{"id":651989,"date":"2026-06-22T10:22:22","date_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:22:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/651989\/"},"modified":"2026-06-22T10:22:22","modified_gmt":"2026-06-22T10:22:22","slug":"microsoft-buried-its-best-surface-hardware-in-years-through-a-quiet-series-of-press-releases","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/651989\/","title":{"rendered":"Microsoft buried its best Surface hardware in years through a quiet series of press releases"},"content":{"rendered":"

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\"Windows\n<\/p>\n

Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 this week, but thanks to a confusing naming scheme<\/a> and the lack of an event or stream, the new PCs have not drawn the attention they deserves.<\/p>\n

Those who paid attention and saw the announcements may have experienced sticker shock, since the new Surface devices are at least $500 more expensive than their predecessors. Microsoft will include a free keyboard<\/a> to ease the pain, but still.<\/p>\n

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This week marked the third time this year that Microsoft announced new Surface PCs, and I feel cheated. This isn’t how Surface week is supposed to feel.<\/p>\n

Latest Videos FromBiggest News of the Week<\/p>\n

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\"Surface<\/p>\n

Image credit: Microsoft<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

\nThe real difference between consumer and business Surface PCs\n<\/p>\n

Think the only difference between consumer and business Surface PCs is the chip? The real differences<\/a> come down to enterprise features.<\/p>\n

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\"MSI<\/p>\n

Image credit: Future<\/p>\n

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\nAn Xbox Series X, PS5, and Switch 2 cost less than MSI’s new handheld\n<\/p>\n

MSI’s new Claw 8 EX AI+<\/a> is a beauty with the best performance we’ve ever seen in a gaming handheld, but at $1,799, gamers can get a whole lot more value elsewhere. Like, say, three modern consoles.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Windows<\/p>\n

<\/a><\/p>\n

Microsoft has announced a whopping six Surface devices this year. But information trickled out in a series of press releases. No on-stage event. No live stream. No buzz.<\/p>\n

I can understand Microsoft skipping a Surface event when there’s little to announce. In a couple of previous years, there’s been little to talk about. But in just the first half of 2026, Microsoft unveiled:<\/p>\n

Those PCs aren’t just spec bumps. They include two new form types of PCs for the Surface family (a true clamshell workstation and a mini PC<\/a>), and the latest components from Intel, NVIDIA, and Qualcomm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The Surface Laptop 8 for Business has an innovative privacy screen that should make non-business users jealous. The new consumer Surface hardware runs on the Snapdragon X2 Elite. The Surface Laptop Ultra runs NVIDIA’s RTX Spark superchip and Windows on Arm<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Microsoft had the partners, internals, form factors, and unique features to fill a keynote. Instead, inboxes were filled with emails of spec sheets and basic information.<\/p>\n

Shopping with Sean<\/p>\n

The new Surface Pro 12 and Surface Laptop 8 are beautiful machines, but I think it’s hard to justify their price. Instead, I suggest a Dell XPS<\/a> 13 with a Snapdragon X Elite and 32GB of RAM.<\/p>\n

If you do get a Surface Pro, the discounted Surface Pro Flex Keyboard is worth grabbing. It can be used wirelessly or when physically attached and features a large haptic trackpad.<\/p>\n

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\"Click\n<\/p>\n

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Join us on Reddit at r\/WindowsCentral <\/a>to share your insights and discuss our latest news, reviews, and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Microsoft announced the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 this week, but thanks to a confusing naming…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":651990,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[59,86,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-651989","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-technology","tag-gb","tag-technology","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651989","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=651989"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/651989\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/651990"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=651989"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=651989"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=651989"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}