As was rumored, Microsoft yesterday announced that it will be offering a new tablet computer called "Surface" sometime this fall. It's about the same thickness and weight as an iPad, and has a 10.6-inch screen compared to the iPad's 9.7. The aspect ratio is 16:9, making it ideal for movies, whereas the iPad's aspect ratio is 4:3. Key features are a built-in kickstand that props up the tablet, and a cover/keyboard that makes it like a laptop or ultrabook. No word on pricing. Two models will be available, and they are essentially, as iMore points out, two different computers. The low-end model will have the ARM processor, which is commonly used to power mobile devices. It will run on the Windows RT software, a version of Windows 8. It will be limited to Metro apps available in the Windows Store. The higher-end model will run the full-blown Windows 8 Pro operating system, and will therefore be able to run regular Windows applications. While Microsoft didn't announce the pricing, they said the low-end device would be priced similar to the iPad, which starts at $499, and the higher-end version will be in the same price range as ultrabooks, the MacBook Air-like laptops that start around $1,000.
The website for the Surface has a video that gives you a peek at the device.
You can read more about the Surface in the New York Times and on Yahoo.
And speaking of videos, Apple has released a new commercial that shows the many different things one can do on an iPad.
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