Surface: Microsoft’s Entry to the Tablet Wars

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If you are looking for a tablet PC to purchase, you may just find yourself in a dilemma again now that Microsoft has announced that they too will be having their own line of tablet PCs. Microsoft announced in their press and media event held on June 18 at the Milk Studios in Los Angeles that they will be producing the Microsoft Surface Tablet and it will run on the latest Windows 8 operating system.

They say that the Surface tablet will be the tablet PC to give the iPad a run for its money. Currently, the iPad holds the top position in terms of sales and popularity among the tablet PCs in the market. You would see people sell iPad 2 the moment Apple announces that a new version of the iPad would be available for purchase. Microsoft, on the other hand, is banking on the fact that people who are loyal to the Microsoft platform and their products would stay on their side with their new product.

Before you go selling iPad for this new tablet PC on the market, it would be good to know what makes this product great. For starters, the Surface tablet will be available in two variants. There’s the Surface Basic or RT version and there’s the Surface Pro. The RT version is a great entry-level tablet PC. This is a wonderful tablet to purchase if you are just getting used to the novelty of handling a tablet PC. It is relatively lightweight at 1.5 lbs and 9.3 mm thick. It has a 10.6-inch ClearType HD Screen with micro SD and a USB 2.0 port. It has an ARM chipset installed running on Windows RT. The operating system it uses is the version of Windows 8 developed solely for use in mobile gadgets like tablet PCs.

The Surface Pro, on the other hand, will run on the full version of Windows 8. With its form factor and processing power, you may liken this to a netbook, especially with the applications you can run from it. A 22 nm Ivy Bridge processor powers this 1.9 lbs and 13.5mm thing of beauty with 10.6-inch ClearType Full HD Display screen. Internal storage options available are at 64GB and 128GB. This option of the Surface tablet will surely give those who are thinking to sell iPad 2 a hard time choosing. This tablet will also appeal to those who are looking into making this tablet PC an alternative to a laptop to be used for work as it can handle heavy tasks
with its powerful operating system and processor.

So, if you are planning to sell iPad 1 to get a hold of this newest tablet PC on the market, you better hold on to your unit. It will not be available until the release of the Windows 8 operating system. The first to become available for the mass market will be the RT version, while the Pro version will be out three months after. Until that time comes, we can only speculate if this tablet PC will indeed be able to kill the iPad as Microsoft promises it will.

Category: Misc