The touchscreen is fantastic, the responsiveness is top notch, the ports are finally what you’d expect of a premium laptop, and it’s as portable as can be. Still, the benefits outweigh the cons here. Yes, it’s absolutely ridiculous that Microsoft doesn’t include a keyboard with it and lists the price as $1,099, when you need to drop an extra $179 on the Surface Pro Signature Keyboard. I’ve been a fan of the Surface Pro line for years, and the Surface Pro 8 is no different. And while the iPad Pro is easily Apple’s most powerful tablet, and iPadOS and macOS could soon share apps, the Pro isn’t quite ready to function as a true laptop replacement just yet. Add on a Magic Keyboard for $349, and you’re shelling out $1,448 for the setup.

Then there’s the iPad Pro 12.9-inch, which features Apple’s M1 chip and 128GB of storage for $1,099. Apple’s MacBook Air, meanwhile, starts at $999 and gets that company’s custom M1 chip, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage. That makes the Surface Pro 8 slightly more expensive than the Dell XPS 13 2-in-1, which gets an Intel Core i5 processor, 8GB of RAM, and 256GB of storage for $1,169. Add on a $179 Surface Pro Signature Keyboard, and you’re looking at a true starting price of $1,278. But that $1,099 doesn’t take into account the fact that the Pro 8 doesn’t include a keyboard. With a starting point of $1,099, the Pro 8 already has a premium price point. Overall, the Surface Pro 8 is a top-notch 2-in-1. The Surface Pro 8 lasted throughout my own workday, which involved browsing the web, a few quick video chats, and writing this review. That feels like a stretch, but you’ll certainly be able to get through the day with it. Microsoft says the Pro 8 can get up to 16 hours of battery life.

The keys are easy to type on with a good amount of depth - though I wish the touchpad were a bit larger. The Surface Pro Signature Keyboard is the same style keyboard found on Microsoft’s Surface Pro X, which includes an indent for the Surface Slim Pen 2. Despite starting at $1,099, the Surface Pro 8 doesn't include a keyboard.

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