The Surface Pro 7 is 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 still have your model, be careful: there will be no more firmware updates, no 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 addition of USB-C, it had few design changes that would justify jumping 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 released in 2019) as some of the reasons it received a rather mediocre score. By contrast, the Surface Pro 6 scored slightly higher, earning four stars, which isn't a very good look for the successor that's supposed to be an upgrade.
Where is the love?
While the Surface Pro 7 wasn't a critical success, there's no clear reason why Microsoft would drop support for the Surface Pro 7. If you look Microsoft life cycle table., you can see several other laptop models released around the same time that have longer cutoffs. For example, the Surface Pro company, so it's easier to continue releasing 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 six years ago in 2017, and although the model is discontinued, it is still on the list how to run iPadOS 17, the latest operating system. The oldest model supported by iPadOS 17 dates back to the first iPad Pro, shape in 2015. These are expensive products, so you'd like to think they would be supported for a decent period of time, so it's a shame Microsoft isn't doing that, especially compared to Apple (and Apple isn't perfect in this regard anyway).
So what should you do if you're still using the Surface Pro 7? Lack of software support does not make your device completely useless. In fact, it will probably work as well as ever. However, it leaves you vulnerable as you will no longer receive security updates or bug fixes. You'll also likely miss out on newer, more interesting features, as the Surface Pro 7 will also not receive firmware updates. 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 remove software support for the Surface Pro 7 so soon, but we can say that it indicates a lack of love for the 2-in-1 line that used to be so important to the company. . After Microsoft's biggest Surface Pro cheerleader, Panos Panay, left the company last year, it appears the company is losing interest in the devices. By cutting support for older models relatively quickly and showing no signs of releasing the long-awaited Surface Pro 10, Microsoft hasn't done much to prove that feeling wrong.
