Yesterday afternoon, during a press conference in Los Angeles, Microsoft revealed a completely new tablet – pushing them further into the hardware industry.
The tablet, dubbed “Surface”, measures in at 10.6 inches, 9.3 millimeters thick (for the less powerful model); if anyone’s counting, that’s a tenth of a milimeter thinner than the iPad and weighs just under 1.5 pounds (slightly heavier than the iPad).
Microsoft will offer two major variants for their upcoming tablet – one powered by an ARM processor running a simplified version of Windows, and the other equipped with Intel’s new 22nm Ivy Bridge chip (this version increases in thickness and weight to a total of 13.5 milimeters and 1.9 pounds). Moreover, Microsoft will sell the ARM-based Surface in 32GB and 64GB versions and the Intel-based Surface in 64GB and 128GB versions.
In spite of the touch aspect of the new tablet, it’s built-in stand and a magnetically removable cover (similar to the iPad’s Smart Cover accessory) that also doubles as a keyboard and trackpad, Microsoft seems to have overlooked one key ingredient required to develop a successful tablet: simplicity.
Instead of creating a post-PC product, like Apple did with the iPad, Microsoft has taken a different approach. The Surface appears to function and operate more like a watered-down laptop than a device for quickly surfing the web and accomplishing simple tasks as efficiently as possible.
In a world that’s ruled by Apple’s renowned iPad, can Microsoft’s Surface prevail, or will it fail like previous attempts to dethrone the current tablet of choice? Stay tuned for complete coverage regarding Microsoft’s Surface and Apple’s iPad!
