Microsoft is ending support for the Surface Pro 7 – and the convertible is less than 5 years old
The Surface Pro 7 is only just five years old, and today (February 28) marks the end of support for Microsoft’s once flagship 2-in-1 computer. So if you’re still sticking with your model, be warned: there will be no more firmware updates, new fixes, maintenance improvements, and performance updates from now on.
When the Surface Pro 7 launched in October 2019, it received pretty… good review scores. While many appreciated the fun colors and the addition of USB-C, there were few design changes that justified the switch from the Surface Pro 6.
Our review of the Surface Pro 7 gave it three and a half stars, highlighting an overall loss of battery life and thick screen bezels (especially for a device launched in 2019) as some of the reasons it received a rather mediocre score. The Surface Pro 6, on the other hand, scored a slightly higher rating, earning four stars – not very good for its successor which is supposed to be an upgrade.
Where is the love?
While the Surface Pro 7 wasn’t a critical hit, there’s no clear reason why Microsoft would drop Surface Pro 7 support. If you look Microsoft’s lifecycle table, you’ll see several other laptop models released around the same time that have longer cutoffs. For example, the Surface Pro it’s easier to release updates and fixes for that device, but there are plenty of older Windows 10 laptops that are still supported.
Additionally, Microsoft’s competitor, Apple, has a better track record when it comes to continued support for its older hardware. The first generation iPad Pro was launched in 2015, and although the model has been discontinued, still listed because it can run iPadOS 17, the latest operating system.w These are expensive products, so you’d like to think they’d be supported for a decent amount of time – so it’s a shame that Microsoft doesn’t, especially compared to Apple (and Apple isn’t perfect in this regard anyway).
What should you do if you’re still using a Surface Pro 7? A lack of software support does not make your device completely unusable. In fact, it will probably work as well as ever. However, it does make you vulnerable because you will no longer receive security updates or bug fixes. You’ll also likely miss out on cooler, more useful new features, since the Surface Pro 7 won’t be getting firmware updates either. So if you have any pending updates that you’ve been putting off, now is the time to download and install them.
We may not know exactly why Microsoft decided to drop software support for the Surface Pro 7 so early, but we can say it signals a lack of love for the 2-in-1 lineup that used to be so important to the company. . After the Surface Pro’s biggest cheerleader at Microsoft, Panos Panay, left the company last year, it feels like the company is losing interest in the devices. By ending support for older models relatively quickly and showing no signs of releasing the highly anticipated Surface Pro 10, Microsoft hasn’t done much to prove that sentiment wrong.