Microsoft unveils Surface tablets - official thread.

[god_43]

The Earth-shattering Microsoft announcement we've been waiting for is finally here. As several pre-event rumors suggested, Microsoft is indeed building its own tablet.

Make that two tablets. One Windows RT tablet runs an NVIDIA-made ARM processor and the other Windows 8 Pro tablet runs Intel's Ivy Bridge Core i5 chips. One thing that looks really cool are new magnetic covers that are quite reminiscent of Apple's "Smart Cover" for the iPad. But it's a lot smarter—Microsoft's cover actually includes a multitouch trackpad and a keyboard. There are two, as we explain in this story: a Touch Cover with virtual keys and a Type Cover with a tactile keyboard and touchpad.

http://arstechnica.com/information-t...-by-windows-8/


ooooooo.

[LeoAndrade]

just curious about battery life...

[zanzabar]

i am just glad that some one other than panasonic is making a viable x86 tablet ( i do like the tough book tablet but it is way over priced since it is not for consumers and basically water and drop proof)

[tbone8ty]

looks cool

got all the right parts to make it successful

hopefully price will be competitive for based arm based version

[Russian]

This thing just looks so damn sexy.

[Buckeye]

This thing just looks so damn sexy.

I have to agree with that

[Knight]

Is Microsoft changing the Windows logo? It looks nice.

[koc]

Now apple should be worry

[mike]

looks excting from the distance - can't wait to find out what's inside!!!

EDIT:

2 flavors of the tablet:

"Entry" Tablet runs on NVIDIA Tegra 3 ARM

"Pro" Tablet runs Ivy Bridge COre i5 - nice!!!

[ajaidev]

Overall its good but pricing similar to an ultrabook what is that all about

Ultrabooks are so dam expensive and to think this will have similar pricing is just crazy. I am also sad that there is no 1080p screen for the non-x86 version. Spec wise the new iPad has more similarities with the ARM version than the x86 version and i think the ARM version will be a better choice with better thermals but no idea about the UI.

[R101]

Overall its good but pricing similar to an ultrabook what is that all about .

And how many $ are these supposed to cost?

[naokaji]

Overall its good but pricing similar to an ultrabook what is that all about
Ultrabooks are so dam expensive and to think this will have similar pricing is just crazy. .

That is because it is pretty close to a Ultrabook, just with a different screen.

[Manicdan]

just curious about battery life...

good i hope. 42Wh is up there with traditional laptops, but this has a smaller screen. id be they both get 5 hours of light use minimum.

this might be the first big step that replaces laptops with tablets. prior tablets were always too weak or didnt have the right ports. if the mini-dp on this could be daisy chained to a few monitors, i could see our company giving these out instead of laptops

[SKYMTL]

I'd be all over the Pro version for work. All MS needs to do is include a software suite akin to the one included on Samsung's Galaxy Note (for easy PDF / photo markups, etc) and I'd be all over it.

[god_43]

no mention of an amd version.....are they being given the shaft?

[Manicdan]

no mention of an amd version.....are they being given the shaft?

theres only 2 products out. its not like they made 20 versions all with tegra or core-iX chips

[kl0012]

That's what I'm waiting for:
http://cew.en.alibaba.com/product/53...d_docking.html

It's not pretty and may not have the best quality. But for that kind of price I'm ready to take a chance.

[PatRaceTin]

hmmm in some video

its screen look longer than 16:9 ratio?

[jogshy]

The diea to put the keyboard on the cover was cool !
I was expecting almost a quad-core ARM cpu like the S4 Snapdragon or something based on the A15 cores tho....

[Manicdan]

The diea to put the keyboard on the cover was cool !
I was expecting almost a quad-core ARM cpu like the S4 Snapdragon or something based on the A15 cores tho....

tegra might have the graphics part strong enough to run the os very smoothly though. even if single tasks could be weaker, the overall slick feeling might be higher.

[Chickenfeed]

Tegra 3's gpu is plenty sufficient to run the OS and playback 1080P content issue free, I can assure you.

I'm quite curious about how the Pro model will perform. Assuming these don't cost a retarded amount, I can see them giving the Ipads a run for their money given they will be running a proper OS and not a closed down fruit salad. I still personally view Ipads as expensive toys and not productivity devices... it will be interesting to see this trend change in the coming years as more and more mobile devices run full featured and capable operating systems.

[tbone8ty]

Win8 tablet will have an AMD chip in it once they are available lol

Probably a 17w trinity to compete with the win8 pro version that has intel

But most likely not till next yr when it will
Probably have the chip with 4 x jaguar cores

[El Mano]

Charlie has something to say about these tablets, and it's an interesting reading.
http://semiaccurate.com/2012/06/19/m...-look-cunning/
I liked it.

[Russian]

Charlie has something to say about these tablets, and it's an interesting reading.
http://semiaccurate.com/2012/06/19/m...-look-cunning/
I liked it.

He's literally speculating what's inside of the tablet. We already know it's got a Tegra 3 in it, and I'm sure he does too. Let's remember children, this is charlie and if he knows it's got a Tegra 3 in it he's not going to like it, no matter how good it is.

[paulbagz]

Oh Charlie lol. He is right in regards to Android/Apple market saturation however this is Microsoft.

They would of learned their lessons from CE/WM6.5/WP7 by now to make this a success.

Plus to add to that Windows 8 will be the new pushed Desktop OS bringing it inline with their tablet market, a seamless integration of sorts (maybe, if it works lol).

-PB