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Microsoft Is Now Selling a Surface Laptop With An Intel Core m3 Processor For $799 (windowscentral.com)
Microsoft has begun offering a lower specced Surface laptop running Windows 10 S and an Intel Core m3 processor. It's priced at $799, compared to the standard model's $999 price, and is only available in the platinum color configuration. Windows Central reports: The Intel Core m3 spec is paired with 4GB of RAM and 128GB Storage. This is definitely not a high-end model of the Surface Laptop, but it's still a premium one, with the same Alcantara fabric and high-quality display found on other Surface Laptop SKUs. Microsoft offers an Intel Core m3 model of the Surface Pro priced at $799 also, however that SKU doesn't come bundled with a keyboard or pen. At least with the Surface Laptop, you're getting a keyboard and trackpad in the box, so perhaps the Intel Core m3 Laptop is going to be the better choice for many. If you're looking for a straight laptop by Microsoft, that is. Some other specs include a 2256 x 1504 resolution display, Intel HD graphics 615, 720p webcam with Windows Hello face-authentication, Omnisonic speakers with Dolby Audio Premium, one full-size USB 3.0 port, Mini DisplayPort, headphone jack and Surface Connect port. The device measures in a 12.13 inches x 8.79 inches x 0.57 inches and weighs 2.76 pounds.
It's neither good, nor a laptop.
Have you actually tried to use this thing on your laps? The screen can't stand without the rear extension, but it remains fairly unstable on laps. The keyboard bends and feels like it was made from recycled Walmart plastics.
The device cannot be a good tablet because it is thick and heavy. It's just not very comfortable to hold in hand, and there isn't a whole lot of tablet-centric Windows apps out there.
Thing thing is a bad laptop and a bad tablet. Most of surface users would have done better if they bought a Lenovo Yoga laptop.
For comparison, I purchased a 12" "netbook" back in 2012 brand new for $300. Everything is very easily upgradable in it (1 screw opens the bottom door, allowing access to RAM, HDD, CPU). I pulled a pair of 4GB RAM sticks out of the dead laptop it was replacing, so it is running decently on 8GB now. It came with 320GB HDD, that I've considered replacing with a SSD. It also still has wired gigabit ethernet. It is only a dual-core Celeron CPU, but then again, looking at the M3? The performance isn't that very far off. So really, the only thing this new surface has over my now 6 year old netbook is USB3, a better screen, and DisplayPort instead of HDMI. That's it for more than 3x the cost. Oh also, my netbook was upgraded to Windows 10 Pro for free, so none of the limitations of Windows 10 S.