Slimmer Samsung Microsoft Surface Table Tablet Ready for Pre-order – SUR40
If you have been waiting patiently for the last 12 months to furnish your place with the latest multi-touch enabled table-top tablet then you’ll be glad to read that the next-gen Microsoft Surface hardware is pretty much ready to go and pre-ordering is now available.
The Surface, or the Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface to give it its full title, is being aimed a businesses and large organisations -Fujifilm and the Royal Bank of Canada are planning to be amongst the first to use them.
If you go over to the ordering page you’ll see a list of representatives over the 23 countries the SUR40 will be initially available in. Here in the UK you can drop Ian Abernethy a line or even give him a call if you happen to be in the market for a tablet you could get the family around.
The Samsung SUR40 runs in Windows 7 and Surface 2.0 software and its 40-inch screen (measured diagonally) packs a 1920 X 1080 resolution with a 2000:1 Contrast Ratio. Under the hood is an AMD GPU, a 2.9GHz Athlon X2 dual-core processor, 320GB of storage, and 4GB of memory.
For connectivity you get Ethernet, HDMI, and 4 USB 2.0 ports.
You can mount this tablet on the wall as well as having it as a high-tech table – just make sure you have room for the 1095 x 102.5 x 707.4 mm unit that weighs 39.5 kg without the stand.
It’s hard to believe that the original Surface came out back in 2008 and landed in the UK early 2009. That was well ahead of the Apple iPad making multi-touch tablets so prevalent. Saying that though, the Surface isn’t vying for the same market area – it’s not that portable for a start!
The SUR40 does have 50 simultaneous touch points enabled by PixelSense, which “allows an LCD display to recognize fingers, hands, and objects placed on the screen.” The new hardware is around 50% thinner than the original at 4-inches. The Sammy Surface is “touch-enabled from start to finish” – this means that you don’t need to plug in a mouse or keyboard in order to set up the SUR40. Everything is done via the screen as soon as you switch it on.
You can find the original Surface being used by the Hard Rock Cafe, Microsoft Retail Stores (naturally), Sheraton Hotels and many other big hitters. The new SUR40 is being aimed at similar markets and Microsoft have their eye on the automotive, education, finance, healthcare, hospitality, retail, as well as some other industries.
The price reflects the business focus so, even though it would be cool to have one in your living room, it’s doubtful many will end up bought by private individuals.
The Samsung SUR40 for Microsoft Surface has been pencilled in for release in early 2012 and will hit you up for around $8,400 – I hope that a ‘home’ version appears and is a lot cheaper 😉
