Microsoft’s latest Surface Pro is the standard-bearer for detachable Copilot+ 2-in-1 PCs. But as I noted in my review at the time, it suffers from several problems, notably a sky-high price tag of $1,950 as configured for our testing. No matter what you think about the detachable keyboard concept, this device comes at a price that’s incredibly difficult to swallow.
Enter Asus with a suspiciously similar concept, albeit considerably cheaper. I wouldn’t call this the Want version of the Surface Pro, but at $1,100, the ProArt PZ13 can at least alleviate some of the cash outlay if you venture down this road.
Photography: Christopher Null
To reduce the price, Asus has made a fair amount of sacrifices. Certain elements remain the same, including a 13-inch touchscreen, 16GB of RAM, and a magnetic keyboard, which comes included with purchase. Otherwise, the ProArt seems like a slightly different animal. It starts with the simplified CPU: the ProArt uses a Qualcomm Snapdragon X Plus X1P42100 instead of the more capable Elite that dominated the first wave of Copilot+ PCs. The aspect ratio and resolution of the two displays are slightly different (2880 x 1920 pixels on the Surface vs. 2880 x 1800 on the ProArt) and while the ProArt display isn’t as vibrant and bright, I haven’t had any complaints about it on several occasions. . days of use.
Surprisingly, there are a couple of updates available from Asus about what’s coming in the Surface Pro. Instead of Microsoft’s 512GB SSD, Asus includes a 1TB drive by default. It also upgrades the two USB-C 4.0 ports (one required for charging on the ProArt, as opposed to the Surface Pro) with a full-size SD card slot. Curiously, the card slot and one of the USB-C ports are hidden under a hard plastic flap that’s difficult to open and little more than in the way.
Photography: Christopher Null