Microsoft has announced their new line of tablets running Windows RT and Windows 8, named the Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 respectively. The new updates to the two tablets bring higher performance, new design and some changes on the interface.
Surface 2
Starting with the Surface 2, the Windows RT tablet follows on the brilliant design from the previous Microsoft tablet. The design of the Surface 2 has straight edges and it looks like a refined version of the previous Surface tablet.
Specs for the Surface 2 include a 1080p ClearType display, quad-core Tegra 4 processor, 10 hours of video playback and a USB 3.0 port. The big news here is the freebies, with Microsoft offering a year of free Skype calls to landlines and 200GB of SkyDrive cloud storage for two years.
Microsoft will ship the Surface 2 with Windows RT 8.1 and Office RT with all four applications got a mention. With the NVIDIA Tegra 4 chip, there was going to be some gameplay and we got to see Halo on the tablet, an impressive show of graphical quality.
Surface Pro 2
Microsoft also revealed the second edition of the Surface Pro, the Windows 8 tablet/PC hybrid. The original Surface Pro did not receive a lot of flak because it was an incredible device, but perhaps a little too expensive.
The new Surface Pro comes with a range of specs options, with 4GB of RAM with 64/128GB internal storage or 8GB of RAM with 256/512GB of internal storage. Microsoft has also added the Intel Haswell i5 processor, adding graphical performance and twice as much battery life.
Microsoft has added a huge range of accessories onto the Surface Pro 2, including a new Kickstand, new backlit Type Cover, new Power Cover with extra battery life and the Surface Pro comes with USB ports to add a mouse and keyboard for an old school PC user.
PriceÂ
The Surface 2 with 32GB of internal storage starts at $449 and 64GB for $549. Microsoft will start pre-orders tomorrow, with a launch on October 22 in 22 initial markets, this is also the launch date for Windows 8.1.
For the Surface Pro 2, the user can grab 64/128GB of internal storage or 256/512GB and it comes with different RAM options and accessories. Microsoft will start sales at $899 all the way up to $1799 and pre-order will start at the same time.
