Microsoft Surface Pro 3 – The tablet anti-MacBook Air

Microsoft believes a lot to his new vocation ” Devices & Services “, which was launched last period of management Ballmer and undergoing further amplification by the still fresh CEO Satya Nadella. So far, in terms of sales efforts on the Surface family did not give what you hoped for: only in recent times, the situation seems to give positive signals, especially after the arrival of the second generation last fall.

Even more critical should give a good act of perseverance by the Redmond company, which does not discourage, but rather you are doing is taking advantage of the hard lessons learned in the market to improve its latest products. The Surface Pro 3 today launched a few months after its predecessor falls in this light.

The design has undergone tweaks compared to the Surface Pro 2, with a new positioning for the Start button, and a lighter construction (800 g) and thin (9.1 mm). The major work was mainly to frame the new 12″ display that reaches the 2,160 x 1,440 resolution with a 3:2 aspect ratio which makes it more suitable for production tasks, while not drawing multimedia. Includes a digitizer screen for detect touches capacitive stylus developed by N-Trig supplied, on which Microsoft relies heavily to be further differentiate it from the competition.

A built-in button on the top of the nib is able to start the software annotation OneNote, even at Surface off; a further pressure with OneNote running in the cloud enables automatic saving of the notes taken. Another app being optimized for touch and stylus is Photoshop DC, of ​​which Adobe has given a quick preview at the event today.

To further the pen input, support integrated in the rear of the device is now capable of opening up to 150°, with further rapid angles available for ease of use with the keyboard or on surfaces between their different, legs included.

From the point of view of internal components is not much changed compared to the previous one, since the range was already passed to processor’s Haswell. Identical also amount provided for RAM and flash memory, depending on the model chosen.

Finishing touches include dual front camera / back, stereo audio Dolby Digital Plus, Wi-Fi MIMO (Multiple Input Multiple Output) 802.11n, microSD slot, a USB 3.0 port and a mini-DisplayPort.

Among the accessories, there is a renewed Type Cover with improvements hooking magnetic and available in several colors, as well as an Ethernet adapter and a docking station that adds 5 more USB ports (three 3.0 and two 2.0), and one mini-DisplayPort for screens with resolutions up to 3840×2600.

There is pre-installed Windows 8.1 Update 1, and the fact of being a PC x86 obviously implies the possibility of installing the regular desktop applications such as Office, in addition to those required for the modern environment. The price list is structured with several models, starting with the cheapest Core i3 $799 to get the option of luxury with Core i7 for $1,949.

Prices that put the Surface Pro 3 in direct competition with the MacBook Air, the same or in some cases slightly higher; the price gap widens when we consider the addition of the Type Cover. This did not deter Microsoft: Air is the stated goal of his creature, with a strong emphasis during the keynote (where a good portion of its reporters was equipped with portable Cupertino) on the differences in positive (lighter to display high-resolution touch screen with pen input).

More generally, it is a challenge to the entire field portable, since the intention is to combine tablets and laptops in single device thanks to its various modes of use, defeating the current market configuration that sees the two products, mostly complementary.

The Surface Pro 3 is also collided with the rest of Windows laptops, mainly Ultrabook and convertible. Who thought instead to an improved competitor for the iPad will not be disappointed at the technical level, but must take into account the fact that its performance and also the prices of the two products did not propose all the same slice of the public.

To counteract the Apple tablet remains the Surface 2 already on the market based on ARM SoC NVIDIA Tegra 4 and the Windows operating system RT; contrary to expectations, it was today joined by a Mini version. For this variant, at least in the short term, the debut seems to be a distant possibility.

The Surface Pro 3 starts his adventure American trade with preorders starting tomorrow, while the actual sales both online and in physical stores, you will have to wait until June 20. For the first time, there are predictions only variants with Core i3 and i5. August will see the debut instead of the more powerful model with Core i7, as well as the international release in 26 other countries.