 generations, it’s like they just don’t care. It is a goood screen but there is so much wasted space as you mention 😭
To make it planned obsolescence to get more type over sales, which is also why they keep making sure each new mode can use the same type covers Makes it easy to keep prices high for type covers designed half a decade ago and not having to come up with new models
@@MashITTech In my opinion they should keep some bezel and the main reason is when you carry it, you don't mess up with the touch screen. Like when you present slides with wireless screen and holding the Surface on hand so you don't need to look the main display. Otherwise it will be great to add a physical switch to turn on/off the touch screen. 1) save battery life when you don't need touch screen. 2) you dont want to mess up your screen when you are holding it and it's still on. 3) some people like to touch the screen to show stuff (i dont like lol) and on that case you dont want that it clicks. I'm using the SP7 with the Surface Pen Slim (the one that you got with surface pro x) and i'm quite happy with it. You should compared it against the Apple pencil on ipad pro
hmm interesting! I could possibly do that. I will be ordering the new iPad Pro and was going to compare with the SP7+. Let me take a look at the air too, I don't know much about it as I usually get the iPad pros
Yes mate, sorry for the delay, I have shot it and half way through editing it but have just been so busy I haven’t got it up yet! Will do my best to get it up tomorrow
Absolutely, Bill Gates walked into the design team tea room, smashed his spectacles off the desk, and shouted aggressively: "I must be able to use this at the bottom of my pike lake".
Further, I've noted your username. Captain Sully, you've clearly enquired in case you are unfortunate enough to be in a Boeing next time and have to be be able check the digital shutdown checklist from the bottom of the Hudson.
@@MashITTech Awesome. You’d think it would based on the specs, but after some quick research, I think the fact that the trackpad isn’t included might be what kills it.
I really hope Surface Pro 8 makes a big leap in terms of Price:Performance ratio, Battery, improved design (besels), improved touch-stylus (MS promise they constantly improve this), thinner/lighter than ever and oc LTE option in models. Do these with or without ARM processor so long as it's compatible, I'd be delighted and feel the form factor is superior to laptop for utility to investment ie I'd prefer this if P:P ratio and other improvements make it comparable to the Mac Book Air Price (with the much superior M1 performance). Given Apple are clearly adamant in not upgrading the IPad with a full OS, this is a clear market niche ready for MS to fill successfully imo. Anticipating this Fall for a new model that makes a signficant improvement, fingers-x.
I will also cross fingers buy knowing what M$ are like I am sure it will be a much more conservative upgrade :( M4 like to disappoint and overcharge for the privilege
@@MashITTech Agree "Le sigh", plus ca change... I've thought about grabbing Lenovo's 10" chromebook duet and installing Linux on it as a budget option for something portable AND affordable AND giving my budget still enough to purchase a Mac Book Air ! But why oh why can't M$ or another company get this 2:1 form factor into more hands... probably like Apple the big boys want to charge through the nose as long as possible before convergence forces their hand - imo this form factor will become a big consumer choice over the next coming years after it has spent time incubating in the "luxury/business user product category"... Thanks for all the reviews which contribute useful info.
I think you need to keep the bezel as it's designed to be hand held, if you don't intend to hand hold it and so don't need the bezel area to hold you can just get a small lightweight laptop, and get a lot more for your money
Why change the look, it is still the best looking actually usable gadget around. If they'd only just put a removable back panel and somehow lower the price just a little bit more, and it would be the best device around
You may not be able to remove the back panel but at least you can now access the ssd and upgrade it at last! With what MS charge for ssd upgrades this is a good opportunity to save some cash
@@MashITTech That is a def. a nice feature, but having just finished restoring an old surface pro 3 i7 with a broken fan, a removable back panel would have made the repair work 100x easier The surface's glass screen is sooo frail on the edges, it is nigh impossible to open without having to get a new screen and digitizer (since they are fused together) for ~100$ just to replace a 15$ heatsink
@@MashITTech Absolutely! and danged that it felt good to get that surface to come back alive even after that huge operation And even thought it is already an old machine, due to the quality parts (the i7, more memory and better iGPU than the bulk ones ) that thing is still an absolute beast for digital art with bamboo ink and dial. Also miraculously, the battery is still operating at 95% of max capacity Even thought it took ages, and had to get parts and tools from all over the World, it was well worth the repair. (and I now understand why all the repair companies refused to even try to fix it, and said it would cost more than a new used one)
Looking forward to see the i5 comparison :). Very unfortunate that it's only for business.. Yes I could get one, but only for 400€ more because there's no student discount for the business products
Yes it’s really odd. I did manage to get them at better pricing than msrp in a large U.K. retailer so ended up not being too bad. I5 arriving Monday so will get on the testing ASAP
Microsoft warranty is really terrible, consider myself dumb i have been hit with surface pro 4 flicker gate issue, now i got a surface pro 7 with lines at the bottom. How can microsoft sell this kinda of product. totally does not make sense. i would have thought it is sour lemon on surface pro 4 flicker gate but after so many iteration it is still bad.
Oh man, that sounds terrible. We must have been lucky with ours, no issues yet (had SP4, 5, and 7 in the office before getting these 7+) I did have all manner of issues with surface books though and we got rid of those
Why haven't you stated what you did or who you talked to try solve the problem? No one complains about a warranty without stated what has transpired to reach that conclusion. Also, the SP4 was released in 2015, so it is 6 years old now. Did you expect it to last forever...lol
I have a surface pro 6 and a 12.9 ipad pro, they both have their strengths, but neither is a replacement for the other and it mostly boils down to: Nobody else has a 4:3 tablet on the market at the largish 12-15" screen size MS just doesn't seem to care about having a touch OS on par with ipadOS, when you use the surface in touch only mode it just gives you the feeling that MS is just being lazy or they don't care about touch, because the surface experience is almost on par with an ipad. It's like 70% of the way there, the rest is formfactor and software. Seeing the review just confirms my suspicions that MS doesn't care about a touch OS. This is just a spec bump, when their biggest issue is software.
You are absolutely bang on. MS hasn't done anything to improve touch input for ages and it feels so half baked. I can get by using it as a tablet but if I had an iPad close to hand I would grab that to surf the net in tablet mode. But for work the SP wins hands done and I just love the kickstand, I find it so useful
wait, so I was looking at one video of M1 MacBook vs Surface Laptop 4 and there M1 MacBook had 1716 and 7301 on Geekbench when here Surface Pro 7+ has 1542 and 5622, so I would say not bad 🤔 and you have a highly portable Windows 10 device, so that is a clear W in my eyes 😁
@@MashITTech yeah and if Microsoft wkll play it smart by having i5 + 8 GB ram + decent storage for a decent price and not make i7 16 GB RAM overpriced, they can really compete with M1 devices + M2 is coming so MS has to be smart about this 🤔
@@lttips6565 MBs are in a completely different category than the Surface Pro 7s. Second, MBs have: 1. no touch screens 2. no pen support 3. no micoSD slot 4. no HDMI port (until this year) 5. no 1080p webcam 6. no upgradability 7. no 2-in-1 design 8. no 180-degree screen 9. no detectable keyboard And let's not forget their long history of: 1. keyboard issues (class-action lawsuit) 2. connectivity issues (class-action lawsuit) 3. green screen issues (class-acton lawsuit) 4. thermal throttling (class-action lawsuit). There is a reason: 1. MBs have only 7-8% market share and 2. Apple is rated as one of the worst laptop makers (Google, laptopmag.com's "Best & Worst Laptop Brands 2020"). 3. MBs battery life is NOT amazing, Google, "Laptops with best battery life in 2021" by laptopmag.com. Finally, why are you always bring up MBs? Do they pay you or do you own Apple stock?
new subscriber ...this is perfect timing as my surface pro 4 m3 model is certainly feeling its age....very interested in I5 v I7 and doing a fresh instal on a new ssd
Yes I would have liked to compare to the 7 but we didn’t have one in the office. We have had the 4 for years and it has served Gary well, when we tested the 7 we weren’t impressed enough with it to make the upgrade but the 7+ is a really good upgrade. No idea why ms don’t make this available to all
Only review I could find, great job! Personally I'm waiting for future premium Windows 10X on ARM Tablets, or even premium ChromeOS on ARM Tablets. Not a fan of the Tablet mode and Pricing on the SP7 tbh, as a secondary PC for me. 16GB LTE model costs nearly a whopping $2,000 USD!!!
Tough decision for me between the MS Surface Pro 7+ versus the new Apple iPad Pro 12.9" which can be ordered @ April 30th. Since 1993 I've been a Windows custom desktop PC guy, and I have an old, tired Asus Win 10 laptop as well. I have an unlocked Android One Plus 7 Pro 4G smartphone. I'll be getting a 5G phone in the Fall, and I've been toying w/ the idea of the new iPhone 13 due out around that time.
Yes it is but the iPad Pro is pretty expensive for a tablet! I will be ordering one on the 30th and will put it head to head with the surface pro 7+ so if there anything you want me to include let me know 👍
@@jmachats Yes, do you have any more points that he already covered in the video that you want to repeat in the comments.... only to then confirm that he had already covered it in the video? A very confusing input by yourself.
WHAT DOES IT DO??? Nobody ever says what these things do, does it have programmes already installed on it, if so what are they, Does it come pre-installed with Office for example? As a Microsoft product at this price range it should do. All people say is it's ok for drawing on, well so is a piece of f***ing paper ffs. All you talked about was specs from geekbench. This is probably a good review for people with their heads up their own asses but for those of us who aren't into that kind of detail and just want the basics, what does it do? If it's just got the programmes you get with win 10 for example why would you want one if you have a PC with win 10 on it? There is nothing on win 10 that wasn't on win 3.1 if we are going to be honest, and that was what, 12 floppy disks at 1.44 meg each. Win 10 is just a seriously bloated version of win 3.1 without cardfile and with much less access to explorer than you got with much earlier versions of explorer. I really can't see why anyone would want one of these things but then what do i know as no-one ever says what programs are on there that come with it. It might be as much use as a kindle fire for all i know?
In the UK, the base model is cheaper than a MacBook Air. so whilst not cheap it is also not overly expensive here. Obviously you can buy a cheap HP or Dell here if you wish to save money but a lot of people here are willing to pay extra for these premium devices
Honestly I think MS only released the Pro 7+ because Intel started calling in favors from their OEM partners to help shore up their endangered CPU business that's getting pummeled by AMD's 4000 and 5000 series Ryzen on the left and Apple's M1 on the right. Otherwise, the Surface Pro series always jumps a CPU generation and only uses even-numbered ones. PS. I wish they also made their wifi cards upgradable. The marvell/intel ax201 cards they're using will be obsolete in a few years and I personally would want to be able to upgrade them to 7, 8, 9, etc GHz down the line.
Because there are many different types of USB A USB 1.0 and 2.0 ports and plugs are white or black. USB 3.0 ports and plugs are blue. USB 3.1 ports and plugs are teal blue. USB sleep-and-charge ports are often yellow, orange, or red. ... So by saying USB 3 - everyone knows what version of Type A is on the machine.
@@MashITTech I got the sp7+ i7 version. And it's just a hundred dollars or so more than the sp7 but more futureprove with the big battery and tigerlake cpu.
It is so much better than the standard 7, the performance and battery are both well ahead and being able to change the SSD is a life saver. I bought the 128gb and upgraded straight away
M1 made this and the pro irrelevant. The air is as mobile, so what it doesn't have touch or a pen, and you can't draw.... It's far more adaptable in terms of power. I mean how often are you going to draw if you're in business and doing documents. I'm a surface fan but moving to M1. It just sensible.
I have a m1 pro so completely agree with your points but do still have a soft spot for the surface though. Gary on the hand hates Mac OS and won't touch the new Macs and therefore still wanted the surface Pro over it. He does a lot of photoshop on it and uses the pen heavily so does make use of it more than I would
How M1 MACs made SP irrelevant? I use SP both for work and leisure so it's good Surface runs all the programs I need and I can use it as a tablet to read digital media, magazines, etc. I bought SP4 many years ago because I needed to use pen, but got so used to this amazing 3:2 format in this screen size, that can't imagine using anything different (had Macbook Air just before SP4). If all you need is the most powerful computing device then oh well... Just make sure this powerful beast called M1 even runs the programs/games you need :D
Don't waste your money! Actually, you need to waste your money if you are going to use surface products. They don't last, and when they break, Microsoft will just tell you to upgrade instead of fixing your problem! I have a Surface Pro 4 and when the battery began to swell after a couple of years, their recommendation was to upgrade or buy a used Surface pro 4 at a discount. Never had an Apple, but I do now and I love it, and I'm never buying Microsoft products again!!!!!!!