Surface Pro 8 Configuration Options May Have An LTE Disappointment

Although it still enjoys some popularity as Microsoft's premier hardware product line, it has been quite a while since it has made a big change for its Surface products, especially the oldest of them all, the Surface Pro. It seems that 2021 won't be any different, at least during the early months when Microsoft is expected to launch its next line of portable computers. But while the next-gen Surface Pro 8 will likely see some welcome upgrades, a new leak hints that it won't be spread equally when it comes to LTE support.

Microsoft will upgrade the Surface Pro 8 to Intel's latest Tiger Lake processors, no doubt about that. There will both be Core i5 and Core i7 variants, just as before, with different RAM and storage configurations. Those are most likely fixed, thanks to the Surface Pro's design, with no option for any storage upgrade outside of a slow microSD card.

The LTE story for the Surface Pro 8 could be the same as its predecessor. WinFuture's Roland Quandt lists LTE models but those are limited to the Core i5 configurations. What isn't yet known at this point is whether these will be available to consumers or only for business customers. An LTE Core i7 model does exist but Quandt seems certain it won't be sold on retail.

What is slightly new is a Core i7 configuration with 32GB of RAM, a first for the Surface Pro line. Given upgrades are impossible for this product line, those who really want to take advantage of the full power of the Surface Pro 8 will have to prepare to go broke.

They might have some time to prepare, though, as no date for the Surface Pro 8 launch has been leaked yet. It will happen in early 2021, the site says, along with the Surface Laptop 4. The latter will likewise be a simple spec bump but the new AMD models could prove to be more interesting in comparison.