Surface Pro 9, 1+ years later: Windows on ARM is ready to be your next computer
Last year, my initial review of the ARM-based #Surface Pro 9 was mostly favorable. By 2023, #Windows on ARM had already progressed to a point where it was good enough to be the primary computer for the vast majority of folks who only use their laptops for browsing the internet, watching videos, and lite gaming. A year later, some pain points still exist for power users but there’ve been significant enough updates to give weight to #Microsoft’s new push for Windows on ARM.
Initial reviews:
– General usage:
– Local gaming:
– Cloud gaming:
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Gameplay recording details
All gameplay was recorded using an Elgato 4K60 Pro inserted into a secondary computer. For ease of recording, the Surface Pro 9’s display was set to 1920×1080 and any gameplay shown below 60 fps was adjusted to 720p in-game (upscaled to 4K after the fact). Games were typically recorded back-to-back in 15 – 30 minute gameplay chunks. Performance described within the script was tested at closer to the Surface Pro 9’s native aspect ratio (where available) without adjusting the display’s resolution.
As might be obvious, sustained performance for more intense 3D games (e.g., Control and Shadow of the Tomb Raider) is likely to reduce over time due to the Pro 9’s lack of a fan. Performance reported in this video is meant to reflect the maximum raw performance of the SQ3 in spite of the Pro 9’s fanless design. For anyone interested, I have seen other Surface owners get additional performance by attaching external coolers to the back of the device.
Other gameplay performance to note
Here are some extra performance details for games which either didn’t make it into the script or I only got access to after recording the A-roll:
– Elden Ring: Fails to launch, reports incompatibility with the SQ3
– Hi-Fi Rush: Crashes after launch, reports incompatibility with the SQ3
– Penny’s Big Adventure: Crashes after launch
– Bioshock 2 (Remastered): Still has issues loading certain textures
– Cassette Beasts: Certain environmental textures load in incorrect orders
– Rayman Origins: Runs great!
– Cult of Lamb: Runs great!
– N64 emulation: Still can be a bit finicky, but I’ve had a few good gameplay sessions without issue.
– Witcher III (DirectX 12): Loads audio fine but fails to load gameplay
Chapters
00:00 Initial Review Recap
01:47 Performance Updates
03:42 Professional App Performance
06:38 Native Gaming
11:57 Emulation
13:35 Summary
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