Surface Pro 8 has a bigger battery than Pro 7 and faster, more accurate Windows Hello

What you need to know

• The Surface Pro 8 gets a breakdown in the latest Microsoft Mechanics video.
• Faster Windows Hello, new ambient color sensor, 23-watt TDP, and more were revealed.
• Surface Pro 8 also switches from magnesium to anodized recycled aluminum for the chassis.
• There's also a new carbon composite thermal dissipation system.

The all-new Surface Pro 8 is the first major overhaul to the Surface Pro line since 2014's Surface Pro 3. Besides thinner bezels, Thunderbolt 4, a larger display, and 11th Gen CPU, there are many other more minor changes that weren't mentioned in the press release or product specs announcement.

The latest Microsoft Mechanics video spends a good seven minutes breaking down what's new, and as it turns out, there is quite a lot that you may not have known about.

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We've summarized the main points below, but it's worth watching the video yourself to have it all explained:

• Modern, rounded chassis "compliments the fluid UI design of Windows 11"
• The thinner bezels expand the display real estate by 11%
• The chassis is made from recycled aluminum instead of magnesium
• Both "classic" Platinum and Graphite Pro colorways are anodized
• First Surface display with ambient color sensor to dynamically adjust display colors based on room lighting
• Display brightness peaks at 450 nits and goes down to just two nits
• 120Hz display makes pen latency "seemingly undetectable"
• The IR camera has been improved "substantially" in terms of speed and accuracy
• Microsoft's AI platform lets Windows Hello dynamically adapts to changes in your appearance with glasses or changes in facial hair
• The 5MP full HD RGB camera has larger 1.4-micron pixels for better low-light performance
• The camera also has tuning optimizations to keep your face in focus and lighting exposure more consistent
• Dolby Vision (HDR) and Dolby Atmos (surround sound) enhance the multimedia experience
• Surface Pro 8 supports up to 23-watt TDP for the 11th Gen Intel processor, a "first for the Pro line"
• You can get LTE in Core i3 and Core i7 models for the first time (Commercial markets)
• Battery has increased to 50.4 WHr up from 43.2 WHr (Surface Pro 7+ is also 50.4WHr, but Surface Pro 7 is 43.2)
• Uses new carbon composite thermal dissipation system: Vapor chamber, three heat pipes, and three graphite spreaders
• Improved perimeter venting
• 46% faster compute and 75% boost to graphics processing compared to Surface Pro 7

That's a lot of stuff for Surface Pro 8, which goes to show you that what makes a PC "great" is more than just the name on the processor.

We'll keep all these changes in mind when we do our Surface Pro 8 review sometime in October to see how much of a difference it really makes. You can get more of an idea of how Surface Pro 8 compares to Surface Pro 7 to hold you over for now or go deeper on those new 11th Gen processors.

Surface Pro 8 is expected to begin shipping on October 5 in the following markets:

• United States
• United Kingdom
• Canada
• Austria
• Germany
• Ireland
• Switzerland
• France
• Japan