Microsoft Surface 3 goes up for pre-order, starting at £419, $499

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With 10.8-inch full HD display, stylus, 10 hour battery and Intel Atom x7-Z8700 processor.

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Read more.

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Full HD Display

Resolution: 2,160 x 1,440

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That's actually QHD (Quad-HD)

1,920 x 1,280

3:2

Uncommon aspect ratio (for computer displays) but a very good one for what the device is designed for, well done MS.

I'd be very interested if I needed a device for taking notes.

My initial thoughts were... oooh nice, not too bad then it all went down hill.

It's quite simply too expensive, by the time you add in a pen (which is on the s3pro) you can get the i3 64gb model for only a small amount more. The keyboard cover is looking to be ANOTHER £100+ too (sorry but why are they so expensive...).

Surface Pro 3, from £639.00 is wrong in the table, it's available for around £530 in some places and even MS's own store has it at £579.00. It just shows how much of a bad deal this is in my opinion.

The price simply put needs to be inclusive of the pen and keyboard in my opinion, if the likes of asus can do a product with a keyboard/stylus and tablet for around £300-400 there's no reason that MS can't.

MS are trying to compete with Apple, and Apple are greedy sods.

You can currently buy the Surface Pro 3 with an i3/4GB/64GB SSD for £520 making this launch price not look so great, think there's also a deal with Currys/02 Priority letting you get it for around £490ish.

Both seem like pretty good bits of kit but the non pro seems like it's coming in very close to the Pro version price wise.

Passive cooling I guess is the big hitter. The mass and size is also a benefit for some (like me!).

I can dig out a photo of my desk last year, as I was back and forth between London and my GFs place, I was lugging a Surface Pro 3, Series 9 (2012) and Surface 3. This would happily let me just lug a Surface 3, Surface 2, Surface Pro 3. What a great set up!

It still love it if they just produced a Surface 3 Monitor, that is the same size as the pro, but is just a dumb displayport driven monitor, with daisy chaining support. Suddenly, in <2kg, you could get an amazing workspace.

I think it's expensive for an Atom based machine. Especially when you factor in the keyboard cover and compare it to the bottom end i3 machine.

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Originally Posted by smilertoo

MS are trying to compete with Apple, and Apple are greedy sods.

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I would bet a tear-down would show a large discrepancy in source part prices though.

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Originally Posted by shaithis

That's actually QHD (Quad-HD)

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Quad HD is 2560x1440.

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Originally Posted by TheAnimus

It still love it if they just produced a Surface 3 Monitor, that is the same size as the pro, but is just a dumb displayport driven monitor, with daisy chaining support. Suddenly, in <2kg, you could get an amazing workspace.

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What about USB monitors... unless you need the 'graphic performance' for say gaming you'd likely be fine with this.

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Originally Posted by LSG501

What about USB monitors... unless you need the 'graphic performance' for say gaming you'd likely be fine with this.

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Portability and resolution. At least, I've never seen one that fits those boxes.

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Originally Posted by TheAnimus

Portability and resolution. At least, I've never seen one that fits those boxes.

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there's a few out there in my opinion.... I'd say 15.6inch is more than portable and asus do a 1080p for around 150, the case is also a stand and it's fully usb powered too.

Noticed that the 640XL is priced on the MS site at £219 whereas on Expansy's its £186 so its just as likely that other retailers will discount the Surface 3 once its available.
The 128GB Surface is £80 cheaper than the 64GB i3 Pro (on MS site). If there was a 128GB i3 Pro then the Surface would look bad value. To get 128GB built in a Pro you have to go up to the i5 model which is an eye watering £739 (on MS site).
The form factor is the right size for me. If other retailers sell the 128GB model for near the £400 mark i may be tempted.

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Originally Posted by LSG501

My initial thoughts were... oooh nice, not too bad then it all went down hill.

It's quite simply too expensive, by the time you add in a pen (which is on the s3pro) you can get the i3 64gb model for only a small amount more. The keyboard cover is looking to be ANOTHER £100+ too (sorry but why are they so expensive...).

Surface Pro 3, from £639.00 is wrong in the table, it's available for around £530 in some places and even MS's own store has it at £579.00. It just shows how much of a bad deal this is in my opinion.

The price simply put needs to be inclusive of the pen and keyboard in my opinion, if the likes of asus can do a product with a keyboard/stylus and tablet for around £300-400 there's no reason that MS can't.

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^-- This. £419 for the whole magilla, or at least tablet + keyboard is attractive. But having to add another £80 for the keyboard makes this "too rich" for my taste.

Shame, as I was hoping that Microsoft would finally "get" the lower end market. Obvious that they still don't.

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Originally Posted by LSG501

The keyboard cover is looking to be ANOTHER £100+ too (sorry but why are they so expensive...).

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That baffles me too. You can but a tablet sized USB keyboard for very little, you can buy bluetooth devices like games controllers for very little. Why is a bluetooth keyboard so damned expensive? Even the Hudl2 one at Tesco was pretty costly.