and the same full-size USB port - but it tweaks the iconic
kickstand and the clever magnetic connectors for power and
the two tear-off keyboards Type Cover and Touch Cover
both work interchangeably with Surface Pro and RT.
It improves on the 10.6-inch touchscreen of the Surface RT with
higher resolution and a digital pen you can use to scribble notes
on the screen and snap into the power port for carrying around,
but it still has some of the darkest blacks you'll find on any screen.
It's a PC, but it's still a tablet. Do you want it? Depends on
what you really want.
If you've seen the Surface RT in the flesh, the Surface Pro
looks utterly familiar. The same VaporMg coating over
the same sturdy but sleek metal body, the same gently
curved corners and wide black bezel, the same subtle
Windows logo on the front.
But pick it up and you'll notice the difference straight away.
The Surface Pro is thicker - although 13.5mm 0.53 inches
rather than 9.3mm 0.37 inches isn't exactly bulky - and it's
heavier, at 907g -2lbs rather than 680g -1.5lbs. But the weight
is evenly distributed and well balanced so it doesn't feel a lot
heavier unless you pick them up side by side.
And inside the case of the Surface Pro, everything is different from
the Surface RT, starting with the Intel Core i5-3317U CPU and
integrated Intel HD Graphics 4000, which make it a real, powerful
PC. Then it adds 4GB of RAM and 64GB or 128GB of storage.
Windows 8 takes up space on the SSD, cutting the available
storage down to just 29GB and 89GB, respectively.
You can get more space by archiving the recovery partition onto a
USB stick and adding a 64GB microSD card the largest on
the market today.