Overheard in the office today: "I really like the Surface, until I saw Steve Balmer holding it. Ew."
In fact, since tablet tech isn't really the mainstream Atomic beat, that was the first I heard of the new device, only I suddenly thought that Steve Balmer was going insane and deadlifting one of the older Surface tabletop interfaces - which, frankly, I would pay good money to see. But no, it was simply the announcement that Microsoft's getting into the tablet market.
And, much like a lot of Microsoft's hardware announcements - Xbox, Zune, Phones - it's a bit late. So far, MS has pretty much failed the replicate the success of the Xbox in terms of catch-up technologies.
So the Surface comes in two models, and both feature a pretty neat magnetic cover-cum-keyboard which nicely one-ups the latest models of iPad. The main body also features a pop out kick stand that lets the whole unit effectively work like a laptop.
There are two models, with the lighter using an ARM processor running the new Windows RT, and the heavier model touting an Intel core and running Windows 8. You can check a PDF of the full specs here, and the world's most artsy tech teaser video, here.
