Hasta La Gadget!

Microsoft was late to enter the tablet wars and paid for it dearly. But the company isn’t giving up just yet. Today it unveiled Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2, the updated versions of its Surface – formerly known as Surface RT –  and Surface Pro tablets. The most significant change hardware-wise are their new and more power efficient CPUs that lead to a significant increase in battery life. On the software side, the tablets will come with their respective variants of Windows 8.1 when they launch on October 22.

Microsoft hopes to improve the reputation of its cheaper tablet by boosting its battery and display. Surface 2 has a 12-hour battery life – thanks in part to its 1.7GHz quad-core NVIDIA Tegra 4 CPU – and a 10.6″ 1080p display. In comparison, its predecessor only has an 8-hour battery life, a Tegra 3 CPU and a 1366 x 768 display. Watch Microsoft’s video to find out the other improvements to the Surface 2:

Sadly, Surface 2 still has its Achilles’ heel: it will only run Windows 8.1 RT, not the full version of the operating system. That means, among other things, that you won’t be able to run desktop programs on it. You’ll have to rely on what’s offered on the Windows Store for apps. If you want a more complete device, you’ll have to go for the more expensive Surface Pro 2.

Surface Pro 2 gets the 1.6GHz Haswell Core i5 CPU with an integrated Intel HD Graphics 4400 GPU. That helps give it a significant boost in battery life: 7 to 8 hours compared to only 4 to 5 hours in the original Surface Pro. Surface Pro 2 also has more storage and RAM configurations. There’s one with 4GB RAM that can have either 64GB or 128GB storage, and there’s one with 8GB RAM that can have either 256GB or 512GB of storage. The stylus featured in the video above will be included on all configurations of the Surface Pro 2.

The price for the Surface 2 will start at $449 (USD), while Surface Pro 2 starts at $899. You can pre-order both tablets from Microsoft starting tomorrow, but as I said they won’t ship until October 22. You should check out the Surface website or Wired’s coverage for more on the tablets.

I’m not sure why Microsoft is still selling the gimped Surface 2. Worse, they’re going to keep selling the first-generation Surface RT at $349. If it were up to me I’d cut down on the cost and confusion and just focus all my efforts on the Surface Pro 2. Because that is a very capable device. It’s a hell of an expensive tablet until you realize it’s also a decently priced laptop.

[via Microsoft & Wired]

If you weren’t impressed by the rest of the wares shown off today by Microsoft at their Surface 2 event, there’s one accessory you must have missed. This is the Surface Remix Project – one of a line of devices that’ll be coming from the company in the near future to make use of the […]

We are here live at the Microsoft Surface event, and we cannot wait to bring you a blow-by-blow account of what has been released. More importantly, we do hope that we are able to spend some quality hands-on time with whatever device(s) that Microsoft has decided to announce to the masses, and you can expect the usual slew of snapshots to go along with what our wordsmith on the ground, Daniel Perez, will churn out.

Let us keep our fingers crossed that whatever has been rumored will turn out to be true, and hopefully it will not be too harsh on the pockets as well. After all, times aren’t all that good despite what the economists tell you, is it? Will you be looking forward to replace your tablet with what Microsoft has on offer, or do you prefer to take the route that Apple has set before you?

Microsoft Surface Event original content from Ubergizmo.

The first thing to notice about the actual Surface tablets is how similar they are both to each other and to last year’s models. Aside from the Surface 2’s eye-catching coat of white, the tablets both feel almost physically identical to their predecessors. That’s a good thing; the well-angled bezels and overall high-quality feeling of the hardware was one of our favorite parts about both of the two Surfaces.

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The new Surface Pro 2, with its prodigious computing capabilities, has been built as a computing productivity machine for just about anyone. Spreadsheets, editing video and mixing music are all in the new Pro’s wheelhouse, and that last task is why Microsoft is also revealing the Surface Remix Project and the Music Cover to go along with it. The Music Cover, as you might expect, comes with pressure-sensitive buttons that allow budding DJ’s to craft and fine tune their next remix. It has 16 programmable pads for easy access to instruments and sounds, while there are pause / play and slider controls to adjust the volume and tailor transitions to your liking. And, just like the regular typing cover, it’s backlit, so you’ll be able to mix on the fly at any late-night sonic soiree. There is one downside, however: the Music Cover only works with the Surface 2, Surface Pro and Surface Pro 2, so original RT owners need not apply come October 22 when it goes on sale.

Filed under: Tablets, Microsoft

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Source: Surface #RemixProject