Review of the Microsoft Surface Pro 4

Olivia Enders

The following is a student submission from Mrs. Reichenbach’s Dual Credit English 102 class:

Now that we have exceptional technology, we are moving to a new era where AI is common among anyone with a phone or laptop. In the 1980s, a deal was struck to provide new operating systems for IBM’s first personal computer. Now that it’s 2023, Microsoft is coming out with new editions of personal computers where everything is possible. Features include a touch screen, 3-D, replaceable and detachable keyboards, and a pen used to draw on the laptop screen. The Microsoft Surface Pro 4 was not enough for man because Microsoft has come out with more new editions of laptops. For example, the Go 2, the Go 3, the Surface Studio 2+, the Surface Pro 5, the Surface pro 7+, the Surface Pro 8, the Surface Pro X, and the Surface Pro 9.

Of course, nothing is good enough for humanity, so we keep creating because that is all we know how to do. I now understand why Microsoft keeps making new editions of Surface laptops, and I can also relate to Apple’s hunger for creating new iPhones. The chief product officer Panos Panay stated, “we shared our vision for the next era of the Windows PC, where the PC and the cloud intersect and tap into innovative AI technology that unlocks new experiences.” Microsoft is creating new and improved computers that are supposed to be super smart.

Like anyone else, I do almost everything on my laptop. I research, watch Netflix, and complete schoolwork, all on my Surface Pro 4. If my computer were to break or suddenly not work, I would probably die since my whole life is on my Surface Pro 4. I use it so much that my laptop is on the brink of nonexistence. It is funny how objects that we use every day are the most easily broken. Phones, laptops, and cars are all prone to destruction. That does not make them unimportant; it makes them more valuable.

In the summers of 2020-2021, I’ve had no choice but to be on my laptop daily. My Surface Pro 4 has my blood, sweat, and tears engraved into it because, during those summers, I was taking four college classes. During that time, I had no summer at all because my whole soul lived inside that Surface laptop. Let me tell you a story specifically of summer 2021. During the summer of 2021, I broke my ankle playing volleyball, and at the same time, my entire house was being remodeled. People were coming in and out of rooms painting and tearing away wood from the floors. It was the most miserable concoction anyone could succumb to. I was sitting and festering in my parent’s room, which was infused with the smell of fresh paint. I could not hang out with friends or go hiking; worst of all, I could not play volleyball. The only entertainment I could count on was my Surface Pro 4, mainly because I was overcome with a pile of assignments that needed to be done daily. I counted on my laptop to hold up the last of my sanity, but there was one problem, it could not stay charged. For the life of this laptop, it would die after five minutes of using it, even though it was fully charged.

I was angry because this laptop was supposed to be the new and improved model that my parents had shown me. At times I swore I could have thrown my Surface Pro 4 at the wall out of frustration. I needed this laptop so badly, but it is the most infuriating laptop anyone could have. This laptop should have unlimited file space and great uploading and editing skills. Instead, the Surface Pro 4 gives me a bad battery and terrible uploading skills.

It is funny to think that the creators of the Surface Pro 4 did not mean to create a computer with a lousy battery or bad uploading software. Man did not create this laptop this way, but there is no way to control it. There is no way to control what technology could become. However, if the Surface Pro 4 fails, we can create new ones like the Surface Pro 5. I admire man’s faith to keep trying to make better versions of quite literally everything.

My sister-in-law has a Dell laptop that she has had for over ten years and still works fantastically. I have only had my Surface Pro 4 for four years, and it acts like it’s from the ancient dynasty. Sometimes I still want to throw it against the wall, but it was there when I needed it the most. I give the Microsoft Surface Pro 4 three stars.

Work Cited

Panay, Panos. “Introducing New Surface Devices That Take the Windows PC into the next Era of Computing.” Microsoft Devices Blog, 12 Oct. 2022, https://blogs.windows.com/devices/2022/10/12/introducing-new-surface-devices-that-take-the-windows-pc-into-the-next-era-of-computing/.