Through a series of staggered press releases, Microsoft has unveiled six new Surface devices this year. The Surface Laptop Ultra and Surface RTX Spark Dev Box have distinct names and designs that make them easy to identify. But the situation is less clear for the other Surface hardware.
The business and consumer versions of the Surface Laptop 8 and Surface Pro 12 were announced separately by Microsoft and have key differences. But the average shopper will struggle to find the right PC because of Microsoft's Surface naming scheme.
Let's say you found out about the new Surface hardware because you're an enthusiast. Despite the lack of an event, business devices launching without consumer counterparts at first, and the overall blasé attitude of Microsoft toward Surface, you learned that consumer versions of the Surface Pro and a Surface Laptop are on the way. What are you met with? A confusing naming scheme that basically requires you to already know which device you want.
Microsoft's website doesn't even have a device officially called "Surface Laptop 8." Instead, the company has a "Surface Laptop, 13-inch" and a "Surface Laptop 13.8-inch" available. Considering many companies round screen size within names, I'd forgive you for assuming these are the same device.
Head over to a third-party retailer, and things get worse. Search for "Surface Laptop" on Best Buy's website, and you'll see a mixture of Surface Laptop 13.8-inch (7th Edition), Surface Laptop 13.8-inch (8th Edition but not specified on the search results page), and the Surface Laptop 13.
Normally, I wouldn't criticize a company for keeping the same name across generations. Car shoppers never seem confused about the difference between 2025 and 2026 model of the same car. But things get a bit muddier when there are devices with similar names from different generations of the same line and a PC from a separate line.
The Surface Pro family adds another layer of complexity because it's been around so long that its generation numbers overlap with screen size configurations.
The Surface Pro 12-inch came out after the Surface Pro 11 (officially called the Surface Pro 13-inch (11th Edition)), confusing people and causing some reviews and references to call the smaller device the "Surface Pro 12."
My head hurts writing about this. Just look at this chart covering the last handful of devices:
Official name |
Casual name |
|---|---|
Surface Pro 13-inch (11th Edition) |
Surface Pro 11 |
Surface Pro 12-inch (1st Edition) |
Surface Pro 12-inch |
Surface Pro 13-inch (12th Edition) |
Surface Pro 12 |
Maybe Microsoft would argue that its official names are clear, but the company swapped its naming scheme a couple years ago, and that added to the confusion. The first handful of Surface Pros were just Surface Pro followed by a number. Microsoft tested a new naming scheme with what many call the Surface Pro 5, but then reverted for a while to traditional numbering.
But Microsoft doubled back and now uses the "Edition" naming structure except for the confusingly named Surface Pro 12-inch.
Let's be real
I predict people will claim they understand all the Surface names and that I'm an old man yelling at a cloud. But please take a moment to consider folks who aren't tech experts. Shouldn't a Google search for "Surface Pro 12" show one device? Shouldn't searching Microsoft's own website for the same thing provide clarity?
The average shopper doesn't eat, live, and breathe Surface announcements. Microsoft's Surface naming scheme is about as consistent as that of Xbox and Windows.
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