Microsoft has stepped into the bloodsport Kumite known as the tablet market and has announced more details for The Surface.
With Apple dominating this corner of the world, other manufacturers were quick to develop their own hardware to varying reception. The ever popular Blackberry introduced their Playbook hoping to trump the other projects, but sadly they paved the way of “what not to do”. Now it seems that every hardware manufacturer has a tablet on the market, but very few of them were using Microsoft products in any way.
Microsoft doesn’t like to be last picked for kickball.
So with the upcoming Windows 8 being touted as a tablet focused operating system, it only makes sense that they would bring this tablet out around the same time as the new operating system. While there is no official date for Windows 8, most pundits are predicting it will be released in September or October, and the official date for the standard Surface release is announced for the same vague time. The Pro will come a few months later.
The standard will slide in at 9.3mm (thinner than the New iPad) at a pound and a half. The “Cleartype” display rocks a 1920 x 1080 resolution at 10.6 inches. The Standard Surface will sport a smartphone Windows RT operating system and an ARM processor, offering 32 or 64 GB of storage.
The Surface will have other stock options that some tablets have like front and back webcams, an SD card slot, and a USB Port. A little more unique on the Surface is the magnesium casing, the Gorilla Glass display cover, and a built-in “kickstand”. There are some accessories for the Surface as well, such as a very familiar magnet attached screen cover, however unlike Apple’s foldy cover thing, it will also offer a micro-thin keyboard.
The Pro is what has my attention. This one will be slightly thicker but its features sound more like an Ultrabook. With many similarities to the standard edition like the Mag casing and Gorilla Glass screen, the Pro will brag an Ivy Bridge Core i5 x86 brainmeat, some USB 3.0 ports, and will come with 64 or 128 GB of storage. That’s pretty impressive for a tablet.
For me, this Pro surface means I get to run full Windows 8 and will allow me to bring all my toys with me. The reason I haven’t purchased a tablet yet is that I have yet to see a need or function that my iPhone doesn’t already do. My iPhone can’t do what this Pro Surface can!
So, Windows Surface Pro is my pick. Does the Surface impress you? Or are you already sold on another product?
