Big changes on the horizon for Microsoft's Surface line, as both a new Surface Mini and larger Surface Pro are expected to be announced Tuesday, May 20.
Because I love rumor-mongering as much as the next guy, here's some tantalizing new info from Windows Phone Central:
For the Surface Pro 3, which is now confirmed as being a real device, there will be five versions offered with varying pricing and configurations:
- i3-4GB RAM-64GB - $799
- i5-4GB RAM-128GB - $999
- i5-8GB RAM-256GB - $1299
- i7-8GB RAM-256GB - $1549
- i7-8GB RAM-512GB - $1949
If this pricing is correct, there is a lot to mull over. First off, we should see prices on existing Surface Pro 2 models should drop by $100 or more.
The $799 i3 model sounds really appealing for sketching and comics reading; but I've never run graphics apps with an i3 so it remains to be seen how well they perform on this processor. This model seems to compete directly with the Samsung Galaxy Note Pro 12.2.
It will be really interesting to see what Microsoft's plans are for its existing Core i5 Surface Pro 2 models. Will anyone want a 10.6 inch version if the price difference is only $100?
The i7 is obviously the model that I want but once again I don't understand the $400 premium for 256GB of additional storage.
Therefore, the "sweet spot" in the high end model is the 8GB/256GB model for $1549, this pricing and configuration is on par with the often discounted Lenovo Thinkpad Yoga.
Think it's finally time for that SurfaceProArtist Spring cleaning sale...
