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What We Expect From the Microsoft Surface Fall 2022 Event

On Oct. 12, we may see the next generation of Surface Pro products, and maybe even a new Surface Studio desktop.

Dan Ackerman Editorial Director / Computers and Gaming
Dan Ackerman leads CNET's coverage of computers and gaming hardware. A New York native and former radio DJ, he's also a regular TV talking head and the author of "The Tetris Effect" (Hachette/PublicAffairs), a non-fiction gaming and business history book that has earned rave reviews from the New York Times, Fortune, LA Review of Books, and many other publications. "Upends the standard Silicon Valley, Steve Jobs/Mark Zuckerberg technology-creation myth... the story shines." -- The New York Times
Expertise I've been testing and reviewing computer and gaming hardware for over 20 years, covering every console launch since the Dreamcast and every MacBook...ever. Credentials
  • Author of the award-winning, NY Times-reviewed nonfiction book The Tetris Effect; Longtime consumer technology expert for CBS Mornings
Dan Ackerman
3 min read
A Microsoft Surface Pro 8 sitting on a blue table outside.
Dan Ackerman/CNET

Microsoft is hosting a livestreamed product event on Oct. 12, just in time for the start of the holiday shopping season. What can we expect from that? Definitely updates to its Surface line. 

The Surface line is one of the most consistently high-end, high-quality PC families, and one of the few that has the cohesive feel of something like Apple's MacBook line. This year is the 10th anniversary of Microsoft's laptop line, which started with the original Surface, with Windows RT (!) in 2012. 

Because Microsoft makes both the hardware and Windows 11 OS, there's usually a tight integration in these products. They look good, they feel good, and they mostly work good, too. 

There are a bunch of different Surfaces, from tablets to laptops to desktops, some are more out of date than others. Based on that, and the last year or two of updates, we can make some pretty solid guesses about what's coming at the Oct. 12 event.

Watch this: Predicting Microsoft's Next Surface Products

Surface Pro and Surface Go

The flagship is the Surface Pro, a Windows tablet paired with an excellent clip-on keyboard cover. It's probably the best overall example of this kind of 2-in-1 laptop-like device, but not much new has happened with it in the Windows 11 era. 

The two big drawbacks for the Surface Pro are that the keyboard cover – which is really the best part of the ecosystem -- is sold separately, and it's expensive – an extra $130 or more. And, the overall design really hasn't changed much in many years. It's fine, but doesn't feel as modern or streamlined as it could be. 

Read more: Surface Pro 8 Review

If there's a new Surface Pro, it'll probably be called the Surface Pro 9. What's going to be new in it? Probably 12th-gen Intel chips, and maybe an ARM version as well – there's an ARM variant called the Surface Pro X, which hasn't been updated in a while. The Surface Pro 8 came out in in 2021, so it's due for an update. 

There's a cheaper version, called the Surface Go, that's also about a year old. I like it, but it starts at $400, and you have to buy the keyboard separately, which is at least another hundred bucks. 

Surface laptops

The Surface Laptop Go is the most refreshed Surface. The Go is a nice, small budget laptop, last updated in June 2022. I like this laptop a lot; it's nicer looking than its $600 price suggests.

 The Surface Laptop (available in 13-inch and 15-inch versions) is also about a year old. It's great if you want a Windows machine with a MacBook-like feel, and I like that it's on sale fairly regularly -- you can score a good deal on it if you wait for the right opportunity. 

microsoft-surface-studio-product-39.jpg

The original Surface Studio desktop. 

Sarah Tew/CNET

Surface Book and Surface Studio 

A few of the Surface products are more unconventional, but some have not been updated in a long time. 

The Surface Book was also a 2-in-1, but it has a GPU and a second battery in its keyboard. It's an interesting device, with something for games and content creators, but the last version came out in 2020. It's been replaced by the newer Surface Studio Laptop, which has a pivoting screen rather than one that fully detaches. 

The Surface Studio was a big all-in-one desktop, similar to the iMac. I really liked that the big touchscreen display tilted down like a drafting table. Microsoft only released two generations of it, the last one in 2018. The most interesting rumor about the upcoming Microsoft is that the Studio desktop will finally return for a third generation, which would make Apple's iMac line, which is down to a single 24-inch model, look positively out of date.