New tech products come and go all the time, and while some were failures, even fan favorites end up discontinued eventually. And that has never been more true than with the Microsoft Surface line. The comipany just announced a few new Surface devices, but it brought just minor refreshes to existing devices. That's been the case for the Surface lineup for a while now, and combined with Surface chief Panos Panay's departure, it's clear that Surface products as we know them are dying. That's disappointing, as Microsoft brought a few innovative designs and form factors via the Surface lineup.
However, it got us thinking about some of the best ones, like the Surface Book, and about the devices that are due for a comeback thanks to new technologies.
1 Surface Book
Microsoft's Surface Book solved many of the problems that we still see with tablets and 2-in-1 laptops. These devices feature either a quality physical keyboard or a traditional tablet, but not both. For example, the Surface Pro and Surface Go have the form factor of a tablet but only offer a meager Type Cover Keyboard. On the flip side, 2-in-1 devices give you a laptop-class keyboard that you can't detach. The Surface Book was the best of both worlds, providing a laptop-class keyboard and additional ports while still being fully detachable.
However, users quickly became frustrated with the device's weight and hinge. The hinge was thick and clunky, and it left a gap between the display and keyboard assembly when connected. This was to facilitate extra battery life and ports, but many users didn't see this as a great trade-off. More importantly, the device wasn't properly balanced, as nearly all the components were stored in the "tablet" side of the device. That meant that the Surface Book would easily fall over if you used it on your lap.
Though Microsoft confirmed it was done with the product line back in 2021, new advancements could make the Surface Book better than ever. For one, many companies have gotten creative with hinge design over the last few years, like Apple with its Magic Keyboard for iPad. If a similar design was utilized for the Surface Book, it might be able to forego the gap found with the original model. There are also more efficient x86 and ARM-based processors these days, so you'd get a lot more performance and battery life out of a 2023 Surface Book than the original.
2 iMac Pro
It's kind of baffling that the iMac was one of the first Apple products to make the shift to Apple Silicon, and that it's since been forgotten. The 24-inch iMac (M1, 2021) is the only Apple all-in-one you can buy with Silicon, and it still features the first M1 series processor. We're nearing the release of products with M3 SoCs, and even the Vision Pro will get an M2 chip when it debuts. Since Apple clearly views the base-model iMac as a device for the average consumer, it's time for the iMac Pro to return for enthusiasts and professionals.
The iMac Pro was a device meant to be discontinued, as it was simply to bridge the gap between the 2013 "trash can" Mac Pro and the revamped 2019 rack-mounted Mac Pro. When the iMac Pro was released in 2017, the 2013 Mac Pro was dated and wasn't upgradeable. Apple itself claimed that when the iMac Pro debuted, it was the company's most powerful Mac ever. So, although Apple sold a few iMac Pro computers to professionals who needed the most powerful Mac available during that time period, many of those same professionals likely would have preferred the Mac Pro (2019) and Pro Display XDR combination that was released afterward.
That doesn't mean that the iMac Pro as a concept shouldn't make a return, though. Imagine an Apple Studio Display with the components of a mid-tier Mac Mini or a Mac Studio. That isn't too farfetched, considering how thin Apple made the M1 iMac. All-in-one computers can be a great offering, but the current iMac isn't enough performance for a lot of people. With how small Apple has made recent devices, it can handily use its Apple Silicon prowess to create an iMac Pro fit for 2023.
3 Pixelbook
We know this one isn't coming back anytime soon since Google regularly axes products and services and doesn't often make returns. The Pixelbook was a high-end Chromebook that featured Intel processing power, a touchscreen that could be used as a tablet, and a stylus. It was designed to show the consumer tech world what devices with Chrome OS could do and inspire other developers to create more innovative Chromebook devices. The Pixelbook and subsequent Pixelbook Go were successful in that effort. In fact, when Google confirmed it would not make another Pixelbook, it was suspected that the growth of the Chrome OS market made Pixelbooks redundant.
However, there's a case to be made for Google to revive the Pixelbook. Today, thanks to Tensor silicon, Google is offering a great level of optimization between hardware and software in its Pixel devices. There are some hiccups — the overheating is a serious concern on Pixel phones — but I'm confident Tensor could one day be a major selling point. The company could even bring its Tensor silicon to the Pixelbook, making it the sleekest Chromebook out there with Google's unique design language.
Google still sells the Pixelbook Go, which features an Intel processor and a $650 starting price. But a higher-end Pixelbook, sporting the company's own silicon or a new chip from another brand, could make sense in 2023. You can game on Chromebooks now, to some degree, and you also get support for professional tools, like video editors in LumaFusion. If there was ever a time for a high-end Chromebook to exist, it's the present.
4 MacBook (12-inch)
Make no mistake, the 12-inch MacBook was one of the worst Apple products ever released. It was severely underpowered, had a high price tag, featured the ill-fated butterfly keyboard, and suffered from chronic SSD failures. After years of being an abysmal product, and after receiving its most recent update in 2017, it was removed from the Apple Store in 2019. Now, thanks to Apple Silicon, it's time for the 12-inch MacBook to make a comeback.
Apple has proven a few things since the 12-inch MacBook came and went. First, it has shown us that it can provide more power in a smaller form factor than Intel could at the time of its release. This is important because the original one featured a measly 1.3GHz dual-core Intel Core i5 processor. Next, Apple has figured out how to fit a high-quality display and great keyboard into a smaller device. Just take a look at the M2 MacBook Air, which is one of our favorite laptops. Finally, we are more than ready for a USB-C-only laptop today than we were when the 12-inch MacBook launched. Apple, it's time to make the 12-inch MacBook you should have made in the first place.
Will we see any of these products make a comeback?
Out of the products I've revisited on this list, the ones most likely to make a comeback are from Apple. I'm holding out hope that a 12-inch MacBook will make a return, but I'm worried that Apple views that size as a competitor to the 12.9-inch iPad Pro. That leaves the iMac Pro as the most likely product on this list to return, although I don't think we'll see it under that name. There isn't a 27-inch iMac with Apple Silicon yet, and I figure we'll see one debut at some point that matches the expectations of a would-be iMac Pro. There's no reason for Apple to use the 'Pro' moniker here, as it'll just cause confusion with the Mac Pro and Mac Studio.
As for the Surface Book and the Pixelbook, there isn't much to suggest these products could ever make a return. Microsoft is clearly downsizing the Surface product lineup and has given preferential treatment to mainstream devices. The experimental form factors that made Surface special, like the Surface Book, are being intentionally phased out. Google probably won't put out a new Pixelbook due to the slew of impressive Chromebooks that third-party OEMs have come up with. Of the products that get discontinued, many are sunset for very good reason. But there is always a chance that they could make a comeback, and thanks to new technology, maybe some of them should.