If you're in the market for a Microsoft-made keyboard for your new Surface Pro, you don't have many options. But is the pricier version with Alcantara fabric with the extra money?
Microsoft offers only a few different Type Covers for the Surface Pro: the regular ol' Surface Pro Type Cover, the fancier (and pricier) Surface Pro Signature Edition Type Cover, and the Surface NFL Special Edition Type Cover, which will obviously appeal only to fans of American football.
Personally, I can appreciate a good game of pigskin, and I live in Boston, home of the New England Patriots, so it's tough to avoid football at times. However, I definitely don't want my computer to look like a tiny billboard for the home team. So, the choice for me when I purchased a new Surface Pro and had to pick a Type Cover was between the Signature version, with Alcantara fabric, and the regular Type Cover without Alcantara.
I bought both, to see which one I liked better. After using the two, these are my thoughts.
See Signature Edition Type Cover at Microsoft See regular Type Cover at Microsoft See Surface NFL Special Edition Type Cover at Microsoft
To Alcantara, or not to Alcantara? Is there even a question?
To be clear, the two Microsoft Surface Pro Type Covers are exactly the same, except for two things: that Alcantara, and the price. The Alcantara version costs $159.99 compared to the $129.99 regular Type Cover. Both keyboards are solid. They're perhaps a bit smaller than I'd like, but the keys have great travel and are responsive. And the trackpad, which is "Precision," meaning it supports the full array of gestures in Windows 10, is quality, too.
The Alcantara feels a lot like suede, but it's not made of any animal products, which I appreciate. For more details on this Italian-made fabric, hit the link below:
Everything you need to know about Alcantara
The regular Type Cover is made of a smooth, soft plastic. My palms tend to get a bit sweaty when I type for extended periods, and after a while I found that my hands kept sticking to the material, as if it was gripping them a bit. That's a turnoff for me.
If I'm honest, I don't love the Alcantara. It looks kind of "tacky" to me, and sort of reminds me of the material those big red booths in lounges and cheap Italian restaurants are made of. (I spent a good amount of my youth in such restaurants, and my family used to own one. So I know.) However, the Alcantara feels great. It's soft and my palms don't stick to it, even when they're all swampy. Of course, I've read numerous reports that suggest Alcantara does not hold up well at all over time. But it also appears to be easy to clean, which can apparently go a long way toward extending its life.
I pick function over form every time, so the choice was an easy one for me in that regard.
So, the big question …
Is the Alcantara Type Cover worth the extra cash?
Short answer: Yep. The cost of the "upgrade," $30, really isn't a lot of money when you consider that you'll probably be using your Surface Pro for at least a couple of years. That extra cash breaks down to roughly $1.25 a month over two years. Or about $0.04 a day. Again, not a lot o' scratch.
How you feel about the way Alcantara looks is a personal preference thing. But I think most people will agree that if feels great, at least when it's new. The plastic on the regular Type Cover doesn't feel bad, but it also certainly doesn't feel good.
The Signature Edition Type Cover also comes in three different and better looking colors — platinum, cobalt blue, and burgundy — while the regular version is available in more colors, but they're not as easy on the eyes, in my opinion.
The only good reasons I can think of to go with the cheaper Type Cover would be to save $30, which makes sense if you're pinching pennies, or you really don't like the way Alcantara looks or feels. Otherwise, spend an extra $30 and get your Alcantara on. You won't regret it.
See Signature Edition Type Cover at Microsoft See regular Type Cover at Microsoft See Surface NFL Special Edition Type Cover at Microsoft
Your thoughts?
Do you have experience with Alcantara? There's a thread in forums created to discuss this very subject. So hit the link below and sound off.
Reader comments
Is the Surface Pro Signature Type Cover with Alcantara worth an extra $30?
I am happy with it, feels sturdier and smoother to the touch. Also a conversation piece, explaining to people it's the same fabric used in performance vehicles
I bought the very first Alcantara keyboard on the first day it was available over a year ago and it looks just as beautiful today as it did when I bought it.
It looks really beautiful. Using it in low light with the keyboard lights on..lovely! I got the burgundy one for my SP4 and I've had more pple compliment my device in this short period than maybe the whole 2 years I've owned the SP4!
I plan to get one as well....and I know there will be deals that will drop them down to $130, so i can wait. I have the one that comes with the Surface Pro 4, which is already awesome. But the Alcantara looks amazing and I love the feel. I wish they made an Orange for us Clemson fans (you know, since we own that color). I think it's funny that the Alcantara keyboard gets knocked because the reviewe "eats doritos" and then uses it.....LOL". Wipe your hands people!
Plain and simple, NO. Nice and all but price should have been the same.
These things would fly off the shelves if it had been $130, or even reasonable at $139. Im going to wait for a good deal.
And they are the same price on Amazon... I replaced my SP3 cover with the signature and spent maye $2-3 extra.
I would be happy for a purple one. Sadly, purple is available for 3rd series. :( They already have two kind of blues... Using a teal one.
I wish more of the keyboards offered the fingerprint reader. It only comes in black and un-alcantara. I gather that the face/iris/whatever recognition is great, My SP3 doesn't have it, but I imagine there are times I don't want the laptop to log me in just sitting down in front of it. I like the deliberateness of the fingerprint reader. I also have the option of having two personas on the device, regular user and admin for instance, and logging in with different fingers for each. I only have one face.
My family owns a textile factory. The most expensive fabric that I can think of being made (if we used the best of the best yarns to produce) can cost up to 15.00$ for a length meter to produce. (usually 1.0 m * 1.5 m), which means that a squared meter of this superhero fabric can cost around 10.00 $.
Now the Surface keyboard dimensions are: 0.295 m * 0.216 m = 0.06372 meter squared.
Now what would this fabric cost? 0.06372 * 10.00$ = 0.63$,
and then you find Microsoft charging you 30$ for this ****?
If you calculate this backwards, this means that the length meter of the Alcantara fabric is around 700$!!!! If it was made of silver it wouldn't cost this much!
This is a complete rip-off.
Where do you factor in your calculation the process to apply it onto the keyboard, the additional logistic, inventory compared to simple plastic injected standard keyboard?
Exactly. According to such simplistic calculation, no shirt should cost more than $10-15 -- and be much cheaper for low quality fabric. (And there is no problem in finding, e.g., silk fabric at $65+ per meter.) Btw... the Alcantara cage for Samsung Galaxy 8+ is more than $30...
I do automotive - The price I've paid in the U.S. was $100 a yard ( the fabric only comes 1.22 meter wide )
Your analogy would be like saying "I work in steel, and 2 tons of steel are only $2K, so no car should cost more than $3K."
Also, yarn?!? Are you sure you know anything about textiles? Because my wife works in fiber, and there's a massive difference between yarn and micro fibers.
It's not worth it, specially not the one on the NEW Alcantara Type covers. Which is NOT the same Alcantara used on the original Signature Type Cover.
The original Signature Type Cover felt nicer than the ones released with the Surface Pro 5 and Surface Laptop which just feel like cheap plastic. And none of them is worth 185€, that's for sure.
But that goes along Microsoft's new strategy of copying Apple's overpricing schemes which is doing wonders...to make these new Surface products perform much worse than expected in sales. Serves them right.
Check the 170$ Apple iPad Pro cover to the Microsoft one and come back to tell us if you think there are remotely comparable in term of fabrication, material used (alcantara), night lighting of the key, key travel and quality. Microsoft is significantly cheaper than Apple in all their range and remains so.
I haven't used it but as someone who sweats a lot I can see anything fabric getting kinda funky pretty quickly. Hopefully its easy to clean unlike those guys that did the cheetos test.
If you've just bought a $1000+ 2-in-1 and are willingly spending around $120 on a keyboard. I don't see any reason to not go ahead and pay that 'nominal' $30 for that premium feel. Guess it is only applicable if you actually like the material.
Problem being that the new Alcantara Type Covers feel anything BUT premium.
This I pronounce to all that my opinion is forever and henceforth correct. So shall it forever be!
You only get to do that if you are the King, Pope or President.
If it was Apple it would have been $300
xD - Yes
Okay we got it. You don't like Alcantara. Stop posting meaningless article like this one over and over again.
No....
But what if the difference it $60 dollars. Would it still be worth it spending the extra 60 bucks?
You can find last years surface pro 4 keyboard for roughly $95 on amazon
Which i have absolutely zero issues with, the SP4 keyboard is great.
I had the Alcantara on the ergonomic bluetooth keyboard for a few months before I bought my new Pro, so getting the Alcantara on the new keyboard was a no-brainer. It definitely feels much nicer thasn the standard ones (which I have had for my Pro 2 and non-pro 3) -- I do like the more saturated colors on some of the older keyboasrd over the more muted colors of the Alcantara ones, but the fabric itself is great.