What's new

Surface Pro refreshed with Haswell, almost double battery life and lower prize

Spaniard

Active Member
Surface Pro? Excuse me, I mean MacBook Air !!!

MacBook Air refreshed with Intel Haswell processors and all-day battery life, available today starting at $999 | The Verge

As rumored, Apple has announced a refresh for its MacBook Airs today at WWDC, its annual developers conference. The new systems feature the same (near-perfect) chassis first introduced in 2010, and they'll be available in both 11.6- and 13.3-inch variants, as before. The primary change is upgraded silicon: Apple is using Intel's latest processors, known as Haswell, which promise vastly improved battery life and some boosts to integrated graphics performance.

With the new processors, Apple is promising 12 hours of battery life for the 13-inch model, and 9 hours for the 11-inch version, a significant upgrade from the seven hours and five hours quoted, respectively, for last year's models. The new Intel HD Graphics 5000 is also said to bring a 40 percent increase in GPU performance, though it's worth noting the processors Apple is using here don't include the power hungry Iris graphics that are said to offer discrete-like performance. Other than the new power plant, there are some other changes to the MacBook Air. The new models have 802.11ac Wi-Fi, and flash storage is said to be up to 45 percent faster than the last generation.

Both models are available today from Apple's website. Apple has lowered the prices from the last generation: The 13-inch model starts at $1,099 with 128GB of flash storage, and $1,299 for 256GB. The 11-inch model will start at $999 with 128GB, with a 256GB model available for $1,199. All models have a 1.3GHz processor and 4GB of RAM — you'll need to do a custom order to get 8GB of RAM, 512GB of flash storage, or a 1.7GHz Core i7 processor. Unfortunately, your fever dreams haven't yet come true: Apple didn't speak at all about bumping the screen resolution from the last generation.
steve-ballmer-facepalm.jpg
 
Last edited:

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
Not surprised at the specs but WOW at the price. This is good news for my upcoming XPS 11 as it will have to be an aggressive price to compete.

Sent from the SurfaceForums.net app for Windows 8
 

mitchellvii

Well-Known Member
This is my issue with Microsoft. The whole freaking world is pounding us with their amazing new Haswell offerings. Microsoft on the Surface Pro II? Crickets. Maybe something in 2014. What is it about Microsoft that they are ALWAYS late to the party? Light on their feet Microsoft is not.

Sent from the SurfaceForums.net app for Windows 8
 

Ruffles

Active Member
Well, if they announce a Surface Pro 2 with Haswell that was available right now I'd be pissed that my $1200 surface just took a nose dive on resale. I don't mind waiting 6 months or so. It is nice to see that with Gen 4 hardware, we'll get the battery life that we want. Then, my SP will be perfect. I guess I'd better start saving.
 

NGC

Member
I don't know why people panic. Microsoft is in a league that Apple will never realize. With Windows 8 selling extremely well and available on most computer manufacturers I look forward to the next version of Surface Pro.
 

fonzman78

Active Member
I don't know why people panic. Microsoft is in a league that Apple will never realize. With Windows 8 selling extremely well and available on most computer manufacturers I look forward to the next version of Surface Pro.

Yes, totally agree. No need to panic. Apple's announcement... Yawn. At the end of the day, you're still getting an Apple. I suppose if you really need to switch to Apple products, this is a great announcement. As for me, I will keep enjoying my Pro and the Windows ecosystem. My Windows phone, Pro, and gaming Windows 8 rig all integrate perfectly for my needs.

There will always be something better around the corner. Those folks who just invested in the last Mac Air are probably upset now. Shoulda waited a couple more months and they would have latest Mac Air. Same thing with the Pro. It just came out in Feb and already people are clamoring for newer and better. Just sit back and enjoy your Pro. Sooner or later there will be a new Pro. If not, then you will have lots of different choices from the other manufacturers. I mean, with Apple what choices do you have? Black or white? Big or small? YAWN!!
 
OP
Spaniard

Spaniard

Active Member
A lot of people is in the frontier, they can choose between both OS and technical specs makes the difference. That's what happent to me with the phone: I wanted a Windows Phone but... no Full HD? No wireless keyboard? So I got an Android phone :(
 
Last edited:

Omni

Active Member
Microsoft also don't want to upset OEMs anymore by announcing products before they do.
 
Top