We all thought that there would be a day when PC and tablet could be integrated into one. Many brands have launched multiple Windows tablets for this purpose, but they mistakenly underestimated the difficulty of combining PC and tablet into one. In order to truly integrate PC and tablet into one, the screen, process, performance, heat, weight, keyboard The comprehensive improvement of touch control and even speaker sound quality can truly make the product be integrated into PC and tablet. However, most of the products on the market today Windows tablet All products fail. They are either too large, too hot, too heavy, and have poor performance. The shortcomings of each item are fatal to a Windows tablet. But after the author got Surface Pro 4 Later, the author's idea was shaken. It may be the product closest to the dream concept of PC and tablet integration.

parameter

Model: Surface Pro 4 (i5 medium configuration)

Size: 292.10 * 201.42 * 8.45mm

Weight: 786 g

Screen: 12.3-inch 3:2 LED 10 point touch

Resolution: 2736 * 1824

CPU: Intel Core i5 6300U (main frequency: 2.4GHz, maximum frequency: 3.0GHz ）

GPU: Intel HD Graphics 520 shared video memory 1GB (bit width: 128bit bandwidth: 29.9GB/s)

Memory: 8GB DDR3-1866MHz

Hard disk: Toshiba/Samsung NVMe 256GB SSD

System: Windows 10 64 bit

Battery: 39307mWh

Camera: front 5 megapixel/rear 8 megapixel, supporting 1080P video recording

Sensor: Ambient light sensor Accelerometers gyroscope

Interfaces: USB 3.0, Micro SD card slot, Surface Connect, Mini DisplayPort, 3.5mm headphone jack, keyboard cover port

Wireless: 802.11ac Wi-Fi ； IEEE、 802.11a/b/g/n、 Bluetooth 4.0

Keyboard weight: 292g

Keyboard size: 295*217*4.65mm

In terms of configuration, in addition to the ultra-high resolution and PPI, the most exciting thing about the Surface Pro 4 is that it uses the sixth generation Intel i5 processor, the model is i5 6300U, and its core display is HD Graphics 520, GT2 level, 24 EU units, 128bit, 29.9GB/s. Its core display performance is between GT720M and GT630M. The specific performance is shown below.

appearance

Compared with traditional notebooks, the outer package of Surface Pro 4 is more like a mobile phone. It is paper box type, compact, without thick kraft paper, and there are not many sponge pads in the package. After opening the package, you can see the surface Pro 4, stylus, and power adapter of the whole machine. The Type Cover keyboard is an accessory that needs to be purchased independently.

The surface Pro 4 adopts a trapezoidal design. The side of the machine is exposed to the heat sink, and there is a mirror like Microsoft square logo on the back. In addition to the front panel screen and the power/volume keys, all other parts are made of magnesium alloy (not aluminum magnesium alloy). The texture of the whole machine and the color matching of the body are very scientific. We have to admit that even from the appearance alone, it is a very cool product.

The baffle used for support of Surface Pro 4 can be adjusted to a maximum of 150 °. The joints used for baffle extension are also made of metal, coated with some solid grease for lubrication. When the baffle is extended, Microsoft's logo and English name can be seen, and the version and model can be marked.

Left: Surface Pro 4 Right: iPad Pro

The appearance of the Surface Pro 4 is better than that of the iPad Pro, with a smaller screen.

The built-in stylus of Surface Pro 4 is an electromagnetic pen, which is made of some magnesium alloy materials, has a 1024 pressure sense and a built-in battery. It is slightly heavier to hold. Clicking the end of the pen can directly call up One Note notes. In One Note notes, the end of the pen can be directly used as an electronic eraser. In terms of keyboard, the whole weight of the keyboard is 292g. The black Type Cover is made of fur, with backlight, and it uses magnets to absorb. You can see the magnetic contacts for adsorption above the keyboard. Compared with traditional keyboards, the touch of Type Cover is not as good as that of mechanical keyboards. However, compared with ordinary membrane keyboards, the sound of Type Cover is more crisp, the resilience is moderate, and the touch is better than that of MacBook Pro keyboards.

screen

The screen on the Surface Pro 4 is a top IPS screen when placed on a laptop or desktop display, or even a mobile phone screen, The screen supplier of Surface Pro 4 is Samsung, which uses Samsung's IGZO panel. The real 8bit screen does not shake from 6bit to 8bit. The outer screen is a 0.4mm Corning gorilla glass, which is a real mirror hard screen (non fog surface).

After testing, the screen of Surface Pro 4 can reach 97% sRGB color gamut, 73% Adobe RGB color gamut, static contrast up to 1020:1 (1000:1 for iPhone 6s), color temperature of 7000K, average Delta E of 1.36, gamma curve very close to 2.2, maximum brightness of the screen is about 360 nits, ambient brightness is 325~360 nits, and brightness distribution is very uniform. In general, the screen of the Surface Pro 4 is at the top level in laptop/desktop displays, and also in mobile phones/tablets. Compared with the screen of the iPhone 6s, the surface Pro 4 performs as well as the iPhone 6s except for its slightly poor brightness.

system

Surface Pro 4 With the Windows 10 operating system, compared with Win7, it is more like a tablet in use. Sliding the screen edge from left to right can pop up multiple tasks, and the notification bar can replace all the functions of the traditional mouse through touch. The Surface Pro 4 after removing the keyboard is more like a tablet, but under my touch is a real X86 program, which is amazing.

The stylus of Surface Pro 4 can directly jump out of Microsoft's original One Note notes after clicking the end of the stylus, which can quickly record content and draw pictures. The stylus of Surface Pro 4 has a 1024 level pressure sense, and the written words and drawings are also very realistic.

In terms of virtual keyboard, the system will recognize whether you have connected to the physical keyboard, so as to judge whether the virtual keyboard pops up after each cursor. However, the default configuration of the Surface Pro 4 system does not pop up the virtual keyboard, so it needs to be set up. This is really worth complaining. Moreover, the virtual keyboard can support all the native cursors, and in some applications, it is impossible to recognize the pop-up, Some can, for example, the pop-up of the virtual keyboard supports Chrome, but does not support QQ. That is to say, if you click the cursor in the QQ input box without understanding the keyboard, you must call up the virtual keyboard manually, which forms an "unsmooth user experience".

Vertical screen experience

The Surface Pro 4 uses a 12.3-inch 2736 * 1826 resolution IPS screen, and the system can be used vertically/horizontally. The ultra-high resolution and large screen after vertical screen can bring a super clear and rich information experience when browsing web pages/reading comics, which is just a word! It's so cool!

performance

Running points

Left: no power supply Right: after power supply

AIDA64 run

Left: No Samsung NMVe SSD drive Right: After Samsung NMVe SSD drive is installed

Surface Pro 4 uses the sixth generation Intel i5 processor, i5 6300U, dual core 4-thread, 2.4GHz main frequency, and 3.0 GHz Remax. The thermal design power consumption is 15W, and its performance is equivalent to the desktop i3 3210 level, Its core display is HD Graphics 520, GT2 level, 24 EU units, 128bit, 29.9GB/s, and its core display performance is between GT720M and GT630M.

The power input specification of the Surface Pro 4 is 12V/2.58A, and the power is about 31W. It is found through actual measurement that its core display cannot fully play its performance without power supply. In the running of CINEBENCH, the running result is 5FPS different when the power supply is connected and not connected, but it has no impact on the CPU performance. In terms of SSDs, the Surface Pro 4 uses Samsung's NVMe SSD. Although the speed is faster than that of the general SATA 3 interface, the Surface Pro 4 system does not install Samsung's NVMe SSD driver, which has limited performance. Its real power can be seen after installing Samsung's official NVMe SSD driver.

game

Run LOL when connected to power supply

In the game test, we chose the LOL that everyone likes to see. We found that even in the case of full resolution (2736 * 1824), the second level of special effects can still run at an average of 45 frames in the whole process, and even in the case of the highest special effects, it can run at about 30-35 frames, while the full resolution and full height of the special effects of Hearthstone legend are around 30 frames. What's more, when running LOL, the frame number of the game will be about 5 frames lower when the power supply is not connected.

Endurance&fever

Surface Pro 4 is "recommended brightness" in endurance test

In terms of heating, even as a tablet, the surface pro's heating is relatively good. After running the Hearthstone legend for 1 hour at the recommended brightness, its maximum temperature is only about 44 ℃. In daily use (browsing the web/chatting QQ), the fan of the machine will not be turned on, and the temperature is very cold.

In terms of battery life, the Surface Pro 4 may be affected by the screen and performance, and its performance is average. After two and a half hours of testing, only 2% of the battery is left. Compared with the ThinkPad E550, there is still a gap.

summary

In the process of using Surface Pro 4, even if we encounter some small bugs, such as the machine cannot wake up after going into sleep, and the virtual keyboard cannot be called out correctly, it is undeniable that, Surface Pro 4 It is still a very dreamy product. Its appearance makes the concept of tablet and PC two in one more real for the first time. After removing the keyboard, I constantly touch its high split screen, click on software, and browse the web. The consistency and smoothness of this operation is just like an iPad, but it runs X86 applications, both in function and efficiency, They are very different from ARM applications.

The reason why we think it can realize the concept of PC and tablet integration is that its performance is unmatched by other similar products on the market at present, which is largely due to Intel's sixth generation processor. In general, as the fourth generation product of the Surface Pro series, the Surface Pro 4 has done quite well. Although it inevitably has some small bugs and is expensive, it is still very cool.