We’ve collected all of the best (and worst) moments of Microsoft during 2020, along with the «wha…?!» moments that made us scratch our head.
So was it, overall, a great year for Microsoft? Not exactly. The pandemic disrupted its product development, for one, forcing Microsoft to readjust its dual-screen ambitions. The hype train that accompanied its Surface Duo never apparently panned out in actual sales. We’ve collected Microsoft’s highlights, low points, and unexpected moments that made us scratch our head. It was a profoundly weird, awful year, and we’re all hoping to return to a sense of normalcy in 2021. For some reason, whenever I think of Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablet lineup, I think of a barber surveying his work. A trim here, a snip there, and it’s done. New boss, same as the old boss. Microsoft’s Surface Pro 7 may follow suit, simply upgrading the internals year in and year out, but you can’t argue with success. Most of its rivals have ceded the field, leaving the Surface Pro 7 as the ultimate Windows tablet. Microsoft’s Surface Pro tablets remain profoundly conservative, virtually unchanged for the last several years. But Microsoft isn’t afraid to shoot for the moon with devices like the dual-screen Surface Neo. Windows 10X was originally planned to be the underlying dual-screen OS, before Microsoft shifted focus. Let’s hope that some of the more interesting features of the Surface Neo make it to market in some form. The Surface Neo looks incredible, but it didn’t make it out of 2020. Officially, Microsoft delayed the Surface Neo until the “right moment” arrives. Has that moment already passed for dual-screen PCs? Is Windows 10X, the dual-screen OS that was supposed to drive it all, now just a simplified version of Windows 10 in S Mode that will mark another Microsoft tilt at the Chromebook windmill? The answer to the latter question, at least, seems to be yes. I really want Windows on Arm to succeed. Fierce competition benefits the consumer, and the trichotomy of Intel, AMD, and Qualcomm brought with it an emphasis on price, performance, and battery life. But for the last two years, Windows on Arm has stagnated. Qualcomm may protest, but there just doesn’t seem to be any substantive movement forward. From a design standpoint, the Microsoft’s Surface Pro X was a success. But its ARM processor, and its early app compatibility issues, didn’t help its cause. At least Microsoft finally released its 64-bit X86 emulator for Windows on Arm, allowing such apps to run on top of Arm hardware. Microsoft admitted that the emulation still won’t cover all apps. Worse, our tests have shown the performance pales when compared to Apple’s own M1 ARM chips. Maybe this is why reports are emerging that Microsoft is building its own ARM chips for Surface devices? Microsoft’s 14-inch “budget” Surface Laptop Go laptop was a decent effort. I entered the review half-convinced that the sub-1080p screen would disappoint…but that’s what testing is for, and my assumptions were proven wrong. Microsoft’s Surface Laptop Go was surprisingly good! Microsoft still has room for improvement.
