Unpack Microsoft Surface Pro

Unpack Microsoft Surface Pro




Microsoft is saying about the 2-pound tablet

64-bit computing in a tablet: Surface with Windows 8 Pro is "a 64-bit tablet PC." That's not a trivial point. You get all of the goodness of 64-bit computing via Intel's power-efficient Core i5 Ivy Bridge processors. Surface RT, on the other hand, is 32-bit only.

Security: Support for the same level of security you can expect with any corporate Windows laptop. And Microsoft includes sBitLocker, which encrypts your hard drive's data.

Pen: It includes a pen. That really a holdover from the Windows 7 slates but something that some business customers still want.

Mini DisplayPort/display: This allows connection to large high-resolution displays. That said, the Surface Pro's 10.6-inch 1,920x1,080-pixel display is already the same resolution of some desktop displays. Other ports include a full-size USB 3.0, microSDXC card slot, headset jack, and Cover port.

Microsoft, in effect, pre-announced the Surface Pro's battery life the other day. Let's just hope that it trends closer to an ultrabook with a tolerable run-down time. This is a tablet, after all.

Let's close on a high note, though. Early this year, I had a chance to use the Intel Core i5-based Samsung tablet with Windows 8 Developer Preview.I was immediately wowed by its speed. At the time, I felt it was much quicker than the iPad 2 I had been using every day.

If the Surface Pro can replicate that experience, it will attract power users looking for a snappy Windows 8 tablet.