Microsoft Surface 3 Announced

[silvagti]

http://www.microsoft.com/surface/en-us/products/surface-3

New Surface tablet announced today. Effectively the replacement for the non-pro Surface but now it comes with an Intel x86 Atom processor so can finally run full Windows and will be upgradeable to Windows 10.

Basically an x86, 11" Windows tablet for the same price as an iPad. Looks pretty good actually.....

10.8" 1920x1280 screen 3:2 display ration, quad core atom CPU, 10 hour battery life and all the usual ports including USB, mini displayport and an SD card slot. Only real concerns are whether the CPU is up to the job and how Windows 10 turns out. That and they really need to cut the price of the additional keyboard cover which they're still trying to sell for £110!

Do not hotlink images.

Surface 3
Technical Specifications

Spoiler

Size
10.52" x 7.36" x 0.34"
(267mm x 187mm x 8.7mm)
Weight
1.37 lbs
(622g)
Display
10.8” ClearType Full HD Plus Display
Resolution: 1920 x 1280
Aspect ratio: 3:2
Touch: 10 point multi-touch
Surface Pen support
Battery Life
Up to 10 hours of video playback1
RAM/Storage8
2GB RAM with 64GB storage
4GB RAM with 128GB storage
Processor
Quad Core Intel® Atom™ x7-Z8700 processor (2MB Cache, 1.6GHz with Intel Burst™ technology up to 2.4GHz)
Network (Wireless)
Wi-Fi (802.11 a/b/g/n/ac)
Bluetooth 4.0
Ports
Full-size USB 3.0
Mini DisplayPort
microSD™ card reader
Micro USB charging port
Headset jack
Cover port
Software
Windows 8.1
1-year of Office 365 Personal6 with OneDrive cloud storage7
Cameras, video and audio
3.5 megapixel front-facing camera
8.0 megapixel rear-facing camera with autofocus
Microphone
Stereo speakers with Dolby® audio
Sensors
Ambient light sensor
Proximity sensor
Accelerometer
Gyroscope
Magnetmeter

 

[silvagti]

Yeah, you'd be an idiot not to spend the extra £80 to upgrade from the 2Gb/64Gb model to the 4Gb/128Gb model! I think they maybe just offered it in the spec in order to match the price of the cheapest iPad.

I'm quite tempted by one as my current laptop is over 5 years old and I like the concept of the surface. I was tempted by a Surface Pro 3 but the price was too high for me to justify. The new Surface 3 looks just about perfect but I'd want to see one in store before purchasing it.

 

[silvagti]

It's too expensive for what it is. For £50 more you can get the i3 Surface Pro 3. OK that is the cheapest pro but it has 4Gb of RAM. The i3 will be streets ahead of the new Atom. In addition just buy a 64Gb Micro SD to supplement the included 64Gb onboard memory.

Yeah, there isn't a huge price gap admittedly but there's no way I'd buy a windows device with only a 64Gb SSD in it. Also, on impressions so far, I actually prefer the slightly smaller size and lighter weight of the Surface. The fact it doesn't need a fan and has a better battery life is also a bonus

Microsoft's default configs with the Surface Pro really frustrate me as I'd happily have an i3 processor to save power/cost as I don't need the performance on a tablet. The problem is that I'd still want 128Gb SSD as a minimum which immediately means I need to upgrade to an i5 which puts the price up to £750.

That means a 128GB/4Gb Surface Pro is £250 more than the 'equivalent' Surface 3 which I could have for a more palatable £500. That's my logic at any rate but I get your point that the price difference between the starter price of the Surface vs Pro isn't that big.