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Reported at Anandtech, Microsoft Announces the Surface Pro 4, from $900:
The display retails the 3:2 aspect ratio of the SP3 but boasts a '5 million pixel display', or 2736x1824 in numbers, with PixelSense. Each display is 100% sRGB with individual calibration, but also features 10-point multitouch. [...] Prices will start from $900 and go up to [$2700], with pre-orders starting on October 7th. Devices will be available from October 26th, but Microsoft failed to mention which regions they would be available, so given the price information we could assume it might be a US/NA initial launch at this point with other regions to follow.
Prices may start at $900, but escalate to $2700 for a tablet with an Intel Core i7, extra SSD storage, and 16 GB of RAM. Going from $900 to $1000 swaps the Intel Core m3 for an i5 chip with around triple the TDP.
Alongside Surface Pro 4, Microsoft is launching a Surface Book 2-in-1 laptop. The 13.5" display is detachable, and the keyboard/base houses an NVIDIA GPU (in most configurations) as well as batteries and ports. Surface Book shares the same 3:2 aspect ratio with Surface tablets. Prices range from $1499 to $2699.
Microsoft has announced a HoloLens Developer Edition augmented reality device, which is set to be released in Q1 2016 for $3000:
If developers are still interested in grabbing a HoloLens kit, they can start applying today. Applicants can only request a maximum of two devices, must reside in the United States or Canada, and participate in the Windows Insider program. Even after the applications, you won't find out until you're approved to pre-order HoloLens until January 2016. After that, HoloLens will ship sometime in the first quarter of 2016.
From The Register:
"HoloLens is packed with space age technology," enthused Terry Myerson, Microsoft's windows and devices group veep. "We've got see-through high definition lenses, spatially-aware sound, movement sensors and custom built silicon. And it's fully untethered."
The HoloLens team demoed a new game Microsoft has been working on, dubbed Project X-Ray. The headset maps out a living room and then superimposes robots breaking through walls while the player shoots them with a hologramatic gun wrapped around their hand. As gameplay goes, it was a pretty basic demo, featuring lots of funky graphics but nothing earth-shattering. Yet, with the right developers, Microsoft might well have a winner on its hands.
(Score: 2) by Runaway1956 on Thursday October 08 2015, @02:27PM
You are bringing back memories. Way back in 1972, I saved up the money to buy my own real deer rifle. I was tired of hunting with hand-me-down rifles, I wanted my own brand new rifle. I couldn't afford the best, of course, but $75 plus about $4 tax got me a Winchester model 94. I spent many an hour cleaning and polishing that thing. Taking it apart, putting it back together. I knew every bolt, screw, and pin like the back of my own hand.
Several years later - ohhhhh - maybe 20 years later, I was handed a brand new Winchester model 94 by a youngster who wanted approval of his purchase. WTF? No bolts. No machine screws. The thing was nothing more than a bunch of laminated metal, riveted together! You could no longer disassemble this rifle, the way I had disassembled my own.
I smiled, and told the kid what a nice hunting rifle he had - but I was looking at a genuine piece of cheap shit.
Oh - computers. Yeah. If a laptop can't be dropped several feet and survive, it's really not worth a crap. Anything portable WILL BE DROPPED sooner or later. Falling from the bench seat of your pickup truck shouldn't leave it inoperable. Plastic hinges? Yeah, those work real well - NEVER.
“I have become friends with many school shooters” - Tampon Tim Walz
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Thursday October 08 2015, @02:49PM
Oh - computers. Yeah. If a laptop can't be dropped several feet and survive, it's really not worth a crap. Anything portable WILL BE DROPPED sooner or later. Falling from the bench seat of your pickup truck shouldn't leave it inoperable. Plastic hinges? Yeah, those work real well - NEVER.
The anecdotes that I used to tell about my Thinkpads -- one survived a fall on the tarmac (T40 series) from about 10 feet. The CD drive popped open --- and that's it. No physical damage, no internal damage. A few years later, an X60 fell down a flight of stairs in my house to the first floor. Bounced off the granite floor, hit the wall, and punched a hole in the sheetrock. I was more concerned about the Thinkpad than the wall....but when I picked it up, not only was it still running, but it didn't even lose WiFi signal.