Monday, September 23, will see Microsoft unveil its second-generation Surface tablets in New York City. A large part of the appeal of these tablets, as always, is the inclusion of MS Office. The Redmond, WA based company has yet to port its productivity bundle to tablets running either iOS or Android.
While the rumors that have swirled around the product in recent weeks they will never match the rumors that surround new Apple products. Ok, never is strong; for the foreseeable future Microsoft rumors won’t match those of new Apple releases. While Microsoft spokespeople have neither denied nor confirmed a number of rumors, it’s fairly safe to say that many have it right.
Microsoft Surface 2 specs
On the surface, the Surface will appear nearly identical to present iterations. That is to say a 10.6 inch screen with a VaporMg casing.
The ports are expected to remain at the same number that the present Surface has and still won’t support LTE, but will rely on WiFi for connectivity.
The new surface will feature an ARM-based (Tegra 4) tablet with an estimated eight hours of battery life. It will feature a new ClearType full HD display, the same that made its debut with the Surface Pro earlier this year. The Surface Pro 2 is expected to run using an Intel Core i5-based Haswell processor and will stretch the battery life to seven hours as opposed to the four to five offered by the Surface Pro.
Last year, despite calls from consumers, Microsoft said that they had no intention of making a Surface Pro docking station. It’s rumored that Microsoft has since backtracked and have gone and done just that. It’s rumored to work with both the Surface Pro and Surface Pro and will include a single USB 3 port along with three USB 2 ports.
Microsoft Surface 2 availability
It’s expected that the new generation tablets will be available in the third week of October. If it happens to be the 22nd that many believe it will be, that will be three days after the release of Windows 8.1.
So far no word has been given to pre-ordering nor when countries outside the States should expect the device to be available. It’s also believed that there will be no major price cuts, a bit of a surprise given the first tablet’s lukewarm consumer reception.
It’s also rumored that Microsoft will keep Surface RT pricing at its current level ($349.99 for the 32GB model with no cover included) and introduce the 32GB Surface 2 at $499. A 64 GB Surface 2 will start at $599.
