Microsoft Surface Pro 12.3" 7+ Platinum

The Surface Pro 7+ is a top-tier ultraportable 2-in-1 that's perfect for note-taking and Office work on the go, especially at its current $648 price. The 16GB RAM and Core i7 keep multitasking smooth, but the integrated graphics and tiny 256GB SSD are serious limitations. It's a standout for compactness but falls behind on performance and ports. Buy it as a secondary travel machine or a dedicated tablet, not as your only computer.

The Core i7-1165G7 is a capable 4-core chip for bursty workloads, but it's showing its age. In our database, it sits in the 25th percentile for CPU performance, which is mediocre compared to modern silicon. You'll feel that in sustained tasks like video exports or large spreadsheet calculations. For everyday stuff like launching apps, jumping between browser tabs, and writing documents, the 16GB of RAM keeps things smooth. The 256GB SSD is on the smaller side, falling into the 17th percentile for storage, so you'll probably want to lean on cloud storage or a microSD card pretty quickly.

The integrated Iris Xe graphics are the real bottleneck. With a GPU score in the 46th percentile, it's fine for driving the display and handling 4K video playback, but it falls flat for any kind of 3D work or modern gaming. We're talking about a machine that can handle Photoshop for light edits but will chug if you throw a complex After Effects composition at it. The 12.3-inch screen, while sharp and touch-responsive, lands in the 22nd percentile for display quality. It's a solid panel for a tablet, but it's not going to win any brightness or color accuracy awards against a MacBook or a high-end OLED laptop.

The elephant in the room is the Apple MacBook Pro M4 Pro. It absolutely demolishes the Surface in raw performance, screen quality, and battery life, but it's also a completely different form factor and likely costs three times as much. If you're cross-shopping these, you probably need to decide if you want a tablet or a laptop first. The HP OmniBook X Flip 14 is a more direct competitor as a 2-in-1, and it offers a larger, more modern display and a newer processor, but it's also a convertible laptop, not a detachable tablet. It'll be heavier and bulkier in tablet mode.

For a closer match, the MSI Prestige 13 EVO is another ultraportable that will outpace the Surface on CPU and storage benchmarks, but again, it's a clamshell laptop. The ASUS ProArt PX13 is a creative powerhouse with a dedicated GPU, making the Surface look like a toy for any graphics work, but it's in a totally different price bracket. The Lenovo Legion 5i is a gaming laptop that's not even in the same conversation for portability. Basically, the Surface Pro 7+ exists in its own little niche. It's the most portable option here by a mile, but you sacrifice a lot of performance and screen real estate to get there.

At $648, the Surface Pro 7+ is a bit of a mixed bag for value. You're getting a premium build, a great touchscreen, and a capable 16GB RAM configuration for well under the price of a new Surface Pro or iPad Pro with a keyboard. The problem is that the competition has moved on. For similar money, you can find a more powerful traditional laptop with a newer CPU, a bigger screen, and way more storage. But those won't be a 12.3-inch tablet that weighs next to nothing.

If you specifically need the detachable tablet form factor, this is actually a pretty good deal. A new Surface Pro 9 or 10 with similar specs will run you well over $1,000. The trade-off is that you're buying older silicon and a cramped SSD. For a secondary travel machine or a dedicated note-taking device, the price-to-portability ratio is hard to beat. Just factor in the cost of a Type Cover keyboard if you don't already have one, since it's basically mandatory for laptop use.

The Surface Pro 7+ is a bit of an odd duck in 2025, and that's exactly what makes it interesting. It's not the newest Surface, and it's not trying to be a MacBook killer. What it is, is a genuinely portable Windows tablet that can pull double duty as a laptop when you need it, all for around $648. That price point puts it in a weirdly appealing spot for anyone who needs a secondary machine for travel, note-taking, or light office work. The 12.3-inch PixelSense display and the kickstand design are still unique, even if the bezels are starting to look a little dated next to the newer Pro models.

We're looking at a configuration with an 11th Gen Intel Core i7-1165G7, 16GB of RAM, and a 256GB SSD. That's a solid combo for multitasking in Office apps, browsing with a dozen tabs open, and even some light photo editing. But let's be real about the integrated Iris Xe graphics. This thing scored a 5.2 out of 100 for gaming in our database, which is about as low as it gets. If you're hoping to play anything more demanding than Solitaire or stream games via the cloud, you're looking at the wrong machine. This is a productivity tool first, and a media consumption tablet second.

Who's this actually for? Based on our scoring, it's a standout for compact portability, landing in the 96th percentile. That's the absolute best right now for anyone who values a tiny footprint. Students and business users will find it decent but not exceptional, with scores in the mid-40s. The real sweet spot is the mobile professional who lives in OneNote, Outlook, and Teams, and needs something they can toss in a bag without a second thought. Just don't expect it to replace a desktop workstation.

Gamers should run, not walk, away from this machine. With a gaming score of 5.2 out of 100, it's one of the worst options for any kind of 3D gaming. Even older titles will struggle at the native resolution. If you want to game on a portable device, look at the ASUS ProArt PX13 with its dedicated GPU, or a gaming-focused 2-in-1 like the ROG Flow series.

Also, if you're a power user who needs a ton of local storage or multiple external monitors, the Surface Pro 7+ will frustrate you. The port selection is abysmal, with just one USB-A and one USB-C, landing it in the 4th percentile. You'll be living the dongle life immediately. Anyone who needs to connect a mouse, an external drive, and a monitor at the same time should look at the HP OmniBook X Flip or a traditional business laptop with a real port layout.

If you're a student or a mobile professional who lives in OneNote and needs a featherlight device for handwritten notes, PDF annotation, and Office 365, the Surface Pro 7+ is still a solid buy at this price. The 16GB of RAM gives it enough headroom to feel snappy for years of basic use, and the form factor is genuinely freeing once you get used to it. Just don't try to push it beyond its comfort zone with heavy creative software or local media storage.

For anyone who needs a single machine to do everything, including some light gaming or media editing, you should probably look elsewhere. A traditional ultrabook like the MSI Prestige or a convertible like the HP OmniBook X Flip will give you a bigger screen, more ports, and a newer processor for a similar price. The Surface Pro 7+ is a fantastic second computer or a specialized note-taking tool, but it's a frustrating primary machine if you need more than basic productivity.