Surface Pro 3 launched - 12" tablet, 9mm thick, 2160x1440

[jnjroach]

Daniel Rubio was mistaken in the Video, it uses a n-Trig Digitizer with a Bluetooth 4.0 LE to launch OneNote (Modern UI version). It requires Windows 8.1 with the update and is UEFI Locked to that OS as the base (meaning you can upgrade to newer versions).

At 12" and 1.76 lbs it will feel much lighter, it will feel much like the Surface 2. The Power Cord has been redesigned. Stereo Speakers and battery estimates is 9 hours of Web Surfing. Pen is more integrated than in any other Windows Tablet taking much of the learning from the MS Research Inking Working Group.

 

[Jasmine]

Videos I've seen of pen use show actually very good responsive pen input. Pressure seems fine. This must ne one of the best NTtrig implementations around. Looks to work just as good as waocom pen from pro 1 or 2.

Heres a video showing a little pen use and how well the kickstand and new keyboard works.

Thanks for the video. That's one I hadn't seen yet.
Personally, I'll still be a bit iffy about it until I can get my hands on one (because I mainly use the pen with PS). However, it does seem pretty great.

 

[dougpaw57]

I had an n-trig with my Vaio, they certainly AREN'T better than Wacom. That, plus the fact that the Pro 3 is too big makes it easy for me to keep my Pro 2.

 

[demandarin]

Daniel Rubio was mistaken in the Video, it uses a n-Trig Digitizer with a Bluetooth 4.0 LE to launch OneNote (Modern UI version). It requires Windows 8.1 with the update and is UEFI Locked to that OS as the base (meaning you can upgrade to newer versions).

At 12" and 1.76 lbs it will feel much lighter, it will feel much like the Surface 2. The Power Cord has been redesigned. Stereo Speakers and battery estimates is 9 hours of Web Surfing. Pen is more integrated than in any other Windows Tablet taking much of the learning from the MS Research Inking Working Group.

Did you get to go the event? I'm sure if not, you going to have a pro3 on the way. You might end up liking it more than surface 2. Every time I see it, looks just like a larger screen version surface 2. They really stepped it up this time around on weight and thickness improvements.

I think I will upgrade my pro 1 to this. Likely i5 version with 128 or 256gb capacity. Would love 8gb of ram but not sure if I truly need it. Just like i7. I'll give my pro1 to my lady. Then give her rt to my sister. Haha everyone happy. Good hand me downs. Lol

 

[Nuspieds]

We've certainly come a long way from the days where the naysayers were claiming that there wouldn't even be a Surface Pro 2! :LOL:

I welcome the larger screen and the kickstand and keyboard improvements. However, I'm not ready to buy this first generation for the redesign; there's definitely room for CPU and GPU improvements for which I'd wait.

But even if that next generation arrived tomorrow, I still wouldn't buy it. Why? Since the Surface Pro 1, I have used it as a laptop replacement and I'm still waiting for a real docking station.

 

[jnjroach]

Did you get to go the event? I'm sure if not, you going to have a pro3 on the way. You might end up liking it more than surface 2. Every time I see it, looks just like a larger screen version surface 2. They really stepped it up this time around on weight and thickness improvements.

I think I will upgrade my pro 1 to this. Likely i5 version with 128 or 256gb capacity. Would love 8gb of ram but not sure if I truly need it. Just like i7. I'll give my pro1 to my lady. Then give her rt to my sister. Haha everyone happy. Good hand me downs. Lol

I wasn't at the event, watched it live and then the MVPs had a NDA Conference Call with the Surface Team. I'll confess I'm ambivalent, in many ways it could replace both my devices, but at 12" takes us back to the unruly size of the previous TabletPC's of generations past. The biggest draw is the 3:2 (15:10) Aspect Ratio that mimics full size US Yellow Notepads, but I would hate to give up many of my accessories.

 

[beq]

Thanks jnjroach, demandarin and everyone else for the tidbits of info.

Some questions:

- The SP2 kept the original SP chassis but moved to next-gen Intel Haswell innards for cooler operation and longer battery life. Whereas the SP3 offers the same Haswell but in a brand new design. Following this tick-tock cadence just like with Apple (perhaps with an accelerated development cycle), will the SP4 keep the same SP3 body but with a jump to Intel Broadwell and Windows 9 (assuming both will coincide late 2014 / early 2015)? If we do buy all new accessories for the SP3, will they remain viable for the SP4?

- How come the N-Trig Bluetooth 4.0 pen is stated to use both an AAA and two coin cell batteries? How long's the estimated battery life? Reviewers claim it feels more like writing on paper, does that just mean it uses a more rubbery tip compared to the SP2 pen's smoother plastic tip? Will the N-Trig pen work out of the box (with the built-in Windows driver) for all programs including Adobe Photoshop, or is there an N-Trig custom driver? Lastly does the N-Trig tech support hovering, and does it also suffer pointer offset around corners and edges of the screen?

- The SP3 also uses the Haswell U family, with the same 42Wh battery (and in fact the bigger screen and i7-4650U CPU variant may consume extra power). So how come it uses a smaller 36W power supply compared to the SP2's 48W power supply (both have a USB charging port). Will the SP3 take a lot longer than 2-3 hours to charge? And why the redesigned power connector, is it just to avoid scratching the bezel?

- Does the new Type Cover actually have bigger keys and more generous spacing, or does it use the same keyboard deck as the older covers? And is the new touchpad actually any deeper, or is it simply wider? The SP3 itself is over 1 inch taller (and almost 3/4 inch wider) than the SP2, but it looks like the new Type Cover loses space for the magnetic strip area (which adheres to the SP3 bezel), such that the touchpad on the palmrest couldn't really be made much deeper?

- Where's the MicroSD slot on the SP3? Can't seem to find it on the pics and videos.

P.S. Looks like the new Surface Ethernet Adapter is now GigE

 

[sdreamer]

1. No one can really answer this one with 100% confidence, but I'm going to go with yes on this. SP3 will work with SP4. First gen accessories are suppose to work with SP3 if you wanted (sans the dock for size reasons); of course this wouldn't work well as it couldn't serve as a cover and would look ridiculous, but you'd be able to use them from what I've read around.

2. 1 AAAA battery = 2 x 319 batteries basically. I'd assume they have some sort of driver package with the drivers for the Surface built in unlike what happened with the previous generations. If not, then Adobe will be supporting Microsoft's APIs for pressure so you wouldn't need a custom driver package and software layer like WinTab. I say this because why show off Adobe if it ain't gonna work out of the box like that.

3. Redesign most likely to make everything fit. The power supply has got me stumped though. Apparently the SP3, according to Anandtech, supports Connected Standby which has only been seen on ARM processors and Intel Atom processors. Using the same chips as the SP2, makes me wonder if the SP2 will get a firmware update to support CS.

4. Type Cover has been reported to have the same size keys. The touchpad is wider, but an actual separate touchpad, not build with the cover per se. It is a click pad like you'd find on any other laptop.

5. MicroSD is under the kickstand. There's a full size and a microsd slot. It's on the same side as all the ports.

 

[MCube74]

So the N-Trig Bluetooth Pen is not as good as the Wacom pen? Why would Microsoft change it if the Surface Pro 3 is supposed to be the best surface model out now?

 

[jnjroach]

So the N-Trig Bluetooth Pen is not as good as the Wacom pen? Why would Microsoft change it if the Surface Pro 3 is supposed to be the best surface model out now?

N-Trig has come a long way since their earlier models, this is updated hardware even from the Sony Tap 11 which was actually praised for being a good writing experience. MS redesigned their pen and created a custom Tip from the standard N-Trig. Wacom requires a thicker end product because of the way the Digitizer is placed on the LCD Panel, even with the fusing process that MS did with LCD, Digitizer and Glass there was still Parallax and Edge Drift using Wacom Technology. N-Trig moves much of the functionality from the screen to the Pen allowing for a single touch and active digitizer layer so you end up with the thin tablet, it also improves battery life of the device.

Adobe has been working with N-Trig on CC for better performance removing the WinTab Requirement moving to the native MS Ink APIs, also evidently Adobe has also been working with MS to move CC to support Windows 8.1 Scaling and specifically the SP3.

The Achilles Heel will be legacy programs that still rely on WinTab, those will struggle with N-Trig.

The biggest loser here is Samsung and Google as without calling it out, this shoots directly across the Bow of the Note 12 Pro...

 

[macmee]

Not to rain on the parade here but 12 inches? Really? Isn't that ginormous?

 

[stranger4all]

No there is only one.