HP Elite x2 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus Comparison

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HP Elite x2 G8

13 inches | January 2021

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Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus

12.3 inches | January 2021

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HP Elite x2 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus Comparison Overview

HP Elite x2 G8

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HP Elite x2 G8

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In this review, we will be comparing Elite x2 G8 and Surface Pro 7 Plus, two laptops from HP and Microsoft. HP Elite x2 G8 was introduced to market in January 2021 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus was launched in January 2021. Both Elite x2 G8 and Surface Pro 7 Plus were launched within the same month so we are expecting this to be a fair comparison regarding age and available technology level.

Click for Available Configurations of the Laptops

Here is a brief look at the main features of HP Elite x2 G8 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus before getting into our more detailed comparison.

HP Elite x2 G8 Key Specs

Launched in January 2021
13.0" TouchScreen - IPS LCD, 3:2 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i3 1115G4
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4
8GB Ram
290 x 210.6 x 14.2 mm (11.42 x 8.29 x 0.56 inches)
Weight: 1.17 kg (2.58 lbs)

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus Key Specs

Launched in January 2021
12.3" Touchscreen - IPS LCD, 3:2 Aspect Ratio Display
CPU: Intel Core i3 1115G4
GPU: Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4
8GB Ram
292 x 201 x 8.5 mm (11.5 x 7.91 x 0.33 inches)
Weight: 0.77 kg (1.7 lbs)

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus was replaced by Microsoft-Surface-Pro-8. You may also be interested in these comparisons:
Microsoft-Surface-Pro-8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus
Microsoft-Surface-Pro-8 vs HP Elite x2 G8

Let's read on the following sections in order to better understand in detail how Elite x2 G8 and Surface Pro 7 Plus compares and decide which one is better for you.

**This post contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you make a purchase after clicking through my links. As an Amazon Associate I earn from qualifying purchases.

Reasons to choose HP Elite x2 G8 over Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus

Screen-to-Body Ratio	~82.4% vs ~76.7%	Larger screen area ratio
Side Bezel Thickness	7.7 mm vs 16.1 mm	8.4 mm thinner bezels
Display Size	13 inches vs 12.3 inches	Larger Screen Estate
Number of Microphones	3 vs 2	Better Sound capture
Number of USB-C Ports	2x USB 3.2 vs 1x USB 3.1	Connect more device at the same time
USB-C Port Type	v3.2 vs v3.1	Faster USB-C connection
Thunderbolt	v4 vs No	Support audio, data, power and video all through one single port

Reasons to choose Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus over HP Elite x2 G8

Weight	0.77 kg vs 1.17 kg	0.4 kg lighter
Screen PPI	267 ppi vs 178 ppi	More pixels per inch
Screen Resolution	2736 x 1824 pixels vs 1920 x 1280 pixels	Higher pixel count screen
Dolby Atmos Speakers	Yes vs No	3D Surround Sound Support
SD Card Reader	Yes vs No	Read & Write SD Cards with the built-in reader

Common Strengths of Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus and HP Elite x2 G8

Screen Type	Touch Screen vs Touch Screen	Interact with your fingers
Fast Charging Support	Yes vs Yes	Charge the battery in a shorter time
USB Power Delivery	Yes vs Yes	Charging via USB port gives flexibility
RAM Type	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x) vs PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	Fast RAM type
SSD Type	NVMe vs NVMe	Faster Data Transfers
Wi-Fi Standard	v6 vs v6	Fast and Reliable Wi-Fi Connections
VGA Output	No vs No	Connect to External Displays via VGA cable
Keyboard Backlight	Yes vs Yes	Easily see the keys under low light

Common Weaknesses of Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus and HP Elite x2 G8

HDR Support	No vs No	No HDR Support
Upgradable RAM	No vs No	No Option to increase the RAM size
HDMI Output	No vs No	Need an adapter to connect to HDMI displays

HP Elite x2 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus: Physical Specs Comparison

In this section, we will be comparing the physical specifications and body features of the HP Elite x2 G8 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus.

Physical Specs
Weight	1.17 kg (2.58 lbs)	0.77 kg (1.7 lbs)
Surface Area	611 cm2 (94.7 inches2)	587 cm2 (91 inches2)
Screen to Surface Ratio	~82.4%	~76.7%
Side Bezel Thickness	~7.7 mm	~16.1 mm
Weight per Inch of Screen	0.09 kg/inch	0.06 kg/inch
	0.198 lbs/inch	0.132 lbs/inch
Colors	Silver	Black, Silver

Comparison of the HP Elite x2 G8 and the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus External Dimensions

Weight

Elite x2 G8 weighs 1.17 kg (2.58 lbs), whereas the Surface Pro 7 Plus weighs 0.77 kg (1.7 lbs). There is a notable difference in weight between these two laptops. However, it's important to consider that comparing their weights directly may not provide a complete picture since they also have different display sizes.

Weight Comparison

HP Elite x2 G8 1.17 kg

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 1.22 kg

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus 0.77 kg

Avg: 12.0-12.9" 1.11 kg

Thickness Comparison

HP Elite x2 G8 14.20 mm

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 15.38 mm

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus 8.50 mm

Avg: 12.0-12.9" 14.24 mm

Another value that we use for comparing the weights of the laptops is the Weight per Inch of Screen, which is calculated by dividing the total weight of the model with its usable diagonal screen size. This value for the HP Elite x2 G8 is 0.09 kg/inch.In comparison, this value for the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus is 0.06 kg/inch.Here are some of the best performing laptops in this area:

Microsoft Surface Go 4: 0.05 kg/inch
LG Gram SuperSlim 15.6 2023: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus ProArt PZ13 HT5306: 0.06 kg/inch
Asus Zenbook A14 UX3407: 0.06 kg/inch
Dell Latitude 7330: 0.07 kg/inch
Lenovo ThinkPad X1 Nano Gen 2: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2022: 0.07 kg/inch
LG Gram 14 2-in-1 2022: 0.07 kg/inch

HP Elite x2 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus: Internals (CPU, GPU, RAM, Battery, SSD, etc.) Comparison

CPU Comparison

CPU Model	Intel Core i3 1115G4 Intel Core i5 1135G7 Intel Core i5 1145G7 Intel Core i7 1165G7 Intel Core i7 1185G7	Intel Core i3 1115G4 Intel Core i5 1135G7 Intel Core i7 1165G7
Base Frequency	1.7-3.0 GHz	1.7-3.0 GHz
Turbo Frequency	4.1 GHz	4.1 GHz
Number of Cores	2	2
Number of Threads	4	4
L3 Cache	6 MB	6 MB
Integrated GPU	Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4	Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4
CPU Fabrication Process	10 nm	10 nm
Geekbench 5 (Single)	1264	1264
Geekbench 5 (Multi)	2563	2563
Cinebench 23 (Single)	1330	1330
Cinebench 23 (Multi)	3144	3144

Above you can see the CPU options and the CineBench and GeekBench test scores for both laptops, which gives an idea about what kind of performance difference you may experience between the HP Elite x2 G8 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus.

You may also read reviews of latest laptops with the same CPU ( Intel Core i3 1115G4 ) and compare them:

GPU Comparison

GPU Model	Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4	Intel UHD Graphics Xe G4
Base Clock Frequency	300 MHz	300 MHz
Boost CLock Frequency	1100 MHz	1100 MHz
TGP (Total Graphics Power)	15 W	15 W
Type	Integrated	Integrated
FLOPS	844.8 GFLOPS	844.8 GFLOPS
Memory Size	System Shared	System Shared
Memory Type	System Shared	System Shared
Memory Bus	System Shared	System Shared
Memory Speed	System Shared	System Shared
Shading Units Cores	384	384
TMUs	24	24
ROPs	12	12

GPU is as critical as the CPU for graphic heavy applications and the table above gives a picture of how the two GPU compares. FLOPS is a measure of a GPU's performance based on the number of floating-point arithmetic calculations that the processor can perform within a second. HP Elite x2 G8 has a FLOPS value of 0.84 TFLOPS whereas the Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus ' has a FLOPS value of 0.84 TFLOPS.

RAM Comparison

RAM	8GB 16GB	8GB 16GB 32GB
RAM Clock	4266 MHz	4267 MHz
RAM Type	LPDDR4X	LPDDR4X
Upgradable	No	No
Memory Bus	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)	PCI-E Gen 3.0 (4x)

Both laptops, the Elite x2 G8 and the Surface Pro 7 Plus, come with similar RAM capacities of 8 GB, providing comparable performance in memory-intensive tasks.

LOCAL LLM Compatibility Evaluation

This quick guide shows what types of large language models (LLMs) each of these laptops could support, based on their respective hardware specifications. It's meant to help you compare their suitability for running AI models locally.

LLM Category	HP Elite x2 G8	Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus
Small Models(1-3B):Examples: Phi-2, Qwen-1.8B	✔ Run smoothly.	✔ Run smoothly.
Medium Models(7-8B):Examples: Mistral-7B, Qwen-7B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Large Models(13-30B):Examples: Mixtral, Qwen-14B	✖ Not supported.	✖ Not supported.
Extra-Large Models(65B+):Examples: LLaMA2-70B, Qwen1.5-72B	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.	✖ Not supported on most systems. Requires high-end GPU or advanced setup.

Note: Optimized (e.g., 4-bit) models may run on limited hardware. Performance depends on runtime and setup.

📌 MoE Models: Some models like Mixtral 8x7B and Qwen3-30B-A3B use a Mixture of Experts (MoE) design, activating only part of the model during inference. This means they can often run efficiently on laptops with 12–16 GB of VRAM when quantized.

BATTERY

BATTERY	47 Wh	48.9 Wh
Battery Type	Li-Ion	Li-Ion
Replaceable	No	No
Fast Charging	No	No
USB Power Delivery	Yes	Yes
Charging Port Position	Left	Right
Charge Power	65 W	65 W

On the other hand, the Surface Pro 7 Plus features a higher battery capacity of 49 Wh, delivering longer usage time compared to the Elite x2 G8's 47 Wh.

Battery Comparison

HP Elite x2 G8 47 Wh

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 53.1 Wh

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus 49 Wh

Avg: 12.0-12.9" 43.28 Wh

STORAGE
With a larger storage capacity up to 2 TB, the Elite x2 G8 provides more space for storing files and applications compared to the Surface Pro 7 Plus's max. storage capacity of 512 GB.

Storage Options	128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB, 1 TB, 2 TB	128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB
Storage type	SSD (M2)	SSD (M2)
NVMe	Yes	Yes

If your budget allows, we recommend opting for the largest possible disk size, considering the potential increase in storage capacity needs in the future. However, please keep in mind the question 'What will the laptop be used for?' when making this decision. Of course, you can later upgrade the hard disk capacity by getting a larger disk. However, if your laptop has only one disk slot, it may not be as straightforward as a RAM upgrade, where you simply add or replace a module, as moving or cloning files to a new disk may be necessary.

HP Elite x2 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus: Display Comparison

The display is an essential aspect to consider when comparing the HP Elite x2 G8 and Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus since its is the component that you interact the most and significantly impact the experience.

Screen Area and Dimensions

Now let's look at the comparison of the actual display areas of both laptops below, keeping the bezels around the screens out of the equation. Elite x2 G8 has a display size of 13.0".On the other hand, Surface Pro 7 Plus has a smaller 12.3" display.The total usable screen area of the Elite x2 G8 is 503cm² / 78inch² whereas the Surface Pro 7 Plus's total usable screen area is 451cm² / 70inch².

PPI (Pixels per Inch)
Additionally, the Surface Pro 7 Plus features a higher pixel density with 267 pixels per inch (PPI), ensuring sharper image details.

Screen PPI (Pixels Per Inch) Comparison

HP Elite x2 G8 178 PPI

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 186 PPI

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus 267 PPI

Avg: 12.0-12.9" 199 PPI

Refresh Rate
Both Elite x2 G8 and Surface Pro 7 Plus offer the same refresh rate of 60 Hz.

Brightness
Both Elite x2 G8 and Surface Pro 7 Plus offer the same maximum brightness of 400 nits (cd/m²).

Brightness Comparison

HP Elite x2 G8 400 nits

Avg: 13.0-13.9" 438 nits

Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus 400 nits

Avg: 12.0-12.9" 370 nits

HP Elite x2 G8 vs Microsoft Surface Pro 7 Plus Connectivity Comparison

In terms of connectivity,

Wifi
Both laptops offer the same Wi-Fi standard (v6), ensuring fast and reliable wireless connections.

Below, you'll find a Wi-Fi Versions Table, along with their release dates and speeds, to provide a brief overview of its development.

Wi-Fi Versions and Speeds

Standard	Speed	Release Date	Network	Frequency Bands (GHz)
Wi-Fi 7	up to 40 Gbps (5 GB/s)	2023	802.11be	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6E	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2020	802.11ax	2.4, 5, 6
Wi-Fi 6	up to 9.6 Gbps (1.2 GB/s)	2019	802.11ax	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 5	up to 6.93 Gbps (866.25 MB/s)	2014	802.11ac	2.4, 5
Wi-Fi 4	up to 600 Mbps (75 MB/s)	2009	802.11n	2.4, 5

* Please note that the provided transfer rates are maximum theoretical values, and real-life performance may vary based on environmental factors.

USB
Surface Pro 7 Plus is equipped with 1x USB 3.1 USB-A ports. Elite x2 G8 does not have USB-A ports.
Both Elite x2 G8 and Surface Pro 7 Plus have USB Type-C ports. Elite x2 G8 has 2x USB 3.2 USB Type-C ports, while Surface Pro 7 Plus has 1x USB 3.1 USB Type-C ports.

Below, you'll find a table of USB ports, along with their release dates and speeds.
To mitigate the confusion caused by generation names, the USB Implementers Forum (USB-IF) suggests using marketing names like USB 5Gbps, USB 10Gbps, and so forth, based on their respective transfer rates.

USB Type and Speeds

USB Type	Version	Speed	Date	Other Features/Explanations
USB4	Gen 4 (2.0)	80 Gbps	2022	Also known as USB 80Gbps
USB4	Gen 3×2	40 Gbps	2019	Also known as USB 40Gbps
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2x2	20 Gbps	2019	Double the data transfer rates of Gen 2
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.1
USB 3.2	3.2 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2017	Previously known as USB 3.0
USB 3.1	3.1 Gen 2	10 Gbps	2013	Faster data transfer rates
USB 3.0	3.1 Gen 1	5 Gbps	2010	SuperSpeed USB, improved data transfer rates
USB 2.0	2.0	480 Mbps	2000	High-speed data transfer
USB 1.0	1.0	1.5 Mbps	1996	Original USB standard

Thunderbolt
Elite x2 G8 is equipped with Thunderbolt 4 port. Surface Pro 7 Plus does not have Thunderbolt port.

HDMI
Neither Elite x2 G8 nor Surface Pro 7 Plus has an HDMI port for connecting to external monitors. Neither Elite x2 G8 nor Surface Pro 7 Plus has an HDMI port for connecting to external monitors.

Below, you'll find a comparison table detailing different HDMI versions, including their bandwidth, color depth, maximum resolution, and release dates. This information can be helpful in understanding the capabilities of each HDMI version and choosing the most suitable one for your needs.

HDMI Comparison Table

HDMI Version	Maximum Resolution	Bandwidth (Gbps)	Color Depth (bits)	Release Date
HDMI 2.1-2.1b	7680 x 4320 *(8K)* @ 60p 3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 120p	48.0	48	2017
HDMI 2.0-2.0b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 60p	18.0	48	2013
HDMI 1.4-1.4b	3840 x 2160 *(4K)* @ 30p	10.2	48	2009
HDMI 1.3-1.3a	2560 x 1440 @ 60p	10.2	48	2006
HDMI 1.0-1.2a	1920 x 1200 @ 60p	4.95	24	2002

* Please note that the provided resolution values represent the maximum supported resolution, and actual display quality may depend on other factors such as source content and connected devices.

SD Card Reader
Surface Pro 7 Plus is equipped with an SD Card Reader for easy access to memory cards. Elite x2 G8 does not have an SD Card Reader.

Audio Jack
Both Elite x2 G8 and Surface Pro 7 Plus are equipped with a 3.5mm Audio Jack, providing seamless connection to headphones and speakers.

To summarize the connectivity and ports details, please refer to the table below to see them listed.

Connectivity and Ports
WiFi Standard (latest: v7)	v6	v6
Bluetooth (latest: v5.4)	v5	v5
USB-A (latest: 3.2)	No	1x USB 3.1
USB Type-C (latest: USB4 2.0)	2x USB 3.2	1x USB 3.1
Thunderbolt (latest: 4)	Thunderbolt 4	No
HDMI (latest: 2.1)	No	No
Display Port (latest: v2.0)	No	No
VGA	No	No
Fingerprint Sensor	Optional	No
Optical Drive	No	No
Audio Jack 3.5mm	Yes	Yes
Ethernet RJ45	No	No
SD CardReader	No	Yes
Proprietary Charging Port	No	No