Microsoft releases its vastly affordable Surface tablet: is this the best non-pro Surface yet?
We reported last week that Microsoft was working on a successor to its failed Surface 2 tablet, an affordable non-pro alternative to the Surface Pro 3 that will not run Windows RT. The rumors have now been confirmed as Microsoft has officially launched the Surface 3.
The tablet, which will start at $499 (half that of the Surface Pro 3 at $799), will be available from May 5th and as a pre-order from March 3 . The most notable difference from the Surface 2 is that the new iteration of the Surface range will run an Intel processor and so will support full versions of Windows, as opposed to the doomed RT version.
In a blog post, Panos Panay, corporate vice president, Microsoft Surface, stated “We’ve taken everything we learned making Surface Pro 3 and poured that innovation into this newest Surface. It’s beautiful, versatile, powerful and productive, and our customers are going to love what it lets them do.”
Microsoft have called it the thinnest (0.34 inches) and lightest (1.37 pounds) Surface yet, but there’s good reason it’s half the price as the Pro Surface: it’s much less powerful, and comes with a 10.8 inch screen compared to the 12 inch screen of the Pro. Starting versions come with 64GB of storage, while the more expensive option has 128GB of storage. Microsoft have reported that it has a 10 hour battery life of continuous video play. Other features include an Intel’s quad-core Atom x7 processor, digital pen support (pen comes as a $49 accessory), 8-megapixel main camera, 3.5-megapixel front camera, three-position kickstand and various color options.
It also comes with an Office 365 one year free subscription with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and a terabyte of cloud storage in OneDrive, and can be upgraded to Windows 10 (it’s shipped with Windows 8.1) for free, just as all other machines will be able.
