Microsoft Surface Mini to Debut in Mid-May?

CommanderFrank

CommanderFrank

Cat Can't Scratch It
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If it wasn’t for the unintentional leaks from third party manufacturers, we probably would never get the scoop on when new products will be released. Such is the case with the supposed soon-to-be release of the Microsoft Surface Mini.

Rumors about Microsoft's plans for a smaller Surface tablet -- something with a screen size between seven and eight inches -- have been circulating since last year.
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They need a surface phone and they need it good and on all carriers. WIth Atom and ARM versions.
 
Looks interesting. If its windows RT then I'll have to pass. I can't really justify not using a full version of windows for my work tablet.
 
Is this in response to something like the Dell Venue Atom-based tablets and the Android version-- Nexus 7 (?), Kindle Fire, and Galaxy Note tablets?
 
rudy said:
They need a surface phone and they need it good and on all carriers. WIth Atom and ARM versions.
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And a lucky pot of gold needs to be at the end of every rainbow.
 
They have billions and billions of dollars, they can make it happen if they are motivated and have the vision.
 
Meh, no one is gonna buy it until they throw in some marketing stuff. They need to call it a cloud-connected, lifestyle-enabled, synergistic, touch friendly, so-and-so that's 0.0000001 inches "thin" and 23 grams "light" (because it's not at all interesting to people if it's got weight or thickness). And they need to throw out a battery life estimate that demonstrates all-day* operation.

*With WiFi disabled and the screen turned off playing back MP3s at 0% volume.
 
If its a netbook tablet, sweet. If it runs Windows RT, then I suppose at least it will be more enviromentally friendly and consume less space in a landfill when they inevitably ET a batch.
 
I'll stick to the current 10" version, assuming this runs at 1080p resolution. Everything would be too small to read on desktop, and I don't believe in scaling.
 
Megalith said:
I don't believe in scaling.
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Sounds like a religious belief. Scaling is science fact man!

But honestly, the Win 8.1 interface could be good then with the tiles, and a 8" screen is still pretty decent size, at least 4:3. Its a handy size to use as a carputer/GPS if it came with a 4G connection.
 
octoberasian said:
Is this in response to something like the Dell Venue Atom-based tablets and the Android version-- Nexus 7 (?), Kindle Fire, and Galaxy Note tablets?
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The Dell Venue Pro 8 is selling like hot cakes, it seems. The 7-9" tablet segment is pretty popular. Small enough to be very portable, yet big enough to read and do some decent work on it.

It's been rumored that Microsoft would release a smaller version of Surface for a while (they thought it would be announced when the Surface 2 was announced, but no dice).
 
Ur_Mom said:
The Dell Venue Pro 8 is selling like hot cakes, it seems. The 7-9" tablet segment is pretty popular. Small enough to be very portable, yet big enough to read and do some decent work on it.

It's been rumored that Microsoft would release a smaller version of Surface for a while (they thought it would be announced when the Surface 2 was announced, but no dice).
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If priced right and the features are comparable to or better than tablets in the same price range or higher, then Microsoft would have a winning product on their hands. It's going to be an uphill battle though even against something like the Dell Venue Pro.
 
octoberasian said:
If priced right and the features are comparable to or better than tablets in the same price range or higher, then Microsoft would have a winning product on their hands. It's going to be an uphill battle though even against something like the Dell Venue Pro.
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Priced right... That's the hard part. The Dell Venue Pro runs with a cheap Atom CPU. Surface Pro's run with the Core i series. An RT version of the Surface Mini wouldn't be comparable with the Venue Pro (RT vs. x86). I see Surface Pro Mini being a success if they go Atom (with an 8" screen, it makes a lot of sense) and a low price. $400 or less? Hell yea, I'd grab one. Any higher, and I'd just go with a Dell or something for recommendations.
 
MS cannot price it right because if they do they will piss off all their OEMs.
 
I have a Surface Pro and an ASUS VivoTab Note 8, both I really love to use. I could never bring myself to use an RT tablet. I'd rather have the flexibility of a full version of Windows 8 Pro.

The added bonus to the VivoTab Note 8 is that not only it runs Bay Trail quad-core Atom, but it also has a digitizer pen and screen and sells for a super low price of $350. Before the Note 8, I used a Lenovo ThinkPad Tablet 2 which used Clovertrail dual-core Atom and a digitizer pen and screen which was pretty flaky. The pen quits constantly, forcing me to either reboot or reinstall the Wacom Intuos driver.

The Tablet 2 is 10 inches and the Note 8 is as the name implies, 8 inches. The 8-inch size is perfect.
 
Ur_Mom said:
The Dell Venue Pro 8 is selling like hot cakes, it seems.
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It does seem to be doing well in the market though we'll never see any hard numbers especially since Dell is private now. But the V8P has around 1,000 reviews on Amazon with a 4 start average rating, both quite high for a Windows 8 tablet.

Azhar said:
The added bonus to the VivoTab Note 8 is that not only it runs Bay Trail quad-core Atom, but it also has a digitizer pen and screen and sells for a super low price of $350.
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I have a Dell Venue 8 Pro and the VivoTab Note as well. I like the V8Ps build quality and screen more but the Wacom digitizer in the VivoTab is much better than the Synaptics in the V8P.

For a market that didn't exist 6 months ago, the 8" Windows 8 market has a decent number of options now as some nice price points. I'm thinking the Surface 8" will be ARM based which won't be as poplar as a Bay Trail device, but if it has a Wacom pen in it, with OneNote and the upcoming modern version on Office, it could be an interesting device if the price is right.
 
Ur_Mom said:
Priced right... That's the hard part. The Dell Venue Pro runs with a cheap Atom CPU. Surface Pro's run with the Core i series. An RT version of the Surface Mini wouldn't be comparable with the Venue Pro (RT vs. x86). I see Surface Pro Mini being a success if they go Atom (with an 8" screen, it makes a lot of sense) and a low price. $400 or less? Hell yea, I'd grab one. Any higher, and I'd just go with a Dell or something for recommendations.
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Yeah, a $400 or less Atom-based (Baytrail?) Surface Pro Mini with Windows 8.1 and Office would be a great device. It's unlikely going to happen, and like Rudy said above, it might piss off OEMs.

However, I didn't see that happen when Google released the Nexus 7. I don't recall of Samsung throwing fits when that got released in competition against their Galaxy Note.
 
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