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Microsoft's Surface Laptop is aimed at supplanting the MacBook Air as a college-student favorite. The svelte, stylish clamshell also fills a middle ground between its cousins, the Surface Pro 4 tablet and Surface Book powerhouse 2-in-1, providing a third option that could appeal to many regular consumers. We went hands-on with the Surface Laptop last week and plan to test it in advance of its June launch. Until then, if you're trying to decide between the Surface Pro 4's promise of a tablet that can be a full-fledged computer, and the Surface Laptop's full-fledged computer that's nearly as light (and...

Microsoft may have just personally revived the Mac-vs.-Windows debates of yesteryear with its introduction of the Surface Book, the first-ever laptop to come out of Redmond, Calif. With its silver chassis and 13.5-inch display, the Surface Book invites comparisons to Apple's MacBook Pro. So how does the Surface Book stack up against Apple's 13-inch professional laptop?Design: Surface Book's Display Pulls Double Duty At 12.3 x 9.1 x 0.5-0.90, the tapered Surface Book is just a little bit larger than the 13-inch MacBook Pro (12.35 x 8.6 x 0.7 inches). Of course, that modestly larger size allows the Surface Book...

Microsoft did something shocking last night. It launched something people might actually lust over, something sleek, something powerful, something innovative. The Surface Book. At an event in New York rammed with press and industry types and live-streamed to the world, Microsoft confidently and defiantly unveiled its grand vision of Windows 10 devices. Some of the products the company unveiled were expected: an updated Surface Pro 4 tablet, the second generation of the company’s Microsoft Band fitness tracker and two new Lumia smartphones. But it was the Surface Book, Microsoft’s first laptop and a big bet for the company, that drew...

Microsoft on Tuesday unveiled its first laptop: the Microsoft Surface Book, a 13-inch touch-screen device that also comes apart to become a tablet. "This is the ultimate laptop," Microsoft's Panos Panay said. It has two processors and a dedicated graphics-card system. Microsoft says the laptop is twice as fast as a Macbook Pro. Pricing starts at $1,499, and the laptop will be available on October 26. As with many devices in the Surface line, the Surface Book can detach from its keyboard to become a tablet. The keyboard can then dock on the back of the tablet to keep it...

In 2012, when Microsoft first introduced the Surface Pro — a tablet that was also a laptop — it became an industry punch line. “You can merge a toaster and a refrigerator, but that’s probably not going to be pleasing to anyone," quipped Apple CEO Tim Cook. Nobody's laughing now. And Microsoft is looking more and more like a trendsetter. Three years after Cook's jab, the Surface Pro 3 is selling strong — strong enough that Microsoft is expected to launch a much-anticipated Surface Pro 4 at a special event on Tuesday. In the meantime, Apple and Google have started...

Apple today announced two new accessories which are blatant rip-offs from Microsoft. In addition to announcing iPad Pro to take on Surface Pro, Apple also announced Smart Cover (Touch Cover clone) and Apple Pencil (Surface Pen). Apple Smart Cover will attach to iPad Pro using Magnets. And Apple Pencil will support pressure sensitivity just like Surface Pen.

Apple (NASDAQ: AAPL  ) reported its fourth-quarter earnings on Oct. 20, impressing investors in all areas except for iPad sales. iPad shipments fell year over year for the third consecutive quarter, dropping 13% to 12.3 million units. iPad revenue ($5.3 billion) also came in lower than Mac revenue ($6.6 billion) for the first time in years.Three days later, Microsoft (NASDAQ: MSFT  ) posted its first-quarter earnings, revealing that sales of its Surface tablets had more than doubled both year over year and sequentially, to $908 million. Microsoft attributed that surge in demand to "strong interest from students, professionals, and increasingly enterprises for...

iPad hit hard by the slowing tablet market, while Surface sales surge. Tablet sales worldwide are starting to slow down, according to the latest figures from IDC, and it seems the cooling market is having a particularly chilling effect on Apple.  All in all, the analyst house has predicted growth for this year will be just 7.2% for the whole tablet market, compared to over 50% in 2013.  The figures make particularly grim reading for Apple, which has actually seen a 12.7% decline in sales compared to last year.  At 16% growth, IDC's end-of-year predictions look a little brighter for Android, but...

The yet-to-be-released Apple Watch has been making news for quite some time now. Very recently, the smartwatch has made it to the coveted Time magazine's top 25 new inventions of 2014. Based on the Time magazine list, the Apple Watch completely channels the idea of running a computer on the wrist. This is achieved by utilising a novel interface with a combination of touchscreen and physical buttons. Moreover, the Apple Watch is considered to be a fashion accessory, in addition to representing the latest technology in wearable gadgets arena, according to Time Magazine via Phone Arena. The magazine has also...

After two years and nearly $2 billion in losses, Microsoft's Surface turned a profit in the September quarter, the company said Thursday. For the three months ending Sept. 30, Microsoft recorded $908 million in revenue for the Surface tablet line, an increase of 127% over the same quarter in 2013. The nearly one billion in revenue was a one-quarter record for the Surface, and beat the combined revenue of the previous two quarters. Using information in Microsoft's filing with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), as well as data from earlier quarters, Computerworld calculated the quarter's cost of that...

It's the battle of the tablets. Just as Apple unveiled the ultrathin iPad Air with Retina Display, Microsoft officially released the Surface Pro 2. Although both are excellent tablets for small businesses, each device has its own set of capabilities. Whereas the iPad Air is strictly an iOS tablet in form and function, the Surface Pro 2 is a versatile, Windows-powered hybrid machine that can be used as a tablet, laptop or desktop computer. To help you choose which tablet is right for your business, we've compared the iPad Air and the Surface Pro 2.