Microsoft Surface event 2018: all of the latest news – The Verge

Microsoft Surface Pro 6 review: a familiar bet

2018-10-16T03:00:02-04:00

Microsoft's Surface Pro has long been the flagship of the company's increasingly diverse range of Surface hardware. It's the tablet that can also be a laptop, and the byproduct of refinement since the original Surface RT that launched six years ago. When you think of Surface, you immediately think of Surface Pro. It's the most popular Surface device and Apple, Google, HP, Dell, and Lenovo have all copied elements of the Surface Pro.

While Microsoft ditched its numbering scheme for the Surface Pro last year, this time the number is back. The numbers you really need to care about this year are: it's a Surface Pro 6, there's 8GB RAM by default …

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Microsoft Surface Laptop 2 review: if it ain’t broke

2018-10-16T03:00:02-04:00

Last year, Microsoft finally did the thing that everyone was waiting for it to do: it produced a laptop. Not a tablet that can be a laptop if you attach a keyboard, not a 2-in-1 device that you can tear the screen away from the keyboard to use as a tablet, but a straightforward, honest-to-god clamshell laptop. The Surface Laptop was also a very good laptop - Microsoft did almost everything right with it and as a result, it was one of the best laptops of the year.

So, for this year's Surface Laptop 2, Microsoft changed… basically nothing. The Surface Laptop 2 is very much the same computer as the first Surface Laptop, just with updated inter …

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How Google’s Pixel Slate tablet compares to the Surface Pro 6 and iPad Pro

2018-10-10T09:32:21-04:00

Google's Pixel Slate is the company's first Chrome OS tablet, offered as an alternative to the more expensive Pixelbook. Like the Surface Pro 6 and iPad Pro, the Pixel Slate has more than enough power to help you do a multitude of things, both work and play. And like its competitors, it doesn't come with a keyboard included.

For those looking for a versatile tablet with a pixel-dense display, your decision just got a bit tougher. Microsoft's latest machine is the undisputed champion when it comes to including loads of ports, while the iPad Pro is a powerful tablet that meshes well with your other iOS or macOS devices. The newly announced Pi …

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The headphone wars have begun

2018-10-03T09:17:26-04:00

Microsoft Surface headphones. | Photo by Tom Warren / The Verge

The tech industry defines itself by answering the question of what's next. Over the course of this year, I've grown increasingly convinced that the most immediate next wave of technological change won't be the electric autonomous car or the full-frame mirrorless camera, but something a lot more quotidian. Our headphones are about to change dramatically, and Microsoft just put an accelerant into the furnace of change with its new Surface Headphones.

What I'm talking about isn't an alteration in physical design, and the Surface headphones certainly don't look very different from existing over-ear headphone models. Functionally, the Surface ca …

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Microsoft’s Surface chief hints at a modular Surface PC and USB-C webcam

2018-10-03T08:42:41-04:00

Microsoft unveiled a bunch of different Surface products this week. There's a new matte black Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2, an updated Surface Studio 2, and all new Surface Headphones. While most of the hardware was typical Surface, the Headphones were a surprising shift for Microsoft. In an interview with The Verge, Surface chief Panos Panay reveals that Microsoft moving into headphones is all about a new idea of "completing the Surface experience."

"Now that the company is designing these products as one company, the tech is evolving where we want it to be… there was an opportunity to complete this thing in a way that I'm passionate …

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Microsoft is dragging its feet on helping USB-C go mainstream

2018-10-03T07:00:02-04:00

One of the more perplexing announcements to come out of Microsoft's Surface hardware event in New York City yesterday was the port choice across its refreshed Surface laptop line and its new, noise-cancelling and Cortana-equipped Surface Headphones. On the wireless Surface Headphones, which are a forward-looking pair of high-end cans designed to compete with Bose and Sony, you have a USB-C port for charging. You'll also find USB-C on the Surface Go and on the just-announced Surface Studio 2.

Yet on the Surface Laptop 2 and Surface Pro 6, you're still stuck with Microsoft's proprietary Surface Connect charging port and mini DisplayPort.

It' …

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How to preorder Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2, and Surface Studio 2

2018-10-02T18:44:33-04:00

Microsoft debuted its new line of Surface products at an event in New York today and most are available to pre-order now. The Surface Pro 6, Surface Laptop 2, and Surface Studio 2 all have faster processors and other improvements compared to their predecessors - and the portables now come in a sleek matte black finish. Microsoft also debuted an entirely new product today: the $350 noise-canceling Surface Headphones. (Sadly, there's no black option for those.) Here's how to pre-order everything.

Surface Pro 6

Microsoft's newest laptop/tablet hybrid will be available on October 16th but can be pre-ordered now. The Surface Pro 6 will start at $ …

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Microsoft launches ‘All Access’ payment plan for Surface products

2018-10-02T17:56:05-04:00

Microsoft is trying to make it simpler and cheaper - up front, at least - for customers to buy into its Surface lineup. It's launching a new payment option called Surface All Access that, for a monthly fee, will give customers a Surface device and access to Office 365.

But while this sounds like a subscription service, it's not. In reality, Surface All Access is just a well branded payment plan. So unlike a phone upgrade program, you don't trade in the Surface devices for better ones later on; you keep paying month to month until you finally pay off the purchase after two years.

There's a discount, so long as you want Office 365 anyway

The …

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The 5 biggest announcements from the Microsoft Surface event

2018-10-02T17:48:47-04:00

At an event in New York, Microsoft today showed off its new line of Surface products, including updates to the existing laptop line and a new product: the Surface Headphones. The laptops also come in an additional new color that should please fans of all things dark mode.

Surface Pro 6 and Surface Laptop 2 now in all-black finish

Confirming the leaks just hours before the event, Microsoft kicked off the event with the announcement of the Surface Pro 6, a refresh of the company's laptop / tablet hybrid that now comes in a new matte black color and an upgraded Intel 8th Generation processor. It weighs in at 1.7 pounds, and boasts up to 13.5 ho …

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Microsoft announces noise-canceling Surface Headphones

2018-10-02T17:14:26-04:00

Microsoft's Surface event didn't come without some surprises: after announcing its latest Surface Pro, Laptop, and Studio devices, the company also revealed the brand-new $350 Surface Headphones. They're shipping "in time for the holidays" - but only in the United States at launch. Unlike all the black gear that Microsoft showed today, these only come in light gray.

The over-ear, wireless Surface Headphones feature premium sound and adjustable noise cancellation, giving users precise control over how much outside noise is let in as they listen. To change the level of noise cancellation, you turn the dial on the left ear cup. A dial on the r …

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