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Surface Event May 20th NY City billed as a "Small Gathering"

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
I believe we'll know the specifics of the Surface Mini in about 2 weeks...

Bm6MlluCMAAs8jN.jpg
 
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kristalsoldier

Well-Known Member
@Jeff...are you attending this? I guess we will be hearing of a hands-on ownership experience soon, if you are...:LOL:
 
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jnjroach

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
I was not invited...but heard the rumor earlier but only posted in another thread when I heard invites were being sent out....depending on what I see it may replace my Surface 2.
 

kristalsoldier

Well-Known Member
I was not invited...but heard the rumor earlier but only posted in another thread when I heard invites were being sent out....depending on what I see it may replace my Surface 2.

OK. So that means if the Surface Mini lives up to your expectations, your device line-up will be the Surface Pro 2 + the Surface Mini? One other point - the rumours suggest that the Mini will very likely be an ARM device; it will run Windows RT, and will have a stylus/ active digitiser. Can this mean that a future iteration of the Surface 2 could also have the digitiser? I mean, I guess, in tech terms, it certainly can, but I am asking more in business/ commercial terms.
 
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jnjroach

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
RT is fully capable of using a Digitizer, I believe MS will go with the Tegra4 SoC to take advantage of the DirectStylus (less impact on battery), if they went that route they could enable it in the Surface 2 as well. If the go with Wacom they would "Win" the hearts and minds of the Traditional Inker, but wouldn't be backwards compatible with the S2.
 

kristalsoldier

Well-Known Member
RT is fully capable of using a Digitizer, I believe MS will go with the Tegra4 SoC to take advantage of the DirectStylus (less impact on battery), if they went that route they could enable it in the Surface 2 as well. If the go with Wacom they would "Win" the hearts and minds of the Traditional Inker, but wouldn't be backwards compatible with the S2.

Thanks. But it is possible that the S3 could have the digitiser if MS went with WACOM?
 
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jnjroach

jnjroach

Administrator
Staff member
It is possible, but I'm not sure if they would want to muddy the waters between the Pro Line and Surface Line, which would be one argument for putting a Wacom on the Mini to help differentiate the three lines....

MINI -
Tegra4 SoC
8" Display w/ Wacom Digitizer 5 Touch Points
2GB RAM
16GB or 32GB Storage
$250-$350

Surface
Tegra4 SoC
10.6 Display w/ 5 Touch Points
2GB RAM
32 or 64GB Storage
$449-$549

Pro 2
Core i5
10.6 Display w/ Wacom Digitizer and 10 Touch Points
4/8GB RAM
64/128/256/512GB Storage
$899-$1799
 

kristalsoldier

Well-Known Member
It is possible, but I'm not sure if they would want to muddy the waters between the Pro Line and Surface Line, which would be one argument for putting a Wacom on the Mini to help differentiate the three lines....

MINI -
Tegra4 SoC
8" Display w/ Wacom Digitizer 5 Touch Points
2GB RAM
16GB or 32GB Storage
$250-$350

Surface
Tegra4 SoC
10.6 Display w/ 5 Touch Points
2GB RAM
32 or 64GB Storage
$449-$549

Pro 2
Core i5
10.6 Display w/ Wacom Digitizer and 10 Touch Points
4/8GB RAM
64/128/256/512GB Storage
$899-$1799

Makes sense. But in my opinion, that would be a mistake. For example, I would not buy a Surface Mini (even if it is with a pen) because that would have to replace my iPad, which it can't do (because of the aspect ratio and the app ecosystem). On the other hand, I would be forced to give up my Surface 2 and opt for the Surface Pro 2/3 (in the future) because I need to have the pen. Net effect? The Surface 2/ 3 (the latter without a pen) would lose out.
 
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kristalsoldier

Well-Known Member
Well Bloomberg is reporting that MS is moving to Qualcomm for the Mini which would lend itself to using Wacom if true... but I remember that when the Mini was first rumored it was rumored to be using Qualcomm but that ended up in the Nokia 2520. If it is the SnapDragon SoC it will be a very fast tablet...

Microsoft Said to Use Qualcomm Chips in Smaller Surface - Bloomberg

We'll see....

I just read in some article on Flipboard - could have been by Michael Selleck (Microsoft News) - that there is a possibility that MS will play around with aspect ratios of the Surface (may even be with the Mini). Apparently, quoting Panos, the report said that MS was aware of feedback that using the Surface in portrait mode was unwieldy and, as a consequence, they are looking to play around with aspect ratios. If that happens either with reference to the Surface Mini or even the Surface 2 - with inking capability - I would be all over it!

Edit: I'll try and get the link to the article. If I can locate it, I'll put it up here.

Edit: Sorry, that article was not by Michael Welleck. It was on Forbes: http://www.forbes.com/sites/jasonev...om-microsoft-hints-at-surface-mini-unveiling/
 
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