Microsoft New York event was a big one, in no uncertain terms. Aside from the unveiling of a considerably updated Microsoft Surface Book with an i7 Skylake CPU, Microsoft has delivered a massive hit on its hardware competitors, with the Surface Studio all-in-one desktop PC.
Microsoft has been planning to build a product that would be capable to compete with the Apple iMac Retina, for a good while, with patent filings dating back years, and this time, it looks like the Redmond tech giant may have finally found a way to lure a chunk of creative professionals from Apple’s loyal customer-base.
With that said, Microsoft New York event could have been a lot bigger, with a Surface Pro 5 announcement, which surprisingly, hasn’t happened yet, with the Pro 4 now more than a year old.
While it is still a very respectable and innovative tablet, the Surface Pro lineup can certainly benefit from a refresh in regards to battery life, as well as a more powerful graphic chip, although it’s difficult to say whether the upcoming surface Pro will come with anything remotely close to the powerful NVIDIA GTX 980M included in the Surface Studio.
Word has it that the Surface Pro 5 will be launched in early 2017, only a few months from now, and will feature a Kaby Lake chip. This means that the new Pro 5 may get a similar USB Type-C port array as the new Apple MacBook Pro. We could go as far as speculating that Microsoft may also follow a trend similar to Apple’s in regard to using USB Type-C as a charging inlet, but that would be pure speculation at this point, as good as that could be.
An Intel Kaby Lake CPU would seal the deal for Microsoft, endowing not only the Surface Pro lineup, but all future devices with native support for multiple 4K+ displays at 60Mhz. Even better, Kaby Lake’s higher processing power would allow for VR and AR-ready performance, just in time for Microsoft to release its new upcoming line of budget-friendly VR headsets and accessories.
The Surface Pro 5 might come in three models, at least according to current rumors: Intel Core i3-7300U, i5-7200U and i7-7500U.
The new Surface Pro 5 might also feature a built-in fingerprint scanner, and a 5K/UHD 3860 by 2560 pixels resolution display, with a 3:2 aspect ratio, similar to the Surface Pro 4, and Pro 3 before it.
It’s also possible that the new tablet will come with 16GB of RAM, 8MP front-facing camera compatible with Windows Hello authentication, and a 16MP rear-facing camera for more high resolution shots and video.
A new and improved Surface Pen might accompany the device at launch, with enhanced pressure-sensitivity.
The base price for the upcoming device is rumored to be $899, up to $1800 for the most powerful configuration.
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