Microsoft has officially unveiled its latest hybrid laptop and tablet, the Surface Pro 4, during its October 6 event. The American tech company has subsequently made the device available for pre-ordering the following day with its base model priced at $899. The laplet will officially hit the retail markets on October 26.
What came off as a surprise during the October 6 event is Microsoft’s launching of the Surface Book laptop. It is an entirely different animal compared to the Surface Pro 4, but it also uses metal-oxide technology as a replacement for amorphous silicon used in other displays.
The Surface Book covers a hole that the Surface Pro and the entire Surface lineup could never plug for every use case. Surface Book fits the need for a robust keyboard and laptop capability and powerful hardware. It actually matches well with the Apple MacBook, with its hardware reportedly a little better, cites Extreme Tech.
So while Apple has moved in the direction of previously producing laptops into making hybrid laptops and tablets with its iPad lines, Microsoft is moving the opposite way by previously developing hybrid laptops and tablets to full laptops.
On the other hand, long before the Surface Pro 4 was officially unveiled, a lot of information about the laplet have already made it to the internet from way back late last year.
With its official unveiling in early October, critics generally saw the Surface Pro 4 as an evolutionary update over the Surface Pro 3, which is not necessarily a bad thing, notes Anandtech.
A straightforward update
The Surface Pro 4 is actually a more straightforward update to its predecessor. The screen is slightly larger which increased from 12 inches to 12.3 inches. The display resolution has also increased from 2160 x 1440 to 2736 x 1834. The device’s pixel density has also improved from 216 ppi to 267 ppi on the Surface Pro 4. Battery life has also been improved by 30% compared to its predecessor.
The general consensus about the Surface Pro 4 is that it is a refined and polished version of the Surface concept, with some of the basic compromises inherent to the form factor. Most critics actually think that the Surface Pro 4 is the best iteration of the Surface concept to date.
The Surface Pro 4 is being offered in three processor choices. There is the Core m3-6Y30, the Core i5-6300U, and a Core i7-6650U. In terms of memory, the Surface Pro 4 offers between 4GB and 16GB of RAM depending on the specific SKU that tells a lot about how fast the data can be processed by the laplet.
Thinner and lighter
The Surface Pro 4 also sports the same ultra-thin form factor, bezel, and screen size as its predecessor.
It is also thinner and lighter and is now being powered by Intel’s new Skylake processor and comes with improved battery power. And as already expected, the device came out of the box already with the Windows 10 on it, which is already an immediate plus factor.
The Surface Pro 4 is being groomed to become Microsoft’s biggest hit as far as the Surface devices go.
The Surface Pro 4 is also being eyed as an instant hit with the masses especially if Microsoft decides to offer the keyboard for free or bundling into the device the Surface pen. Other than that, the company needs to rethink its premium pricing, particularly on the device accessories because it would surely turn off potential buyers if its prices were made higher.
There have been previous reports that Microsoft might eventually axe its Surface line consistent with the decision of the new company boss to adopt the ‘One Microsoft’ approach. But with the unveiling of the Surface Pro 4 on October 6, it only proved the rumors wrong.