As they say, good things come to those who wait. Microsoft looks ready to launch the Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop 4 after missing the usual fall release window. The devices were revealed in leaked photos back in November, and now we're seeing the first wave of benchmarks appear online.
Spotted by Windows Latest, the Geekbench listing shows a Windows 10 Enterprises device, which suggests we're looking at the business edition of the new Surface Laptop. Codenamed OEMWY, the mysterious Surface is powered by an Intel Core i7-1185G7 CPU with Iris Xe graphics. That could mean either the Pro 8 or Laptop 4, however, with 32GB of RAM, this is likely the clamshell model.
- Microsoft Surface Pro 8: Rumors, release date, price and what we want
- Microsoft Surface Laptop 4: Rumors, release date, price and what we want
- Which Surface is right for you? Pro 7 vs Laptop 4
Based on our own testing, Intel's 11th Gen "Tiger Lake" chips deliver a solid performance upgrade over 10th Gen Ice Lake processors, but the Iris Xe graphics is where we're seeing the largest leaps. The latest integrated graphics solution allows slim and lightweight laptops to play modern games at above 30 fps (at lower graphics settings).
So, what about the consumer edition? Microsoft seems poised to use AMD again, and this time, we're very much on board. AMD's Ryzen 4000 chips have proven capable of dethroning the best of Intel, so we're eager to see how the new chips transform the Surface Laptop 4.
To that end, another Geekbench benchmark for the device codenamed OEMGR uses an AMD Ryzen chip based on the Renoir architecture. It includes 8GB of RAM and Vega graphics. Interestingly, the listing shows the device using an AMD Ryzen 7 3780U CPU, but we'd be surprised if Microsoft opted for last-gen AMD chips.
What we haven't seen from either 11th Gen Intel or AMD Ryzen 4000 chips is performance and endurance that can compete with Apple's M1 SoC, so don't expect the new Surface devices to catch up to the MacBook Air or MacBook Pro this generation.
Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop 4: Design
Leaked images posted online in November gave us our first glimpse at the upcoming Surface Pro 8 and Surface Laptop 4. The photos were first posted by a Twitter user named @Cozyplanes who found them through a Korean certification organization.
These aren't official photos, still, we are disappointed by the lack of design updates made to these products. The images, if legit, prove that all the major changes coming to the new Surface devices are happening on the inside.
Regardless, we're looking forward to reviewing these devices when they arrive next year.
