Recent talks state that Microsoft has plans to release a line of budget friendly Surface tablets this year, it seems this tablet will compete with Apple’s 9.7-inch iPad, which is known as Apple’s budget friendly tablet.
Reports from outlets like OnMSFT state the company will replace the hard edges for a more round effect on the corners, and that tablet line will be starting at $329. Both low-end tablets are geared toward students and those looking for an affordable user friendly tablet.
The 10-inch tablet is will start at $399, and will run Intel’s Pentium CPUs Pentium Silver N5000 and the Pentium Gold Y-series CPUs. The base model Pentium Silver N5000 is a 4-core, 64-bit “Gemini Lake” which clocks in at 1.1GHz, and the Pentium Gold 4410Y or the 4415Y model has dual-core chips and clocks in at 1.5GHz and 1.6GHz. Talk also states that the tablet will be offered in either 4GB or 8GB of RAM, and will ship with Windows 10 Pro. As mentioned above, this would be a perfect standard size for the educational sector.
Microsoft will introduce USB-C to the Surface lineup in place of Microsoft own charging port.The company is also reported it will introduce accessories to complement the tablet, such as a keyboard, stylus and a kickstand.
Other rumors state that Microsoft will make the device 20 percent lighter than most average tablet models, with the battery life expected around 9-10 hours, other rumors state that 4GLTE will be an option, as well as the tablet coming in either 64GB or 128GB formats. It also seems Microsoft Intel Corp. will supply the graphics chip for the tablet line.
Talk also has it that this device could have the fingerprint scanner on the lock/power button, which will allow users to log in quickly when powering up to use their device. The final question would be, when should the consumer expect to see this tablet launched? Well, Bloomberg originally stated the 10-inch Surface tablet could debut as soon as the second half of 2018. Stay tuned for future updates on Mircosoft’s 10-inch tablet.
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