Pre-orders open for the Surface Pro X, Surface Pro 7, and Surface Laptop 3

As promised, Microsoft has started taking pre-orders for three of the new Surface devices unveiled today. In doing so, the company has also revealed some more key specs.

The Microsoft Surface Pro 7 tablet is up for pre-order for $749 and up and begins shipping October 22nd. You can also order the new ARM-powered, fanless, and always-connected Surface Pro X tablet for $999 and up. It should ship November 5th. And the Surface Laptop 3 is up for pre-order for $999 and up and ships October 22nd.

Microsoft Surface Pro X

Since Microsoft’s not planning to ship its new dual-screen Surface Neo tablet or dual-screen Surface Duo smartphone until next year, the Surface Pro X is probably the most interesting new Surface device you can buy right now.

It’s a thin, light, and fanless tablet with a bigger screen but a slightly smaller profile than the new Surface Pro 7 thanks to a slimmer design and smaller bezels.

You can thank the Microsoft SQ1 processor for that — it’s a custom 7 watt Qualcomm Snapdragon processor that Microsoft says offers 3x the performance-per-watt of a Microsoft Surface Pro 6, at least for some tasks. The tablet is also Microsoft’s first computer with an integrated Artificial Intelligence engine, which the company says will enable new types of tasks.

It’ll be interesting to see how it fares when it comes to real-world performance, since ARM-powered Windows tablets have been somewhat underwhelming to date.

The tablet also features an integrated Qulcomm Snapdragon X24 LTE modem for always-connected capabilities.

Here are the prices/configurations available at launch:

• 8GB/128GB for $999
• 8GB/256GB for $1299
• 16GB/256GB for $1499
• 16GB/512GB for $1799

While that’s a pretty heavy markup for the memory and storage upgrades, there’s one other thing that makes this tablet different from past Surface devices — the solid state storage is removable. So you may be able to buy a cheaper model and upgrade the SSD on your own. There’s nothing you can do about the fact that the cheapest model Microsoft offers with 16GB of RAM is $1499.

Update: Or maybe not. The SSD is removable, but if the Surface Pro X is anything like the Surface Laptop 3, that doesn’t mean Microsoft supports user upgrades or repairs. 

Update 2: The Verge confirms that the SSD is accessible when you remove the same cover you’d take off to access the SIM card slot. You’ll need a Torx screwdriver and an M.2 2230 SSD if you want to perform a DIY upgrade, but it does look pretty feasible. 

The Microsoft Surface Pro X Keyboard is also now up for pre-order: you can grab one for $140. And the Surface Slim Pen with a rechargeable battery and support for wireless charging is up for pre-order for $145.

You can find more details about the Surface Pro X in Liliputing’s article covering the tablet’s announcement.

Microsoft Surface Pro 7

With a lower starting price of $749, this could still be a more attractive option for some users. The latest Surface Pro may not be fanless or featured integrated LTE (yet), but it still weighs just 1.7 pounds, measures just 0.33 inches thick, and you probably don’t have to worry about whether it’ll run all your Windows applications.

This model is an upgrade over the Surface Pro 6 in a few key ways. It features 10th-gen Intel Core “Ice Lake” processor options. And it has a  USB-C port. But it also still features USB-A and Surface Connect ports.

But the entry-level model does have a rather anemic 4GB of RAM, so realistically you’re probably going to want to spend at least $899 on the Surface Pro 7.

Here are some of the pricing/configuration options available at launch:

• Intel Core i3-1005G1/4GB/128GB for $749
• Intel Core i5-1035G4/8GB/128GB for $899
• Intel Core i5-1035G4/8GB/256GB for $1199
• Intel Core i5-1035G4/16GB/256GB for $1399
• Intel Core i7-1065G7/16GB/256GB for $1499
• Intel Core i7-1065G7/16GB/512GB for $1899
• Intel core i7-1065G7/16GB/1TB for $2299

You can find more details in our article covering the Surface Pro 7 announcement.

Surface Laptop 3

Microsoft Surface Laptops now come in two screen sizes: 13.5 inches or 15 inches.

The Surface Laptop 3 13.5″ measures 12.1″ x 8.8″ x 5.7″ and weighs 2.8 pounds, while the Surface Laptop 3 15″ isn’t that much bigger, with a 13.4″ x 9.6″ x 0.6″ body and a 3.4 pound weight.

But not only does the larger model have a bigger, higher-resolution display, it also has a different set of processor options: it features custom AMD Ryzen processors while the Surface Laptop 3 13.5″ comes with Intel Ice Lake chips.

There are a lot of pricing/configuration options:

• 13.5 inch/Core i5-1035G7/8GB/128GB for $999
• 13.5 inch/Core i5-1035G7/8GB/256GB for $1299
• 13.5 inch/Core i7-1065G7/16GB/256GB for $1599
• 13.5 inch/Core i7-1065G7/16GB/512GB for $1999
• 13.5 inch/Core i7-1065G7/16GB/1TB for $2399
• 15 inch/Ryzen 5 3580U/8GB/128GB for $1199
• 15 inch/Ryzen 5 3580U/8GB/256GB for $1499
• 15 inch/Ryzen 5 3580U/16GB/256GB for $1699
• 15 inch/Ryzen 7 3780U/16GB/512GB for $2099
• 15 inch/Ryzen 7 3780U/32GB/1TB for $2799

And that’s before you start to get into the different color/material options. In a nutshell, the Surface Laptop 3 15″ comes in all-metal with a choice of black or platinum. The smaller version is available in sandstone (all-metal), black (all-metal), platinum (metal + fabric), or cobalt blue (metal+fabric).

Oh, and in case you were wondering, the Ryzen 5 3580U features Radeon Vega 9 graphics “Microsoft Surface Edition,” while the Ryzen 7 3780U packs a Surface-specific version of AMD’s RX Vega 11 graphics.

The Intel chips, meanwhile, feature Intel Iris Plus Gen11 graphics.

More details are available in our article covering the Surface Laptop 3 announcement.