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Microsoft Surface 2 tablets to launch on 23rd September

by Mark Tyson on 11 September 2013, 12:15

Tags: Surface

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It looks like Microsoft is set to reveal the new Surface tablets on Monday 23rd September. An invite to a Surface event on that date, at the Skylight Modern in New York, was sent out to the media a day or two ago. The invite didn’t give much away but just features an image of a Surface tablet and type cover keyboard, the date, time and venue and an RSVP request.

The Surface 2 (with Windows RT 8.1) and Surface Pro 2 (with Windows 8.1) are both expected to be shown off on the day. Both of these refreshed models are expected to get new processors, a dual-angle kickstand and other tweaked and improved hardware specifications but look pretty similar to the existing models. Both new tablets will be able to make use of the extra battery power on offer from the yet to be announced Surface ‘Power Cover’ keyboard. A source speaking to The Verge said that a Surface Mini would NOT be announced at this time.

Surface 2

As mentioned, the RT designation will be dropped from this machine's name. Different sources suggest different processors will be powering this ARM tablet; most go with an Nvidia Tegra 4 but a few others suggest it will be a Qualcomm Snapdragon 800 processor this time around. It is expected that the 10.1-inch display will be boosted to a 1080p example. Battery life of the Surface 2 tablet should be in the region of eight hours.

Surface Pro 2

The Surface 2 Pro will upgrade to an Intel 4th generation processor which should bring along the usual thrifty power benefits of this architecture. The current Surface Pro battery life is weak at just four to five hours so the Haswell boost in this area should make a big difference, probably extending the battery life to about seven hours. Elsewhere the new Pro will likely get more memory, probably 8GB as standard and with better SSD affordability a 250GB storage version of the new tablet should be purchasable come the launch date.

A new range of accessories beyond the Power Cover mentioned above is also expected to be shown. These will probably include more colourful and limited edition touch and type covers. More significantly, a docking station accessory is said to be in the works for the Pro tablets including; video out, network ports, four more USB ports and audio I/O.



HEXUS Forums :: 10 Comments

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Let's see if M$ have learnt their lesson from the first RT shambles. Price is key, if they want in on the mobile market they need to sell these at a loss like google do with the nexus 7, otherwise it will be another M$ stinker.
Why are they using RT when 8 is specifically built for tablets? Seems insane.
Agreed price is pretty key on this one - has there been any word on pricing? I guess not really, and I fully expect them to make the mistake of sticking to the original RT pricing, rather than launching it at the current £359 (£399 by the time you add a type cover).

Taking aside the consumer/market reactions, I expect them to keep the current surface at the £359 price point and launch surface 2 as their new model, back up to £450+ a cover (so £550 all in, probably £600 by the time you add a “power” cover). I'm talking 64gb pricing here as the 32gb is a bit umm “tight” with its usable space.

We will see though - there does appear to be some really strange stuff going on at Microsoft HQ at the moment, with some strange decisions…so maybe there will be someone there who realises that they can't expect surface to sell well if its priced at the same or more than an iPad or high end Android tablet.
I would look at a Surface 2 if the price is right.. but i don't really expect it to be though.
stanonwheels
Why are they using RT when 8 is specifically built for tablets? Seems insane.
Spud1
Agreed price is pretty key on this one
2 problems in one, device manufacturers are going to be turning our more full Windows 8 tablets, so unless Microsoft can undercut them then you'd be crazy to buy an RT device.