Microsoft is expanding its Surface portfolio today with a new 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop; as you'd expect, they're smaller and less expensive than the models currently for sale. The bad news is that they're not much less expensive, but you do miss out on a lot.

Both devices come with a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus 8-core under the hood, continuing the firm's commitment to Arm processors in its Surface products. Indeed, the only current-gen Surface still using Intel are some new business variants of the Surface Pro 11 and Surface Laptop 7.

"We are excited to continue to partner with Microsoft as we expand the Snapdragon Copilot+ PC ecosystem to include Surface Laptop and Surface Pro. Both devices are powered by Snapdragon X Plus (8-core) and a 45 TOPS NPU, delivering the performance, speed, and battery life customers expect, alongside exclusive AI experiences designed to streamline workflows and help users focus on what matters most," said Kedar Kondap, SVP & GM of Compute and Gaming at Qualcomm Technologies, Inc.

The 12-inch Surface Pro and 13-inch Surface Laptop

Here's what you need to know about the more compact Surface PCs

• Surface Pro 12-inch

  CPU

  Snapdragon® X Plus (8 Core)

  GPU

  Qualcomm® Adreno™ GPU

  NPU

  Qualcomm® Hexagon™ with 45 TOPS

  Display type

  Aspect ratio: 3:2  Contrast ratio: 1200:1 Refresh rate: up to 90Hz (60Hz default) Color profile: sRGB and Enhanced Individually color-calibrated display Adaptive color Adaptive contrast Touch: 10-point multi-touch Strengthened glass display Brightness: 400 nits maximum (typical)

  Display (Size, Resolution)

  12” PixelSense™ LCD display, 2196 x 1464 (220 PPI)

  RAM

  16GB LPDDR5x RAM

  Storage

  256GB, 512GB (UFS)

  Battery

  Up to 12 hours of active web usage

  Ports

  2 X USB-C ®/ USB 3.2 ports

  Operating System

  Windows 11 Home

  Webcam

  1080p Full HD front-facing Surface Studio Camera

  Wi-Fi connectivity

  Wi-Fi 7

  Bluetooth

  Bluetooth Core 5.4

  Dimensions

  10.8x7.47x0.3 inches

  Weight

  1.5 pounds

  Speakers

  2W stereo speakers with Dolby Atmos

  Colors

  Platinum, Ocean, Violet

  Price

  $799

• Surface Laptop 13-inch

  CPU

  Snapdragon X Plus 8-Core X1P-42-100

  GPU

  Qualcomm Adreno™ GPU

  NPU

  Qualcomm® Hexagon™ with 45 TOPS

  Display type

  Touchscreen: 13” PixelSense™ display Contrast ratio: 1000:1 Refresh rate: up to 60Hz Color profile: sRGB and Enhanced Individually color-calibrated display Adaptive color Adaptive contrast Touch: 10-point multi-touch Strengthened glass display Brightness: 400 nits maximum (typical)

  Display (Size, Resolution)

  Touchscreen: 13” PixelSense™ display, 1920x1280 (178ppi)

  RAM

  16GB LPDDR5x RAM

  Storage

  Removable 256GB, 512GB (UFS)

  Battery

  Up to 16 hours of active web usage

  Ports

  2 X USB-C ®/ USB 3.2 ports, USB-A 3.1, 3.5mm audio

  Operating System

  Windows 11 Home

  Webcam

  1080p Full HD camera

  Wi-Fi connectivity

  Wi-Fi 7

  Bluetooth

  Bluetooth Core 5.4

  Dimensions

  11.25x8.43x0.61 inches

  Weight

  2.7 pounds

  Speakers

  Omnisonic® speakers with Dolby Audio

  Colors

  Platinum, Ocean, Violet

  Price

  Starts at $899

The big selling points for the Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch are, you guessed it, Copilot+. Microsoft is working hard at bringing new features to Windows 11, many of which are exclusive to new hardware. These new products get you that feature-set at a lower price point.

Along with the smaller footprints, they're thinner and lighter. The Surface Pro 12-inch weighs in at only 1.5 pounds, and it's under a third of an inch thin. The new Laptop is 0.61 inches thick, and comes in at 2.7 pounds, the same as a 13-inch MacBook Air.

They both come in new colors too, along with the signature Platinum. The two new colorways are Ocean and Violet, the latter being the 'hero' color, which you'll likely see on the next generation of larger Surface devices whenever those arrive.

The new Surface Pro and Surface Laptop start at $799 and $899, respectively. And notably, you get a Snapdragon X Plus 8-core rather than the 10-core chip you get in the larger models. You also forego USB4, and the pixel density is lower.

I did ask if tariffs had anything to do with the higher-than-expected price points, and if so, if that means that an increase in existing Surface price points might be coming. Nothing was confirmed in the briefing I attended.

In another era, they might have been called Surface Go and Surface Laptop Go, despite being a bit larger. However, there's a considerable feature disparity between these new products and the existing ones.

You can preorder the new Surface Pro 12-inch and Surface Laptop 13-inch today, from Microsoft and Best Buy, and they'll be available beginning on May 20.