To test this feature, visit your live site.

10 - 11 inch WOA tablet

Having used the Surface Pro X for a while now it got me thinking. Compared with my iPad (10th generation) and Galaxy Tab 9 FE it is quite a bit more heavy. While I use it daily it isn’t exactly optimal for what I like to call “light computing”. By that I mean you run of to a coffee shop, deal with some e-mails, check out Amazon or Temu orders, maybe some Zoom with a friend or two. Basically you don’t want to carry a whole bag with you, just a sling, so mostly it ends up being my Android or iPad, depending on which one holds the biggest charge at departure. And then I thought, why isn’t there any WOA tablet that competes with that segment of the market?

With the Snapdragon + it should be feasible to produce a nice thin tablet on par with the above mentioned. I look at the 512 GB card in SPX and think that doesn’t take up any space, some RAM with that on a motherboard and a decent battery and screen and we are good to go. There are nor foldable keyboards that include a trackpad. So why would a WOA device be needed when the iPad/Android device fill the needs?

Well, sometimes, why just relaxing some idea seeps into my mind and I want to get to work on it immediately lest I forget it later. If I had a Microsoft 365 subscription it probably wouldn’t matter, but I’m one of those stick in the mud who refuses to subscribe for software that I already paid for. Hence, the idea won’t be executed and end up on the heap of fading memories. Now, if that had been a WOA tablet running Win 11 I could just open any related document, maybe do some Excel calculations or enter a few slides in PowerPoint. And that is why it surprises me that no OME has releases a 10 - 11 inch WOA tablet.

13 comments

Comments (13)

Bronsky

Mar 09

My old m3 Surface 3 was adopted by my daughter, who uses an Asus laptop and the Surface 3 in Med school. She says the Surface is a perfect size. She gave up on her IPad 12" pro due to its size and software compatibility.

My feelings on the S3 are well known. So, if a new 11" pro is forthcoming, I'll probably be ordering 2. My Pro X is getting a bit past it's prime.

JoeS

Mar 08

It's surprising indeed, but the wait May soon be over. The rumor is MS will introduce a smaller Surface in April or May this year: https://www.windowscentral.com/hardware/surface/microsoft-is-working-on-a-smaller-surface-pro-and-surface-laptop-with-snapdragon-x

darkmagistric

Mar 21

Replying to

One thing I'm wondering, these new Mini ARM devices are likely going to use the lower tier Snapdragon X Plus and X chips, however those Chips still retain the 4nm chipset and despite lower cores, they should hit the same 15-30w tdp. Why can't they just offer these devices with Lunar Lake? From a hardware perspective that should work, but maybe its the price?

Kumabjorn

Mar 21

Replying to

What about the need for cooling? Doesn’t the Lunar Lake need fans, while the Snapdragon can go without?

dstrauss

Mar 21

Replying to

It would have to be Snapdragon - even Atom processors had thermal throttling issues in an over-worked Surface Go (I know that from personal experience).

james!

Mar 07

I agree that I wish there were 11" full desktop OS slates. Of course, I want it to be a MacPad rather than Windows these days as I am fully against CoPilot. But for now, I have my workarounds. I do just carry my 11" iPad Pro in my sling bag and when I want to do something specifically on MacOS, I use Jump desktop to remote into my Mac Mini at home. It's by no means perfect, but honestly, now that I have the Mac Mini with this setup I doubt I would buy a MacPad even if Apple surprised everyone and released one. It would be too expensive to upgrade when I already have devices that fit my workflow. I suspect that's why there isn't an emphasis on making 11" WOA devices right now. The market has for the most part already stabilized for people's needs and most people don't want both an 11" full OS along with a desktop or larger laptop.

dstrauss

Mar 18

Replying to

But is that the way it has to be? By that I mean so many people really like the Surface Go size, and so many Apple users try to use their iPad Pro as a laptop replacemenrt (especially those who want maximum portability of the 11"), why can't an 11" Surface Pro succeed? But it has to be a PRO device, not a bottom feeding slug for mass corporate deployment to outside sales...

james!

Mar 18

Replying to

You're preaching to the crowd. My dream device is an 11" iPad Pro running MacOS that uses updated Smart connectors as data transfer for a dock. Dock it to the MK, it's full MacOS. Dock it to a desktop stand with USB, HDMI, and network ports and it's your desktop. Take it off the dock and it switches to iPadOS. One device to rule them all.

But, my point was while yes, anecdotally you see so many people like the Surface Go size, you don't see so many people BUY the Surface Go size. The idea is more popular than the actual device. And what you're seeing of the so many people is probably more the vocal minority.

Kumabjorn

Mar 18

Replying to

To be honest, my Pro X is about 150 - 200 grams away from being a one in all device. Having two USB-C ports I can use peripherals without any problems. Since I have an old, old, external ASUS monitor that use the now defunct USB-B port (micro USB + power supply) I need to use a dongle since it requires two USB-A connectors. But upgrading to a modern single USB-C cable connected external monitor would solve that problem.