Why all of Microsoft's future Surface PCs need a 4G LTE option

Over the last few months, Microsoft and its partners accept been talking up a more continued future for PCs revolving around 4G and eventually 5G cellular connectivity. Much of that has been due to the push for ARM processors and devices, which started in late 2022 and and then continued with the recent announcement of the Snapdragon 850. Nevertheless, these "E'er Continued-PCs" also involve Intel and AMD.

If Microsoft is serious about LTE, all of its Surface devices — including Laptop, Pro, and Book — should accept an pick for a cellular information modem. And nosotros shouldn't have to wait for an actress nine months for information technology either. Here's why

Blueprint makes all the difference

Surface Pro with LTE: a lot of effort went into hiding the 4G anntenna.

When Microsoft finally unveiled the Surface Pro with LTE, in that location was a lot of focus around the sophisticated engineering, the premium Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 modem, LTE band support, and a customized antenna that seamlessly blends into the chassis.

It'south piece of cake to dismiss some of that as but marketing hype, but it's non. Most of today'southward PCs that accept LTE modems equally an option autumn in the business line, and in that location feature is merely another way to jack upwards the price. A lot of those modems are the jack-of-all-trades Fibocom L850-GL with speeds "up to 450 Mbps", far beneath the gigabit Snapdragon X16 hardware.

An example is the Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Carbon (6th gen). For an extra $100 users can configure it with the Fibocom L850-GL. It'south a modest modem that works well enough, but information technology'south a far cry from what Microsoft accomplished with the Surface Pro with LTE, at least in my experience.

For instance, information speeds are most a third of what the Surface Pro achieves. Function of that may exist considering the Surface Pro'southward antennas and reception are merely ameliorate. Whereas the Surface Pro may get three bars of reception, the X1 Carbon would yield nix or but one bar in the same spot. The same tin can be said of the HP Envy x2 with an Intel processor, which uses the Intel XMM 7360 LTE modem – it performs amend than the X1 Carbon, only falls behind the Surface Pro and even the HP Envy x2 with ARM.

In applied terms, nearly of this is OK. You can notwithstanding cheque email on the become and scan websites. But information technology's clear that there is a right way of doing LTE in a PC and a "slap-a-modem-in" mode, resulting in noticeable performance differences.

Surfaces demand to pb the way to 4G and beyond

HP'southward Green-eyed x2 with Qualcomm Snapdragon 835.

There's an statement that can be fabricated that regular consumers don't need the added costs of 4G LTE in their PCs. That's probably true, but many professionals would prefer at least the choice of calculation highspeed mobile internet to their Surfaces. There is a reason why Dell, HP, and Lenovo all offer the feature in most of their high-end concern laptops.

If recent speculation around Surface Pro and Surface Volume refreshes in 2022, a new Surface Laptop (possibly this year), and rumors nigh a 10-inch Surface prove to be true, they all need to accept configuration options for LTE.

If Microsoft is serious about pushing PCs into this new mobile age, it needs to testify the market how it is washed. Microsoft tin can't do this thing where it announces it then takes nine months to deliver to the market.

Devices running Windows 10 on ARM with the Snapdragon 850 fleck volition be one avenue in which this problem kind of solves itself (those new devices volition utilise an even newer Snapdragon X20 modem with i.2 Gbps speeds), merely Intel needs to practice more for mobility, cost reduction, and modem performance if it wants to stay competitive, too. Manufacturers, as always, volition desire selection and that includes modems.

For now, if users want the best 4G LTE experience in a Windows PC, the Surface Pro with LTE is information technology – even with its older CPU. Next up is HP'southward Envy X2 with ARM, though with the new Snapdragon 850 just around the corner, a version two.0 refresh from HP (codenamed "Bubble 2") is just almost guaranteed afterwards this twelvemonth.

If Microsoft doesn't release new Surfaces with support for Snapdragon X16 and X20 modems, the visitor will undermine its own effort to convince the masses that this whole cellular PC affair is more than than a gimmick.

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