Surface Pro 3: all the news from Microsoft’s third try at tablets – The Verge

Microsoft can’t explain why its Surface tablet needs a pen

2014-11-25T10:43:14-05:00

What can you do in 30 seconds? If it's an advertisement for the Surface, the answer is: a lot. For the past two years, Microsoft has been showing the tablet running the full version of Office, editing photos in Adobe Photoshop, and converting into either a tablet or a notebook on the fly. But one thing Microsoft hasn't been able to do very well in 30 seconds is explain why the Surface needs a stylus, which in an era of stroking our screens has long seemed antiquated.

We stroke and poke our gadgets regularly

What's the stylus good for? According to Microsoft's TV ads, it's good for circling things. I know because I made the positive life deci …

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This is Microsoft’s new Surface Pro 3, in pictures

2014-05-23T09:01:17-04:00

The new Surface Pro 3 is on sale and Microsoft has finally achieved its vision of combining a laptop and a tablet into a device that doesn't have too many compromises. This is simply the best hardware that Microsoft has ever produced and even if you aren't a big fan of Windows, you can at least appreciate the flagship hardware it runs on.

The tablet weighs 1.76 pounds (without the new Type Cover) and is .36 inches thick. The display is now bigger too, it's a nicely-sized 12-inch touchscreen with a tack-sharp resolution of 2160 x 1440. One of our favorite features is the new kickstand, which uses friction and can hold the device up at any an …

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Microsoft Surface Pro 3 review

2014-05-23T09:00:11-04:00

Imagine if you had a time machine that could send you back exactly 13 years. The rules of time travel don't let you change the past, but they do allow you to ask one question of a single person (time travel is, after all, very complicated). If your question for somebody in 2001 was "What will the future of computing look like," they'd probably give you an answer that would sound very much like the Surface Pro 3.

That's both good and bad. It's good because the Surface Pro 3 is indeed a futuristic machine, a marvel of engineering that combines tons of crazy features into a thin and light package. It's bad because, well, in 2001 we had almost …

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Can the Surface Pro 3 steal the MacBook Air’s crown?

2014-05-21T08:52:02-04:00

"I am sure, Satya. I am sure that is the tablet that can replace the laptop."

Microsoft corporate vice president Panos Panay ended his marathon unveiling of the Surface Pro 3 by addressing his CEO, Satya Nadella. It seemed as if he was simultaneously pointing out that Nadella had helped create this vision and asking Nadella to have faith in the plan. Panay certainly wants to convince the rest of us to have faith - he had spent the last hour on the stage, extolling the virtues of the new tablet in a strident tone.

Before him, a sea of technology journalists (myself included) were reporting his words in real time - the large majority of them …

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How does Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 stack up to Apple and the rest of the competition?

2014-05-20T18:30:06-04:00

Microsoft unveiled the Surface Pro 3 today, and now more than ever before, the company is pushing the message that this is a product capable of replacing your trusted and proven laptop. In his usual style, Surface chief Panos Panay boldly proclaimed that the Surface Pro 3 will remove the conflict of choosing between a tablet and laptop - that it's been designed without compromise with the best aspects of both.

"I am sure that this is the tablet that can replace the laptop," Panay said. Those are big words indeed. Aside from Apple's MacBook Air, which Panay mentioned repeatedly on stage, Microsoft is finally facing improved (and genuinely im …

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Microsoft reportedly canceled plans to unveil the Surface Mini

2014-05-20T16:45:51-04:00

Details of Microsoft's rumored Surface Mini first appeared more than a year ago, so it was expected that the product would see an official reveal at today's event. No such unveiling happened. According to Bloomberg, even though Microsoft has been developing a smaller tablet for some time, CEO Satya Nadella and Executive VP Stephen Elop backed away from the project. It's now not clear if and when it will ever come out.

Nadella and Elop wouldn't bet on a Surface Mini

Earlier reports indicated that the Mini would have been an ARM-based tablet running Windows RT, aimed at other small tablets like the iPad Mini. However, the device had already se …

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Microsoft Surface Pro 3 hands-on: bigger, thinner, faster

2014-05-20T12:31:26-04:00

Microsoft made one thing clear: it wants its new Surface Pro 3 to be able to replace your laptop. It's a bold goal, but Microsoft thinks it has the right combination of power and portability to make it work. The new Surface is bigger than the earlier two models with a 12-inch display, but it's also thinner, at 9.1 millimeters thick, and lighter, at 1.8 pounds. Inside all of that is one of several different Intel Core processors, running from an i3 up to an i7. Surface chief Panos Panay says it's "the thinnest Intel Core product ever made," and it certainly makes for a device that feels extremely light to hold.

One of the other big improveme …

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Microsoft’s Surface Pro 3 is designed to destroy the laptop

2014-05-20T11:20:21-04:00

Microsoft has unveiled a new Surface Pro 3 device at a press event in New York City today. Like the previous Surface tablets it still includes a kickstand, but Surface chief Panos Panay says it's designed to remove the conflict of buying a laptop or a tablet. The kickstand on the device is multi-stage, and the device is just 9.1mm thick. "This is the tablet that can replace your laptop," claims Panay. Microsoft has moved to a 12-inch screen on the Surface Pro 3 with a 3:2 aspect ratio and HD display, but the new tablet also has thin bezels with a silver and black design. Microsoft will start accepting pre-orders on the Surface Pro 3 tomorrow …

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