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Surface is still a complicated product to explain and at the same time very easy to understand. It is not a tablet or a laptop while remaining both. Since the first model arrived, Microsoft has created new categories, but has not made major changes in the design or its rationale. So, Surface Pro 7 is more of the same ... for better and for worse.

Broadly speaking, Surface Pro 7 is for Microsoft what the MacBook Air is for Apple: a magnificent, comfortable, lightweight computer that has the problem of costing too much for many. Its price is high and it approaches a red line, that of the 1,000 euros , which already suggests that if you spend money it will not be worth going a step further up. In Cupertino, this step is the MacBook pro; in Redmond, Surface Pro X.

It is true that the official price of which Pro 7 starts is 899 euros , but it is also true that this price does not include the pencil (from 109.99 euros) or the keyboard (149.99 euros). The first is completely dispensable, but the second is conditio sine qua non if what we are looking for is a laptop and not a tablet with nipples: one thing is that it is practical to be able to use Surface in this way and another that Windows 10 is a prepared operating system for this use

Therefore, we put in approximately 1,050 euros of departure. In return, one of the best and most versatile Windows computers . Far from being the most powerful, the lightest or the cheapest and always among the most prominent devices of the year. As it does? Simple: as always.

Surface right now is unrivaled - well, maybe it is, but it would be another Surface model - as a hybrid between tablet and laptop that is capable of performing at a good level like any of them. This new version follows the path marked, traced and even paved over recent years and includes minimums that serve to justify the launch of another version. In this case, there are four letters: u, that, be and ce (in that order).

Inside there are also notable changes, since it leaves the eighth generation of Intel processors that had Pro 6 and passes to the tenth generation, with the option to choose between an i3, an i5 (between 1,049 and 1,549 euros, with three configurations of RAM and storage available) or an i7 (between 1,649 and 2,499, with the same number of configurations).

For this test we used a Surface Pro 7 with an i5, 8 GB of RAM and 256 GB of storage and the performance was superb, especially in regards to the battery life and the starting speed when 'waking up' the device after Leave it idle all night. For Surface, the only one who had gone to sleep was me.

Speaking of taking deserved breaks, the autonomy is quite correct, with ease to reach almost eight hours - that is, a day - of normal use. It is only one step behind what the MacBook Air achieves, which is doubtful if it is worth returning home if we leave it without a charger, but with a full tank of gasoline.

That Surface Pro 7 has not had many changes is good in a sense - if it is not broken, do not fix it - but it starts to disappoint in others. Thus, for example, the size of their frames and their thickness begin to be difficult to justify. They are understandable (they will have to put their components somewhere) in the same way that they are critical.

The lines are still just as elegant and look futuristic, if the tablet that would appear in an episode of Black Mirror - avoiding negative connotations - and who has not yet seen one will be surprised to see how the keyboard fits and It turns into a laptop just by taking out the 'kickstand' (this may not be its official name).

The weight, 775 grams without cover, is in the middle of that fine line that goes from light to considerable. Let's say that the first hours in a backpack is not noticeable, but at the end of the day it seems to have gained several kilos. In its use as a tablet it can be uncomfortable (although, to be fair, it must be remembered that Surface is not a tablet; it can simply be used as such, which is not the same).

Something similar happens with the frames and the thickness: they are fine - they are not exaggerated - but everything good they were in 2015, when Surface Pro 4 was introduced, which started the current design line. Comparisons with the recent Pro X are unfair, no doubt; almost as much as blushing.

Surface Pro 7, therefore, is presented as the best version so far of a great device that should evolve a lot in its next appearance, because right now it is as good as it can (become).

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