Windows announced the launch of a new tablet last week to the increasingly saturated tablet market. Enter the Surface, a PC tablet that runs a not-yet-released version of a Windows operating system called Windows 8, marking the first commercial PC that Microsoft has directly designed and sold. This is something to get excited about; we young professionals love our gadgets, with our smartphones and tablets having come almost like second limbs.
The specs are comparable to other tablets on the market, with a 10.6 inch high-definition touchscreen and a 9.3 millimetre, 1.5 lb frame. Unique to the tablet world is a cover that flips down to become a full keyboard, a durable case built from magnesium, a built-in stand and a pen that clicks into the tablet. It also features a front and rear-facing camera. Once it hits the market, the Surface tablet will initially be available on a version of Windows 8 called Windows RT. After, another version of Surface will be designed for the fuller Windows 8 operating system and will run on Intel chips.
We may be a little ahead of ourselves, though. Microsoft remains quiet on the specifics, but the company said the Windows RT version will be available sometime this fall (perhaps at the soon-to-open Windows retail store in Yorkdale) in 32- and 64-gigabyte versions, with the full Windows 8 version entering the market months later in 64- and 128-GB versions. In terms of pricing, the tablets are expected to be priced comparably to others on the market.