Microsoft has announced that its much-anticipated game changer tablet, Microsoft Surface Pro, will arrive within weeks. Indicating that the wait is over, Panos Panay, General Manager of Microsoft's Surface products, tweeted, "On my way to the factory to check out #Surface Pro coming off the line...arriving in the coming weeks."
This is not a big surprise because Microsoft had earlier promised that it will release the Windows 8 Surface Pro tablet approximately 90 days after the launch of Surface RT, which was unveiled on Oct. 26.
Surface Pro is expected to come in two versions. The pricing of the device will start at $899 for the 64GB version and $999 for the 128GB version. It will carry the fastest Core Series chip found in Windows 8 laptops, the Intel Ivy Bridge processor, 10.6- inch 1920x1080 resolution display, 4GB of RAM, a detachable keyboard, two HD cameras, pen input support, and of course, the Microsoft's Windows 8 Professional operating system.
According to various reviews, Surface Pro will be a real-game changer for Microsoft in that it will satisfy in all the ways Surface RT disappointed.
"You're looking at an entirely new kind of machine, one with new possibilities," New York Times's David Pogue wrote about Microsoft Surface pro. "It's a touch-screen tablet, of iPaddish proportions, that runs desktop software: Photoshop, Quicken, the full Microsoft Office, iTunes (and Apple's online movie and music stores). Desktop software on a half-inch-thick tablet. That's a first."
Although Microsoft did not have a stall in the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas, it did organize a special preview of the device to select journalists in a hotel room. Taking a closer look at the Surface Pro, Pogue wrote, "The screen is dazzling: bright, crisp and responsive. It has 1,080 by 1,920 pixels, also known as 1080p high definition. But when you connect it to a TV or external computer monitor, it manages to output an even bigger desktop - 2,550 by 1,440."
