Well, Monday’s hyped up yet super secret announcement has been made…and it’s brilliant! Microsoft are introducing their own Microsoft branded tablets – “The Surface”, and they look stunning:
Just look at it. Glossy bezel, rounded corners, integrated kickstand AND A COVER THAT IS A KEYBOARD! I really can’t get over that, it’s such an ingenious innovation and a great unique selling point…not only that but it’s just 3mm thick.
Down to details – there are 2 versions of the Surface tablets:
| OS | Windows RT | Windows 8 Pro |
| Weight | 676g | 903g |
| Thickness | 9.3mm | 13.5mm |
| Screen | 1.06” Cleartype HD | 10.6” Cleartype Full HD |
| Battery | 31.5 W-h | 42 W-h |
| Connections | microSD, USB 2.0, Micro HD Video, 2xMIMO Antennae | microSDXC, USB 3.0, Mini DisplayPort Video, 2xMIMO Antennae |
| Productivity | Office 15, Touch Cover, Type Cover | Touch Cover, Type Cover, Pen w/ Palm Block |
| Practical | VaporMg Case & Stand | VaporMg Case & Stand |
| Hard Drive | 32GB, 64GB | 64GB, 128GB |
For now that’s all we’ve got in the way of confirmed features – but it’s a good start in my opinion…definitely enough to let me know that I want one. The 2 missing features that I’m most interested in are CPU & RAM – the latter especially as the iPad’s 768MB lets it down quite a lot.
I’m taking it that the keyboard cover comes with the tablet as standard rather than being an optional accessory – I hope that’s right!
Nothing too much has been said about the pricing other than the Pro version will be “priced similarly to a comparable ultrabook” which I’d say puts it between £700 & £1000…and also suggests it will be rolling with Core i5 processors and 4GB+ of RAM. If that’s right it will be a portable beast 
The interest & buzz has been really great to see too. I saw people on Twitter who usually only tweet about MUFC talking about the Surface and saying how cool it looked and I’d fielded 2 customer enquiries by 09:20 at work this morning – love it!
Cloudy with a chance of Licensing 