Surface Pro 9 is losing the computing battle to Apple

As I read the first batch Surface Pro 9 reviews I noticed a common theme. We are currently writing our own review for Microsoft’s 2-in-1 device. Windows on ARM is still poor enough. It’s certainly not enough to justify the $1,299 ($1,579 with keyboard and stylus) price for one of the most powerful laptops.

Let’s begin with the overall performance. The Surface Pro 9 comes in two versions: one with the SQ3 (Qualcomm, Microsoft) and one that has an Intel 12th generation chip. Andrew Freedman from Tom’s Hardware says that the SQ3 model performs better than the MacBook Air M2 in a variety of tests.

Geekbench 5, which measures overall performance of a computer, shows that the Surface Pro 9 (SQ3) scored 1,125 with a single core and 5,849 with multi-core. Compare this to Apple’s laptop, which is 1,932 and 8,919 respectively. They are not in the same league.

Let’s see how it performs in real life. The publication’s Handbrake video transcoding tests showed that the Surface Pro 9 (SQ3) took 12:58 seconds using the ARM native version, compared to the MacBook Air M2’s 7:52. We don’t know how fast the iPad Pro M2 runs with a similar chip. However, we are currently testing that.

The Surface Pro 9’s file transfer speed is also lower than that of the MacBook Air. This is a poor start.

It gets worse. Monica Chin, a Surface Pro 9 reviewer at The Verge, encountered several issues with apps that were not optimized for ARM. This led to frustrating freezes and lag. This is what you should see:

I would only have Slack open and switch between channels would still take nearly three seconds (yes I did time it on my smartphone). Spotify would also take 11 seconds to open with no background and then freeze for four seconds before I could press play. Chrome was slow to open, and I saw a lot of typos when I tried to type in it.

You can see the effect of YouTube video freezing and Lightroom just crashing when trying to open, and you will get the picture.

Microsoft has been working for over a decade to make Windows on ARM work. It’s still far behind Apple.

There are now Windows apps that can run natively on ARM and they are increasing in number. The Edge browser, which I don’t like but whatever, Microsoft Teams (which was somehow still slowish) and OneNote («which is described as zippy») are just a few examples.

Firefox, Photoshop and VLC are all native apps. However, the pace of development has not been rapid enough.

This brings me to the core of Microsoft’s problem. It has been nearly a decade since they tried to make Windows on ARM work. The 2012 release of Surface with Windows RT was the first failed attempt. We’ve seen inconsistent efforts from Microsoft, Qualcomm, and all of the partners in Windows to make this experiment work.

Apple’s own silicon approach, including Rosetta 2 emulation layer and its own hardware, has performed flawlessly in comparison to Microsoft’s efforts. I have never encountered the same compatibility issues or performance problems on Macs as the Surface Pro 9.

There are a slew of M1 and M2-optimized apps available now, from Trello and Dropbox to Chrome and Lightroom. The emulation Apple provides is so good that the average user won’t know what’s native or what’s not. They don’t need to care and that’s what’s important.

According to Surface Pro 9 reviews, the SQ3 version has some advantages. These include 5G support and a variety of enhancements for video calls using the Neural Processing Unit, such as Portrait Background Blur and Voice Focus. The SQ3 model promises significantly longer battery life.

Overall though, I find it difficult to recommend someone spending this much money on an unproven platform. Microsoft needs to get rid of the Windows-onARM kinks so it doesn’t fall further behind in the computing battles. It is currently losing.