Microsoft Surface Pro With LTE Chip Won't Be Available for Consumers Until 2018
Reports have it that consumers who want to experience an LTE-powered Surface Pro from Microsoft will have to wait until next year.
One of the biggest announcements that Microsoft made in 2017 was about the release of an LTE-powered Surface Pro variant. However, it later turned out that the computer was primarily being offered to business customers and was not initially available for regular ones.
However, a report from Neowin confirmed that the LTE-enabled Surface Pro variant will soon become available for regular, everyday users sometime in 2018. Unfortunately, no specific time frame has been provided yet.
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The LTE-powered 2-in-1 was originally intended to be offered via its exclusive Microsoft partners. However, MSPoweruser noticed that the company eventually opened the order page for the "Commercial Microsoft Surface Pro."
The commercial unit of Surface Pro that comes with LTE Advanced only has two variants listed as of this writing.
The gadget's price starts at $1,149 for a configuration involving 128 GB storage, an Intel Core i5 CPU, 4 GB random access memory, and an LTE Advanced chip. Meanwhile, the more superior model is packed with 256 GB storage, a Core i5 processor, 8 GB RAM and LTE Advanced for $1,449. The two variants are listed as out of stock online so interested buyers are advised to contact their nearest Microsoft Store to ask when they will be made available.
According to Neowin, the device's modem is designed to handle gigabit LTE speeds but is currently limited to a maximum of 450 Megabits per second -- which is already a hefty bandwidth. The report expects though that if the customers demand for it, Microsoft can always upgrade this setting through a firmware update.
Meanwhile, the listing of commercial Surface Pro LTE units noticeably misses a Core i7 variant. This is reportedly because the Qualcomm Snapdragon X16 modem used for cellular connectivity is installed exactly where the Core i7 fan is supposedly located.
The release of LTE Advanced technology on Surface Pro is viewed as one of Microsoft's efforts to introduce the "Always Connected" innovation into their ecosystem.
