Of course, I've read numerous reports that suggest Alcantara does not hold up well at all over time. It's soft, and my palms don't stick to it, even when they're all swampy. And after a while, I found that my hands kept sticking to the material as if it was gripping them a bit. My palms tend to get a bit sweaty when I type for extended periods.
The regular Type Cover is made of smooth, soft plastic. For more details on this Italian-made fabric, read our post detailing everything you need to know about Alcantara. The Alcantara feels a lot like suede, but it's not made of any animal products, which I appreciate. The keyboard is slightly more condensed than the regular Pro keyboard, too, with different key travel. It's only available in a bundle with the latest Surface Pro Slim Pen, which means it costs significantly more it starts about $200 on Amazon. The Surface Pro X Signature keyboard with Alcantara is a bit of a different story. For the Go version, the Signature Type Cover with Alcantara starts at $95 on Amazon, while the regular Go Type Cover goes for $93. The Alcantara version for the Pro starts at $132 on Amazon (considerably more if you buy through Microsoft) compared to the $90 regular ProType Cover. To be clear, the two Microsoft's Surface Signature and regular Type Covers for Surface Pro and Go are mostly the same, except for two things: that Alcantara and the price. After using the different versions, these are my thoughts. I bought versions of both for my Pros and my Go, to see which ones I liked better. Microsoft offers only a couple different official Type Covers for the Surface Pro, Surface Pro X and Surface Go: the regular ol' plastic-y Surface Type Cover and the fancier (and pricier) Surface Pro Signature Edition Type Cover with Alcantara. To Alcantara, or not to Alcantara? Is there even a question?