Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft Corp., speaks during the launch of Surface Pro 3 at an event in New York on May 20, 2014.
Jin Lee | Bloomberg | Getty
Microsoft unveiled on Monday the Surface Pro 7+ for Business, a version of its 2019 Surface Pro 7 convertible tablet that was designed for commercial and educational customers. It comes with a new Intel processor and cellular connectivity so you can go online when you don’t have Wi-Fi. The base model costs $ 899 and the LTE versions start at $ 1,149.
Surface revenue growth accelerated in the second and third quarters, as people rushed to buy PCs to continue studying and working while staying at home. Still, Microsoft’s control of the PC hardware market remains less than that of Apple, Dell, HP and Lenovo.
The arrival of the PC shows that Microsoft is experimenting further with its Surface line, using a plus sign to distinguish the product, as competing computer maker Apple did for the first time.
The current Surface concept debuted in 2012 under former CEO Steve Ballmer. Satya Nadella replaced Ballmer as CEO in 2014 and over time reduced Microsoft’s focus on consumers, such as exiting the ebook and streaming music markets. There is now a Surface model that is only for business users.
Normally, each fall Microsoft releases a new Surface Pro, but this fall, as the coronavirus pandemic impacted gadget supply chains like Microsoft’s iPhone 12 and Xbox Series X, autumn has come and gone without a new one. Surface Pro 8. A spokesman declined to comment on Microsoft’s script.
Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 for Business does not come with a dockable keyboard; this accessory is sold separately.
Microsoft
And yet, Surface Pro 7+ for Business looks almost exactly like the Surface Pro variants from previous years. This is intentional.
“We made a commitment to business customers to continue the format,” said Robin Seiler, corporate vice president at Microsoft. Surface Pro owners told the company that design changes, like even moving a microphone, can cause complexity, Seiler said.
Seiler did not say whether the new tablet would be released to consumers.
The device offers up to a terabyte of storage, along with up to 32 GB of RAM, a supply of memory that can also be found on the Surface Book 3 premium. Surface Pro 7+ for Business also includes a removable solid state drive, a feature that first arrived on Surface Pro X in 2019.
Microsoft says the battery lasts up to 15 hours, compared to the Surface Pro X convertible tablet that relies on an arm-based chip. The standard Surface Pro 7 comes with up to 10.5 hours of battery life.
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