Microsoft Surface: Can a Windows 8 tablet compete?

On Monday, Microsoft took the wraps off a new tablet called the Surface. Here's a quick primer.

|
Reuters
The Microsoft Surface tablet is shown at an event in California on Monday.

Yesterday, we wondered what kind of device Microsoft would introduce at the much ballyhooed press conference in Los Angeles. Now, we have the answer: A Windows 8 tablet called the Surface. As the Wall Street Journal notes, the Surface and the Apple iPad are roughly the same size and shape – the iPad weighs approximately a pound and a half, and so does the entry-level Surface (although a more deluxe model may weigh closer to 2 lbs). 

Meanwhile, the Surface will be equipped with a 10.6-inch screen, compared to the 9.7-inch display on the iPad. Both devices pack front- and back-facing cameras and both are pretty thin. The difference, of course, is what's inside: Unlike the iPad, which runs Apple's mobile operating system, the Surface will run the forthcoming Windows 8. (Windows 8, Horizons readers will remember, is still in beta.) 

Consumers will choose between one of two models, according to PC Magazine: The aforementioned entry-level tablet with a Nvidia Tegra processor and Windows RT. A "professional" edition of the tablet has an Intel Core i5 chip and runs the x86-optimized version of Windows 8. If that meant nothing to you, know that the former is made for the average consumer; the latter is aimed at "content creators." 

Much remains unclear: Release date, price, the kind of antennas onboard – 3G, 4G, Wi-Fi only?

In the run-up to the Surface unveiling (the Surfacing?), plenty of analysts speculated that Microsoft might try to undercut Apple on price, offering a tablet for, say, a base price of $400 – a hundred bucks cheaper than the cheapest iPad. But the Surface seems to be a full-featured machine, and it's hard for this blogger to imagine Microsoft selling it for a significantly lower price than the iPad. 

So hey, how does the Surface handle?

Well, over at Wired, Alexandra Chang got a chance to take the Surface for a test drive, and she praises the magnesium-based VaporMg chassis and the "crisp and bright" display. "From what I saw at the event, Surface is a serious, refined, clever piece of hardware," Chang writes. "The tablet is well-built, and comes with a lot of cool features – like the kickstand and available ports – that comparable tablets lack." 

For more tech news, follow us on Twitter @venturenaut.

You've read  of  free articles. Subscribe to continue.
Real news can be honest, hopeful, credible, constructive.
What is the Monitor difference? Tackling the tough headlines – with humanity. Listening to sources – with respect. Seeing the story that others are missing by reporting what so often gets overlooked: the values that connect us. That’s Monitor reporting – news that changes how you see the world.

Dear Reader,

About a year ago, I happened upon this statement about the Monitor in the Harvard Business Review – under the charming heading of “do things that don’t interest you”:

“Many things that end up” being meaningful, writes social scientist Joseph Grenny, “have come from conference workshops, articles, or online videos that began as a chore and ended with an insight. My work in Kenya, for example, was heavily influenced by a Christian Science Monitor article I had forced myself to read 10 years earlier. Sometimes, we call things ‘boring’ simply because they lie outside the box we are currently in.”

If you were to come up with a punchline to a joke about the Monitor, that would probably be it. We’re seen as being global, fair, insightful, and perhaps a bit too earnest. We’re the bran muffin of journalism.

But you know what? We change lives. And I’m going to argue that we change lives precisely because we force open that too-small box that most human beings think they live in.

The Monitor is a peculiar little publication that’s hard for the world to figure out. We’re run by a church, but we’re not only for church members and we’re not about converting people. We’re known as being fair even as the world becomes as polarized as at any time since the newspaper’s founding in 1908.

We have a mission beyond circulation, we want to bridge divides. We’re about kicking down the door of thought everywhere and saying, “You are bigger and more capable than you realize. And we can prove it.”

If you’re looking for bran muffin journalism, you can subscribe to the Monitor for $15. You’ll get the Monitor Weekly magazine, the Monitor Daily email, and unlimited access to CSMonitor.com.

QR Code to Microsoft Surface: Can a Windows 8 tablet compete?
Read this article in
https://www.csmonitor.com/Technology/Horizons/2012/0619/Microsoft-Surface-Can-a-Windows-8-tablet-compete
QR Code to Subscription page
Start your subscription today
https://www.csmonitor.com/subscribe