The official release of the Microsoft combo laptop/tablet Surface Pro 4 appears to be drawing near as big discounts have been offered on its predecessor, the Surface Pro 3, by a giant retail store in the US.
US retail giant Best Buy has started offering huge discounts for Microsoft Surface Pro 3 lately that obviously indicate the forthcoming of the device’s successor, notes Breathecast.
The Surface Pro 3 is currently being retailed at Best Buy for as low as $600, which was obviously lower than its retail price when it was launched last year. Best Buy is also offering a trade-in deal for buyers with functioning Surface Pro 3 where they can get as much as $200 discount and a $50 gift card.
Microsoft intends to make its Surface Pro 4 the most exciting tablet to be launched this year, unless of course Apple pulls off a major surprise with its rumored iPad Pro to be released later this year.
Unveiling soon
Latest word from the grapevine hinted that the Redmondian company is planning to unveil its next-generation Surface Pro 4 tablet/laptop combo during the upcoming Builders Developer Conference to be held on April 29 to May 1 at San Francisco, California.
After its formal unveiling, the Surface Pro 4 is projected to enter into mass production in June before it is officially released in July to the retail markets. It has also been reported that Microsoft intends to have the Surface Pro 4 coming out of the box with already the Windows 10 on it so that is why the device has a second half of the year release date.
Since October 2012, when Microsoft first released its Surface tablet, the company has sold over 12 million units, with the best recorded sales coming during the fourth quarter of 2014. The company recorded a 24% increase compared to the same quarter in 2013.
With the over four million units target for the Surface Pro 4 and Surface 3, Microsoft total Windows-based tablet shipments for the year will exceed 15 million units, which is 30% higher than its past sales combined.
Energy efficient
Initial reports indicate that Microsoft Surface Pro 4 is more energy efficient compared to its predecessor, the Surface Pro 3, but the trade off is that it is weaker in performance than the latter.
Accordingly, the Surface Pro 4 has dropped the Haswell Dual-Core i5 and i7 Intel processors in favor of the new Intel Core M Broadwell chip, which is the same processor used by the new Apple MacBook and several other ultra-slim and fan-less laptops.
Despite being new, the Intel Core M Broadwell chip is obviously less powerful when compared to the Haswell Dual-Core i5 or i7 processors, which the Microsoft Surface Pro 3 uses.
However, the positive uptake on the Broadwell processor is that it is more energy efficient than the i5 or i7 chips and is quantified to have a 30% energy efficiency.
Obviously.