The rumours of Microsoft entering the tablet space were true and last night Steve Ballmer unveiled the Windows 8 powered tablet at a press conference.
Surface will come in two versions - Surface for Windows RT and Surface for Windows Pro - much like Windows 8. The former will sport an ARM processor, and will launch earlier while the beefier Pro version will be powered by an Ivy Bridge Core i5 x86 processor.
The normal "Surface" will weigh in at 676 grams with a 10.6" screen (1366x768), while "Surface Pro" will land at 903 grams with a 10.6"screen featuring full HD (1920x1080). Surface will come with either 32 or 64GB storage while its big brother will go up to 128GB. Surface Pro will run the full version of Windows 8, essentially making it a tablet and laptop in one.
What was probably the most interesting and seducive element of the presentation was the magnetive cover. Much like the iPad cover it comes in bright colours and snaps onto the tablet, but the Surface cover comes with a handy keyboard included. Very fancy indeed.
No price has been announced, but the "competitive" wording makes us think that the pure "tablet" version will launch around iPad prices while the far more feature heavy Pro version will come in at a price comparable with similar laptops.