Microsoft Surface Pro 9 tablet: a purchase review

Today I’m not reviewing anything so much as sharing my experience searching for, choosing, and buying a tablet from one of our online stores, along with a few recommendations based on what I learned along the way. The tablet in question is the Microsoft Surface Pro 9.

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For quite a long time now—more than 7 years, to be precise (I was shocked when I worked it out)—my wife has been using a Teclast Tbook 10S tablet. I’ve already published a review of it. The tablet turned out to be pretty decent, especially considering the tasks she needed it for. Over those 7 years, we replaced the battery once, exactly 4 years ago.
It could have kept going for a while yet, but life took its toll: the battery started holding a charge poorly again. Since it’s very thin and rated for 4.35 V, finding a replacement is quite a quest. On top of that, as browsers have become more demanding and the number of open tabs has grown, the tablet has become frankly underpowered. And lately its Wi-Fi has been acting up because the 2.4 GHz band is so congested, while it doesn’t support 5 GHz.

Anyway, my wife’s birthday was in August, and my daughter, son-in-law, and I decided to get her a new tablet as a present. Our requirements were:
1. A 12–14-inch screen
2. A high-quality 12–14-inch screen
3. A processor fast enough that we wouldn’t need to replace the tablet for a while—in other words, we could forget for a few years that it was missing anything.
4. Windows was an absolute must, so Android and Apple were ruled out immediately.
5. It had to be a tablet, since a laptop is too big and heavy.

As it turned out, the selection of Windows tablets is very limited. You either get “Chinese” brands like Teclast, or something obscure with a weak processor and a crazy price tag. Technically, it would have been easier to buy an Apple device, but switching from Windows would be inconvenient. And in my opinion, Android is generally awkward for browsing the web—and especially so when you need other apps running in parallel.

Then I found out that Microsoft has a decent range of tablets. The trouble is, they’ve also gone down the “let’s churn out as many models as possible so the customer gets completely confused” route. In my opinion, that just confuses and puts off buyers.
Anyway, I almost immediately settled on the SURFACE PRO line. Technically, the SURFACE GO would probably have been a better fit, but its screen is only 10 inches. There’s also the SURFACE PRO X, but I saw a lot of complaints about it, so I ruled that one out too.

You’d think you could just pick one based on price and buy it, but no—it turned out to be much more complicated. First, prices varied even for identical configurations. Second, I found out that the warranty period varied too: 1 month, 3 months, or 12 months. That surprised me.

At first I wanted a Surface Pro 8. They’re usually a little cheaper, and their processor is slower (which was fine by me), but they do have a standard 3.5 mm headphone jack. Otherwise, it’s the same as the Surface Pro 9.
I browsed the internet and came across an interesting listing: a Surface Pro 8 i5 / 512 GB for just 23000, even though the same store had the same tablet in the same color for 41000, and with less storage, too.


Next, I made a list of all the tablet options that seemed suitable, realized I didn’t understand anything at all, and decided to call the store after all.
I should say right away that I’m grateful to the saleswoman, who explained everything in detail and helped me choose not only a tablet that suited my needs, but one I was guaranteed to receive by a specific date. She arranged courier delivery and gave me a discount.
There really are a lot of tablets to choose from, and it’s easy to get confused—even for someone like me, who’s used to approaching everything systematically and knows what they need. The screenshot shows about 6% of the entire list.



It turned out that some of the tablets weren’t in stock yet and were still on their way to the store, so they couldn’t guarantee delivery by a specific date. The cheap one I’d seen was available, yes, but you had to pick it out yourself because those units had a battery issue (for some people, that’s a real way to save money), and you had to go to the store and check that it worked. There was another one with a good discount, but it was the last one and didn’t have a screen protector. Since I needed it as a gift, that option was out. But if you live in Kyiv and can go to the store, you can get one at a perfectly reasonable price.

The tablet comes in four colors: Platinum, Sapphire, Graphite, and “Forest.” I chose Sapphire, as the most interesting option.
The processor is either an I7 or an I5. An I3 would have been fine too, but there aren’t any in this line.
Memory: 8, 16, or 32 GB
Storage: 128, 256, 512, or 1024 GB.



Anyway, we placed the order and paid, and some time later a courier brought a fairly large box. Here I have one significant complaint. The box seemed to be designed for monitors, and the tablet was just rattling around inside. Fortunately, the tablet manufacturer had packaged it well, so nothing was damaged.
The original box was wrapped in plastic and everything was sealed, so... It hadn't even been unpacked before.
The box also contained a 12-month warranty card (I was told the warranty is international, too), as well as a cable.


We ordered the I5 configuration with 8 GB of RAM and a 256 GB drive. That's perfectly fine for browsing and YouTube; I might have preferred more RAM, but prices start to climb noticeably, and it's a less common model, too.


Everything inside the box was wrapped in plastic or packed in little boxes. They even included a little pull tab to make it easier to take the tablet out of the box.


Besides the tablet, the box contained some instructions, a power supply, and a cable.


That's when I understood why they included an extra cable: the original one has an American plug. To be honest, though, the one they included doesn't come close to the original in terms of quality. Even while I was taking photos, it kept trying to crawl away....
The power supply is rated at 65 W, and lists two output voltages: 15 V at 4 A and 5 V at 1 A, which surprised me a little.
It connects to the tablet via a proprietary connector, and such an elaborate one that this whole zoo of laptop connectors of yours seems like child's play...
The mystery of the second voltage was solved a couple of days later, when I happened to notice that the power supply also has a USB-A port. I assume it's for charging a mobile phone—unexpected and original.



The color is the one I ordered, and overall, in my subjective opinion, it looks really nice. It is noticeably heavier than the old one, though: 883 grams versus 547 grams.


I really like the kickstand—another plus. I saw a YouTube video demonstrating how sturdy it is, and I can confirm it's well made: no play or wobble, just right.


You can also buy a keyboard for the tablet and essentially turn it into a laptop. This is where users had complaints, though: the design isn't completely rigid, so you have to use it in this hybrid configuration, which takes some getting used to.


Every edge of the tablet has something on it.
1. Two USB Type-C ports on the left, which is great; USB 4.0/ Thunderbolt™ 4 is supported.
2. Power supply connector on the right.
3. Power button and volume rocker on top.
4. Keyboard connector on the bottom.


There are several cameras.
1. Two front cameras: one for face recognition and a regular one, with a resolution of 1920x1080. There's also a microphone and indicator LEDs on the front (as far as I can tell).
2. On the back, there's a 10 MP camera and a microphone.


There are a pair of speakers at the top of the front, one on each side. I like the sound: they're pretty loud and powerful for this size, with some decent bass, too. But sometimes there's a little rattling; they must have overcomplicated something. Still, in the vast majority of cases, everything sounds great, and watching movies on it is comfortable.
At the top of the back, ventilation slots run along part of the perimeter. Unfortunately, cooling is active here, but thankfully it kicks in very rarely, at least while browsing and watching YouTube. It's unlikely anyone will be encoding video on it.


The power connector turned out to be clever. First, it can be plugged in either way; second, it's magnetic. You bring it close, it snaps into place, and charging starts.
The fact that the connector works in either orientation is great. For example, my wife's charger is to her left, while the port is on the right, so the usual setup has the tablet upside down, with the cable pointing down (or up, if you look at it in its normal orientation). It's convenient, and even if you tug on the cable, you won't break anything. I haven't tested charging over Type-C; the manufacturer says:
Note: How can you tell if your device supports fast charging? If your device has a USB-C port, it also supports fast charging.




The tablet arrived with a little charge left, which was enough to get almost all the way through the setup and sign-in process. Then I simply turned it off and set it up later.
Charging is fast but safe; a full charge takes about 2–2.5 hours, so... Charging at 0.5C is both safe for the battery and means you don't have to wait half a day.
It's hard to test battery life, but I can say that my wife charges it quite rarely, so it lasts a long time.
The only inconvenience is checking the charge percentage while it's charging, since you have to switch to desktop mode to do that. In the end, it's easier to tell by feeling the power adapter: if it's cooled down, it's charged :)

While charging, the plug is illuminated by a small LED.


When I first signed in, I found that the interface was still in English, so I later had to add the interface language and configure it. For some reason, though, part of it remained in English, even though I usually haven't had this problem. Still, only a few unimportant settings menus were left in English. My wife doesn't go into those, and I don't really care if they're in English, so I left them as they were.



The screen really is high quality, just as the manufacturer claims -
Screen: 13-inch PixelSense™ display Resolution: 2880 X 1920 (267 PPI)
Color profile: sRGB and vivid refresh rate up to 120 Hz (dynamic refresh rate supported)
Aspect ratio: 3:2
Contrast ratio: 1200:1
Adaptive color
Automatic color management supported
Touch input: 10-point multi-touch
Dolby Vision IQ™ support17
Gorilla® Glass 5

I read that battery life drops at 120 Hz, so I decided to stick with the default 60 Hz.
Brightness is sufficient. It's perfectly usable at the default 55-60%, but just to be sure, I checked it at 100%. The bottom-right image is more representative, since I took the photo without flash.
In any case, the screen gets a solid 5 out of 5.


Usually, the next part would be tests and so on, but to be fair, there are already tons of these tests online, so I don't see the point. What matters to me is that my wife is happy with it and it does everything she needs :)
I'll share my own opinion, though, especially since the tablet has been in use for about three weeks now. As I wrote, performance is more than adequate, the touchscreen is responsive, the screen is good, I have no complaints about battery life, and it charges quickly when needed. The build is solid, and the OS is licensed.
But it does have a few drawbacks (in my opinion): the tablet is a little heavy, though what can you expect with a 13-inch screen? There's no 3.5 mm jack, it has active cooling, and the original charger uses a proprietary connector.
If I had to choose between the 8th and 9th generations, I'd probably pick the 8th. They're usually cheaper, yet almost identical, and both have the same high-quality display.

One note about packaging: it's best to pack things so nothing rattles around in the box. Recently, Nova Poshta managed to damage an electronic load I ordered. Apparently, they dropped the box from a considerable height, and the heatsink was partly torn off its mounts.


That's all for today. I hope this was useful. Feel free to ask questions, and I may add more after some time.