Microsoft Surface Event 2022: Surface Laptop 5, Surface Pro 9 launched

The Microsoft Surface Event 2022 is scheduled to start on October 12 at 10:00 PM MYT. One of the biggest Microsoft highlights of the year was the launch of the Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 and the Surface Pro 9 tablet.

Microsoft emphasized that the event also marks the 10th anniversary of the Surface product line. Aside from the hardware, many of which matched predictions surrounding the Microsoft Surface event, new features for Windows 11 were also unveiled. There was no official announcement of the price of any new Microsoft Surface product during the event.

Panos Panay, EVP and Chief Product Officer at Microsoft, opened the event and took viewers through a look back at the journey of Microsoft and the Surface line.

The hardware-centric event came within a week of Google announcing the launch of the Pixel 7, Pixel 7 Pro and Pixel Watch at the Made by Google event.

The Microsoft Gala was the third mega event to take place in just over 30 days, with Apple announcing four iPhone 14 series phones and the revolutionary Apple Ultra Watch at its Far Out event on September 7th.

Products and applications announced at the 2022 Microsoft Surface event

Surface Laptop 5 in four colors

The first product presented at the event was the Surface Laptop 5. It follows the Surface Laptop 4 which was released in 2021.

It was perhaps an obvious choice to pick the laptop announcement first. Interestingly, the official Microsoft Surface Twitter account had given a hint of what was to come via a poll on October 10th. It asked people what they would predict for the event. Of the three options given by Microsoft, a staggering 64.5 percent of the vote went to “a next-level laptop.”

If you had a crystal ball, what would you predict? #MicrosoftEvent on October 12?

— Microsoft Surface (@surface) October 10, 2022

As demonstrated at the event, the laptop can be opened with just one hand. As predicted by experts, the laptop is based on the latest Intel EVO platform and features Thunderbolt 4 ports.

Microsoft says the laptop is up to 50 percent more powerful than its predecessor. It has up to 18 hours of battery life. There is a quick charge feature that charges the laptop in 30 minutes for 9 hours of battery life.

The keys are quieter and optimized for responsiveness.

The Microsoft Surface Laptop 5 features a 3:2 PixelSense display for 13.5-inch and 15-inch models with Dolby Vision IQ to deliver more detail and sharper contrast. It is tuned to automatically adjust color accuracy. The laptop is equipped with Dolby Atmos 3D room processing speakers placed just behind the corners of the keys on the keyboard.

The design is simple and light. Microsoft has launched Surface Laptop 5 in four colors including the latest shade – sage green.

During the Surface Laptop 5 announcement, Microsoft said that as part of its carbon negative 2030 target, Windows 11 has a new feature that schedules OS updates when the local grid has clean energy like wind and solar power available.

Surface Pro 9 with 5G

One of the most anticipated announcements, the Microsoft Surface Pro 9 tablet gets a new Liberty floral print design in blue color, created in collaboration with London-based design house Liberty.

The most important feature of Surface Pro 9 is that it is the first in the series with 5G capabilities. This particular variant is based on the ARM-based Microsoft SQ3 processor powered by Qualcomm Snapdragon and has a battery life of up to 19 hours. Other variants of the tablet are powered by a 12th generation Intel EVO processor.

Equipped with Thunderbolt ports, the Surface Pro 9 features a large 13-inch PixelSense display that’s perfect as both a handheld tablet and a laptop when connected to a keyboard.

Microsoft showed how Windows 11 adapts with larger gaps between apps when the keyboard is detached from the tablet.

The front-facing camera is centered and widened. The tablet pen used on the Surface Pro 9 has a micro-actuator inside, and Microsoft says its ink-focused view makes writing on the screen feel like writing on paper.

The Surface Pro 9 5G model comes with exclusive NPU (Neural Processing Unit) capabilities, which the company claims are the most powerful it has ever built. The NPU gives the tablet the ability to focus on the subject at all times, even when the subject is moving. It automatically creates blur effects and frames. There’s also Voice Focus, which drastically cuts out all sorts of background noise via NPU.

During the presentation of the Surface Pro 9, the company said that GoodNotes is coming to Windows.

Surface Studio 2+ desktop

The Surface Studio 2+ Desktop The 3rd main product showcased during the event. It has been speculated that the product’s name will be Surface Studio 3.

Surface Studio 2+ is powered by an Intel i7 quad-core processor and an NVIDIA GeForce RTX 3060, which is “five times more powerful than the original Surface Studio”.

It has three Thunderbolt ports, which Microsoft noted were requested by the developers.

The Surface Studio 2+ screen resolution is 4K with a color depth of DCI P3. It has both Dolby Vision and Dolby Atmos.

The desktop screen can be adjusted with just a touch of a finger. The screen is large enough to have four separate 14-inch display windows open at the same time.

Other announcements include Apple iCloud photo integration

Microsoft has announced new accessibility features for Windows 11 users. There are system-wide live closed captions of audio content that appear automatically on screen while an audio is turned on.

Other accessibility features include voice access for voice control and natural voices for the navigator option. Windows Security has been updated to block scripts from the Internet, improve protection against ransomware attacks, and improve online data security.

One of the key announcements at Microsoft Surface Event 2022 was the integration of photos taken on an Apple iPhone running Xbox and Windows 11. It will be possible to transfer pictures from iCloud Photos to Windows after installing the iCloud for Windows app from the Microsoft Store.

Microsoft has announced that Apple TV and the Apple Music app will be coming to Windows in 2023.

Two other hardware products were also unveiled. These were Microsoft Presenter+, a Teams remote with a mute button, and Audio Dock.

Microsoft also announced a new product – Microsoft Designer. It features the company’s AI, DALL-E 2, which helps users create any type of images they like by entering keywords into the tool. The images, Microsoft says, are only generated for the user. DALL-E 2 also helps design templates and social media posts that can be shared with one click on the app itself, along with automatic hashtag recommendations.

The DALL-E 2 AI will be coming to Bing Image Creator soon, Microsoft said.

(Main and special images: Microsoft)

This story first appeared on Lifestyle Asia India