Microsoft surfaces the Surface Tablet

At an event in Los Angeles, Microsoft unveiled a new line of touch-screen tablet products called Surface. This new family of tablet devices can run either Windows RT or Windows 8.

The Windows RT tablet has the following specs:

• 9.33mm thin
• 1.5 lbs
• 10.6" 16:9 HD Display. The glass used on this display is Corning Gorilla Glass 2.0.
• Connection ports include a microSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD Video, and 2x2 MIMO antenna.
• Built-in stand
• Office Home & Student 2013 RT, Touch Cover, Type Cover

The Windows 8 version has the following specs:

• 13.5mm thin
• 2 lbs
• 10.6" 16:9 HD Display. The glass used on this display is Corning Gorilla Glass 2.0.
• Connection ports include a microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort Video, 2x2 MIMO antennae.
• Built-in stand
• Touch Cover, Type Cover, Pen with Palm Block

The built-in stand is a nice touch, but an interesting feature is their magnetic case. The touch cover doubles as a fold-out keyboard that can be used with the tablet. There is also another version of the case called the Type Cover that will be a thicker and includes a trackpad. The covers also contain an accelerometer so that Surface knows when its rolled back or unfolded.

The pricing is a bit vague, but it has been said that the Windows RT ARM version will cost similar to other ARM tablets while the Windows 8 tablet will be closer to Ultrabook pricing.

Microsoft has launched a new site for their Surface product that can be found here: http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en/us/default.aspx

What are your thoughts? Is this competition for the iPad?

Not seeing pricing points, or actual hardware data (CPU, RAM, Onboard Storage). Until we know those we wont know where it will fall in the rankings.


My opinion, MS is too late to the Tablet wars. This will flop same as the Windows phones and the Zune. I blame the "buzzkiller" reputation of MS, they can suck the fun out of a carnival faster then ......uhhhh..... we wont go there....

I think Microsoft had a plan with Windows 8 that's just starting to take shape. I think it'll be cool to have your cell phone, tablet, laptop and desktop all with the same O.S. Making easy communication between all your devices.

JMO

E-

It looks nice. One big advantage this might have over other tablets is the superior selection of programs that it can run. Instead of users downloading apps, they can download any program that runs under Windows 8. Users would be able to use their favourite FTP program or anything else that runs under Windows instead of being restricted to installing apps that are specifically made for their tablet's OS.

MS is learning marketing from Apple, Apple is learning updating from MS...

I laughed my bum off though, when, during the live presentation, Mr. MS himself held a crashed tablet in his hands...
I'm waiting for some Hotfixes / SP1 before I'll get a new one ;]