Below is the press release for the newly announced Microsoft Surface Pro 2 and Surface 2, the successors to the Surface Pro tablet:
This morning I had the amazing opportunity to represent our Surface team and show the next generation of the Surface family for the first time – Surface 2, Surface Pro 2, and some amazing new accessories. From the beginning, we’ve had an ambitious vision to make Surface the most productive tablets on the planet – for personal and professional use. We strongly believe that many people need great devices for play and getting things done.
Surface Pro has been an amazing device. It has been my daily machine for a LONG time. Surface Pro 2 is a very significant upgrade on top of that strength, with meaningful battery-life improvements so it lasts nearly a full workday, a dual-stage kickstand that works great on your lap, and even faster performance. With Power Cover – a new cover accessory that provides the same great typing experience as Type Cover along with a built-in extended battery that charges while you’re working or while it’s connected in your bag – Surface 2 lasts more than more than 10 hours. With the Docking Station for Surface Pro, Surface Pro 2 can be the first device that is a tablet, a laptop, AND a high-powered workstation.
Surface Pro 2
Docking Station for Surface Pro lets you quickly click-in and connect, turning your device into a full workstation.
Docking Station for Surface Pro includes Mini DisplayPort video output, three USB 2.0 ports and one USB 3.0 port, an Ethernet port, and 3.5mm audio in and out.
As much as I love Surface Pro 2, I have a new main machine now, and it’s Surface 2. It feels amazing and is even lighter, thinner, and has longer battery life than before. We have fundamentally revamped Surface 2 to make it the most productive personal tablet ever. Trust me here. It is much faster – now with 72 graphics cores, twice the internet speed, and USB 3.0. It is even more beautiful – with an enticing new color that reflects the true color of Magnesium, a full HD screen, and a thinner and lighter design. And most importantly, it is even more productive – now with Outlook RT which is how I do email, a 3.5MP front-facing camera optimized for Skype for my video calls home or video messages when we can’t connect. To ensure that you get the most out of your device, we’re including free Skype calling to landlines 60 countries and free Skype WiFi at over two million hotspots for a year, as well as 200GB of SkyDrive storage for two years. The Skype and SkyDrive offers are for both Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2!
Of course, Surface 2 and Surface Pro 2 will also ship with Windows RT 8.1 and Windows 8.1 Pro, respectively, bringing improvements in key areas like personalization, search, multitasking, built-in apps, the Windows Store experience, and cloud connectivity such as for Microsoft Exchange or Azure. No doubt workplaces utilizing this type of software will be looking at a laptop like this for remote working, as well as Microsoft Exchange Monitoring to track any outages.
Our Type and Touch Covers are also more amazing – Touch Cover 2 is more responsive, and Type Cover 2 Type is quieter and now available in colors, and both are even thinner, more rigid, and have backlighting with proximity sensing to light up as your hands approach the keys.
Type Cover 2 will be available in Cyan, Magenta, Purple, and Black.
We also have some other cool accessories – a wireless adapter for Type and Touch Covers, a car charger, and my favorite mouse in the world, the Arc Touch, now as a Surface Edition that uses Bluetooth so I don’t need to plug my USB 3 port.
Both Surface devices will be available for pre-order beginning tomorrow, September 24, 2013 and for purchase on October 22, 2013 in select markets. Visit www.surface.com/pre-order to learn more about pre-order. You can also see additional information on pricing and release dates here.
Finally, for you music fans and people that can imagine how “click in and do more” can show that productive tablets can be about even more than a keyboard and Office, we announced The Surface Remix Project and a new purpose-built music kit that clicks into Surface 2, Surface Pro, and Surface Pro 2 and works with a new music remix app. We will be sharing these with the music community and DJs starting October 22nd. If you are an aspiring DJ, go to SurfaceRemixProject.com, post a video telling us what you’ll do with it, and you could get one of these and a Surface 2 for free to show what you can do.
Our team and MANY partner teams across Microsoft are excited to bring these products to market, and for the future of Surface. We’re incredibly proud of everything we’re announcing today. We can’t wait for you to get your hands on them and try them out.
Panos Panay
Corporate Vice President – Microsoft Surface
