The Microsoft Surface is basically a 2.13-Ghz Intel Core 2 duo processor with 2 GB of DDR2 Ram and a 250 GB minimum hard drive. The display is a 30″ XGA DLP (Digital Light Projection) projector similar to the light engines found in rear-projection HD-TVs allowing for a 1024 x 768 display. Four infrared cameras inside the Surface detect when the screen is touched and interact with the computer. The Surface has wireless LAN capability with its built in wireless network card and Bluetooth 2.0 capability. It also has a Gigabit Ethernet card installed for wired networks. At $12,500 for a basic unit and $15,000 for a unit plus software, support and 5 chairs this will not make it to everyone’s homes (yet) but the business, entertainment, retail, and military market for it could be significant. Originally there was to a be a scaled down, lower cost version aimed at the consumer market available starting in 2010 but Microsoft has released no information about this to date.
CEO Steve Ballmer was on hand to announce the new tablet at Milk Studios in Los Angeles, calling it part of a "whole new family of devices" the company is developing.
The company has been hit and miss in the hardware market, and when the company misses, it does so epically -- remember the Zune? But Microsoft's hardware successes have become billion-dollar innovations, such as the Xbox or the mouse, which Microsoft pioneered.
The market will decide whether the new Surface is a hit, but it has the look of one -- and it flies in the face of 35 years of partnerships with other companies, of putting Microsoft's software on other companies' computers.
One version of the device, which won't go on sale until sometime in the fall, is 9.3 millimeter thick and works on the Windows RT operating system. It comes with a kickstand to hold it upright and a touch keyboard cover that snaps on using magnets. The device weighs under 1.5 pounds and will cost about as much as other tablet computers. Its debut is set to coincide with the upcoming fall release of Microsoft's much-anticipated Windows 8 operating system.
A slightly thicker version --still less than 14 millimeters thick and under 2 pounds -- will work on Microsoft's upcoming Windows 8 Pro operating system and cost as much as an Ultrabook, the company said. The pro version comes with a stylus that allows users to make handwritten notes on documents such as PDF files.
Each tablet comes with a keyboard cover that is just 3 millimeters thick. The kickstand for both tablets was just 0.7 millimeters thick, less than the thickness of a credit card.
Microsoft has been making software for tablets since 2002, when it shipped the Windows XP Tablet PC Edition. Many big PC makers produced tablets that ran the software, but they were never big sellers. The tablets were based on PC technology, and were heavy, with short battery lives.
Microsoft didn't say how long the Surface would last on battery power.
The more hands-on approach with its tablet indicates that Microsoft either lacks confidence in the ability of its PC partners to design compelling alternatives to Apple's iPad or it believes it needs more control to ensure Windows plays a major role in the increasingly important mobile computing market.
-Brian Lansangan
follow me on Twitter @MrSnugglenutz84
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