Microsoft unveils suite of new Surface offerings
Microsoft has today announced an expansion to its Surface suite of devices, introducing to the market the Surface Go 2, Surface Book 3, Surface Headphones 2 and Surface Dock 2.
The announcement comes as Microsoft revealed that over 4 trillion minutes are being spent on Windows 10 a month, representing a 75% increase year-on-year, no doubt aided by the great shift into remote working in the past two months due to COVID-19.
Here are the key features of each new offering.
Microsoft's new tablet offering keeps its thin design, but now offers a larger 10.5-inch PixelSense display, improved battery life and a model with up to 64% faster performance than the original with 8th Generation Intel Core M options.
Acknowledging the key part that video conferencing plays in many consumers' lives right now, Microsoft added its dual microphone solution, Studio Mics, to increase voice clarity and reduce background noise for Teams meetings or video chats, as well as a 5MP front-facing camera.
A new Camera app has been added for the rear-facing camera for scanning documents and whiteboards.
Surface Go 2 can be personalised with Type Covers, Sleeves and accessories in a variety of colours, including Platinum, Black, Poppy Red, and Ice Blue.
Surface Go 2 starts at AU$629 and will be available starting May 12.
Microsoft's heavy-hitter laptop, the company says its new offering is its most powerful ever, providing up to 50% more performance than its predecessor and up to 17.5 hours of battery life.
Customers can choose between 13-inch and 15-inch, and has a high-DPI PixelSense Display, coupled with the performance of 10th Generation Intel Core processors and choice of discrete NVIDIA GeForce GTX or Quadro RTX GPUs.
The Surface Book 3 comes with up to 32GB of RAM, and the 15-inch model has an NVIDIA GeForce GTX GPU allowing for video games to run at 1080p in 60 frames per second.
Surface Book 3 starts at $2,649 and will be available starting May 21.
Microsoft's newest over-ear headphones have 13 levels of ambient noise control, with improved sound quality and a 20 hour battery life.
Noise cancellation is adjustable through on-ear dials and specifically tuned to either block out or amplify human voices.
The ear cup design can rotate 180 degrees for wearing around the neck, and comes in a Black finish option in addition to the classic Platinum.
Surface Headphones 2 are priced at $399.95 and will be available starting May 12.
Microsoft's Surface Earbuds offer touch controls letting users answer phone calls or change the song without interacting with devices.
The Earbuds feature Omnisonic sound and play Spotify from Android phones with a triple tap on either earbud.
Screen-free integration with Microsoft 365 brings the Play My Emails feature and allows users to dictate in Word, Outlook or PowerPoint.
The Surface Earbuds have all-day battery life with the included wireless charging case.
Surface Earbuds are priced at $319.95 and will be available starting May 12.
Microsoft's newest docking peripheral gives users the ability to connect to monitors, accessories and additional storage, and helps workspaces with a magnetic click.
It delivers faster charging, higher data transfer rates and enterprise management tools.
Surface Dock 2 is priced at $419.95 and will start shipping to customers later this month in select markets.
