Tech announcements often come with cyclic predictability, mostly due to relatively obvious marketing clues, and not less often, by what is expected as the next most exciting product consumer love, or will want to love.
Apple Inc. has mastered the art of cyclic releases, with a focus on nerve-wrecking momentum, which results in massive sales, worldwide, on day two of every single keynote.
Microsoft may have yet to learn a thing or two about showmanship and momentum, but one thing that Microsoft has mastered, is how to create truly exciting devices.
In the last two years alone, Microsoft has released a whole new generation of Surface PCs, designed to impressed, empower, and perform amazingly well, such as the Surface Pro, currently one of the most powerful Windows 10 tablet PCs on the market, as well as Surface Book, the company’s very first laptop, which can also turn into a tablet device.
The investment in design and engineering put into the Surface Book, has paid off rather well so far, for the tech giant. So well, in fact, that it can afford to run a whole division for the development of virtual reality applications and hardware, which is a category that is still in its infancy with mainstream consumers.
One of the main attractive features of the original Surface Book, was the discrete NVIDIA GPU, integrated in the base of the device. The superior graphic capability of Surface Book, still in its first generation, and even amidst all the bugs, all too common with brand new devices and operating systems, has even built enough traction among consumers, to lure a few Apple users to the “blue” side.
At last, Microsoft has also managed to release a powerful professional workstation, which is not just a powerhouse in terms of specs, it also doubles as a drawing/drafting table for graphic professionals. The brand new device, called “Surface Studio” was announced alongside a refresh of the Surface Book, whose upgrade to an Intel Core i7 processor hinted to a soon, yet not too soon unveiling of a possible second generation Surface Book.
Finally, Microsoft is giving away a pretty big hint that either a Surface Book 2, a Surface Pro 5, or possibly both, will be unveiled, sometimes this year.
The hint comes in the form of a pretty big cut into the original price tag of the Surface Book, by almost $150, bringing the 128GB SSD version down from $1499, to $1349, and the 256GB version, from $1899, to $1749.
The price cut is occurring as rumors converge on a possible March announcement, in which Microsoft could reveal a completely, or at least partially redesigned Surface Book 2, and a more powerful, and featured-packed Surface Pro 5.
Reports have indicated that the new Surface Book 2 could feature predominantly USB Type-C ports, in a similar fashion as the latest Apple MacBook Pro, and the same trend could be repeated with the Surface Pro 5.
Other rumors reveal a possible redesign of the dynamic fulcrum hinge, a signature feature of the Surface Book, which, in its future incarnation, could eliminate the round gap, and could let the screen and keyboard base line up flush, and flat, so as to resemble a typical clamshell laptop configuration.
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